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brianc521 · 4 years

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Gears of Love | Raul Mendes

Mechanic!Raul | OC!Juniper

Juniper Kelly’s biggest dream was to become a published author. It’d been her dream since high school when she posted a few Fanfiction pieces on a website dedicated for fanfic and got tons of hits right away. She had her own account and racked up a pretty big audience that always requested for more, and every so often left her words of encouragement.

She’d built her whole life around her dream once she graduated. She read every book she could get her hands on, she pushed herself to write things that were out of her comfort zone, she researched random topics in hopes of adding dimension to the characters she created.

She found inspiration in everything. It’s how she met the one thing that gives her the most inspiration, her boyfriend, Raul Mendes.

Raul Mendes was a young mechanic who has just recently taken over his father's auto body shop. Raul has always liked working with his hands, it’s the one thing that kept him out of trouble through his younger years. He was a triplet, and between him and his brothers he was the known bad boy. When they all turned 16 his brothers opted for a Jeep and a truck when he begged for a motorcycle. Fixing up his bike and constantly learning new things about the motor is what kept him interested in school.

They both met one day while Raul was out to coffee with his brothers. It hadn’t been the first time he’d seen her there. She often was spotted in the back corner seat of Amy’s Cold Brew Place, laptop out, headphones in, typing away.

It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him either. She’d unintentionally created a whole character based off Raul. The bad boy to the new story she was writing. Well, a bad soft boy. This time though Raul was sporting a new piece of metal in his lip, and it had her going crazy. She watched his mouth as he spoke to his brothers, the way he’d tongue at the curved jewelry in his lip.

One of the brothers, Shawn who she didn’t know was his name at the time, noticed her staring and nudged Raul’s arm and nodded in her direction bringing Raul’s attention to her fatuation. Causing her to go completely red in embarrassment and hide behind her laptop screen.

Raul on the other hand bit his lip in the smug way he does and saw this as his chance to ‘shoot his shot’.

“Couldn’t help but notice you stare.” His voice was so smooth but also rough and raspy. “Hope this doesn’t sound weird, but I’ve been staring too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Raul.” He offered his hand to shake, which she did with a nervous smile.

“Juniper, but my friends call me June.”

“Juniper? That’s really pretty, I’ve never met anyone with that name.”

“It’s weird I know.” She tucked her hair behind her ear.

“It’s not.” He shook his head, touching her fingers that were on the table to get her attention. “It’s truly beautiful.”

It was right then and there where they stole each others hearts.

“Juniper Baby?” Raul asked as he walked through the front door, throwing his keys and wallet on the table just inside the door.

“Living room.” She called out weakly from her camped out spot on the floor in the middle of the room. Surrounding her were books and loose pieces of paper.

“Hey Gorgeous.” Raul smiled as he walked in the room, finding his girlfriend in one of his sweatshirts with her hair in a messy bun.

He got a mumbled “Hi.” In return. He chuckled, knowing she was in a completely different world right now, with the way her fingers were flying across the keyboard. So instead of interrupting he’d wandered himself in the kitchen to make her a midnight snack.

With not having much talent in the kitchen he settled on grilled cheese with a granola bar and a glass of milk. He walked back into the living room, figuring out her maze to the center of her circle where she was sitting pretty quickly. Slowly he pushed her laptop closed, giving her plenty of time to move her fingers.

She looked up with wide eyes and smiled sheepishly. “Hi.” She whispered when he pushed the plate that holds her sandwich and granola bar into her hands.

“Hi Baby.” He leaned forward kissing her cheek. “Did you have dinner?”

“Um,” She says while taking a huge bite of her sandwich, “I nibbled.”

“On?” He rolled his eyes.

She turns and holds up a bowl full of dry cheerios.

“Baby, I know you’re in crunch time trying to finish before you meet with the publisher this week but you have to take care of yourself. You can’t meet with the publisher if you’re in the hospital after passing out for lack of nutrition.”

She sighs and nods at him.

“It’s like a job interview Baby. You have to make yourself look good. And if you go in looking like a skeleton they’re not gonna be impressed.”

“Okay.” She whines, looking down at her lap.

“Hey.” He tips her chin up. “I know my Baby can do it. I know she’s the best, she just has to know it too.”

“Yeah.”

“I love you.” He smiles, leaning a bit closer.

“I love you too.”

He kisses her lips softly, giggling as he pulls away. “You taste like cheese.”

“You taste like milk.” She replies.

“So,” He takes the last bite of his sandwich. “Can I read it yet?”

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Am I ever going to get to read this masterpiece?”

“If I have a say then no, you won’t ever get to read it.”

“What?” He gapes at her, frown pulling at his lips.

“You will read it, I just. I have to make it perfect first.”

He sets her plate aside crawling up to his hands and knees, causing her to lean back until she’s laying on the floor and he’s hovering over her. “It is perfect Juniper Baby, because you wrote it.”

She shakes her head, tapping his nose. “You’re just a sweet talker, I know your games Mendes.”

“Come on,” He murmurs, pressing a kiss to her neck. “Let me read it.”

“No.” She lets out breathlessly.

“Please.” He groans as he hikes her leg up over his waist, lips sealed to the skin behind her ear.

“No but you can keep doing that.”

“Oh can I?” He grins, hand trailing up and into her shorts. “Can I do this?” He strokes her heat from the outside of her panties, causing a friction that has her tugging at his hair and moaning into his ear.

“Yeah you can do that.”

“Mmm,” He pulls back to look at her blissed out eyes. “Let’s see what else I can do.”

After their raundeveous on her brainstorm notes she was sleepy and dreary eyed. Trying to fight herself to stay awake with him, but she’d had an early morning while he had a late night so he put her to bed when she dozed off on his chest. Tucked her in and kissed her forehead before heading back to the kitchen. He was still pretty wired from his stressful day at work and poured himself a small glass of whiskey.

Catching sight of the mail on the counter he took a sip of his drink and then opened the few envelopes they’d received. He sighed, setting his cup down, when he saw the electric check he had written just a week ago had bounced. Pinching the bridge of his nose he read that the few other checks he’d written for bills had bounced as well.

“Fuck me.” He mumbled, checking the bank statement he’d been emailed last night and groaned when he saw that he hadn’t been able to pay himself last week, spacing it completely since he’d already sent off the checks.

He stared at his phone that was laid out on the counter and cursed himself as he did the last thing he swore he’d ever do. He called Shawn.

“Raul? It’s like 1:30 in the morning, what are you doing up?”

“What are you doing up?”

“I’m writing a song, and you? Since I asked first?”

He grins, biting his lip as he looks to the bedroom door that was open just a hint. “Well I had a rather pleasing romp in the sheets with my girl before putting her to bed.”

“Oh gross I didn’t need to know that. Are you still in bed?”

“No what kind of animal do you think I am?”

“I’m not sure you want me to answer that.”

Raul laughs in response, letting the conversation with his brother calm him for the time being.

“But you called for a reason so what’s up?”

“Is there a chance I could meet you for coffee tomorrow morning? I need to ask you something but I want it to be in person.”

“Um sure, are you asking me to be a groomsman because I already through it was decided that I was your best man, Peter is mine, and you’re Peter’s.”

“I’m not asking you to be my best man,” Raul shakes his head. “Well, yet.”

“Oh we’ll be talking about that tomorrow too. I’ll meet you at Amy’s at 8?”

“Can we do 9? I wanna make sure the shop opens just fine.”

“Yeah that works, see you then.”

“Okay thanks.”

“Love ya bro, go to bed.”

“Love ya too. Goodnight.”

With that Raul hung up on Shawn and shook his head as he downed the rest of his whiskey and headed to bed.

Raul walked in the door to Amy’s at 9:26 rushing in to find Shawn, who was seated at a table with two coffee’s.

“Hey I thought you were gonna stand me up.” Shawn smiled as Raul slid into the table.

“Sorry, had an issue with a customer who was upset about the price for an oil change.”

“Doing oil changes now?” Shawn questions, sipping at his coffee.

“Yeah I needed more business so I expanded the services a little.”

“So, what’s up?”

“Okay, I need to blurt this out because I absolutely hate myself for doing this. I mean you don’t know how much I’m beating myself up over this. I feel like such a-”

“Hey, blurt it out.” Shawn cuts him off.

“Can I borrow some money?” Raul blurts, cringing at himself.

Shawn sets his cup down, and sits straighter. “Are you okay?”

Raul sighs and hangs his head. “The business is struggling this summer, I haven’t been able to pay myself for like a month now? And Juni, she’s working on her novel and baby sitting on the side, but her gigs aren’t bringing in enough, you know? I thought I had enough in my savings to last us, but after last month's rent and bills I’m drained out man. I’m trying so hard, I’m pushing myself to the breaking point, and I wrote checks for this months bills and,” He sighs shaking his head. “They bounced.”

“Raul.” Shawn sighed.

“I know, but when I wrote them the shop was making money so I was planning to pay myself but then we lost a few solid clients and I wasn’t able too. So they bounced and I don’t want to stress Juni out, she’s just now found a publisher and I’d hate myself if she didn’t go through with it to find a job. Just this once Shawn, and I’ll pay you back I swear.”

“Raul, breathe.”

Raul takes a few deep breaths and nods at his brother.

“How much?”

“$700?” Raul whispers, shoulders slouching. “I have enough to cover half the rent, but then there’s-”

“Shh.” Shawn shakes his head, pulling his wallet out. “I don’t need to know your bills and all that. Take this,” Shawn pulls out cash from his wallet. “And don’t even worry about it. I want to see June succeed in her writing. I want you to succeed at the shop, you’re both in the struggle stage before you’re gonna take off. I can see it. So take it, it’s my support for both of your dreams.”

“No I’ll pay you back. Thank you so much Shawn. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I do, I love you Raul, and I want to see you successful and happy.”

“I love you too Shawn.”

“Now get back to the shop.” Shawn smiles, showing his brother away.

Sitting in his office on his ‘lunch break’ Raul is able to pay off the bills since he’d deposited the cash Shawn gave him into his account on his way back to the shop. The moment everything balanced he was able to breathe deeply and not stutter on it.

“Where is he?” He heard from just outside his office.

“On lunch.”

Raul looked up when he heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor and then stood when Juniper walked in. She had her meeting with the editor and publisher today, meaning she’d borrowed her sisters suit and heels to dress to impress.

“Well?” He asked softly, in case it didn’t go well, but by the smile on her face he’d say it went just fine.

“They wanna publish it!” She yelled, running and jumping into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

“Oh my god Juniper Baby that’s awesome!” He cheered. She squeezed him tighter and squealed in his ear. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me Baby?”

“Because if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t have gone for it. I wouldn’t have even started writing the book in the first place. I wouldn’t have had the chance to be able to write. I owe it all to you, so thank you. Thank you for believing in my dreams, and thank you for making them come true.”

“You made them come true Baby, I simply said that you could.”

She pulled back and held his cheeks in her hands as she kissed him passionately. “Any chance you can come home right now?” She mutters against his lips.

“You’re insatiable.” He grins, thinking back to the fun shower they’d shared this morning. “I would totally love to, but I kind of have to close the shop tonight. Connor’s Mom is throwing a surprise birthday party for his brother and he’s in charge of getting the cake.”

“Awe.” She whines, jutting her bottom lip forward. “Can you come right home after close?”

He sighs, looking at the stack of paperwork on his desk. When his eyes flick back to his girlfriend who is pleading with him. He can’t say no. I mean she’s getting her book published. “Yeah, the minute I close I’m out of here. Go home and get fancied up, I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Really?”

“Yes, my girl is gonna be a published author, she deserves to be wined and dined before she’s fucked and tucked.”

“Oh my god you did not just say that.” She hits his chest playfully, giggling as he tugs her close burying his face in her neck. “I hate you!” She laughs harder when he bites at her neck.

“You love me, don’t lie.”

“So tell me everything, start from the beginning.” Raul says now that the waiter has taken their orders.

She sits straighter, smiling at him with such hope in her eyes. “So the CEO of this small publishing company downtown emailed me about a week and a half ago about a manuscript I sent.”

“Mhm.”

“And she wanted me to come in with a second draft of the manuscript to meet with her and her editor. So that’s what my meeting was today. Her name is Carol Wilkins of Wilkins Stories. The editor, Jackson Perry was so kind about my work. He truly was able to grasp the essence of my characters and had wonderful notes that just expanded my work tremendously.”

“Wait so this is still your book right? You didn’t like sell the story?”

Her expression changes from excitement to horror so fast that he has to hold on to the edge of the table to stable himself.

“Why would you ever suggest such a thing? I’ve literally poured my heart and soul into this manuscript-”

“Hey,” Raul grabs her hand, bringing her back to him. “I’m not the bad guy, I’m just trying to understand this side of your world. My brain is wrapping around the idea of an editor. To me they just make sure spelling and punctuation is correct.”

“Well yes but they also help with subjects and making sure the flow of the book works.”

“Okay, I’m sorry I asked what I did, I'm just trying to understand. I’m going to have questions about this. I have no idea what you’re doing or how you do it. You’re magical to me.”

She blushes as she rolls her eyes at him. “I just see an idea and write it. Describe it. It’s nothing special.”

“I’d begged to differ. Although you haven’t let me read this certain book, you have let me read a few shorts you wrote and the fact that you can create another world, another timeline with just words is magic. It’s pure magic that you could make my heart race and break and sink to my stomach with the way a character felt.”

“You’re too much.”

“I’m not enough, clearly since I asked the horrid question I did.”

“Hey.” She squeezes his hand, brows furrowing. “Never say that to me again. You’re everything and more.”

He gives her the best smile he can, but he can’t help but feel pretty low about himself right now. The fact that he had to stoop so low and ask his multimillionaire brother for money is killing him inside. He wants to make her happy, he wants to support and take care of her. He just isn’t stable enough in the shop to do so yet. Once he’s able to be stable and pay Shawn back he’ll start to feel a little better but right now he’s feeling like a grade A loser.

