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noshitbarnes · 1 year

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Anti-Hero: Chapter 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Summary: After being experimented on as a young child and given abilities, Daniela has become a highly skilled member of the Avengers, and has even been assigned to mentor Peter Parker. Little does she know that the happiness she’s been able to find will become threatened by the very people who started her on her path long ago.

Warnings: language

Word Count: 4,877

Notes: Let me know what you guys think! I know it's still a little slow, but the following chapters are where the story starts to take hold, thanks for being patient!

Anti-Hero Prologue

PRESENT DAY

It was like any other Friday afternoon, except that the entire team was gathered at the newly appointed SHEILD Headquarters, debriefing the director, Nick Fury, about their latest mission. Normally, the whole team wouldn't be there, but Nick called in the cavalry, clearly he had something on his mind. Once Nick had been briefed on Natasha's latest mission, he looked around the room, and changed topics.

“Alright,” Nick sighs lightly then continues, “let’s get to why I really called you all here; I want to talk more about Parker.”

All eyes turn to Daniela, who visibly rolled her eyes while leaning back in her chair, “Sir, I told you last week that he’s doin’ good,” she shrugs, “he’s a noncombatant right now, ya know. I help him write papers for his classes mostly. Sometimes I help his Aunt May too."

“And how’s that, going?” Nick asks.

Daniela smirks lightly, “About as expected, he’s 18 and driving me insane, but he’s smart as hell and his Aunt is one of the nicest people I've ever met. So I guess I could imagine a worse way to spend my time.”

Nick nods and crosses his arms, “Are you regretting becoming his mentor?”

She shrugs, “Well, I was actually ordered to by Stark,” Tony rolls his eyes and she chuckles, “and was told if he was given to Barnes or Wilson, he’d be miserable. I’m supposedly nicer,” she smiles sweetly up at Nick, proud of her slight dig at the two men.

“It’s like you think I’m not here, Velikov,” Bucky rolls his eyes then turns from next to her and kicks her shin lightly, making her glare back, “I’m not that bad. Sam is though.”

“I heard that,” Sam said scowling at Bucky from across the table and then turns his eyes to Daniela, “and since when are you nice?”

“Alright,” Nick interrupts before anyone can say anything else, “I just wanted to get a base line for how he was doing," he uncrosses his arms and puts his hands behind his back, "I’ll leave it to Stark and Rogers to tell you when to start training him for active duty. Remember, I need you to give him your full attention.”

Nick Fury. Director of SHIELD. Mr. No-Fun-Ever. He was constantly reminding Daniela that the future was up to her, that she was going to someday lead the team, and if she fucked up even a little bit, everyone was doomed, but no pressure or anything. Now, she has this tiny little spider following her around everywhere, sorta like a puppy. Peter is an amazing kid, and she would fight dragons for him, but he was still somewhat of a shadow, and shadows can get annoying.

Daniela sighs lowly and nods, “Yes, sir.”

Nick looks around the table, “Alright then, that’s all I needed, you guys are free to go," he walks out of the room as everyone else stands from their chairs. Tony walks out quickly, before anyone else, after Nick, calling his name, causing the director to turn around and greet him. They pause in the hallway briefly, Tony doing most of the talking, then they both continue down the hall.

Daniela raises an eyebrow at the two men, but doesn't get much time to process it when she hears Steve call her name, “Velikov," she turns her eyes to him and he continues, "go get the kid, we’ll wait on the jet.”

She nods and heads for the door, “Can do, sir.”

Since Peter wasn’t active duty currently, he wasn’t allowed to be in briefings or meetings, so she had to find a place for him to sit tight. Daniela walks out of the conference room and makes her way to the nearest break room, where she told Peter to wait. She figured there he would be out of the way and wouldn’t cause any trouble. As she walks down the hallways of SHIELD headquarters, she says hello to passing agents, some new, some she’s known for years. Every agent she passed seemed the same, wearing all black, gun on their hip, slightly cold, but still willing to say a small passing greeting. These hallways use to feel like home to her, some days she missed them, back when she didn't have as many responsibilities and less people looking to her for guidance. Back then she worked alone, didn't really know much about the rest of the team, although she did know Fitz and Simmons pretty well. Now that she's an Avenger, she's only been on a handful of solo missions, most of the time she gets paired with Natasha or Clint. She use to hate having to work with someone else, but now, she welcomed the extra help, and was starting to like the company.

Once she makes her way to the break room, she opens the door, finding it surprisingly empty, except for one lonely face— near the floor in front of the vending machine, “Parker,” she crosses her arms, trying to hold back a laugh, as she walks up to him, "I leave you alone for what, 15 minutes, and this is what happens?”

Currently, Peter's sitting on the floor, his legs tucked up underneath him, and his side flush with the front of the machine. He was also quietly talking to himself, what he was saying, Daniela couldn't exactly hear. However, once Peter heard her voice he looked up at her, and his cheeks started to turn a slight pink.

"Oh, Daniela,” Peter twists his head a bit more to look up at her, “um, this is awkward isn't it?”

She wasn’t sure how this happened, but Peter Parker— the so called Spider-Man— appeared to have his arm stuck in the vending machine. He was trying desperately to reach a bag of Doritos that were currently lodged between the glass and the spiral shelving. This is what Daniela meant by "the shadow can get annoying," Sam or Natasha having to deal with this crap. Over the past month, Daniela's helped Peter out of countless situations, but this one took the cake as the stupidest thing he's done. Before this, the worst thing she'd seen him do was eat cheese whiz straight from a can, which she put a stop to immediately.

"Yeah, for you,” she smirks and takes out her phone, "I'm sending this to the guys, they’ll love it."

"Oh my God, please don't," he half laughs while trying to get his arm free, “just, hand me my web shooter,” he nods to his backpack that was on a nearby table, "please? I can't reach it.”

Daniela rolls her eyes, still trying to figure out what made him think putting his hand in the machine in the first place was a good idea. She was definitely gonna have to teach him more about common sense when they got home. She takes a quick photo, knowing it'd come in handy later as blackmail, and puts her phone back in her pocket, "Just get your arm outta there,” she rolls her eyes, "wheels up in 10.”

He bit his lip nervously, “Um, it might be stuck…” he trails off looking away from her shyly, “any chance you could help me, Sarg?”

"Oh my God,” she shakes her head and runs a hand through her long auburn hair, “of all the things I could be doing, Tony makes me your babysitter.”

Peter glares up at her from the floor, “You’re my mentor, Dani, not my babysitter,” he tries to pull his arm out again, but is unsuccessful, “I’m 18, ya know.”

“You don’t act it,” she tilts her head at him, “or look it really. You might be able to pull of 15.” He continues to glare at her as she walks over to take ahold of the opening on the machine, "Alright, Parker, when I break this, you take your arm out.”

His eyes widen, "You're gonna break it? I was honestly trying to avoid that."

"How else do you expect to get out?” She glares at him, "You wanna live here?" She removes her hands and stands back up, "Maybe I can talk Coulson into getting you a nice Hello Kitty blanket. Maybe even a nightlight for when it gets dark.” Of course she was going to help him, he was her responsibility, but that didn't mean she wasn't gonna give him shit for this.

Peter scowls at his arm and shakes his head, mentally cursing himself for getting into this situation to begin with. It's not like he goes out of his way to get into trouble, trouble just seems to find him. If it wasn't for Tony assigning Daniela as his mentor, he knows he'd be worse off. It just seemed like every time he needed her help, he ended up looking like an idiot. He hated looking like an idiot, especially in front of her.

Peter's expression softens into puppy dog eyes, and he looks up to her, "Please Dani, you gotta help me, Mr. Stark will be pissed if you don’t."