Raul walks into the empty cold apartment with grease smeared along his brow. His strong jawline is clenched with the stress of the day he’s had, but he’s ready to shower and have a lovely dinner in with his girl.

“Juniper Baby?” He asks, not recalling if he’d seen her car in the garage.

Walking around noticing the lights are off he assumes she’s on her way from the publishing house. It’s Wednesday which was ‘Masked Singer’ nights, and also their designated date night. It’s a random day of the week to have a date night, but it’s the slowest day of the week for the shop therefore making it the only day Raul is comfortable having Connor close up for him.

He takes this time to jump into the shower real quick and get himself all put together for his lady, making sure to shave and add a little gel to his curls. He slips on a nice sweater, one of her favorites, and sets off to the kitchen to make her dinner.

As he’s plating the chicken alfredo and garlic bread he realizes how late she is on coming home. He checks his phone and doesn’t see any messages and that makes his heart beat a little quicker. Dialling her number he takes the plates to the beat up folding card table they have set as a ‘dining room’.

“Hey you’ve reached June, I’m not able to answer the phone right now but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! Leave a message!”

He sighs as the tone sounds, “Hey Juni, just thought I’d let you know that dinner is served up for us. Um call me back when you get a chance. I can’t wait to see you, even though I’m sure you’ll walk through the door any minute. Okay I love you. Bye Baby.”

He clicks his phone off and goes to set the living room with a few blankets and pillows along with a few lit candles.

By 9 Raul’s pacing the apartment. He’s called her five times and every call has gone to voicemail. He’s scared because no one else has heard from her either.

When the sound of her key turning the lock on the door rings through the silent apartment Raul just about tackles her when she walks through the door. She yelps as he picks her up, sighing against her shoulder.

“Raul?” She asks confused as to what was going on.

“Are you okay?” He asks, pulling away to inspect her face. “Are you hurt? Was there an accident?”

“What?” She asks, “What are you talking about?”

“Why are you so late?” He takes a step back, arms flopping to his sides.

“I was editing with Jackson.” She takes her purse off and sets it on the table he puts his keys on. “He had this idea for-”

“But it’s date night.” He pouts. “I called you a bunch and texted you. You never responded.”

“You did?” She digs through her purse. “Oh Babe I’m sorry, I must have my phone on silent.”

“It’s still date night Juniper.” He crosses his arms. “You just bailed on me without saying anything?”

“It’s not da-” But when she looks at her phone seeing ‘Wednesday 9:07 pm’ flash on her screen she groans. “It’s date night. I’m sorry Babe. I had the days mixed up, I thought today was Tuesday.”

“I mean it’s cool if you want to bail, but at least tell me.” He says walking to the table and grabbing the two full plates of cold pasta.

“You made alfredo,” She whines. “That’s my favorite.”

“I know.”

“Raul I’m sorry.” She says grabbing his hand once he’s set the plates on the kitchen counter. “Honey I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. I totally bailed on you and that’s not cool. I’ll make it up to you.”

“I need to go to bed.”

“No! Raul please.”

“Connor closed tonight which means I have to open, and I left a ton of paperwork because of date night. I need to make up that time I skipped tonight. So I have to go in early tomorrow.”

“How early?” She asks. “Because I have to go in early too. Let’s do a breakfast date, to make up for tonight.”

“I have to be in at 7.” He rubs his chin. “The shop doesn’t open til 9, but I could push to like 8 if you wanna do breakfast.”

She flops into one of the camp chairs that’s set up at the table. “I have to go in at 6, Carol wants to go over the changes before she leaves town for the rest of the week. But maybe lunch?”

“I can't, I have to work through lunch tomorrow because Connor has a dentist appointment.”

“Then can we do date night right now?”

“I have to go to bed Juniper.” He says putting his hands on his hips. “I’ve been up since 5 this morning, I have to be up at 5 again tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“I’ve started going to the gym with Shawn in the morning. We meet at 6 and I go straight from the gym to work. I told you this! I’ve been doing this for like 3 weeks now. Shawn’s only in town for so long.”

“You didn’t go on Monday, you stayed and we took a shower before my meeting.”

“Shawn had an early morning meeting, but we met for coffee.”

“You had time to meet Shawn for coffee on Monday but couldn’t leave early?”

“Yes I needed to ask him something.”

“What did you need to ask him?”

“Something about the business.” He waved her off, walking to the bedroom.

“What was it?”

“Does it matter?” He turns to her, watching the hurt flash across her face. “I’m taking a shower.”

“You took one when you got home. I can tell.”

“I want to take another, is that a crime? This gel shit makes my hair all gross, and I’m starting to become upset and need a moment to collect myself.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna eat real quick and then can we talk about your day?”

“Sure.” He mumbled as he goes into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

“You never shut the door.” She whispers, staring at the closed bathroom door that's working well to divide them.

Raul only takes long showers when he’s upset or stressed and right now Juniper is worried it’s a combination of both considering it’s been almost an hour and a half and Raul is still in the bathroom.

She doesn’t want to invade on his personal time, but she’s really starting to worry.

“Raul, Baby?” She asks, knocking on the door softly.

“Yeah?” He croaks.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I come in? Join you maybe?” She asks, holding out hope that he’ll say yes.

“Um,” She hears him shuffling. “Sure.”

She smiles, knowing that her boy is still there. That he’s still with her, no matter how much she fucks up. She steps into the room quickly, stripping and slowly opening the curtain.

The sight she sees is like a sucker punch to the gut. Raul was standing under the shower head, curls stuck to his forehead, eyes red and puffy as if he’d been crying and his skin was bright red from the heat of the water.

“Baby.” She sighs, stepping in with him and turning the knob to turn the heat down a bit. “You’re gonna hurt your skin.” She whispers, hesitating to touch her.

“Okay.”

“Raul, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Please don’t lie to me. We’re already in rocky territory right now, let’s not make it worse.”

“We’re in rocky territory?” His voice cracks as he turns over his shoulder to peer at her.

“Are we?”

“You tell me?”

“Raul,” She sighs, shaking her head. “You have to tell me. I’m the one who fucked up here. I’m the one who forget about date night, I’m the one who ditched you. I’m the one beating myself up, so please tell me, are we?”

“I don’t think so.” He shakes his head. “And you don’t need to be beating yourself up. It’s okay Baby. I understand that you got caught up, and there’s been a lot on your plate suddenly. I’m so proud of you for doing this. There is just a lot going on at work right now, I’m struggling with the shop and I’m not dealing with it well.”

“What’s going on at the shop?” She asks, touching his bare back.

He relaxes at her touch, melting back into her. She slides her hands from his back around to his chest, stepping forward to hug him from behind. Resting her head between his shoulder blades, kissing at the red skin for a moment.

“Business went down when word spread that my dad retired. No one thinks I can handle the shop the way he did. No one thinks I can run the place. They all think I’m some delinquent, and not the one who was running the place a full year before Dad retired.”

“You are not delinquent.” She gasps, slipping around him to be face to face.

“Yeah well tell that to my tattoos and piercings.”

“What do tattoos and piercings have to do with how well you can work? With how successful you are?”

“I don’t know!” He cries. “Ask the fucking boomers.”

“Okay, boomer.” She snorts, remembering a reference her nephew said when she’d gone over to borrow her sisters suit. “Honestly Babe,” She plays with the slight dusting of chest hair he has. “I think you’re amazing at what you do. You understand everything with engines and motors so perfectly. You haven’t seen one car that you haven’t been able to fix. If your Dad’s old clients can’t see that, then they’re not the clients for you. It’s time to go out and find your own. I know you can do it.”

“I love you.” He sighs, tucking his face into the crook of her neck and shoulder. “You make everything better.”

“I love you too. I’m sorry I wasn’t here tonight to say this sooner. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s okay Baby.” He gives her a peck. “But I seriously need to go to bed. Shawn’s gonna kick my ass tomorrow if I’m dragging.”

She laughs and nods, turning the water off and stepping out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself before wrapping one around him.

With the persona Raul gives off to the public, no one would peg him as the jealous type. He just holds this confidence in the way he goes about his life. To truly know Raul, you know that he deep down has a hint of insecurity that can manifest and spin out of control.

He’s slowly starting to spin.

He’s yet to be able to pay Shawn back, and he knows within the next two weeks another bout of bills is going to roll in. If he doesn’t hit some sort of luck of gold he’s not gonna have enough to pay them again. He won’t go back to the bank of Shawn.

Peter has just been accepted into an internship that will, within a few years, lead him into the doors of Nasa just like he’s always dreamed off. Shawn’s been nominated for a Grammy, again, and his third world tour is almost over. Aaliyah has been accepted into University of Toronto to study Cinema Studies. Juniper is editing everyday, now seeing plans for book jackets and talking about a book signing tour.

While Raul, well Raul is resorting to handing out $5 off slips in the local grocery stores to drum up more business. He’s just feeling less and less of himself, watching those most important around him start to grow while he’s plateauing.

With all of this going on, it doesn’t help that his girlfriend comes home late at night after spending the day with Jackson. He’s all she can talk about now. ‘Jackson this’, ‘Jackson that’, Raul is slowly starting to lose his goddamn mind.

Peter sits in his office while he waits for him to be done charging a new client for the rock chip fix they completed on the front windshield. When he goes to his office he feels like he can breathe deeply again when he sees his brother there.

“So how are you doing?” Peter asks when Raul sits. “I haven’t heard from you lately.”

“Um, I’m really fucking stressed out.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is so much going wrong that I can’t keep up.”

“What do you mean?” Peter asks, sitting forward. “Why haven’t you asked for help?”

“I have.” He groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“You have?”

“I asked Shawn.”

“Oh.” Peter leans back, a bit hurt that he wasn’t asked.

“No Pete, not like that. It’s not like that.” Raul shakes his head. “I couldn’t pay rent.” He mumbled, not making eye contact with his brother. “And as much as it disgusted me, I felt more comfortable asking Shawn for money.”

“Oh Raul.” Peter leans forward to squeeze his brothers hand for a brief moment, letting him know that he’s there for him. “Are you okay?”

“I mean no, I’m not. It fucking sucked. It fucking sucks that I might not be able to pay rent next month either.”

“What’s going on? Are you not making money?”

“Well we lost a lot of clients when Dad announced his retirement, and because of that business dropped significantly. I’m working on bringing some back, but it’s taking longer than I expected.”

“Can I help at all?”

“Know about $4000 worth of cars that need fixing?”

“Well no,” Peter shakes his head. “But like, can us as a family help?”

“Well,” Raul rubs the slight stubble on his chin. “Loretta is planning to retire,” He says, talking about the front desk receptionist. “I was thinking of asking Li if she’d be interested. I mean, she could work around class, and I’d be real flexible, school comes first.”

“Totally, and if you need another mechanic I can jump in and help. More hands mean more cars right?”

“No, Pete you just got that internship.”

“Yeah, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.” Peter shrugs. “I ain’t got nothing going on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally, and like you can pay me minimum, I don’t need a whole lot. Plus I know you hate the new kid you hired. Brock right?”

“Yeah,” Raul sighs. “I mean he shows a bit of potential but like he’s so arrogant, and rude to customers. He’s driving away business.”

“So get rid of him, bring me on, keep Connor. And we’ll make it a family business again.”

“Are you sure Pete? Because I don’t want to overwhelm you, you’re dreams need to come before the shop.”

“No don’t do that.” Peter shakes his head. “The shop is your dream. My dreams aren’t superior to yours.”

“Let me talk to Li before we make any final plans okay?” Raul says, standing to hug his brother, because it feels like a weight was just completely lifted from his shoulders.

“Hey!” Aaliyah cheered when she looked up to see Raul walking into her bedroom. She hadn’t know he was coming over.

“Hey Kid.” He smiled, catching her as she leapt into his arms for a hug. “How you doing?”

“I’m good, staying busy.” She laughs, sitting back on her bed while Raul sits in the chair that sits at her vanity.

“How busy?”

“Um, just school and hockey.”

He nods, and looks around her room to stall.

“What’s up Raul? Why’d you stop by?”

“Can’t want to see my baby sister?” He asks looking back at her again.

“You can, if you ever did.” She giggled. “So what’s up?”

“Hey, I want to see you all the time.” He objects.

“Raul, you’re stalling. I know you, what’s up?”

“You want a job?” He blurts, eyes wide.

“What?” She breathes out.

“Fuck me,” He groans. “Okay what I meant to say is, Loretta at the shop is retiring, but she told me she’d wait until I found her replacement before she left the shop. She’s all worried with Dad retiring and now her that I’ll be left alone and screw the whole shop up. I know that’s not the case, but as I was thinking about replacing Loretta, I realized that all the people I’ve had to replace doesn’t make the shop feel like home anymore. It doesn’t feel like a family. I’d like to get back to that. So,” He shrugs, “If you’re looking for a job, that you can have through college, I’d love for you to join me at the shop as the receptionist.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I think you’d be really good at it. You know everything there is to know about the shop already, you know most of the customers. I’d be there with you everyday, Pete a few days out of the week.”

“Wait, Pete?”

“Yeah Pete talked to me about taking Brock’s shifts because his new internship is only three days a week. He’s willing to help out, and it’ll give him practice on working on motors before he goes all pro and starts working for Nasa.”

“I hate that Brock guy, he’s a creep.”

“He is, he’d be completely gone if you join us. I don’t want you around him, or really vice versa.”

“But I’ll have class.”

“And as your super proud older brother I’d much rather you go to class than to the shop. So if you did decide to join us, I’d be totally flexible to your schedule. We can switch it up anytime we need to, like if you feel you need more time to study one week that’s perfectly fine. If you want more hours because you don’t have so much going on, then you’ll have them. Whatever you want, I'll give you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I want you Li. I miss seeing you everyday, and I think you’d be a great asset to the shop I’m trying to run.”

“Okay, yes. I’m in.”

“Oh my god!” Raul cheers, jumping up to hug his sister. “Yay! I can’t wait.”

“So what else is going on? I saw June like two weeks ago and she seems busy.”

“She is.” Raul nods. “She’s really busy.”

“You sound, bitter? About that.” She says, trying to figure out what the right word is to describe Raul’s reaction.

“I just,” He sighs. “I just feel a little jealous I guess. She spends so much time with Jackson, her editor. He’s literally all she talks about when she’s home. I can’t go two sentences without the guys name being in there. I love her to death, and their closeness scares me a little.”

“Raul, no, she loves you.”

“Lately, I’ve been worried about that. I just feel so inadequate. This Jackson guy has so much to offer her. I mean he’s her editor to start, but like he also knows what the fuck she talks about 99% of the time. While I’m over here floundering because she’s talking hyperbole's and foreshadowing. I mean I stay up late just to look those fucking words up because I don’t remember jackshit from school.”

“But you care Raul, I mean you’re looking the words up for heaven's sake.”

“I’m just a mechanic Li, not even a good one at that. How am I any help to her. I don’t read, ever, and I can’t proof her shit because I don’t know what that entails. I mean she doesn’t even let me read her work anyway, that’s how ashamed she is.”

“She is not ashamed of you Raul. You mean so much more to her than you even know. It’s astounding the way she speaks about you. I can’t even begin to do it justice because I can’t. You’re everything to her, you just need to listen when she tells you so.”

“I don’t know Li.”

“I think you need to talk to her about this. I think she needs to know how you’re feeling. How is it supposed to get better when the person you’re stressed over doesn’t even know your stressed about them?”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

“Then go home and talk to her, please.”

“It is date night, maybe I’ll talk to her tonight.” He nods, kissing his sisters cheek as a goodbye as he starts to leave. “I’ll text you when I’ve fired Brock, I don’t want you to start until he’s gone.”

Raul checks his phone as he gets in his car, noticing he’s got a few texts.

iMessage from Superstar Shawn: Okay loser, Petey’s coming by tonight for pizza and beer to watch the game. Be there or be square.

iMessage from Pete’s Dragon: What did Li say?

iMessage from My Juni <3: Hey, sorry honey I can’t make it home in time for date night tonight. Carol wants to talk book jacket bio

Raul rolls his eyes, replaying her ‘it won’t happen again’ back in his head. He knows he shouldn’t be upset and grumpy over this. Her dreams are coming true and that’s all he’s ever wanted for her. He just didn’t realize for her dreams to come true, their relationship would be put on hold.

iMessage to Superstar Shawn: I’ll be there

iMessage to Pete’s Dragon: I’ll tell ya tonight.

Raul has distanced himself a bit from Juniper, not wanting to ask the dire questions he needs answered in the slight chance that he won’t get the answer he wants. The ‘what if’ is too grave for him to risk.

Since she’s cancelled on him twice now for date night, in favor of working on her book he just feels like right now that’s the most important thing in her life. He’s trying to allow her to let that be important without her having to worry about anything else that’s going on in their lives at the moment.

The distance is something that’s taking a toll on Juniper. She’s been asked to write a more in-depth version of one of the last chapters of her book, and since the inspiration for the book seems to be super far away, she’s in the worst block she’s ever had.

“Juniper, go home.” Jackson says. “You need the night with him, actually you need like a week straight alone with him.”

What Juniper didn’t expect to find when she walked in the door was Raul hunched over the table, head in his hands as he reads through a bunch of paperwork.

“Hey.” She says softly, hoping not to startle him. “What’s all this?” She asks, referring to the opened envelopes all over the table.

“Nothing.” Raul grunts. “What’s wrong? Why are you home?”

“Hi, nice to see you too Dear.” She pokes his shoulder, teasingly. “I wanted to spend some time with you. I miss my boyfriend.”

“Well he’s always here Juniper.” Raul spits, shrugging off her hands that had started to massage his shoulders. She stares at the back of his head appalled that he’d called her Juniper, not Juniper Baby.

“I know, and I appreciate that. I’m always here for you too.” She plants a kiss to his mop of curls.

“No you’re not.” He stands, grabbing the papers in a rush. As he turns to walk out of the dining room area that leads to the kitchen, he drops a paper. Juniper reaches down to grab it for him, but looks at it first.

“What is this?” She gasps. “A final notice?”

“Give me that.” Raul turns on his heel in a hurry to snatch the paper form her.

“Wait, is this our phone bill?” She steps out of his reach as she continues to read the bill.

“No!” He reaches for it again.

“Wait-” She stops him, pulling the other bills from his hands. Watching as he sighs in defeat, hanging his head. “Almost all of these are final notices.”

“Yeah well.” He scratches the back of his neck as she siffles through papers.

“Raul,” She looks up at him. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? I thought we were in this together, no?”

At this Raul snaps, his spin spins out of control and he loses it all.

“Me too!” He raises his voice. “But lately you haven’t been here! I’ve been here,” He points to his chest. “Me, I’ve been here. And guess what Juniper, we’re fucking broke. News flash, you’re 16 hour days of editing are unpaid.”

“Hey.” She says softly.

“I can’t do it on my own anymore. I mean fuck, the shop is just now starting to make money again. This is the first month I’ve been able to pay myself since I took over. We can finally make this month’s rent by the skin of our teeth.”

“Wait.” She stops him, now starting to ramp up to his anger. “If you’ve just now been able to pay yourself, then how have we paid rent the four months we’ve lived here?”

“Well the first two months totally drained my savings, and last month I had to go to Shawn.”

She gasps as she looks at him. She takes a step back, eyes wide, mouth agape. “You what?”

“I had to, what else was I going to do?”

“Talking to me about it would have been a good start. You didn’t Raul, you didn’t drain everything?”

“How were we going to pay rent?” He exclaims, waving his hands around. “Hate to say it, but this hellhole we live in that barely has heat and no dishwasher is expensive.”

“Raul,” Her eyes go misty. “I can’t believe you.”

“What? What did I do now? Sorry I’m not fucking perfect okay? I was just trying to be enough so you could live out your dream. But I couldn’t fucking do it on my own, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t.”

“We were supposed to do it together Raul.” She sighs, shaking her head.

“How?” He laughs desperately. “How was I supposed to help make your dreams come true in any other way? Hmm? I’m not Jackson, Juniper. I can’t edit your writing, I mean you won’t even let me read it. I get it, I’m not smart like you. I don’t read and write, I understand you don’t want me to read your work. The least I can do, to feel somewhat adequate in this relationship was to make sure you weren’t worried about money.”

“What?” She stares at him. “What do you mean feel adequate in this relationship?” She stands appalled at the words he’s just spoken.

“I mean, what else am I to you?”

“The love of my life.” She cuts him off. “How could you think otherwise? Raul I don’t need you to be able to edit my work. I don’t need you to read or be anything you aren’t. I need you to be you. I need you.” She wipes away the tear that’s rolling down her cheek. “I can’t believe I’ve made you feel that way. You’re everything to me. I haven’t let you read my work, but not because I don’t want you to. Or that I think you’re not smart enough, or some bullshit like that. Because that’s, that’s utter bullshit. Raul I haven’t let you read my book because it’s about you, and I’m scared that it’s not perfect enough to show you yet.”

“It’s what?” Raul deflates, falling back into the counter a little.

“It’s about you. It’s a love story between a young author and a mechanic.” She digs through her backpack that she set next to the table when she walked in. She grabs a book and hands it to him. “This is the first printed copy. It’s not the actual copy we’ll print because we’re still adding scenes. But this was my manuscript I sent in. Carol printed it for me so I can have both this copy and the edited copy to compare.”

Raul stares at the book in her hands, at the book jacket that reads ‘Gears of Love’. She holds it out to him, and gently he takes the book. He turns it over to read the back summary that reads.

A love story like no other. Can dreams really lead you to the rest of your life? Follow Katie Fallon, an aspiring author who meets Bryce Mills when her car breaks down on her way home from the library one night. Bryce is the local mechanic who tows Katie's car back to his shop. It’s a tale for the ages as Katie consistently bumps into Bryce around town, and Bryce falls head over engines for the cute girl that dotted her I’s with hearts.

“You dot your I’s with hearts.” Raul looks up, staring into Juniper’s eyes.

“When you read the book you’ll find out that Bryce has a head of brown curls, and the most annoying brothers Katie’s ever met. It doesn’t mention it in the summary, but Bryce is a triplet.”

“You wrote a book about me?” Raul whispers, eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, you inspired me the first day you ever walked into Amy’s. I started writing this book then. After our first date the whole idea just took off, and with every day I’ve spent with you after this book has grown more and more. Honestly, I’m writing the sequel right now.”

“A sequel?” He smiles.

“It’s why I’ve been spending so much time with Jackson, rewriting the end of this book so I can lead into the sequel seamlessly.”

“Oh Juniper Baby.” He coos, bending his knees enough to pick her up and hauled her into his chest. “You’re amazing.”

“I love you so much Raul. I’m sorry I’ve made you feel otherwise.”

“No Baby, I should have talked to you about it sooner.”

“I should have been talking to you about all of this from the get go, and I shouldn’t have cancelled another date night.”

“Stop.”

“No you stop, I’m apologizing.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Raul.” She pulls back to look at him. “I want-”

“If the next word out of your mouth isn’t cuddles then you might as well just not say anything. Because I’m gonna take you into our bedroom, and cuddle the shit out of you while I explain to you all the changes I made to the shop, and how we need to, as a couple, figure out our saving plan. Okay?”

“Okay.” She nods.

“First give me a kiss?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

This book is dedicated to my amazing boyfriend Raul. He’s my daily inspiration and without his love and support this book would have never happened. This is all for you Honey, I love you!

Raul cried when she gave him his very owned signed copy, reading the dedication in the front broke the tears from his eyes.

“Oh Juniper Baby.” He whined, turning around hugging her as she hands the rest of his family their copies as well. “I can’t believe you.”

“Ha! Raul you’re the dedication.” Aaliyah laughs, reading the page. “That’s so sweet.”

“It was the least I could do.”

“Babe,” Raul shakes his head. “You just bought us a new TV.”

“Well, I mean you needed something to go with your new Xbox.”

“You got a new Xbox?” Peter pipes up.

“Yeah was gonna invite you over for a game night this week.” Raul smiles, wiggling his eyebrows at Peter. “Since she’s forcing me to keep it after I’ve told her a thousand times to take it back.” He gives Juniper a look.

“I wanted to get you something, now shut up about it.”

“I’m in.” Peter nods dumbly.

“Y’all I better have an invite, it’s been awhile since I beat your ass at Fifa.” Aaliyah shoved her brothers shoulders.

“Will Shawn be in town?” Juniper asked.

“Um, I think he gets back in town Wednesday.” Peter said. “So does Thursday work?”

“Works perfect for me.” Aaliyah speaks up.

“Yeah we can hang after work.” Raul nods.

“How’s the shop Raul?” Manuel asks.

“It’s going really well, we made almost $6000 more than we were projected to this last month. Was able to give everyone a bit of a bonus for hanging in there and getting us through the tough times. But it’s good. Business is racking up for holidays.”

“Yeah we have like 6 oil changes scheduled for tomorrow and Peter’s still working on that Jeep while Raul’s working on a Motorcycle for some primo guy from the Hamptons right?” Aaliyah smiles.

“Yeah shipped his bike all the way here because I happened to work on one of his buddies bikes a few weeks back. He’s paying top dollar for parts and labor. It’s a good deal, and it’s a nice bike to work on.” Raul nods.

“I’m proud of you Raul, you really turned the shop around. I knew you were the perfect fit.”

“Hmm,” Juniper smiles, rubbing Raul’s back. “I feel like I’ve said that a time or two.”

“I know,” Raul nods. “Thank you for believing in me.”

“Thank you for believing in me.” She smiles.

375 notes · View notes

just-things-things · 4 years

Note

Oh my gosh Assassin!Peter Parker GO! Also as a bonus question favorite and least favorite fanfiction tropes.

Ah, yes, I love me some assassin Peter Parker. Honestly, I just love the concept of evil Peter sooooo much, so thank you for the ask! I hope this is good for you!

Also, to answer your questions, I love all fanfiction tropes, but I'm probably going to have to go with "there's only one bed" and "slow burn fics" as my favorite tropes. I also love writing Alternative Universe Au's, but I'm not confident enough to post them. They're kind of really out there. :/ And the only trope I don't like that much/just haven't found a good story for is Peter teaching an older Morgan to become Iron Woman. I really like the concept, but just haven't found a good fic done for it. Someone should DEFINITELY leave suggestions in the comments :)

Lastly, I'm writing this at work, lol, so it's a bit rushed:

_____

He likes to think everything he's done is for a good cause. Really, if you only look at the minimal details, truly you'd see the nature behind his decisions. There's no point in watching how he kills people, or the satisfactory look he gets when collecting his prize.

At least, that's how Peter looks at it. Peter Parker - the more humane side of his alter ego. He remembers clearly when his job - his life - really started.

It was a cold September, the start of a freezing winter. He remembers being so scared for a moment before his insides were filled with pure rage and vengeance.

Looking back on it, his reaction might have been normalized for someone who had witnessed their Uncle's murder. And he was only thirteen at the time, young enough to substitute jail for juvenile detention.

After cradling Ben and listening to, "With great power, comes great responsibility," for the last time, he realized his responsibility. He was responsible for two things.

Ben's untimely death. And two:

For catching his Uncle's murderer.

Maybe his decision making was far fetched, maybe Ben never wanted this to happen, but in a panicked moment, Peter fled the seen for a man in a hooded jacket and 380 ACP.

He chased the guy five blocks to catch him. To tackle the man in an abandoned warehouse and when on top, he found a renowned strength. He had never throw a punch before. He never remembered being that strong.

While the punching continued, Peter wasn't planning on killing the criminal, but in their flurry of movement and the man reaching for his gun, he freaked out. It was either kill or be killed. He didn't want to join Ben yet, he couldn't leave May alone. He had a responsibility.

So, twisting the other's wrist and catching the gun mid-air, he aimed and shot two bullets. The man spasmed as Peter rolled over, taking two large breaths and throwing the weapon into a corner. He laid there for what seemed like hours, trying to find a way out.