Daniela raises an eyebrow, "You little shit.” Peter then smirks proudly, knowing that guilt-tripping her always works. Despite her tough demeanor, Daniela really did care about Peter, she just has a weird way of showing it. She pauses for a moment, debating if she should just leave him or actually help, “Don't make a sound or I'll kill you myself.”

Peter smiles brightly, "Thank you!”

She shakes her head and takes a hold of the vending machine’s opening once more, "Close your eyes,” he raises an eyebrow at her, "I don't want a piece of plastic to get in them,” he hesitates slightly, then does as she says. She sighs to herself and then closes her own eyes, so that she could focus better. After a brief moment her hands let out a soft white glow and begin to freeze the plastic beneath her hands. Once the plastic is frozen enough, she pulls up on the opening, causing it to break around Peter's arm, enough for him to get free.

Daniela had been assigned by Tony to be Peter’s mentor about a month ago, right after he graduated high school, and Lord did he already know how to push her buttons. The goal was for her to eventually train him to be a full-time Avenger; however currently, she's just helping him with his college classes and overall just getting to know him. At first, she didn’t want anything to do with Peter, she figured he had zero potential to be part of the team, he was just so young and reckless, regardless of how much he wanted to help people. However now, after spending the past month with him, Ned, and his Aunt, she's slowly started to change her mind, and decided to stick around to really help him. They have their disagreements every once in a while, but she really did like him, he was like the little brother she never had, but had always wanted.

"Okay, get your arm out," Daniela makes a mental note to tell Tony about the machine, he was gonna have to replace it. He'd probably end up lecturing them both, which was quiet common nowadays.

Peter takes his arm out and slides back on the carpet away from her, "What about my chips?”

"Yeah, yeah," she stands back up and reaches into the opening of the machine and grabs Peters’s long lost Doritos, “here," she tosses them over her shoulder to Peter and he catches them, eyes still shut, "open your eyes, Parker.”

He opens his eyes and they immediately widen when he sees the machine, “Woah,” he stands up and opens his bag of chips, “thanks, Sarg!”

She smirks slightly, "Not a problem, but you get to explain to Stark why I had to do that. I'm not suppose to use my powers in civilian areas.”

Peter grabs a chip from the bag and tilts his head, "Why not?” he pops the chip into his mouth.

She looks to him with disbelief, "I just froze a vending machine, Parker, imagine what people would think if they saw me doing that.”

Peter continues to look puzzled as he reaches for another chip, “But, you use your powers on missions right?”

"That's in the field! I just sai—” Daniela holds the bridge of her nose in her fingers, growing more frustrated by the second; after a brief moment she looks back to him and fakes a sweet smile, "This took way too long, hopefully Cap didn't leave us.”

**********

"Wait, you did what?” Tony's eyes widen at Peter's words, then he turns to Daniela, "So you froze it? Daniela, we've talked about this. No powers in civilian areas. You gotta listen to me occasionally.”

Daniela and Peter had quickly made their way back to the jet, where everyone was not so patiently waiting. Now, Peter was explaining to Tony what had happened, just like Daniela had told him too. Although, some how, everyone else was more mad at her than at Peter, which seemed to always happen.

Daniela's eyes widen at Tony and she pushes off from the wall she was leaning on, "Technically, I didn’t?” she says questioningly, making Tony raise a challenging eyebrow, “We were at SHEILD and that’s not really a civilian area,” Tony rolls his eyes as she continues, “also, how exactly did this backfire to become my fault?" She raises her hands defensively while looking around at everyone on the Quinjet, "I literally saved Spiderlings arm.”

Sam chuckles and looks to Peter, "How did you even get your arm stuck, kid?"

"Well," Peter starts shyly, "my chips got stuck, I tried shaking it, and that didn't work, so I thought I could reach them," he sighs and shakes his head, slightly embarrassed, "they didn't seem that far up away."

Daniela scoffs and looks to the ceiling, "I can't believe I have to put up with this."

Peter looks to the floor, disappointed in himself, yet again. He's done everything he could this past month to try and prove to Daniela that he belonged here, that he really wanted to be an Avenger, to be better. Everyone else seemed to accept him, except maybe Bucky, but he hasn't spent much time with the ex-assassin. Daniela's opinion matter greatly to him, he wanted to make her proud to be his mentor, clearly he wasn't doing a good enough job.

Steve stands up from his seat by Natasha and walks over to Daniela, “You’re his mentor, Velikov, which means you're suppose to be training him, guiding him,” he then crosses his arms, “you should be the mature one, you’re a lot older. I'd like to think you know not to stick your arm in a vending machine.”

Daniela raises her brows at him judge-fully, "Really? I'm getting this shit from you? Who fought who last week over Scrabble?" She points out, gesturing between him and Tony, “'Cause it damn sure wasn't me!”

"Temper, babe," Tony raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, whatever, you two fight like a damn married couple, it’s embarrassing,” she rolls her eyes as various members of the team chuckle lightly, "I'm sick of being a babysitter. When is he,” she points to Peter who had now taken Steve’s seat by Natasha, "gonna get in trouble for stuff? I feel like I'm the noob around here. Not him.”

Daniella knows ranting like this in front of everyone wasn’t the best idea, but she's never been one to keep quiet while she's angry. She's constantly coming to Peter's rescue whenever he messes up, but then ends up being the one who gets in trouble. Of course, she knows he's young and is bound to make mistakes, but she's never understood why he always gets off scot free.

“Hey," Peter stands up a little offended by her statement, "I got in trouble two days ago because I took one of Dr. Banner's lasers,” he crosses his arms and continues, “I thought Ned would like it. I also might have accidentally cut my desk in half with it.”

She raises an eyebrow when he's finished, "You actually did that?” He nods and she smiles proudly, “I’m impressed," she looks past the boy and mutters to herself, "and that also explains why May asked me if I knew what happened to your desk."

"You knew about that?" Tony snaps.

“No," she glares back at Tony, "he was just looking at the thing when I was giving him a tour and he said something about it being cool. When he tried to touch it, I slapped his hand away. I'm not that stupid, Tony," she then narrows her eyes at Peter, "clearly I need to watch him better.”

Before Tony could retort, Natasha stands up, “Ok,” she holds out her hands— trying to calm everyone down— "I think the problem here is Dani needs to be on her own for a bit, like a mini vacation,” she looks to Tony, "give the kid to someone else for a few weeks,” she smiles devilishly and winks at Daniela, “like Barnes.”

Daniela smiles widely and chuckles silently to herself, "Yeah, Barnes is perfect,” she smiles over at the soldier, who’s eyes grow wide as he tilts his head confused as to why the women were volunteering him, "aw, come on! You need a new friend!”

Bucky raises an eyebrow, "I don't know about that.”

Daniela laughs, "Might be fun to have a new sparring partner, I’m sure you’re sick of Sam.”

He chuckles a bit and then crosses his arms while looking Peter up and down, "He wouldn't be much of a challenge for me, he’s so small.”

Peter's eyes widen in fear, "Ok ok, I'm sorry,” he quickly hops over to Daniela grabbing her arm, "I'll be good,” Daniela winks at Bucky and he smirks, “I won't prank you anymore or steal lasers or make you freeze anything! I promise! I'll even do my homework!”

Daniela raises her brows in mild shock, "If I knew all I had to do was threaten you with Barnes, I would've done it when you first got here," she then crosses her arms and continues before anyone else can interject, "so you'll listen to what I say?" Peter nods, "'Cause Cap says I'm suppose to make you an Avenger. It's not all fun and games,” she pauses and tilts her head a bit thinking, "actually it's mostly not fun and there's usually never any games.”

"We played Monopoly the other night!" Sam says laughing.