In the end, the body ended up in the Hudson River. Peter returned home - bloody and bruised - to find May gone. A note was left to go to the local police station with twenty dollars on top.

He didn't go. Instead, he used his extra time to get the grime off himself in the shower. Afterwards, he called May to tell him he was home and would take a taxi as soon as he could. She yelled at him for ten minutes, wondering where he had been, why he didn't answer his phone or call earlier, in the end she broke down, apologizing and saying she'd be home in a few minutes.

By the time she returned, he had finished brewing some tea and cooking a couple of eggs. It was already four in the morning. Peter held his Aunt for the next three hours. Letting her grieve, letting himself listen to his own thoughts. He didn't cry, didn't feel bad about the man he killed - by now he was comfortably numb.

He knew he had to be more careful. He knew he had to figure out why he could punch so hard, what other things - powers - his body had obtained.

And when he found out his unnatural ability and crazy amouts of strength, Spider-Man would be born.

When he first took on the mantle and name of a "Superhero," that's all he intended it to be. To save people and help get other out of harm's way. To be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

The first illegal thing he did in his beginner suit was break into Oscorp. After months of fighting crime in a ratty sweatshirt, he was sure need of an upgrade.

So, with Peter's high IQ he produced a flashdrive with Oscorp's codes and firewall breakthroughs. Everything about the company could be found on a tiny store-bought chip.

Sneaking into the place was harder, making sure to use the right codes and not set off any alarms was difficult, but once he was in and posing as an intern, things had ran smoothly. He worked diligently in a lab, constructing a functional suit with new designs and better usages.

Getting out was simpler, deciding to strut out the front entrance with his new suit in a backpack gave him an adrenaline rush, causing him to run to a bathroom to change for patrol. That would lead to his second illegal action in a suit.

Even though he was excited, the streets surely were not. About to finish his sandwich from Mr. Delmar (it was on the house) and return to the apartment, a lady yelled out from below his streetlamp, "Hey, you're that Spider-Guy, right?"

Startled, he nodded and hurriedly pulled his mask down, "Uh, yeah. Spider-Man, actually, but that's me, do you need help with anything, or something?"

"Yeah, I do. But we shouldn't really talk about it here. C'mon down, little spider." Peter gulped, conflicted on running or following the women. Looking up and down the street, he found it empty.

"Why can't we talk right here?" Realization dawned on him and he dropped his voice to a whisper, "Is someone following you."

The women nodded. Peter hopped down to her level, taking her arm in his, "Do you think we can pass as a couple. I mean - I'm wearing a suit."

"I noticed, it's new. I've been looking for you." Closer now, Peter could see the women's features more sharply. Hazel eyes shaped with cutting-edge cheekbones and wavy-ginger hair.

"Who's following you?" There was no point in beating around the bush.

"My husband, he's about two blocks behind with a pocket knife."

Peter glanced at the store they passed, "Do you want me to go take care of him. I can call the police and have him sent to jail, only if you have proof, though."

"Don't believe me?"

"I do, but I also know the cops won't do anything without evidence. It'll be a lost cause then."

She sighed, "I don't want to get the cops involved. I want you to kill him."

Spider-Man stopped, "What?"

The women pulled him into an alley way and oped her purse. She pushed a smaller bag into his hands, "I need you to kill him."

Peter was shaking, he didn't understand. He slowly opened the bag, it was full of wads of cash, "That's seven thousand dollars. Go kill him, call me when it's done." He watched as the women pulled out a paper and pen, scribbling down her phone number.

"I can't."

She stared at him, almost like she could see through the mask. Groaning, she replied, "Fine," she ripped the money out of his hands and began leaving the alley way.

Peter froze. Seven thousand dollars. That was alot of cash. And it was rent week, he knew May couldn't pay it. He also knew he needed a new computer. Decisions. It seemed that's all his life was right now. So many decisions.

May needed the money. It was his responsibility to help get it for her.

"Wait! I'll, I'll take the job." The women looked over her shoulder and grinned,

"I knew you would, I'll be waiting."

By the time he left the crevice between the buildings, the husband was already on their street.

Peter swung and landed in front of the man, startling him. The boy could already tell from his drunken-state that this would be easy.

"He has a pocket knife," the words rang in his head. Peter looked down and sure enough there was a bulge in his pants in the form of a small dagger.

"Is that a knife or are you just happy to see me?"

The man shoved him, "Beat it, Kid. I don't have time fore games."

"Yeah?" Peter cocked his head, "Neither do I." He shoved his knee in between the man's legs, watching him double over and then using his strength to throw him into a post.

With the other's uneasiness he webbed his chest and catapulted him into the air. Climbing in the apartment and swinging the man upwards to finish things on the roof.

He didn't feel bad when the guy crashed against the fire escape. He was unconscious when they reached the top, his breath evened out and forehead already swelling. Peter stared.

After a moment, he fished out the knife and undid it. This would be the easier part, he knew where to position the blade and where to put pressure against the man's skin.

He didn't take honors biology for nothing.

Finishing the job, he called the women after sending a picture of her husband. With the seven thousand dollars he should invest in a burner phone.

"Good work, Spider-Man. I have another job for you, but that can wait till later. Get rid of the body and the cash is yours. I'll leave it behind the dumpsters." She hung up before he could say anything. That left him with a dead man and a prize to collect.

He later found himself counting the cash and debating on when he should call the women back. He knew the answer, though. He shouldn't. You need the money, he reminded himself.

In good news, he received a new laptop and burner phone all while sneaking May money for rent at the end of the week. He still had a shit ton of good money left. Even treating May and him to dinner. She never questioned anything.

After Peter calling the mysterious alley way women back on his newer phone, things began to slowly progress.

It led to him taking on another case for her and her pointing him into the direction of others in need of his help. He started going for more and more people, getting more money, taking even more people, all while maintaining the name, "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man."

No one suspected a thing and his clients list kept growing. He didn't feel bad, hell, he only killed bad people. In his mindset, how could he be doing anything wrong?

Over the course of three years, his "buisness" grew and he upgraded his suits and weaponry. Most of the time, he preferred just his strength and webs, sometimes a knife if necessary, it was less of a mess, anyway. Of course, some jobs required the guns and larger daggers. They were easy enough to obtain, with his status between the dark web, anything was easy to obtain.

He never didn't take a job as long as the work could be done in New York, it was simpler that way.

There was one job he couldn't take, the one that frightened him the most and ironically had the largest bounty he'd seen. He was shocked when he pulled the invitation up. Two million dollars for the one and only May Parker.

_____

Ooh, a cliffhanger! I don't know if there will be a second part, sorry! Maybe if this gets enough love I'll consider! Speaking of, there will be an updated master list of things to drop in my ask box, hopefully tonight! Of course, if you have any other ideas or want me to do a second part of something, just ask! Thank you for the ask @etherithical

#assassin peter parker

12 notes · View notes

therollingstonys · 5 years

Text

Last Stop Before Malibu

A very happy birthday to my best friend and co-mod, Tina!! Hope you enjoy love!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve leans against the side of the building, watching as cars flow by, the stench of diesel heavy in the air and thick in the back of his throat. For many the travel day is ending as the sun fades, but for Steve, his day is just beginning.

He’s had a few customers already, nothing too fancy, just bathroom blow jobs and handies—nothing that will pay the bills though. He’s hungry and there’s not much left in his fridge, or his bank account, and the fifty bucks in his back pocket won’t do much to pay the rent at the shitty motel he calls home.

Shoving a hand under the rim of his ballcap he runs a hand through his sweat damp hair, nose wrinkling at the sensation—he could use a shower despite the short time he’s been out here. It’s August in the desert and that means sneakers melting on hot asphalt and two showers a day—not that he can afford to use that much water a day.

So he’s hot, and sweaty and maybe a little dehydrated, but he can’t waste his hard earned cash on a drink—not till he’s made at least two hundred bucks.

An eighteen wheeler rolls in and Steve looks up, brows lifting when a woman with red hair and curves for miles hops out. She gases up the rig and is joined a few moments later by a man with dark hair and the oddest looking prosthetic arm Steve’s ever seen—he didn’t know they came in metal.

The man eyes him hungrily when he strides past into the gas station and when he comes back a few minutes later he smirks at Steve on his way past. The couple stands by the rig, shooting him looks before they approach and it’s the woman who does the talking, head tilted at an angle as she studies him.

“How much for us both?” she asks softly, gaze trailing down his body.

“Two hundred.”

It’s said fast, greedily—he’s had others ask for a threesome before and most don’t mind shelling out a little more, so he hopes that holds true for these two. They look well dressed and clean, a lot better than he’s dealt with in the past.

The woman nods and smirks, “Two hundred it is.” She glances around and her gaze lands on the nearby motel, “There,” she murmurs, jerking her chin toward it, “Get a room and we’ll meet you.”

Steve nods and waits till they start to walk away to hurry over to the motel. He pushes the reception door open and is engulfed in cool air that smells like coolant from the machine vibrating under the window.

He smiles at Wanda and baby Peter, “Hey guys,” he says with a finger wave to the little boy, grinning when he laughs and claps happily. “Can I get a room?” he asks Wanda, sliding her a twenty when she hands over a key wordlessly.

She knows how he makes his money and doesn’t judge—her dead husband was the one who found her on the street, strung out and beat up by a bad john. He brought her home, gave her a new life and a baby and then died a month after Peter was born—heart attack.

Steve nods his thanks and waves goodbye to Peter, his laughter bright as the door swings shut behind him. Hot air engulfs him like a furnace and he shifts uncomfortably as the fabric of his shirt sticks to the small of his back.

He unlocks the room door and steps inside just as the eighteen wheeler pulls up. He makes eye contact with the couple and nods before closing the door, pulse skipping faster as he debates stripping and prepping himself.

Some clients like to do it themselves, others prefer it to be done already—and he’s not sure which these two will be.

The door swings open behind him and he turns, jeans half undone and hanging from his hips, to find the couple watching him hungrily. The woman saunters forward and circles him, slides a hand over his back and down to grab his ass and he shivers at the touch, pushes back into it a little.

His gaze is locked with the man’s, dark and hungry and watchful and it makes his gut clench with need. There’s a soft laugh from behind him and then a tongue swipes up the side of his neck, a hum of pleasure following it and then soft lips and softer words brush his ear.

“Oh honey, we’re gonna have such a good time.”

Steve emerges from the hotel room hours later, stiff, sore and tired. He shuffles down to his room and pushes inside, swaying with how exhausted he is. Stripping his sweaty clothes off takes more energy than it should and he almost cries when his shirt gets stuck on his ear for a minute and his hip bangs into the shitty Formica countertop of the bathroom sink, but then he’s free and naked and stumbling into the shower.

He stays in longer than he normally would, letting the water get fully hot instead of just the chilly blast he spends too little time under in the mornings. Leaning against the wall of the shower, he closes his eyes and lets the heat sink into his skin and ease away the aches.

The woman—Natasha she’d called herself—and her partner James had used his body for hours before none of them could go anymore and his body feels every inch the used and wrung out thing it now is.

He’d lost count of how many times he came—the last two had left him sobbing, his cock raw feeling and his prostate so sensitive it hurt. He’s covered in hickies and scratches and his ass aches and it all feels so damn good that if he wasn’t half asleep and wrung dry, he’d be hard.

He stumbles out of the shower when the water turns cold and wipes a towel over his skin before flopping onto the bed, groaning as his aching body protests. The red numbers on his alarm read 12:53am and he stares at them till his lids droop and he sinks into dreamless slumber, drooling into his lumpy pillow.

A wad of cash lays on the bedside table, thick and smelling faintly of strawberry lube—$350–a night well spent and money hard earned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve’s fridge is full, his phone paid up for another month and his room is paid up for two weeks and he still has ten dollars left over so he puts it in the safe he’d bought when he first landed here eight months ago and sighs when he sees the measly amount he’s managed to accrue in that time.

He has plans to go to Los Angeles and get an apartment and work on his art, but it never seems like he’s saved enough. Every month that passes brings a new expense—he still hasn’t managed to finish repairs on his motorcycle, and with every week that passes he’s not sure he’ll ever have enough to get it back to working order.

He’s only earned two hundred dollars in the last three days—a slow week for him. He pays for yet another test at the local clinic to make sure he’s still clean and takes the PREP they give him—most clients are willing to use condoms but he’s been stealthed a few times and he’d rather deal with the side effects than have HIV.

He’s dusty and dirty, coated in grease and sweat as he works on his bike, cursing the wrench as it slips for the third time and his knuckles smack into the sharp edge of the carburetor.

“Shit! Fuck! Fucking piece of shit!”

He rises to his feet and sucks the blood from his knuckles, pulse thrumming as he restrained himself from kicking the damn thing over.

A low chuckle has him spinning to find a man more handsome than a movie star smiling at him, beard trimmed to perfection and eyes bright with amusement from behind tinted sunglasses.

“That’s a thing of beauty, what did she do to you?”

Steve huffs and laughs softly, shaking his head, “Damn bolt won’t loosen,” he says with a wave of his hand toward the bike.

The man nods and then grins, “Mind if I take a look?” he asks taking a half step forward.

Steve looks him over incredulously—his suit looks more expensive than all of Steve’s possessions and cash combined; “You’re gonna ruin your suit,” he points out, waving a hand at himself to make his point.

The man just shrugs and starts taking off his jacket, tosses it over the handlebars and goes to work on his crisp white sleeves. “I’ll buy another,” he says carelessly and then holds his hand out for the wrench dangling uselessly from Steve’s fingers.

Steve hands it over and watches as the man crouches down and starts working the bolt loose by inches, sweet talking to it the whole time in a way that makes Steve’s blood heat in a way that has nothing to do with the sun pounding down on them.

There you go darling, loosen up for me, just like that.

Yea you just need a gentle touch, huh?

Ahhh that’s my good girl, let go for me

Steve turns away, flushed and thirsty, though the water he gulps down seems to do little to actually quench his thirst.

“There we go,” the man says and Steve turns to find him smiling brightly, a pleased look on his face as he holds out the bolt in question. His shirt and forearms are smeared with grease and Steve frowns—he’d warned the man.

“Uh, thanks,” he murmurs, reaching out so the man can drop it into his palm.

The man grins and waves a hand at the bike, “I haven’t seen a 76 Triumph since I was a kid,” he says excitedly, “Where did you find it?”

Steve pockets the bolt and grabs the hem of his tank top, pulling it up to wipe the sweat and grease off his face as he replies, “It was my dad’s. He was a Vietnam vet,” he explains, straightening out his shirt and looking up at the other man in time to see a familiar look of lust pass over his face before it’s replaced with something polite and urbane.

“Very nice,” the man murmurs with a nod, “well, I uh, I should let you get back to it,” he says, hesitating for a second before extending his hand to Steve, “Tony, and uh, thanks for letting me tinker with it.”

Steve takes the proffered hand and is surprised by the calluses—this man seems more like the type to have manicured nails than work roughened palms.

“Uh yea sure, anytime,” Steve murmurs, smiling softly, some soft longing in his gut as the older man starts to walk away, jacket tucked over one arm. He doesn’t want him to leave, and before he can stop himself he steps forward and calls out.

“There’s a great diner about a mile away, has the best shakes and fries,” he blurts, “you wanna grab a bite?”

Tony stares at him for a long moment and then cracks a grin, “I could eat.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They talk over burgers and fries and it’s around the time that Tony’s telling him a funny story about his best friend James that Steve realizes he hasn’t smiled and laughed this much in years.

He likes Tony, a lot more than he should, and more than that, he wants him. The way Tony’s hands move is distracting, enticing thoughts of them on his body and he flushes, trying to pull his attention back to what Tony’s saying.

When he does focus in he realizes that Tony’s smiling at him knowingly, twirling a fry in his fingers.

“So, I hate to be presumptuous, but if I offered to take you back to my hotel to spend the night, would that be more or less expensive than this meal?”

Steve flushes and ducks his chin; there’s something about Tony that makes him weak and hot, desperate feeling. “It uh, it wouldn’t cost anything,” he murmurs, looking up at Tony through his lashes.

Tony’s brows rise for a moment before he smirks and shuffles out of the booth and pulls his wallet out, throws a handful of bills on the table and then cocks his head, “You coming sweetheart?” he asks.

Steve scrambles to his feet without hesitation, limbs feeling gawky and too large for the space they occupy. He follows Tony out to the flashy Audi he’d drove them here in and slides into the seat, pulse fluttering as Tony winks at him and revs the engine before pulling out.

They whip through the night till the town appears on the horizon and then minutes later screech into the parking lot below the building, the cheap fluorescent lights making his skin look golden as they pass beneath them.

It’s quiet on the elevator ride up, tense and heavy with expectation, want building between them like an electric charge. Tony’s hand weighs heavy at the small of his back, guiding him toward the oncoming door.

When it shuts behind them Tony presses him up against the door in a move that leaves his head spinning and guy clenching with need. Dark eyes stare up at him, smiling and hungry, the hand at the base of his throat pinning him in place.

“You know what safewords are?” he demands of Steve, fingers pressing into the skin of his throat, lips curving upward. Steve nods breathlessly, breaths harsh and excited between them, the heat of Tony’s hand searing into him.

“Good, tell me yours then get undressed,” Tony commands and steps back, dark eyes glinting.

“Shield,” Steve gasps, hands shaking as he works the buttons of his shirt open, heart pounding beneath his ribs as Tony walks to the bar and pours himself a drink, gaze never leaving Steve.

It’s a heavy thing, Tony’s gaze, like a warm, heavy blanket and he shivers under it, shoving his worn jeans down after kicking off his boots. He’s naked, exposed, and Tony’s smirking as he moves to sit on the couch, legs spread wide and an arm thrown over the back of the couch.

He’s the picture of indolent pleasure, gaze hooded as he beckons Steve over with a lazy wave of his wrist. It feels like there’s a tug beneath his ribs, a lure pulling him closer, connected to the hand that Tony holds out to him.

He’s aware of every inch of his body from the cool marble beneath his bare feet to the hot heavy weight of his cock between his legs, the hot pool of arousal in his gut making him twitchy and desperate for touch.

He pauses between Tony’s legs and swallows hard, fighting the urge to squirm as Tony sips his scotch and smirks up at him. “My my aren’t you a big boy,” he teases, lifting a brow and giving Steve’s cock a pointed look.

Steve flushes a deeper shade of crimson and ducks his head, shoulders bowing forward as Tony chuckles. “You look so pretty like that darling,” he murmurs, “but why don’t you come here,” he says, motioning toward his lap.

Steve hesitates for a moment and then moves to straddle Tony’s lap, gasping softly when his cock drags over the silk, hips rocking forward into the sensation. Tony’s free hand falls to his hip and steadies him, grinning when Steve whines at the loss of stimulation.

“Now darling, be patient,” Tony murmurs with a soft tutting sound, “I want to play with your pretty cock, you just sit still and be quiet,” he orders. Steve swallows hard and nods, though he can’t hold back his gasp when Tony’s hand closes around his cock.

Tony hushes him again and strokes him just once before stopping to play with the head of his cock peeking out from his foreskin. Steve shudders and bites his lip, holding in his gasps as Tony strokes his thumb over the head of his cock, the pleasure like electric shocks, surging under his skin and up his spine.

Tony watches his face as he pulls back his foreskin slowly, thumb pressing into the tender skin just below the fat head of his cock, and Steve can’t help the gasp that rises from his chest, head falling back at the rush of pleasure in his veins.

It stops abruptly and Steve whines, head sloping back down to find Tony has stopped touching him in favor of sipping his scotch, a smirk playing around his lips. “Wh-why?” he gasps and Tony chuckles, sips his scotch.

“I told you to hush darling, if you can’t do that maybe we should stop,” Tony murmurs, rueful amusement in his voice. Steve shakes his head, desperation roaring through his veins, hips arching in search of pleasure.

Tony chuckles again and sets aside his scotch glass, condensation from the ice shining on the sides of it and then Steve’s gasping and arching as Tony runs a cool, wet finger down his cock.

It’s like ice against his too hot skin and he gasps, shuddering at the sensation. Tony hums softly and does it again, gathers more wetness and trails it over Steve’s cock, watching him writhe with dark hungry eyes.

Steve’s never experienced anything like it; the cool pearls of water drag over his skin, teasing against his heated skin, Tony’s fingers follow behind, scaldingly hot and he’s trapped between wanting to get away from it and wanting more.

He’s not sure how long it continues, all he knows is that it burns and aches, and every time he whines or cries out Tony stops and waits till he’s under control once more to start touching him again.

He’s slick with sweat and harder than he’s ever been before and Tony, Tony is hard in his slacks and watching him eagerly, but makes no move to let him come or touch him further.

Tears blur his vision and he’s panting, chest aching when Tony smirks and pushes him away, off his lap and down onto his knees.

“Stay,” he orders, pausing to smirk at Steve before striding away. Steve listens to him move about in the other room, cock throbbing and aching with every breath he takes.

Tony’s back a moment later with no shirt on, torso bare, trousers riding low on his hips and a bottle of lube in one hand. He motions for Steve to rise and sits back down, “C’mere,” he orders, motioning once more to his lap.

Steve can barely contain the eager noise he makes as he crawls back into Tony’s lap, shaking with the need to be touched. Tony chuckles and wraps a hand around the nape of his neck, “Kissing ok?” he murmurs, pulling Steve down till all that separates their lips is a breath.

He nods eagerly and gasps when Tony closes the distance, kisses him so thoroughly it seems to steal the air from his lungs. He’s dizzy when Tony pulls back, panting as the other man grabs the bottle of lube and slicks his fingers.

The cold touch at his hole makes him shiver and gasp, the sound sharpening into a keen as one finger slides in easily. Tony watches him as he fingers him slowly, slicking the way before he comes back with a second finger and slides it in alongside the first.

Steve keens and gasps as Tony scissors his fingers, opening him up in slow, aching movements. “That’s it sweetheart, open up for me,” Tony murmurs softly, eyes bright and avid on his face.

He finds Steve’s prostate with unerring accuracy and focuses on it, stroking it relentlessly as Steve whines and arches, cock twitching against his belly, leaking pre cum heavily.

“That’s it sweetie, look how nice your cock leaks for me baby,” Tony croons, pressing harder on Steve’s prostate till he’s all but sobbing and can feel the pleasure in his gut growing like a burning ember given oxygen.

Tony is relentless, crooning praise in his ear as his fingers move within Steve with slick movements that drive him slowly crazy. He sobs, the desperation within him to come building to a frenzy, his cock twitching and leaking as it grows relentlessly within him.

“There you go baby, lets make you come from that pretty ass,” Tony croons, his stroking growing harder, faster. Steve sobs and arches, the pleasure growing into an inferno in his gut. He wails, the pleasure crashing into him, hips grinding down into Tony’s fingers as he comes.

He sobs Tony’s name as he writhes, Tony’s fingers still moving inside him, the pleasure sharpening in his gut till it’s like a knife. Tony relents and slows, fingers stilling inside him as he pants and sobs, lashes wet with tears.

His heart thunders in his chest and he barely registers the hand on his face for a few minutes as he gasps, breath hitching in his chest. When he can manage opening his eyes he finds Tony staring at him in wonder, breathing unevenly, hand on his face gentle.

“You are so lovely,” Tony murmurs pulling him down for a kiss that robs him of his remaining breath. He tastes like scotch and heat and Steve sinks into it, buries his hands in Tony’s hair and hangs on as the older man grips his hips tight enough to bruise.

When they break apart neither of them are steady; he can feel Tony’s fingers tremble against his ribs. They tighten and Tony smiles up at him, softer than before, “C’mon big guy, lets go to bed,” he urges, pushing and guiding till Steve’s on his feet, cock still hard between his legs as he’s led to the bedroom.

Tony pushes him back into the bed and he goes willingly, knees falling open, watching with hungry eyes as Tony stares at him, entranced for a moment before he shoves hastily at his trousers and briefs, shucking them off before crawling into the bed and hovering over him.

He kisses Steve greedily, moaning low in his throat, fingers twining through his hair, tugging till Steve moans and arches into him. Steve's panting when they part, moaning when his cock slides alongside Tony’s.

The older man grins and pulls back, leans over and grabs a condom from the bedside, pausing when Steve grabs his wrist. “I...you don’t have to use one,” he murmurs, averting his gaze when Tony looks at him, curious.

“I think I do,” Tony replies, “unless you’ve got proof you’re clean?” he questions.

Steve nods and waves a hand towards the other room, “My phone, I have my test results for the last six months there,” he tells the other man. Tony stares at him for a moment before pulling away, striding into the other room, his ass tight and round, flexing as he goes.

Steve sits up and contemplates his cock—he’s never come like that before, solely from his prostate, and the force of it had left him breathless and aching. Tony seems to know how to play his body, teasing out pleasures he’s never known before.

“Heads up.”

He looks up in time and lifts a hand to catch his cell phone, thumbing at the screen for a few moments before he turns it and shows Tony the test results. The older man studies it and then grabs it, flings it away and presses him into the mattress before he can protest the damage to his phone.

Tony’s hands are firm behind his knees, pushing them up to his chest as he kisses him, desperate and hungry. Steve feels something at his hole and then gasps into Tony’s mouth as he pushes in, hole fluttering as Tony’s cock stretches him open.

It’s thick and hard and hot and he clings to Tony, gasping against his lips, dizzy as he’s taken slowly, Tony’s cock pressing into him, firm and unyielding against his soft insides.

It’s overwhelming, the thick length relentless, until finally Tony’s hips are flush against his and the older man is cursing and panting. Tony kisses him, inelegant and demanding, “Fuck, baby, you’re so good,” he pants, “so tight, fuck.”

He starts rolling his hips, the drag of him over Steve’s prostate sending pleasure firing through his neurons, sparks lighting up in his brain as Tony fucks him.

“That’s it baby, so good,” Tony pants in his ear, “god you’re fucking perfect.”

Tony sucks a mark beneath his jaw and then another and another, one of his hands sliding through the slick sweat on Steve’s chest to toy with his nipples.

Sharp pain shoots through him as Tony pinches and pulls on them, pleasure shuddering through him as Tony fucks him, cock slick and hot between them.

He’s unable to silence the cries that fall from between parted lips, bitten and swollen and slick from Tony’s kisses. Tony seems determined to make him scream, hands traveling over his body, teasing and torturing.

The cock inside him is relentless, driving deep with bruising thrusts that leave him aching and sobbing, begging for more. Tony fucks him harder, teeth closing on his throat as he wraps his fingers around Steve’s cock, stroking hard and fast.

Steve shouts, spine pulled taut like a marionette as pleasure wraps around him, slicing into him like a razor wire embrace.

“That's it baby, come on my cock,” Tony growls in his ear, “god, you’re fuckin perfect,” he pants, thrusts growing wild and harsh.

Steve sobs, “Please, please,” he begs, writhing beneath Tony, more desperate to come than he’s ever been.

“Fuck wish I could stay inside you forever,” Tony says breathlessly, “so hot and tight.” Steve keens as Tony’s hand on his cock tightens, the ache enough to tip him over.

Cum falls in stripes across his chest as he screams and then chokes on the sound, body twitching as Tony pounds into him, hole spasming around his cock.

He barely registers Tony coming, hears his shout and then feels the heat of him as he spills deep inside Steve, hips pumping it deeper till finally the older man collapses onto him, breathing heavily.

Steve floats for awhile, limbs tangled with Tony’s while the sweat on his skin cools. Eventually Tony stirs and kisses his throat, peels himself away and disappears through the door to the bathroom.

He’s back moments later with a warm damp cloth, wipes Steve down before tucking the sheets in around them and pulling them close together. Steve nuzzles into his throat and sighs happily, the warm rush of hormones in his veins making him soft and sweet.