Daniela scoffs, "And it ended with you and Barnes fighting over properties.”

Sam glares over at her, "He fucking cheated and you know it!”

"How Sam,” she raises an eyebrow, “he hide the cards in his metal plates?”

Bucky laughs, which earns him a glare from Sam, “The thought occurred to me.”

Just then FRIDAY’s voice rang over the speaker, "Mr. Stark, we'll be landing in 10 minutes.”

"Alright," Tony sighs, "take a seat everyone.”

**********

Once the jet lands, Tony pulls Daniela aside, while everyone else makes their way into the compound. Nothing is said until they arrive at Daniela’s favorite spot on the compound, underneath a large oak tree.

When Daniela first arrived at the compound, she constantly found herself being dragged outside with the others, in order to get to know the team better, but after some time she’d soon find herself laying on the grass underneath the large branches of the tree. A couple of months later, others started to take notice and when they couldn’t find her inside, they knew where she’d gone. During that same time, Tony decided to try and make the spot more comfortable, so that not only would he not worry about her, but she’d also feel like the spot was her own. It wasn’t much, but he built her a free standing hammock that he placed near the base of the tree and a small table where she could put her coffee. For Daniela, this small gesture meant the world to her, since she never had anyone do something so sincere for her.

Daniela lays down on the hammock and closes her eyes, while Tony looks towards the compound and talks, “Why are you so mean to him?”

It's not that Tony actually thought she was being mean, Daniela's always been a bit rough around the edges, it came with the the fact that she had such a tough life. He just thought she could at least be a little more friendly. Although, asking Daniela to be more warm and fuzzy, might be a challenge considering everything she'd been through.

"Tony," Daniela starts, "I'm not mean to him, I actually care a lot about the kid."

Tony raises a brow not amused, "You got a funny way of showing it."

Daniela scoffs lightly, "You know that if I didn’t like Parker, I wouldn’t help him period or would've frozen his feet to the ceiling and left him there,” she crosses her arms on her stomach opening her eyes, and looks to Tony, “why me by the way?”

Tony smiles and turns to her, "Because despite your actual age, you're one of the only ones who can relate to him. I mean, you two are always making weird pop culture references and it drives me nuts," Daniela laughs and Tony continues, "you guys get along great when you're not being, ya know, a smart-ass,” he pauses and glances to the compound briefly, “Pete lights us when he talks about you or whenever you’re around, which is good. Maybe be a little nicer though? He's not one for tough love,” Daniela scoffs and he looks back to her, “the rest of us are use to your, personality,” Tony rolls his eyes, “he’s not, so give him a break. He doesn’t realize that you don’t actually mean anything by it.”

Tony pats her shoulder and Daniela nods before standing up from the hammock, “I still think Barton or Barnes would've been a better choice than me.”

Tony sighs heavily, “Look, you don’t give yourself enough credit. Before you settled down and joined the Marines, you'd been through several wars trying to decimate Hydra. You may have had your own personal agenda behind it, but you still held your own, during a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed, let alone in the military. You're a seasoned solider, so you know what it takes to survive. Not to mention you've got the brains to hold a conversation with Banner and myself," Daniela rolls her eyes and Tony smiles, "There is no one I trust more to train him, than you,” Daniela looks down at the ground shyly, his compliments making her nervous.

Tony meant every word of it too. There wasn't a single person on this planet he trusted more to train Peter than Daniela, possibly himself, but that would be a far stretch. He knew that she would make sure Peter knew what he was doing out there, she was good at what she did. The things she was able to accomplish in her life were astounding and she deserved all the praise he was giving her and then some.

Tony pats her shoulder, “And like I’ve said before, if I gave him to Barnes or Barton, they would just torture the kid. I know you won’t, mostly.”

“True," she laughs, "they were pretty hard on him when he first got here.”

Tony shakes his head, "Anyway, don't give him any slack just cause he's young ok, he's an adult now. He knows how to handle himself for the most part, but he could use some fine tuning here and there.”

Daniela smiles, "You told Barnes the same thing when he started training me.”

When Daniela first got to the Avenger compound, almost three years ago, she trained with Natasha mostly at first, so they could get an idea for how well she could handle herself. After a couple of weeks, Tony and Steve decided that having Bucky be Daniela's mentor would be good for both of them. Bucky needed something to do when he wasn’t on a mission and Daniela needed more refined training. It was definitely an adjustment for both of them, Bucky hadn't trained anyone in quiet some time and Daniela wasn't use to someone telling her so bluntly that she was doing things wrong. It took a good three months for them to finally decide that they could tolerate one another. Now, they're closer to each other than anyone else on the team, after all they did have some things in common.

Tony nodded sharply, "And did he give you any slack?”

"Well, no,” Daniela shrugs, "but I was over 90 years old and've been to war.”

"And look at you now," he smiles brightly, "three years later and still a smart-ass.”

She chuckles, "Well, he didn't kick the personality outta me, Tony.”

"Then he didn't train you hard enough,” he pauses for a moment, while she laughs, and then he smirks playfully, “maybe you should remind Barnes you can still kick his ass, for old times sake.”

"She never kicked my ass, Stark!”

Daniela’s eyebrows went up in shock at the new voice and she looks back to the door of the compound, but found no one there. Tony only smirks and looks in the direction the voice came from, "Then explain the scar on your leg!”

Bucky finally steps out from behind the door, so that they could see him, “I fell down the stairs,” he retorts, "you can't prove shit!”

"Is that a challenge, tin man?" Daniela giggles as Tony raises a challenging eyebrow, "'Cause I'll find footage and show everyone!”

Bucky stares at the pair for a few moments, then glares at Tony, “Fuck you, Stark,” he then turns around and goes back inside.

Tony smiles smugly, "That's what I thought.”

Daniela looks to Tony and smirks, "You knew he was listenin' didn't you?”

"I had a feeling.” He claps his hands together, “Anyway, I talked to Fury before we left and we came to the decision that Parker is ready for official Avenger training. So, I want you to start tomorrow, just some simple stuff at first alright? None of that shit Barnes and Barton did with you, like take him for a jog or somethin',” she nods and Tony continues, “also, I want you to make sure he's set in his room! Show him how to login to his laptop so he can do his homework, I can't have him falling behind.”

He gives a quick smile before walking to the compound, when Daniela fully realizes what he just said, “Wait, he’s gonna stay here now,” she turns and jogs up next to him, “I thought he was gonna stay with May 'til he was done with this semester.”

“He’s an Avenger now, babe,” he raises an eyebrow at her as they continue to walk toward the compound, “he needs to be here for when we need him. I talked to May about it already and she said she didn’t mind, as long as you promised to watch him and make sure he still passes his classes,” Daniela smiles lightly and Tony looks at her sideways, “you’ve had quiet the influence on her.”

“Well,” she shrugs, “I make sure Peter gets his stuff done on time and I help her out too.”

He nodded, “I know, that’s nice. You’re a good person.”

She shakes her head slightly, “I wouldn't go that far.”

**********

The two walk back into the compound to find everyone still taking off their gear. Steve nods to Daniela the moment he sees her, “Velikov,” she raises an eyebrow when she hears her name, “conference room in 15.”

"What for?” she asks while unzipping her suit and pulling her arms out, letting the top half hang around her waist, exposing her white undershirt, “Can't possibly be another mission this soon.”

"It's not," Steve says as he tucks his shield away, "we gotta give Parker a breakdown of some things, so bring him with ya.”

“Alright," she pats Peter on the back and he looks up from his phone at her, "I gotta show junior here to his room anyway,” she pinches his cheek and he pushes her away, causing her to laugh. She then walks around him to the other side of the wall and opens her locker.

"Where's his room?" Sam asks, while unbuckling his vest.

Daniela furrows her brows while trying to pull off a boot, “Um, I don't actually know?”

Tony audibly sighs while tapping on his phone, "He's across the hall from you, Dani.”

After pulling both boots off, she begins to step out of her suit, leaving her in just her spandex shorts and tank top, “Why me?" she continues while reaching for her jeans, ”I suggest putting him by Wilson."

"No thanks,” Sam chuckles, "he's your sidekick.”

"I'm not a sidekick,” Peter protests quietly.

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justalonelyslytherin · 2 years

Text

My Sister(s) Boyfriend(s) to the Rescue 2/2

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, platonic/siblings Peter Parker x Reader, brief Natasha Romanov x Bucky Barnes

Warnings: none really, brief mentions of ww2, natbucky for those that don't like it (it's only a small mention at the end)

Wordcount: 4.4 k

A/N: Finally it is done! I was concerned at some point I wouldn't get it finished as I was stuck on the dialogue for a frustrating part. A big thank you and shoutout to @deepdonutkid and @drabblewithfrannybarnes who consulted and helped me get unstuck. Without you two it would have taken me much longer to complete this! <3 This might be my new favorite part. I loved writing it, especially all the interactions between Y/N and Steve! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it. Also, let's pretend the Parker's have two couches instead of just one.

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

The steady clicking of keyboard buttons filled the room. In random intervals, it stopped. It was then the muttering of Peter and Steve sounded as they discussed what to write next and how to phrase it.

There were a lot of questions. Peter’s mind was a never-ending vortex.

The War was greatly written about and Captain America too had seen a lot of interest in the historic community. Yet what was written often wasn’t right and Peter burned to know how it really went down.

It wasn’t often you got the opportunity to ask someone who had seen it all, who was present for all the important moments. The chance was even less for this Person to be Steve Rogers himself.

While Steve would have loved to clear up some wrongs, both the Avengers PR team as well as his friends had discouraged him from doing so. It didn’t matter, not in the great context of saving the world time and time again. Not that it irked him any less.

-------

With a soft smile, Y/N observed the two of them. They had huddled around Peter's laptop, pouring over the text that continued to grow.

She didn’t have a lot to do. Periodically when they discussed the next portion to write her eyes would light up. And while Peter didn’t type she would correct mistakes. But that was it

Letting them do their thing mostly - which she concluded to be a good bonding moment - Y/N had leaned back on the lower of the bunk beds and played with a baseball Peter had laying around.

She wasn’t much of a help anyway. Steve was the one who had experienced all and who could answer Peter’s question. Of course with her powers, the vastness of the web was hers. She could easily look up any fact and become knowledgeable enough about the topic. But that felt like cheating and didn’t help Peter any bit in writing a good essay.

No, Y/N rather leaned back and threw the baseball up in the air, catching it again and again. It was a repetitive and meaningless motion, but it was better than letting sleep overtake her.

It was late. Steve and she had gone to bed fairly early, yet it felt like they hadn’t slept at all. The longer she lay there the heavier her limbs felt and the harder it was not to yawn.

“Sweetheart?” Steve’s voice pulled her out of her slumbery thoughts. It was only then that Y/N realized she couldn’t hear the clicking of the keyboard anymore.

“Yeah?” she asked softly. Lifting her head she could see both Peter and Steve looking at her with concern.

“You tired?” he asked her. It felt more like a statement than a question. And he was right, she was.

“You can sleep, we won’t mind.”

The sentence had her shake her head and sit up again.

“No. I’m fine.”

Steve had to be as tired as her and Peter had to be exhausted too. She could feel it radiate from the teen. They all had had a tiring day, she didn’t want to leave them alone even if she wasn’t much of a help at the moment.

“I only spaced out a bit. How far have you two come?” Leaning over Peter’s shoulder she looked at the bright screen.

Y/N scrunched her nose in confusion upon the still too empty-looking document. It surely had to be more than that. They had been talking and writing for over an hour now.

“That is…”

The end of her sentence softly drifted into nothingness. She was at a loss for words. Peter and Steve looked bashful. While her little brother fumbled with his fingers, scratching at a sticker on the laptop, Steve rubbed the back of his neck. He looked like a little boy that was caught stealing cookies. Steve’s telltale look when he felt embarrassed.

“Well?” she asked again. Not scolding or disappointed. Just curious how they could have only so little when they had talked so animatedly for the last eternity.

“We do have an idea for the outline and in which direction the essay is supposed to go..” Peter started and smiled shyly before he looked to Steve for help.

“Yeah Sweetheart. We did good work…we just didn’t write it down. Yet.”

It made her snort amused.

“Alright. I guess you do need my help more than I thought you would,” with that she sat up further and scooted closer to Peter’s side. “You continue talking about everything and I try to help with writing it down, yeah?”

Peter nodded and made a motion to hand the laptop over to her. Y/N shook her head. With one finger she pointed towards her eyes - they briefly lit up - and winked at the teen. Peter’s face lit up in recognition. He smiled at her and nodded in understanding.

Before they could get back to work, another yawn left Y/N’s mouth. That treacherous exhaustion. As her eyes glided over to Steve he was frowning again, watching her and she knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m fine.” she reassured him with a soft smile. It was sweet how concerned he was. Yes, she was tired, but it wasn’t like she was about to drop dead because of it. She had had worse missions with longer stretches of little or no sleep at all. One all-nighter wouldn’t hurt her.

“Do you think we will be able to sleep in?” Her attempt at distraction seemed to have worked. Steve’s frown lessened and instead, he replaced it with a crooked smile.

Shrugging his shoulders he answered, “If there is no emergency mission maybe.”

“Better hope that Tony won’t find out,” he added. Now it was her turn to frown. Tony would have a field day to wake them up at the normal hour and tease them for being sleepy.

“I could always mess with F.R.I.D.A.Y. That would get us a couple of hours, maybe even a day of peace.”

“Sweetheart.” Steve’s somewhat scolding voice made her shrug. It wasn’t that she was particularly mischievous, but Tony’s witty remarks challenged her. The banter and teasing between Tony and her were always friendly. Y/N would never actually mess with F.R.I.D.A.Y and dare to hurt or damage the beloved A.I. It was all in good sports and Tony gave her as much trouble back.

Still, Steve didn’t like when she distracted Tony. Not only because the billionaire was more likely to bother him in return and complain to the captain about that girlfriend of his. It also wasn’t very healthy, as he liked to emphasize. Tony had a bad habit of getting too absorbed in his work and liked to forget time as well as his basic human needs. Steve being the mother hen he was didn’t like that one bit.

“Okay, I won’t. But it’s your fault then, if Tony wakes us up, and I’ll be cranky.” Because Steve wouldn’t be. Damn his supersoldier self. He would be fine with sleeping fewer hours. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t need to sleep at all.

“If we focus back on the essay we will be finished in no time and can go to bed.” Steve’s rebuttal was met with her raising one eyebrow. Her boyfriend smiled sheepishly at her and in return Y/N stuck her tongue out teasingly. The hearty laugh Steve released afterward made her grin. One last mutual look they shared before they turned their attention back to Peter.

“Let’s see. Where did you want to start off with your essay?” she asked. In truth, after a while she had stopped listening to the two of them.

“With an introduction. A brief summary about the Howling Commandos and what events had happened in the war until the moment of their formation.”

Y/N nodded. She was impressed. It seemed like they really had spoken a lot about it and simply forgotten to write along.

“That’s where we went a bit off point I believe.” Steve remarked with another sheepish smile.

It amazed her how relaxed and boyish he looked at that moment. Everything about the blonde was more relaxed at this moment. Even his posture. He had leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands loosely clasped together. Some strands of hair were falling over his forehead.