Lips press to his temple and he smiles, falling asleep in gradients, shades of red behind his lids as he sinks deeper into the haze of sleep.

When he wakes the next morning it’s to an empty bed and a note on the bedside table. He picks it up and frowns at the check that slides out and into his lap.

His fingers feel numb as he picks it up and stares at the exorbitant amount of zeros on the paper.

Hands shaking, he picks up the note once more.

Steve,

I know you said it wouldn’t cost me anything, but I want you to have this anyway. Use it to get out of here if you want, fix that bike of yours, go see the world.

Maybe I’ll see you in Malibu sometime.

Tony Stark

Steve sits for a very long time, a little numb, as his brain races.

He’d slept with Tony Stark.

Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist…

And that man had just paid his way out of this shitty little town.

Tapping the check against his lips, Steve grins slowly.

He’s always wanted to see Malibu.

#steve x tony #stevetony #Steve Rogers #tony stark #superhusbands #truck stop hooker!steve #not family friendly #happy birthday tina!!!#steve rogers x tony stark #stony #i know the pictures disrupt the flow of the story but they're necessary ok??

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remywrites5 · 4 years

Note

if it's not any trouble could you please do a spideypool prompt? one with peter knowing wade is deadpool and wade knows that peter is spiderman (because let's be honest with ourselves wade would know spidey's ass and voice anywhere) but spidey doesn't know that wade figured out his identity. I really hope that makes some sort of sense! thank you x

Peter didn’t get to have nice things, that was just the nature of being Spider-man. Since being bit by a radioactive spider, Peter had lost his uncle, his love life had been in shambles, and he’d lost Mr. Stark. People in Peter’s life leave, either by choice or in death, and the only person Peter could really rely on was his aunt.

He thought he’d had something different with Wade. After all, Wade wasn’t exactly the damsel in distress type and with the super healing factor Peter didn’t have to worry about Wade getting hurt. The only problem was that Wade Wilson was dating Peter Parker, not Spider-man, and Peter didn’t know how to tell him.

It normally wouldn’t be an issue. After six years of being Spider-man, Peter was used to living a double life, keeping Peter Parker and Spider-man separate. Sometimes it was difficult with Wade because Wade liked to flirt with Spider-man whenever they ran into each other. Peter had to try and not take it personally as that was just how Wade was. He’d flirt with a very shapely potato if the mood struck him.

The only reason why this had become an issue was because Wade had been asking Peter to move in with him. It made sense, seeing as Peter was over at Wade’s most nights when he didn’t have patrol. And economically speaking, Peter didn’t have a lot of money. He barely made anything with his job at the Dailey Bugle. Just enough to afford his rent and some low cost food. Although he was almost done with college, he did plan to get his master in Chemical Engineering, which meant probably another four years at least.

The only reason Peter wasn’t jumping at the chance to live with Wade was because he remembered what it had been like trying to sneak out of the house back when he lived with Aunt May. It had been a nightmare and apparently he hadn’t been that successful at it anyway since she’d known he’d been sneaking out. He wasn’t sure he could do that with Wade. Besides that, Wade was very nosy and would ultimately go through Peter’s stuff and find his suit.

“Petey,” Wade whined, holding Peter close on the couch while they marathoned all three of the Lord of the Rings movies. Yet another reason why Peter couldn’t move in – whenever he spent the night Wade would cling to him like a barnacle on a whale. Peter would never be able to untangle himself without Wade noticing and waking up. “Why do you hate me?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Where exactly did you get that idea?”

“You won’t move in with me!” Wade exclaimed, hugging Peter tighter. “You big meanie. Or actually small meanie.”

“I’m not small!” Peter said indignantly.

“Yeah you are,” Wade said with a lopsided grin. “You’re a small bean. Want to just eat you up.”

Peter hit Wade’s chest in retaliation. “Shut it or I’ll go home and you’ll just have to see if Frodo and Sam take the ring to Mordor on your own.”

Wade gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

“I would,” Peter said, settling down with his head on Wade’s chest, listening to his strong, steady heartbeat.

“Sam and Frodo are gay for each other, right? Or is this a no homo situation where one of them is going to catch a case of the not-gays at the last minute?”

“Sam ends up married with children,” Peter told him.

“Spoiler alert!” Wade said, pinching Peter’s ass. “Ew, I don’t know if I want to finish these movies then.”

“There’s always Legolas and Gimili,” Peter offered with a shrug. He’d been trying to get Wade to watch Lord of the Rings with him for months. Next obstacle was getting him to watch all the Harry Potter movies. Anything that Wade found too nerdy he automatically had an aversion to. At least he’d seen Star Wars.

“Ooh some inter-species romance, I like it,” Wade cooed, kissing the top of Peter’s head. “So taboo. Perfect bear and twink combo too!”

Peter snorted and watched the Fellowship form at Rivendell. He was glad he had successfully changed the subject for at least a little while. He wouldn’t be able to evade Wade forever and if he kept this up he was going to lose him just like everyone else.

***

Peter had originally met Deadpool (because he was Deadpool at that time and not Wade to Peter) at Starbucks. Peter had been getting himself a caramel macchiato when Wade had walked in behind him. “Oh em gee, you’re like the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve met grumpy cat in real life. R.I.P.”

Somehow they had ended up drinking coffee together and Peter had found himself oddly charmed by Deadpool. They’d talked and laughed together for a good two hours before Peter realized he was so unbelievably late for his advanced chemistry class. They’d made plans to meet at the same Starbucks the next day. From then on it had become a bit of a routine with Wade always insisting on paying for Peter.

The first time they had kissed, Peter had grabbed Wade and climbed him like a tree, shoving Wade’s mask up and kissing him desperately. There had been three weeks of coffee dates while Peter waited for Wade to make the first move. Eventually his patience had waned and he had attacked Wade like a desperate man.

“Oh baby boy, I had no idea you were so horny for me or I would have ravished you weeks ago,” Wade had said after finally breaking the kiss.

“You can make it up to me now.”

Wade squealed in delight. “Ooh Petey, I’d love to!”

***

Peter sat in between Wade’s legs, back to chest on the couch, with Wade lazily pressing kisses to Peter’s neck. It was warm and comfortable and Peter wished that this were his life. It was kind of his life but it could have been his life full time if he just had the courage to tell Wade the truth. Hadn’t Wade earned his trust by now? They’d been dating for four months already.

“Hey Wade?” Peter said softly, muting the TV as they watched the Back to the Future trilogy because Wade could not believe Peter hadn’t seen it.

“Yeah baby?” Wade responded, nipping playfully at Peter’s earlobe.

“I- I have to tell you something,” Peter said, swallowing thickly out of nervousness. He laced his fingers through Wade’s and held his hand tightly, frightened of letting go. “I’m…I’m Spider-man.”

“Oh,” Wade said softly. “Baby…”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Peter said, beginning to ramble in hopes that if he spoke enough then Wade might not have a chance to leave or kick him out. “It’s just that this all happened so quickly and then I didn’t know how to tell you and I –“

Peter was cut off by Wade putting his hand over Peter’s mouth. “Baby, I already knew.”

Peter broke free and stood up. “What?” he said, his jaw dropping.

Wade whined and did grabby hands at Peter, wanting him to come back into his embrace. “I knew you were Spider-man. Obvi.”

Peter’s brow furrowed. “How did you know?”

Wade rolled his eyes. “Seriously Petey? I’m intimately acquainted with your ass to the point where I draw it in great detail when I’m bored. You think I couldn’t recognize that delicious behind in a skin tight supersuit?”

Peter’s jaw dropped. “You never said anything!”

“Neither did you!” Wade shot back accusingly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think we were in a don’t ask don’t tell kind of situation. I figured if you wanted to talk about it you would bring it up.”

“So you don’t…you don’t care?” Peter asked, walking forward and straddling Wade’s lap.

Wade quirked an eyebrow. “You thought I’d mind that you’re a super hot hero that can swing from buildings and catch cars in midair? It’s like you don’t know me at all, baby!”

Peter laughed and grabbed Wade by the shirt, kissing him deeply. “I was so worried. I thought you wouldn’t like me anymore. I thought you’d be mad at me for keeping secrets.” He peppered Wade’s scarred skin with kisses in relief.

Wade giggled like a schoolgirl, turning his head and capturing Peter’s lips. “Petey, I don’t expect you to tell me everything. That doesn’t mean that I don’t know you. You’re my sweet little love muffin and when it comes to dat ass I’ve got a Phd.”

Peter sighed happily and buried his face in Wade’s neck. “I love you,” Peter told him softly, divulging yet another one of his secrets.

Wade brought his hand up and stroked Peter’s hair. “Love you too. Does that mean you’re going to move in with me, baby?”

“Yeah,” Peter said, nodding his head. “I��ll move in with you.”

“Good,” Wade said, manhandling Peter back into his original position. “Now stop interrupting the classic tale of a boy traveling back in time to get it on with his mom.”

Peter snorted and unmuted the TV. “Yes dear,” he teased, settling in against Wade. This was his life now. It was unexpected but so very welcome. Wade was always exceeding his expectations. Finally Peter had something nice to call his very own.

#spideypool #I write things #fluff #anon prompt #peter parker x wade wilson

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bethhxrmon · 6 years

Text

All I Ask of You Pt. 10

“To going against the grain, going insane, going mad.” - “La Vie Bohme” from RENT

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female OC

Word Count: 4,534

Warnings: Underage drinking

Summary: It’s the holidays and everyone’s happy right now!

A/N: It may be late, but it’s still Saturday so that’s what counts! I was super excited to make this chapter and I hope you all love it as much as I do!

MASTERLIST

Playlist

Christmas Eve felt almost like a desperate attempt for Annie’s parents to make up for the last couple months. Though, it obviously wasn’t enough and Annie couldn’t help pointing that out every chance she got. Whether she was being too harsh or not, she really couldn’t be bothered to give a damn. However, she would have been lying if she said she didn’t enjoy constantly pointing out their mistakes and affairs whenever she wanted to get away with something.

Of course it pissed her parents off, but it probably pissed them off more that Annie wasn’t wrong. It was using their failing marriage as a scapegoat that led to Annie being outside in the winter evening with a small wrapped package. The odds of running into Spider-Man were pretty slim, it was a holiday after all. Despite it only being six at night, the sky was dark with only streetlights, cars, and electronic billboards there to light the way.

The temperature drop that winter brought always left Annie cursing her choice to be a superhero instead of a street magician. She had even put a few shirts underneath the white hoodie she had on and she was still shivering. Stealing some electricity to attempt to warm up was her best bet, but even that wasn’t exactly working.

With the streets bustling with the absolute last-second holiday shopping, it was difficult to find any real crime going on as she lurked in an alley. That was when she heard a jump. Without giving it a second thought, Annie swerved around and launched the ball of electricity that was in her hand at none other than Spider-Man himself.

He quickly sidestepped the electricity and held his hands up, “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just me.”

Annie sighed a little, “You can’t just sneak up on me like that! If I hit you then that’s who knows how many volts straight to your chest.”

“Oh, it’s cool. Mr. Stark made my suit electricity-proof. Sorry I scared you, Swan. Merry Christmas, by the way. What’s that you’ve got in your hands there?” he asked, talking as though Annie hadn’t told him to leave her alone a week ago.

Annie glanced down and the package, “Um… it’s not much, but it’s for you, actually. Kind of a ‘Merry Christmas, sorry I yelled at you and I actually do kinda enjoy working with you’ present.”

“Well that’s great! I got something for you too! It’s not much either, but uh… it’s something I thought you’d like,” he replied, handing her something that was in a paper bag.

Annie handed him the wrapped parcel and took the thing he gave her, “You seriously didn’t have to,” she said, pulling out a long sleeved shirt.

“I should probably mention it’s got a little heater in it. I know you said to not follow you, but I saw you kept getting super cold and I uh- well I sort of stole it from Mr. Stark,” Spider-Man said sheepishly as he unwrapped his present to find a Santa hat.

Annie smiled a bit, “Thanks, that’s way awesome. I wasn’t really sure what to get you that you didn’t already have, and I know it’s super cheesy and I totally get it if you don-”

“It’s great, Swan, really, I love it, thanks,” he replied, hugging her.

She laughed a bit, “No problem, I’m just sorry I’ve been such a bitch, and I should probably apologize in advance for when the exact same thing happens again for whatever reason I decide to get mad again.”

“Hey, I get it. You’ve been alone awhile and you’re not used to having yours truly making things a bit easier on you,” he claimed.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, “Actually I get more nervous when you insert yourself and expect me to cover you. I mean, come on, my powers could crap out on me.”

“I don’t think that would happen, obviously your powers work better when your more emotional, so they work better when your stressed,” he said, shrugging.

Annie frowned, “You’re not wrong… but still, it’s so damn stressful.”

Feeling a huge sense of accomplishment at fixing things with Spider-Man, Annie was able to get back to her apartment with a weight lifted from her chest. With gifts already bought for everyone, there wasn’t exactly anything worth worrying about. Instead of going out to hang out with her parents, Annie spent the remainder of her night reading.

By the time morning rolled around, Annie was in the same clothes that she had been when she was reading. She couldn’t remember putting down her book or being on her bed in the first place. Still the computer monitor across from her confirmed that it was Christmas morning, and she crawled out of bed, heading out to the kitchen where a small Christmas tree was set up.

Underneath the fake, silver tree were a handful of presents. Two of them were for her parents and there were a few for Annie. She could tell that they were probably trying to compensate for the affairs, but she couldn’t have cared less. A part of her just liked having a scapegoat. Besides, it was more of a “being bitter about how her dad tried to explain her being a failed science fair project” thing rather than being angry about her parents cheating on each other.

The whole infidelity thing was their thing to solve and Annie wanted no part in it. She padded over to the coffee maker and put some water and more grounds in it before starting the machine. As it heated up, Annie checked her phone, tempted to call Harper and wake them up extremely early simply to be a pain in the ass. After a few minutes, she was just about to pick up her phone to dial her friend when she saw Harper’s contact name on the screen.