While she knew this side of him well, it didn’t appear often when they weren’t alone. Most of the time he kept a tight and stoic mask on. Especially when he was in his role of the Captain and Leader. Seeing him let go of all of that was nice. It also made her proud that it was Peter who brought out this side in Steve more.

Coming back to reality from her little moment of awe, Y/N looked back at Peter and asked,

“Okay, so how do we get back to the topic again?”

Peter seemed to think about it a moment before he turned to Steve.

“Mr. Barnes and the other Howling Commandos were all in Azzano, right? So how did they get captured and how long were they in captivity before you rescued them?”

Steve set out to answer the question. His mouth opened and then closed again without releasing one word. Both of them watched as he got quiet, too quiet, screwing his eyebrows deeply together.

Y/N recognized this as his thinking face. Whenever he got caught in his thoughts, contemplating something heavily his brows became crinkled. She had heard Bucky call it his ‘angry brows’ on one occasion.

The super-soldier muttered something under his breath neither Peter nor Y/N could understand. Turning to her, he looked flustered.

“I-...I,” he mumbled and she understood. He didn’t need to say anything more. She was already pulling her phone out of her pocket, her eyes lighting up as she passed it over.

Steve didn’t have to dial as a call had already been started. It rang for a while before the other end picked up. There was grumbling from the other side that could be heard even by Peter and Y/N. The rest of the call was rather unintelligible.

When Steve put the phone down only a short amount of time later, both of them looked at him questioningly. Peter, because he didn’t know what had exactly happened just now and Y/N because she wanted to know how the call ended.

“Is he coming?” she asked her boyfriend, who nodded.

“Yes. They are both coming.”

“Both?” she asked surprised but started to smile. “Well, the more the merrier isn’t it?”

But Peter still looked very confused and unsure.

“I don’t think any more people are going to fit in my room.”, he mumbled and looked around. It was true. There wasn’t enough space to fit two more people somewhere.

“What about the living room?” Steve asked.

“Oh, yeah. That works!” With that, he stood up and grabbed his laptop. He looked around the room once more before he turned to his two helpers.

“We’ll follow you in just a moment.” Y/N told him with a smile. Steve reciprocated the smile but in a much smaller, less enthusiastic way. After Peter left the room his smile dropped entirely. With a heavy sigh, the blonde slouched his shoulders and pressed his chin against his chest.

Scooting over to him, Y/N leaned forward and softly brushed the tips of her finger through his hair.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. It took Steve a moment before he slowly lifted his head and looked at her. In his eyes, there was a look of regret and sorrow. It hurt her to see him like that. With this broken, crestfallen look.

“Oh Baby, c’mere.” She opened her arms wide for him and Steve willingly followed without hesitation. He sank into her embrace with another sigh, leaning his head on her shoulder while his arms snaked around her waist.

“How can I not know that?” came his answer in a small voice a while after in which he just relished her closeness. “I don’t know anything about his capture, how could I never have asked him that? I don’t know anything about how they all met and how they worked together before. I should know that. Not just as their Captain but also as their friend.”

“Does that even really matter? You know so much else about him. Remember after we removed the Winter Soldier programming when he still had some memory issues? You helped him so much, told him everything about your childhood and all your time together.” she reminded him and added, “I’m sure Bucky isn’t angry you never asked, I bet he was actually quite content to not relive it again. It’s not a fond memory I suppose.”

Yet Steve didn’t seem to believe in her words. Or rather he didn’t want to believe in her words.

“Steve, you were at war. There was so much going on, so much happening at once. Everything went so fast, it’s okay to have forgotten to ask and it’s okay to not know everything.”

She wouldn’t let him beat himself up, she wouldn’t permit him to drown in the guilt he felt. He had episodes like that when he couldn’t see the good and the positive. That’s when she stepped in. To remind him. To show him. Softly cradling his head to her shoulder, her fingers massaged his scalp and the back of his neck.

Another heavy sigh left Steve’s lips before he pulled away from her just a bit so he could see her face. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he looked at her with tender eyes.

“I will never let you talk yourself down. Never. You hear me?” she reminded him with equal affection in her look and tone, to which Steve nodded.

“I don’t deserve you.” he mumbled softly.

“You do. You fully do. It is me that doesn’t deserve you. You are too good.” Now it was Steve’s turn to shake his head and look at her with a hint of scolding.

“Nu-uh, you aren’t allowed to do that either Sweetheart.”

Y/N giggled softly, nodding in agreement. They looked at each other with adoration, their love for each other oozing and swaying around them. Then she leaned forward, placing her lips onto his in a soft kiss.

She loved to kiss him. His lips were so plush and he had a surprisingly sweet tang. And he was a good kisser, my god was he good at it. Sometimes he made her forget everything around them when he kissed her. It was like flying, feeling weightless and complete.

Today however she kept her focus. Slowly they parted again, sharing another look of love between them.

“We should probably go into the living room.” she mumbled slowly. Y/N didn’t want to leave Peter waiting too long. Steve nodded, yet neither of them moved. Both of them burst into giggles at that and after they shared another sweet but short kiss they finally parted.

Steve grunted as he stood up and stretched out his long legs. The chair had been too small for him. Y/N too made a small noise as she crawled out from under the bunk bed. She stretched like a cat after a long nap, letting her arms sink to her sides again with a satisfied huff. It was then she noticed Steve eyeing her with a smirk.

“Seeing something funny grandpa?” she teased. Steve guffawed and shook his head.

“You, be careful.” he warned her with a grin. As he took a step towards her she jumped back, squealing in glee.

“Don’t!” She laughed, yet when Steve made another step in her direction, grinning like a fool at her, she looked to the door. Looking once more back to her boyfriend she smirked at him. He quirked a brow then. Before he could take another step Y/N bolted out of the room, laughing and surely running into the living room.

Peter looked up as he heard the laughter and quickly approaching steps, just in time to see Y/N slide into the living room. Their eyes locked as she grinned at him brightly. Steve soon followed into the living room smiling at the two of them.

------

Not half an hour later there was a knock on the front door of the apartment. All three of them eyed the door before Y/N stood up and walked over to it. Both Steve and Peter were already sitting before the laptop again, having started to type down some of the introduction in the time they were waiting.

Upon opening the door Y/N came face to face with her fellow Avengers. Bucky didn’t look very happy to have been woken up in the middle of the night and to be here now, but to be frankly he always had a rather grumpy look on his face. Natasha on the other hand was grinning smugly and looked rather amused. Y/N ushered both of them into the apartment.

“What is this very important task that you needed me to get up in the middle of the night for?” Bucky asked with a raised eyebrow. Peter looked nervously at the former Winter Soldier and fumbled with his hands.

“Thank you for coming Mr. Barnes.” he mumbled before he jumped up and took a step towards Bucky before he pointed to the sofa. “I uh, I need to write an essay for history class.” he mumbled, tripping over his words. If Steve had made him nervous, Bucky could make the teen faint in an instant. It wasn’t that Bucky had been mean to him or Peter was scared he would hurt him. It was intimidation for the older man, similar to the awe he felt for Steve.

“It’s about the Howlies, so we need your help Buck.” Steve told him. That seemed to surprise Bucky too, who stopped looking so grumpy.

“That bunch? What could you write about us for your history class?” he asked and looked at Peter. The teen nodded vigorously before he answered, voice cracking a little.

“My teacher suggested we write about your efforts and achievements during the war, but I didn’t want to write about that. I wanted to write about.. well I wanted to write a piece showcasing the human side of all of you, that you were more than some disembodied war heroes.” And mumbling afterward, he added, “I want to show how I see you with this.”

Bucky kept quiet, looking at Peter before his look jumped to Steve. They shared a look between them, a silent conversation. Bucky started to shrug off his coat the next moment, leaving Peter confused.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s get started, obviously the punk wasn’t any help to you.”

Steve scoffed, “Jerk,” but smiled as Peter reacted. He nodded and began to beam at Bucky excited and scurried back to the couch. Before he could sit down, Bucky spoke up again.

“Oh and kid?” he addressed Peter, “Stop calling me Mr. Barnes, will ya? Makes me feel old, I’m not my old man. Just call me Bucky.”

Natasha and Y/N shared an amused look from their spot still by the front door. From which they had observed the scene with their little brother and boyfriends.

“Come on, let’s sit down too.” Y/N offered, pointing to the second couch adjacent to the first which the three boys occupied. Peter sat enveloped between the two much bigger super-soldiers.

They didn’t waste much time, going straight to work on the essay. Now that Peter had two helpers - without counting Y/N and Natasha - it seemed to work much swifter. Whenever they strayed from their path the other one would bring them back on route. They worked well together. So much so that Y/N and her powers weren’t really needed to get the spoken words onto the laptop.

She and Natasha found themselves sitting on the couch, a throw blanket laid across their laps as they watched and talked quietly. Y/N’s exhaustion started to creep back, making her yawn and soon once more after that.

“Are you tired?” Natasha asked her, as Steve’s head whipped up looking at the two women for a brief moment before Bucky and Peter pulled his attention back to the task at hand.

“A little but it’s okay.” she answered and laid her head on the redhead's shoulder.

“Did someone notice you leaving?” she wanted to know, wondering if some other soul had been awake in the tower at such a late hour.

“No. Everyone else was asleep.”

They continued to lounge on the couch, wiggling and shifting positions over time while the boys continued their work. Natasha and Y/N were sprawled out on the couch, legs and arms hanging off it or jumbled together when Peter put his laptop onto the coffee table in front of them.

“Are you done?” Y/N asked, lifting her head from her sister's shoulder where they had browsed on Natasha's phone.

“Almost,” Bucky told them, smiling as Natasha sent a wink in his direction. Y/N slowly sat up, groaning slightly and stretching out once more.

“We only need the closing paragraph and then a quick check for mistakes and a read-over,” Peter said and smiled. She could see the relief and exhaustion oozing out of him.

“You focus on the last paragraph while I get started on the mistake check?” Y/N offered, to which Peter nodded gratefully. It was the least she could do for them.

That’s how they got back to work. The last paragraph didn’t take much longer to finish. Not much longer than it took Y/N to sweep over the document and eliminate all typos and other errors anyways. In perfect timing with Peter typing the last words, the glow of her eyes faded back to normal.

“Done now?” Natasha asked and Peter nodded.

“Yes. I just need to print it out.”

“Alright. Are you going to read it to us then?”

Surprised, the teen looked up, blinking slowly. Faintly he nodded, almost hesitantly it seemed at first. But he recovered quickly, nodding stronger and shyly smiling.

While Peter scurried off to print out his essay for the next day - or rather in a couple of hours - Steve and Bucky stood up to stretch.

As Steve was done stretching he slowly sat back on the couch and looked over at his girl. She had already been watching him, smiling softly. He raised an eyebrow and beckoned her to come over. Y/N - not one to say no to such an invitation - stood up just as Bucky walked over to the second couch. The brunette let himself drop into the spot Y/N had just occupied at Natasha’s side while Y/N crossed the living room to her boyfriend's side.

Sliding into Steve’s waiting arms, she made herself comfortable on his lap, nuzzling her face in his neck. He placed a kiss on her head and gently pulled her closer. A small yawn left his lips, which had Y/N look up.

“Tired?” she asked him.

“I’m getting a little sleepy.” he admitted and smiled down at her. “Can’t wait to be back in our bed.”

“Me too.” she agreed and nodded. For now, they could only make themselves comfortable on the couch. And that’s exactly what they did as Steve slid down further with his back, wrapping both arms around her waist. A comfortable silence enveloped all of them.

The exhaustion and late hour seemed to creep up on all of them now. Peter’s steps were sluggish and slow as he came trotting back into the living room. A big yawn left his lips. In his hand was his laptop again, with which he planted himself in the armchair. Getting comfortable he started to quietly read his essay aloud to them.

--------

Exhaustion had set in every bone of her body from the long shift. Aunt May was thankful for the working lift as it meant she didn’t have to take the stairs up to the apartment. When the doors of the lift opened with a small ping all she had left to do was walk to the left through the hallway until she was at the front door of the apartment. This early in the morning it was empty and quiet.

Fumbling with her keys it took her a moment to open the door as she had to balance her bag, the newspaper, and the fresh breakfast she had bought. Her view focused on the bottom and she finally opened the door and entered the apartment. The door clicked into the lock behind her. It was then she looked up and froze.

Her heart had begun to rapidly beat in her chest, her first thought was to get scared. Until she realized there was no threat. It was then she started to smile fondly at the scene before her.

Scattered through the living room were Peter, his self-appointed big sisters, and the two super soldiers. All fast asleep. Peter lay crooked in the armchair, his head hanging to the side and his legs thrown over one of the armrests. Spread across the two couches were the four avengers. The two couples to be more precise, cozily arm in arm and snoring lightly.

As May put her things on the dining table, she noticed the laptop balancing on her nephew's stomach, precariously close to falling to the floor. Careful not to wake him, she took the laptop, wanting to place it on the table as well. As she had the device in her hands she noticed the opened window. She read the title of it and smiled, looking back at the group of heroes who had saved her nephew’s night as it seemed.

#little spiderbro #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers x you #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers fluff #peter parker #peter parker x sister!reader #sly's writing

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sofiahahaaa · 2 years

Text

HEY NEIGHBOR - Tom Holland x Reader

Description: Reader is new to LA, trying to get her start as a screenwriter. She finds out on her first night in town that she has some famous company in her apartment block, and she never seems to be on the right terms with him.

A/N: So, I had this idea, and I requested it from a writing blog I really like, but I can’t force them to write anything, so I decided… finals are over, I should just write it myself! And this way– I HAVE TOTAL CONTROL. Anyways– I haven’t published any of my writing since my PJO series… which is still incomplete. AHEM. Let’s not talk about it, I don’t have the motivation to finish.

Alright. So. This is not a writing blog, but I do enjoy writing! So I will do this! For myself! And everyone else who reads, of course. That is to say, it's been a while, but I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: 18+ some cursing, mentions of sex, and a little bit of angst. Fem!Reader, sick hurt/comfort, heavy alcohol use, possessiveness/jealousy. Girlboss reader.

Wordcount: 12.6k

Pt 1. WELCOME

I brushed my hair back as I waited for the front desk to hand me my new keys. My nerves had me picking my hands raw.

This was it. I was in LA, lo and behold, and I… had no plans. I should’ve made plans.

I bit my lip anxiously, trying to tune out the annoying clicking of someone’s keyboard. Don’t be stressed. It’ll all be okay.

Finally, the meek man at the front desk popped back up, his wild blue hair flying everywhere. He stuck out his hand awkwardly, key dangling from his dirty fingers.

“Here you go Ms… ms…” He looked positively in pain as he tried to remember my name.

“Y/N is fine. Just, um–” I grabbed the keys and picked up my bag again. “Which unit?”

“Unit– uh– 320.”

“3rd floor?”

“Um– yes. Yeah.”

“Okay, thank you, Mr. Laurence.” I said, glancing at his name tag. The guy was certainly a hot mess. I hoped I didn’t look that way.