Annie answered, trying to not laugh and wake up her parents, “What the hell are you doing awake at like… four in the morning?”

“Because I know you and that you’d probably wake me up anyways,” Harper replied, a smirk audible in their voice.

Annie rolled her eyes, finding a mug to pour her coffee into, “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’d wake up so early.”

“Bold of you to assume I ever even went to sleep. I had gifts to wrap,” they said, sighing a bit.

Annie chuckled lightly as she poured some coffee in her mug, “Who are you spending all this time wrapping presents for?”

“My parents. If I wrapped all their presents for their godforsaken business partners then they said they would give me ten grand to do whatever I wanted with,” they responded.

Annie frowned a bit, “What do you need ten thousand for, exactly?”

“I’m splitting it up between charities and college. Did I mention that I heard back from NYU?” they asked.

Annie raised an eyebrow, retreating to her room and sitting at her desk, “Nope, I didn’t even know you were graduating early.”

“Oh, well, surprise, I am! And I heard back from NYU and their fashion program, so I’m just about set up to start there in September,” they said, yawning.

Annie’s jaw dropped, “Wait, so you’re, like, going to NYU, like, Manhattan?”

“Yeah, is there another one that I didn’t hear about?” Harper retorted.

Annie grinned, “That’s fucking awesome! You’ll be here with me and you can finally meet my new friends, it’ll be great!”

“What’ll really be great is when I can get out of this hellhole,” they muttered, huffing a bit.

Annie rolled her eyes, “Harper, you’re the kid of a CEO, people would kill to be in the position you’re in.”

“But what good is any of it if they’re not gonna pay for any of my school? They’re basically kicking me out after graduation, which might be for the better. I could just be talking too much,” they replied.

Annie took a sip of coffee, “Yeah, that might be it, you should get some sleep. You got my present in the mail, right?”

“Yep… I may or may not have opened it already,” Harper admitted.

Annie sighed, “Well, by the sound of that I’m guessing you liked it.”

“Obviously! New colored pencils like I’d been talking about… oh and I ate half of the almond butter you got me last night, whoops,” they said.

Annie shook her head, “Of course you did. Well, I’m glad you liked it.”

“Speaking of liking presents, I hope you liked what your friends got you. Especially that one Peter guy, he sounds really into you,” Harper started.

Annie felt her face go red, “I doubt it. He’s just a really nice guy. Besides, things are really complicated at the moment… the last thing I need is a relationship.”

“What’s so complicated about dating the guy you’ve been wanting to kiss?” Harper asked.

Annie stared at her coffee, only her breathing audible over the line, “Because there might be more than one guy I wanna kiss?”

“You know I hate it when you answer something like it’s a question. For fuck’s sake, please tell me you’re not into both of your guy friends? Or is it that one girl, Tina? You’ve been around her a lot, or Michelle?” Harper started to trail off.

Annie coughed, “No, none of them. Ned’s just my friend and Tina’s got her own shit. I don’t know if I know Michelle enough to be crushing on her.”

“Then who?”

“It’s stupid, really.”

“Not if it’s making you question everything you’ve been feeling for weeks.”

“I think I like Spider-Man. It’s just… he’s so damn infuriating, but I never wanna fight with him so we always get through our arguments and he’s just really sweet and funny and… I don’t know what to do, Harper.”

“Funny, you like them both for the same reasons… maybe you should wait it out,” Harper suggested, “But I gotta sleep otherwise I’m gonna blow up my parent’s place and then we’ll have a bigger problem than your boy troubles.”

“Alrighty, well I’ll talk to you later, then. Have fun sleeping,” Annie replied before the line went dead.

When Annie’s parents finally woke up, she made her way back into the kitchen. Though it was just her dad pouring himself a cup of coffee. Seeing him, Annie was just about to slip back into her room, but he already saw her so instead she sat at the dining room table. She was halfway through her cup of coffee and it was still warm.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked.

Annie shrugged, “Alright, I guess.”

“You must’ve been pretty tired, I walked in and you had your book on your face,” her dad replied, chuckling a bit at her.

Annie looked up at him, “So you moved me?”

“Well, yeah. I’m your dad, Annika, and sometimes I screw up, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you,” he told her as he sat across from her.

She nodded, looking at her cup, “Right… are you being nice because you’re about to talk about getting a divorce?”

“No. God, no, Ann, we moved so we could fix things. We wouldn’t drag you out here to just give up now,” he said.

She sighed, “Okay, good. Otherwise I think I’d run out of here if you pulled that today.”

“I wouldn’t do that, we wouldn’t,” he assured her.

“We wouldn’t do what?” her mom asked as she padded into the dining room.

Her dad paused, drinking some coffee, “Get a divorce and tell her today.”

“Oh, sweetie, no. We’d stay married until you were an adult just so it wouldn’t feel like we moved for nothing,” added her mom.

Annie nodded again, not saying anything for a moment, “So… um… should we get to the fun gift giving thing? I kinda said I’d meet my friends to exchange gifts and stuff.”

“Yeah! Of course, of course! You’re gonna love what I got you,” her mom said, pulling a bagged present from next to the tree.

The gifts weren’t as much of pleas for forgiveness as Annie had expected. That was for the best, though, otherwise she may have felt a pang of guilt for using them so she could get out more often. She noticed that they did seem to get them with her interests in mind, though. Some soundtracks and books. Even a hoodie or two, her parents liked what she got for them. It was always hard with adults because the things they wanted were things that she would never get enough money to buy. Hell, some of the things they wanted had nothing to do with money. Not that she could blame them.

“Also, there’s one thing that we also got that we can’t really give you,” her dad began.

Annie’s russet eyes squinted, “What do you mean?”

“Well, tomorrow we’re leaving for a couple’s retreat to try and fix things. We thought the least we could do is make a real effort at trying,” her mom explained.

Annie nodded, smiling a bit, “When do you get back?”

“January second, we’ll be back early because classes start up the day after,” said her dad.

She smiled at the both of them, “Th-that’s great, actually, thanks you guys.”

“We thought you’d appreciate it because of how much these problems were meaning to you,” her dad replied.

The day passed by easier and for the first time in weeks, Annie felt comfortable as she moved around the apartment. Knowing that her parents didn’t just stop caring did leave her feeling lighter. Not to mention the ideas that were flooding her mind as she fully realized that they would be gone through new year’s. Though, those were plans to talk about when she saw her friends next.

Before she knew it, it was time to get to Peter’s apartment where she was supposed to meet up with Peter, Ned, and even Tina. Apparently they had talked to her before they asked Annie to come. It raised plenty of questions that Annie wasn’t even sure of how to ask. Still, she left her apartment with some ginger snaps that her dad had made as well as the gifts for each of them.

She made it to the other apartment without any issue and she knocked on the door. It had been so cold outside and Annie was left wishing that she had chosen to wear a better jacket rather than a sweatshirt. Not to mention how the presents had been kind of difficult to carry while walking a few blocks in New York traffic. Despite the holidays, the streets were as busy as ever. Though, maybe she shouldn’t have been so surprised.

Aunt May opened the door, smiling, “There you are! The others have been waiting. Merry Christmas by the way! How’s your day been?”

“Merry Christmas! I’ve actually been pretty great. My dad baked a ton of ginger snaps and I thought you might like some,” Annie greeted, nodding at the top box which was a tin.

May took the tin off the top of the pile, “Thank you, this is lovely!”

“No problem!” she replied, waltzing right into Peter’s room.

“Hey, look who decided to show up,” Tina commented, getting up to help Annie with the boxes.

Annie rolled her eyes, “Whatever, you guys told me to show up now, so there’s obviously something you’re all hiding.”

“You don’t know that!” Ned protested.

Annie smirked as she sat down on Peter’s bed, “Right, well I got all of you presents, so I expect only the best from each of you.”

“Annie! I told you not to get me anything,” Tina responded, crossing her arms.

Annie shrugged, “Well then I guess my hand slipped and wrapped something up for you.”

“You’re gonna love what I got you, go on, open it,” Ned insisted, handing her a box.

Annie opened it only to get a litter box and cat litter, “Um… okay, it’s great…”

“I told you it was a weak idea, I got you this,” Tina said, handing Annie a bag.

Annie got a food bowl with some cat food and she raised an eyebrow, “Did you guys… no. There’s no way.”

“Okay, you’ll love this,” Peter insisted, starting to burst out laughing as he handed his haphazardly wrapped gift.

Annie ripped the paper only to get cat toys, “Okay, there’s no way you guys got me a cat. No, I couldn’t, really, you guys.”

“Who said anything about a cat? We didn’t get you a cat,” Ned replied, only to be stopped by a meow that came from Peter’s closed closet.

Annie looked at the three of them and stood up, walking over to the closet and opened it. There was a cat carrier and in the carrier was a cat with patches all over its face and a crooked tail from where it had probably been broken in the past. She picked up the carrier and opened it, coaxing out the cat. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was opened and grinning. No words were able to leave her mouth.

Tina smirked a bit, “I’m guessing we did good.”

“What’s his name?” Annie asked.

“Well, the shelter named him Patches,” Ned said.

Annie scoffed, “That’s a dumb name… I think I’m gonna name him… Erik, yeah, definitely Erik.”

“Like The Phantom of the Opera? Come on,” Ned commented, laughing a bit.

Annie sighed, scratching the cat behind the ear, “I really can’t thank you guys enough, now I feel like I totally fucked up with what I got you guys.”

“Nah, there’s no way, let’s see them,” Ned insisted.

Annie handed each of them their presents, trying to gauge their reactions. Of course, none of them were exactly a pet that had been carefully hidden from her for the time that she had been there. At least they each kinda meant something though. Well, she hoped that they would.

Peter smiled, tugging the Santa hat on his head down a bit as he looked at the planner and pen, “It’s great, thanks,” he said as he opened it, reading the inside of the planner.

Because she hadn’t wanted to confuse Peter with the gift she wrote something. Though, it was possibly influenced by other feelings that were running through her head at the time. The note read: Peter, I know that half the time you’re a disorganized mess (in the best way, duh) and figured this might help in case you get super stressed. Even if it doesn’t, you can always call me or something. I don’t really know where I was going with this, but Merry Christmas!

Ned laughed a bit, beaming at the lego store gift card, “This is perfect! I could get a Millenium Falcon set with this, thanks so much!”

Tina carefully unwrapped her present, “I really didn’t need anything…” she looked at the journals and pens, “How’d you know?”

“I saw you in that stationery store… my hand slipped and bought a few things,” Annie claimed, shrugging.

The group spent so much time talking in that circle, somehow all huddled up on Peter’s bed. They squished between each other, and that was when Annie asked them to come to her place for new year’s. She’d even told them to spend the night if they wanted. It had been Ned’s idea to call and ask Michelle to join them. By the time they all left for their homes, Annie had plans for while her parents were gone.

When she got home carrying her cat and all the things to take care of him as well, her dad didn’t even try to protest it. All he said was that she had to take care of him and that he wouldn’t do it for her. Erik was a really sweet cat, wanting nothing more than to lay on her bed and be petted. At least, that was how he was acting right then. A part of her figured he’d start running all over the apartment like crazy in a day or two.

As she opened one of the plastic packages of toys, Annie noticed a small box. When she opened it, there was a necklace of a masquerade mask necklace. Her jaw dropped, hardly able to believe that Peter had gotten her anything aside the stuff for the cat. She really didn’t need or want anything else. Though there was also a folded up note that read: Annie, I know you said you just wanted a cat, but I thought you should have something else to. So I thought I’d let you know that you’re more of a Christine because you’re too good to be anything else.

That not was the only thing that she could think about until new year’s eve. It wandered into her mind when she worked with Spider-Man a couple of times that week. He was constantly wearing that Santa hat and Annie wore that shirt with a heater in it under her sweatshirt all the time. Though, just when she started bantering a little bit too long with Spider-Man, she couldn’t help but think about how much Peter had cared. It made her wonder if Spider-Man would do the same for her if he had the chance.

One right after the other, Peter, Ned, Michelle, and Tina came on in. It wasn’t like Annie had a huge party planned out, she just didn’t want to be alone for the holiday. Not when she could have the chance to stay up late with her friends. Even though Christmas had passed, Peter was still wearing a Santa hat like he had on Christmas.

“Pete, isn’t it a bit late for Santa hats?” Annie asked, toying around with the pendant on her necklace.

Peter’s face reddened, “N-no, I wouldn’t say so.”

“I think she’s got a point, unless you’re wearing it for a specific reason,” Michelle said, looking up from her book as she laid on the couch.

Annie chuckled a bit as Peter seemed at a loss for words as she poured some hot chocolate for all of them, “Don’t worry, it’s cute.”

“Enough flirting, you two, otherwise you’re both gonna need to find a room,” Ned commented, flipping through the channels on Annie’s television.

Peter frowned, “I-I wasn’t… we weren’t doing… a-anything.”

“So you weren’t flirting?” Annie asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

He shook his head, “N-nope.”

“Oh, okay,” Annie said, handing him a cup of hot chocolate.

The night went on as a group sleepover should. The group watched some dumb comedies while eating food and drinking warm drinks. It felt like things were just fine, and even Tina appeared to be relaxed around all of them. Both her and Michelle seemed to enjoy being left on their own to read or write while Ned, Peter, and Annie were left to do most of the talking.

As midnight drew closer, Annie looked at the others, “Hey, what do you guys think of some champagne to ring in the new year?”

“I can’t have any… I’ve been going straight, but I can watch you guys to make sure no one does anything dumb,” Tina offered.

“Alright, what about the rest of you guys?” Annie asked as she got up from her comfy chair.

Ned and Peter shrugged, “I guess it’s cool with us,” Ned replied.

“You could hit me up with two if you wanted,” Michelle responded.

Annie laughed a bit, “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

In a few minutes, Annie was back with a glass that was generously full for everyone. She’d filled the glass for Tina with some sparkling cider because everyone deserved a nice new year’s drink. It was five minutes until 2018 and Annie had a decent feeling about the new year. They all talked about what they really wanted to do for that year and all the things that they hoped would happen.

“I just wanna get an apartment and start over, you know? Just have everything be fresh and to move on finally,” Tina said, cheating and sipping some of her drink before midnight.

Michelle nodded, “Fair enough, I want some more books and more time to read them, honestly.”

“If I managed to pass this next semester I’d be happy, but really I just want to prove I can do stuff, like, theatre or something else, just I don’t want to be doubted,” Annie admitted.

Ned sighed a bit, “I wanna hack some stuff, nothing huge, but just enough to where it’s super cool.”

“Yeah… I-I think I want my internship to go further, I’m doing a lot already, but I wanna do more,” Peter said, looking at the clock.

Ned grinned, starting to count down, “Five. Four. Three. Two. One…”

“Holy shit it’s the new year!” Annie exclaimed, drinking her champagne.

They all started drinking, Peter seeming to be almost unaffected by it. Michelle went back to her book, drinking and not paying too much attention to the others. Ned and Annie, however, were tipsy halfway through their glasses. Everything seemed to be so funny and Annie wasn’t sure why. And Peter looked so damn cute and she wanted to pull him close and kiss him. She wish she’d done that already, why hadn’t she?

By the time she finished her glass, she wasn’t exactly herself when she talked to her friends, “Y’know, ‘m real glad y’guys came… I woulda been so depressed if I’re by m’self.”

“Yeah, me too, ‘m happy I came,” Ned replied and the pair started laughing, “Y’know, ya should talk to Peter, he wants to tell ya somethin’.”

Annie giggled, pulling Peter closer a bit by his sleeve, “C’mon, tell me in my room.”

She dragged him right to her room and she sat on her bed, patting the space next to her. When he sat down she had her arms around him and buried her head into the crook of his neck. Annie hummed happily, starting to play with Peter’s hair.

“What did ya wanna tell me?” Annie asked, looking up at him.

Peter shook his head, “You’re drunk, it’s a terrible time to tell you.”

“Oh c’mon!” Annie whined, pouting.

Peter sighed, “Nope. But did you wanna tell me something?”

“Well, yeah, you’re real cute, just all the time. An’ I can’t understand why you won’t like me back, but everyone says you do,” Annie replied.

Peter smiled a bit, his cheeks flushing, “Really?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking at him and yawning, “I should sleep though, I feel like you’re trickin’ me into sayin’ too much.”

Peter nodded, pulling back the covers and helping her lie down, “Can ya stay with me?” Annie asked.

Peter thought about it a moment and nodded, “Sure, yeah.”

Annie pulled him close, wanting to feel him so close to her and Peter didn’t mind. Though he also wondered how much of it was real and how much of it was just her being drunk. At the same time, he didn’t want her thinking he was a creep, so when she fell asleep he left the bed and slept on the floor.

Tag list: @flushings-here / @upsidedownparker / @gaypanda / @ijustdontknowsometimes / @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy / @thwipparker / @buzzinglee (just ask to be added to the tag list)

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfic #peter parker x oc #mcu #marvel #trans peter parker #trans spider-man #spider-man #spider-man x reader #spider-man x oc #fanfic #original characters #writing #all i ask of you fic

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theliterateape · 5 years

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Hope Idiotic | Part 19

By David Himmel

Hope Idiotic is a serialized novel. Catch each new part every week on Monday and Thursday.

THE DAY AFTER LOU MOVED TO CHICAGO, MICHELLE POINTED TO A TIFFANY’S MAGAZINE AD. It was for a princess-cut diamond ring.

“This is the ring I want,” she told him. “This would be perfect.”

He held onto that magazine ad. And when he brought it to Goldman Jewelers, the longtime Bergman family jeweler in Skokie, Lou told the man, “If you can design this, it would be perfect.”

The jeweler, who was only a few years older than Lou, took a look at it. His name was Art Goldman. He was the fourth generation working in the business of making girls squeal with delight when they received their blood diamonds. Getting the Goldman Jewelers business card was a rite of passage. Pop gave it to him. It was yellowed and dog-eared.

“You’ll probably work with Art,” Pop said. “You’ll like him. He’ll take care of you. His grandfather and I were friends from before the war. His great-grandfather sold me your grandmother’s ring. Sold your dad your mom’s ring, too. Mazel tov.”

But there was nothing to celebrate just yet. Lou needed the money for the ring. The standard rule used to be that an engagement ring should cost a man the equivalent of one month’s salary. For Lou, that would have been barely fifty bucks. He called his father and asked if they could meet for lunch to talk about finances.

“How much do you need?” Benjamin asked.

“I was wondering how much I had still in my savings accounts.”

Benjamin shifted in his seat. “That depends. Which accounts?”

“What do you mean which accounts? My savings accounts. The one you opened for me when I was born. And then the one we opened together when I turned eighteen.”

“Well, how much do you need?”

“I only need what I have, Dad. How much is in there?”

Lou never saw his statements. As a kid he couldn’t care less, and as an adult they never crossed his mind since they were mailed to his dad’s house because he was on the accounts as well. This allowed for Benjamin to use Peter to pay Paul. Deposits would be made into various accounts whenever bonds matured or when stock dividends were paid. But money was also taken from accounts to help pay for things like college tuition, cars, home repairs. Abe and Benjamin Bergman never borrowed from the bank, only family. And in a way, they were like a bank. And sometimes a bank doesn’t have all of your money waiting for you in the vault. So when Lou asked for his money, it wasn’t as simple as just withdrawing and closing the account.

“You have about eight thousand dollars of savings,” Benjamin said. “But you don’t need that money for a ring.”

“That’s exactly what I need it for, Dad. Where else am I going to get the money?”

“Tell me how much you need, and we’ll find it.”

“No. I don’t want you loaning me the money. I have it, so let me have it.”

“I’m not going to just give you your savings account so you can blow it on a ring. If you clean out your savings, what will you do if you need it in the future?”

“First of all, I wouldn’t consider buying an engagement ring a blown purchase. Secondly, the point of savings is to use it when you need it. And I need it. Just give me the bank book, and I’ll close it out.”

“I can’t. Well, you can’t.”

“Why? Do you have to be there, too?”

“The full amount isn’t in the account right now.”

“Where is it?”

“I had to use some to help pay off your mother from the divorce.”

“Jesus, Dad!”

“Let me just write you a check. This way you’ll still have your savings for later.”

“But I don’t. You just said it’s not there. And I don’t want to just borrow and steal from one person or another. I already owe Pop and Grams a couple hundred grand for the house. That’s enough for me. Please just find the money and put it back.”

“I think this is foolish.”

“Me spending my own money is foolish? Look, the sooner I get married, the sooner I can stop asking you for my half of the rent each month. Not that I’m marrying her for her money. How long do you need to get it?”

“A week or so.”

✶

THREE WEEKS AFTER FIRST MEETING WITH ART, Lou returned to Goldman Jewelers to put a deposit on the ring and place the order. But when he turned the car off, his hands shook. His chest tightened and felt like his ribs were going to crush his lungs and heart into gut dust. He was sweating and had trouble breathing. He hadn’t felt this way in a while. Not since the Remerol and the therapy sessions began. He looked around the parking lot. No one was watching. He pulled his phone out and called Chuck. But there was no answer. So he called me.

“Hey, man! What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m about to lose my shit.”

“Why. What’s happening?”

“I just pulled into the parking lot to order Michelle’s ring, and I’m having a panic attack. I can’t breathe. My chest feels like…”

“Okay. Relax. You haven’t bought anything yet, right?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Alright. Here’s what you do. Turn the car back on and drive away. Don’t look back. Just pull out of the parking lot and go home. Or better yet, come back here. Leave all of your shit, don’t say goodbye to anyone, just start the car and drive away. Come back to where you can work and don’t have to get married.”

“I can’t. I have to…”

“You don’t have to do anything but drive away. This is your chance to be free. Be free, Louis!”

As quickly as the panic kicked in, it subsided. Lou took a deep breath. “Alright. Alright. I’m fine. I’ll be okay.”

“Did you leave?”

“No. Not yet. I’m just nervous, that’s all. I’m about to spend a lot of money. That’s all.”

“Exactly. That’s why you shouldn’t.”

“I’ll be fine. I gotta go.”

He adjusted himself in the rearview mirror, took a deep breath and walked into the store. Art, of course, was thrilled to see him. The deposit was a standard $125. The total cost of the ring would be $8,064. It was more than Lou had, but it would be ready in one month.

✶

ALTHOUGH BOTH LOU AND MICHELLE HATED CRUISES AND HAD JUST TAKEN A MEXICAN VACATION, they were preparing to embark on a ten-day cruise to the southern Caribbean in celebration of both Lynn and Barry Kaminski’s 60th birthdays as well as their 35th wedding anniversary. They were married on Valentine’s Day, just two days after their shared birthday. The four of them, Lou, Michelle and her parents, would be traveling aboard the Royal Duchess.

Lou and Michelle loved boats. They loved seeing the world. But cruises had the ability to make a great vacation into just a good vacation. Lou and Michelle liked to spend time in new towns and immerse themselves in the culture. When cruising, the few hours in each port did not allow for that. It was just enough time to buy a shot and a T-shirt at the local Hard Rock Café. But her parents were cruise enthusiasts, Duchess Cruises frequent sailors, and this trip was all about them. Which is exactly why Michelle didn’t give Lou a hard time about having to pay for him. Almost, anyway.

“I love my parents, but I don’t want to go on this cruise anymore than you do,” she said to him. “Money is tight for me right now, too. I’m trying to save for a down payment on a condo. But I’ll pay your way because we can’t not go.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said. “It’ll be fun. Just kind of a bummer that we have to celebrate Valentine’s Day on a cruise ship with thousands of other people potentially running around with the norovirus on their shit-stained hands. But I know how much this means to your parents.”

“Exactly. And so I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise me that you won’t flip out on this trip like you did in Cabo. Ruining my birthday and our anniversary is one thing; ruining them for my parents is something else entirely.”

“I know. I won’t.”

“Go see your grandfather before we leave if you have to. Do whatever it is you need to do so that you don’t lose your shit. I’m warning you, Lou. Do not.”

This trip was the perfect time for Lou to have the marriage talk with Lynn and Barry. He wasn’t worried about them not giving him their blessing. He just knew that it would mean more to them that he chose their celebration of love as the time to officially proclaim to them his love for their daughter. It would be one big floating fucking love fest.

“What are you guys talking about?” she asked.

“Your poop,” said Lou.

The first night on the ship was Lynn and Barry’s birthdays. Instead of eating in the dining room, Michelle planned and paid for a private in-suite meal with a special chef-selected menu. Lynn and Barry’s suite was one deck below and down a tad farther aft from Lou and Michelle’s. Both had balconies, but the birthday boy and girl’s suite was laid out more conducive to hosting a birthday dinner. Lou pitched in on the planning by decorating their door with photo collages of them he’d assembled before leaving Chicago.

After the private and delicious meal, the foursome made their way to the Crooners Lounge & Bar, where Michelle entered her vocal styling into the ship’s karaoke competition called Duchess Idol. Michelle had a great voice. She’d have told anyone if they had asked her. Not surprisingly, she advanced through the first two stages those first two nights. The third round — and the semifinal — was on Valentine’s Day, Lynn and Barry’s anniversary. It was also formal night aboard the ship, and Lou was in his tuxedo. This was the night he wanted to talk to Lynn and Barry. He just needed to get them away from Michelle long enough to ask. Michelle sang her song, Mary Wells’ “My Guy,” dedicating it to Lou, then headed off to the bathroom.

“I think I accidentally ate a piece of lettuce at dinner,” she said to Lou and her parents as she passed their table on her way out.

Lettuce was a trigger for her IBS. He knew she would be there a while. Lou watched her leave and waited a few moments before beginning, just to make sure she wasn’t coming back for anything.

“Barry, Lynn. Can I talk to you a moment?” He tried to whisper loud enough for them to hear, but not so loud that it disrupted the other performers. He took a deep breath and began. “I’d like to talk to you about Michelle.” The parents looked at each other knowingly. “You know, I love your daughter very much. And though we’ve had some bumpy moments since my moving to Chicago, we have stayed together through all of it. And I think that says something about us. I know that it’s important to Michelle, and to you, that she marry a man who can provide for her and the children they have together. I’m still having a hard time finding work while this recession is going on, but I have plans on becoming a teacher, which will allow me a steady paycheck in a secure environment with plenty of benefits and perks our family can take advantage of. In the meantime, if I have to, I’ll go to work at my dad’s sheet-metal company. What I’m saying is that I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure that your daughter is always taken care of and happy. I want Michelle, and I to be a family. And while I’ve always felt like a part of your family, I want to make it official — if you’ll have me. I’ve gone ahead and commissioned a ring to be designed especially for Michelle, and I am asking for your blessing to use that ring to propose to her and ask her to be my wife.”

It was a mouthful. A well-rehearsed sales pitch. If only he could have rattled off pitches like that at ProCore.

“I knew this was going to happen on this trip,” Lynn said as she wiped away tears. “You know how much we love you, Lou.”

“Seeing you and Michelle get married… nothing would make us happier,” said Barry who also wiped away tears. “But if you break her heart, I’ll kill you.”

“Of course. Thank you both.” Lou stood and hugged each of them.

“It means a lot that you would talk to us about this tonight. On Valentine’s Day. On our anniversary. It really does mean a lot,” Barry said.

“I’m glad her IBS has such good timing. And just so we’re clear, I did not spike her dinner with lettuce.”

Michelle arrived just then. “What are you guys talking about?” she asked.

“Your poop,” said Lou.

“Come on,” said Barry. “Drinks on me.”

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX Part X Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

#Hope Idiotic #David Himmel Author #Novel #David Himmel Novel #David Himmel Fiction #Fiction #Bildungsroman #Chicago Fiction #Dark Humor

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