Traffic made the ride from the airport to my new apartment building about an hour long (double the time it should’ve been), and after a 2-hour plane delay, I was just rushing to make sure I got here in time to meet the moving guys. I hadn’t had a chance to check that I still looked… presentable.

I lugged my carry-on suitcases down the hallway and up the stairs (elevator wasn’t working) until finally, I found my apartment. Man, having to make that walk all the time would not be enjoyable.

I shuffled around in my bag for about a minute trying to find the damn keys, which I couldn’t have possibly lost already– oh, there.

Finally, with a satisfying clunk, I slid the keys in and unlocked the door, opening it to take in the wonderful smell of… apartment. It was so plain. A fresh start. This was a good sign.

My boxes were already there, complete with a little note. Guess I didn’t make it to meet the moving guys. It was alright, though– everything seemed to be there. And because it was just a one-bedroom, there wasn’t really a ‘wrong’ place to put the boxes.

This, I could work with. I moved around to set my bag down on the counter, taking in my new digs. It was surprisingly nice for how cheap the rent was. Relatively new doors, modern appliances, barely a sign of ceiling stains from water leakage. There had to be something wrong, right?

Just then, I heard a loud crash from next door. Hmm. Maybe that was the issue.

I shrugged it off and started tearing open boxes. It was such a small apartment; I didn’t get why my mom insisted on me hiring moving guys. I told her that if she wanted to keep all my stuff from my old place, she could just hire the moving guys to come to her house. The apartment wasn’t furnished yet, but it wasn’t like I had to keep my old stuff. I liked the idea of starting anew.

Alas, my mom is the kind of person to always get what she wants, so thus, the moving guys were hired, and now my apartment was already full of stuff, and I had just arrived.

I had only torn open 2 boxes by the time my phone started ringing, lighting up with my mom’s caller ID. I left the stack of books I was trying to organize and picked up the phone. “Heyyy sweetie…”

“Hi mama. What’s up?”

“Well, I figured you were all settled right about now and that I should call you to make sure you’re doing well!”

“Actually, mom, I just landed.”

“What? But your flight was for 11 am!”

“Yeah, but it was delayed from Phoenix.” I paused, holding my scissors between my teeth as I looked for my bedding box.

“No! LAX is such a nightmare– I can’t believe I have to fly through there every time I want to see you.” My mother huffed, hard to read but hopefully in a playful tone.

“It’s not so bad.” I tried to interject, but she left me with silence. “Okay, so it’s pretty bad. Anyways, I’m just unpacking some stuff before I go out to dinner.”

“Dinner? Do you have plans with someone? Not a date, right?” My mom already sounded worried.

“No, mom. Just me. I mean dinner, like… Chipotle. Not a fancy dinner.”

“Oh, okay. Well, stay safe!”

“I’ll try.” I hung up before she could carry on the call. Seriously, the sun was almost setting and I had barely fixed the apartment.

I had been at it for what seemed like hours, blasting my favorite music and unpacking things at rapid speed. I wasn’t new to unpacking, either. My old job in sales and marketing had me traveling all the time, so I was in and out of my old apartment every other day. It was probably why I could never hold down a relationship. It was sad and lonely, but it paid really well, especially since I was straight out of college.

Finally, with enough savings, I had decided to pursue my true dream in Hollywood: writing stories that so many people around the world would see. My work, on the big screen.

It was risky. My employer was shocked when I handed in my two weeks; I think because he had basically given me everything I could ever ask for. Sure, I felt bad, but it wasn’t like they relied on me 100%. And I wanted a change, quick.

So here I was, arranging chairs at the countertop and throwing my old throw pillows on my old couch. Shiny new apartment, shiny new city. Exhilarating.

All of the sudden, I heard a loud knock at my door, sending me out of my unpacking haze. I rushed to the door, straightening out my shirt and trying to hide my sweat stains. Ah shit, my hair.

Whatever: I don’t care if my neighbor sees me like this, it’s going to happen a lot more.

I opened the door wide, immediately shocked with who was on the other side.

“Tom… Holland?” I took a deep breath and blinked hard. I had to be seeing things.

“That would be me.” He smirked a little, straightening his cuff.

“Sorry, are you my neighbor?” Why did Tom Holland live in a moderately priced apartment building– not to mention one that was decently far away from anything significant?

“Well, I do live in the apartment unit right next to yours, so I suppose I would be.” He was being… snarky.

I couldn’t lie, he was attractive– I was a huge fan of Spiderman and, well, how he plays Spiderman, but I’d never expected him to be so… uppity. No, that wasn’t the right word. He wasn’t posh, necessarily. Just had an air about him that made him seem superior to you. I was sure he could be perfectly sweet if given the chance, but with me– he would never get the chance. I’d make sure of it. I’m going to be working with celebrities all the time if my career takes off; so, I have to learn to speak to them– like normal people. Right. Just some practice for the big leagues.

“You suppose?” I said, mocking his accent. He made a face.

“You got me. I’m British,”

“Funny.” I held in an actual laugh, knowing that just a chuckle from me would boost his ego through the roof. “But in all seriousness, is there a reason you came over? I know you are a star and you know, you have such a busy life–”

“Oh, if that’s how it is–” He made like he was going to walk out the door. I bit my lower lip and decided to have some restraint.

“No, I’m sorry. I’m being rude. Why did you choose to grace me with your presence on this fine day?” He turned back to me, resting his arm on my door jamb.

“Well, I know you’re new, but the blasting of music… you gotta keep it down. We have thin walls here, darling.”

I swallowed a gasp when he called me darling. LA is absolutely surreal. “Oh… I see.” I pouted, “You don’t like my taste in music?”

“It’s not the music, love. It’s your singing. It’s like in the shower, except we can hear you. And you don’t have range.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ouch! You think you can do better?” I instantly winced, remembering he had a history on the West End. Stupid.

“I definitely can.” He was still smiling, though– so, no harm, no foul.

I raised my hands up playfully. “Okay, I surrender. I’ll stop singing– but the music is staying on.”

“Actually, I do have a date over right now– so could you turn it down? Or… put in some headphones?”

I could feel my heart beating. A date? So he wasn’t… flirting.

Or maybe he was. Maybe it was a casual thing with his… date.

“A date? Didn’t know you were dating anyone!”

“Well, it’s not exactly public. We are thinking of moving in together, however, so I suppose you should meet her as well.”

So it was serious. There go my chances. “Any other secret roommates you want to tell me about?”

“Actually, yeah. My brother Sam is living with me right now. He’s quite the chef, so maybe you could come over for supper in the future.”

“I might; I’m not exactly financially equipped for gourmet, so a free dinner is appealing.”

“You’re a funny one. Alright, well–” His apartment door came open, the girl who I assumed was his girlfriend poking her head out the door.

“Babe? Are you coming back to bed?” She whined. Yikes, wouldn’t have taken him to end up with this kind of girl.

“Soon, sweetheart. I’m introducing myself to the new neighbor.” He explained, eyes tired.

She stepped out of the doorway, and thankfully she was dressed. “Hmm,” she moaned lightly. Does his girlfriend always make sex sounds when speaking casually? She was eyeing me up and down, eating me up with her eyes. “She’s pretty,” she said, a hint of jealousy in her eyes. Jealous? Of a girl he just met? “Are you sure she’s not some crazy fan?”

“She’s right there, baby.” Tom reminded her. “And I doubt she’s ‘some crazy fan’. She seemed genuinely surprised that I was her neighbor.”

“Who even is she?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Tom replied. She shrugged. Seemed like… a brat. “Okay– actually, I don’t remember your name– please tell me I haven’t asked yet.”

“No, you haven’t. My name’s Y/N, uh, L/N.”

“That’s a pretty name,” he said almost without thinking, then immediately looked guiltily at his girlfriend. Apparently, that’s exactly what she was looking for, because she was pouting at him for making that comment. “Um, but– the prettiest of all, the queen of my world right here– her name is Emily.”

“Nice to meet you, Emily.” I stuck out my hand to shake hers, but she neglected to return the shake. I let my hand drop to my side and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “Well then. Tom, Emily, nice to meet you both. I’ll turn down that music for you. We can… catch up soon.”

I dropped back into my apartment, sitting on the floor, defeated. That girl was… toxic– but I couldn’t get involved. It was someone else’s relationship. For now, I would have to focus less on the hot neighbor, and more on the journey ahead of me.

Pt 2. REFERRAL

“Yep. Yep, got it. No, it’s totally fine. Yep. Okay. Bye.” I hung up the phone in frustration. Another rejection. Nobody would hire me with no experience and the wrong degree. All of the work I had done independently was nothing in this kind of industry. I slumped face down onto the floor, my face hitting the cold wood.

“AHHHHHHHHH,” I screamed in frustration. 2 weeks of nothing but rejection and tears. The stress was building up, and my part time job at the Starbucks down the street wasn’t paying the bills. “FUCK!” I screamed again, kicking the ground as hard as I could without hurting myself.

I had been laying there, crying, for a couple minutes, when I heard a knock on my door. I didn’t answer it. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.

“Y/N?” Ugh, it was Tom.

You know, being neighbors with Tom wasn’t all I had hoped it would be. I had barely spoken to him since the night you’d met, save for a couple interactions on the way to get the mail or take out the trash. I’d almost seen his girlfriend more than him, and everytime she saw me she gave me that horrid catty look. She was… the worst, to put it lightly.

Oh, and the sex. No, not with him. Him and… Emily, just going at it. If anything, I guessed Tom was staying with that nightmare because the sex was good. Sometimes the moans coming through the walls were so loud that even my sound-blocking headphones wouldn’t block out that shit. That paired with the sound of the bed hitting the wall made me want to jump off the roof of the building.

Tom went silent, and I sighed, hitting the floor with my forehead again. Then, I heard the door creak open. Before I could sit up to protest, Tom spoke. “You left it unlocked.”

“So you just walked in?”

“Being a friend, I wanted to see what was wrong with you.” He shrugged.

“Gee, thanks. Besides, what makes you think we’re friends?” I shot back, genuinely upset.

Tom mocked being hurt. “What’s wrong with me?”

“I could tell you, but you have to answer my questions first.”

“Okay, sounds fair.”

“Is your girlfriend going to barge through that door in a second and kill me for speaking to you?” I sat up fully.

“I don’t… think so? She’s away at the moment. And why do you say it like that?” Tom had a small frown scrawled on his face.

“She’s… I’m going to be honest with you, because I honestly couldn’t care less if you hate me. She’s a nightmare. She’s so rude. I can’t believe you’re– actually, I’m not going to finish that sentence.” This time, he seemed genuinely shocked.

“I didn’t realize you felt that way.” I couldn’t decipher whether he was disappointed or just upset with me for being so blunt about it.

“Of course not. We’ve barely spoken.”

“Yeah… yeah. Okay, you said ‘questions’. What are the other ones?” He sat down on my couch, kicking one of his legs over the other in a weird cross.

“Why did you come over?”

“Because you were screaming. It was really loud– and distracting.” He crossed his arms.

“Oh nooo, me losing another job is so devastating to you, oh noooo.” I rolled my eyes.

“Apologies, but did you say… another job?” I was ready to blow up on him right then and there, but I held it back in my throat.

“Been having some trouble getting a job with practically no experience.” I coughed out, blinking away my emotions.

“What do you do?”

“I’m trying to get a job writing for a show or movie… or, anything.”

“I know a lot of writers,” he said, and I interpreted it as him being boisterous.

“Yeah, that’s great news for me.”

“No, no– ugh, I mean, I might be able to connect you to someone, and like, maybe you could assist or something.” He tried to explain.

“Or something.” I hummed.

“Yeah, if you’re interested, I’ll submit your resume to some of my colleagues. I’m sure they won’t mind taking a look.”

“Why are you doing this?” I was surprised by his sudden interest in helping me.

“Don’t want you to keep crying.”

“That’s… sweet.” He held up a wary hand.

“Because it’s loud, and I am trying to get some rest.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Will you please keep it down?”

“Yep. Sureee. No problem.” I slumped my shoulders again.

Without another word, he had left my apartment, leaving me with the most confusing rollercoaster of emotions waiting to come crashing in. I had almost forgotten I was suppressing them. I just took myself to my bed to cry softly, making sure to not disturb him. Life is messy. What is wrong with me? Why do I have to rely on my stupid hot actor neighbor to get a job? And… why am I crying?

I hope he can’t hear me. Wouldn’t want that to interrupt his wonderful sex life.

Pt 2. Alternative: Tom’s POV

I had been trying to find an excuse to talk to the new girl for so long, it was really wearing on me. I felt like every time I intentionally ran into her, she was in a rush to leave, even though she was always in her apartment. She literally only left for work, and that was less than half the day; so why did she avoid me?

I knew Emily hadn’t exactly made the best impression on her, but she was just intimidated by the new, pretty face in town. I had been really impressed by how she was able to keep up banter with me without shaking. It was so refreshing.

And now she wouldn’t talk to me.

I hadn’t even gotten her number– I mean, we did live next to each other– but I never got the chance to invite her over to dinner with Sam. I didn’t even know if she’d be interested.

So, when I heard her cry out like she was in pain at 10pm, I had to check it out. I was dying to at least have a conversation with her.

When I walked in, she just looked so defeated. I felt really bad. I had to fix it, right?

She just… made it so hard to be nice. I knew it was all fun and games, but this was dangerous. What happens when I cross a line? We weren’t close enough for me to know where that line is.

So there I was, stepping in and out. And that’s when I hear that she is trying to be a writer. I don’t tell her, because I don’t want to get her hopes up, but there’s a writer’s position open on the next project I’m working on, and it’s a big one. It would look great on her resume.

So I mention it, act like I’m being a decent person, and leave before I get ahead of myself and start spewing nonsense about wanting to be her best friend in the whole wide world. Finally in my apartment, I danced around the room erratically, so crazy happy that I had a conversation with her, despite it being… neutral, to say the least.

When I finally settle down into bed, resting comfortably, I hear quiet sobs coming from the other side of the wall. It takes me a second to remember that Emily isn’t here; her crying was a regular occurence. It’s Y/N who’s crying. I take a second to listen, hearing that she doesn’t stop, she just keeps sobbing quietly. I hear a soft thud, and muffled sniffle.

“Fuck.” She says softly. Then she starts crying again.

Wow. Did I… make her cry?

But– I tried my best to be nice, and I practically opened up her future to success in one conversation! Way to be grateful.

I should be nicer. It was probably something I said. Or something Emily said. She just doesn’t know how to control herself sometimes. I’d leave her– but the sex is magical.

I was bordering on wanting to have her move in and wanting to break up with her entirely, and it stabbed at my nerves every time I went to bed with her. I felt guilty. I can’t keep my life so unstable with a woman I can’t see myself with in the future. But… at the same time, she’s… my cure to loneliness.

What to do, what to do.

And how to sleep, since Y/N won’t stop crying? Not that it’s that loud, but I can’t sleep knowing I’ve caused her that much pain.

Finally, the crying subsides, and I hear light snores. So she’s sleeping. That’s good.

Pt 3. BREAKFAST

I climbed out of bed the next morning feeling weak, like I had a hangover. My mouth was dry and my face was red, but there was no alcohol involved. In fact, I remembered everything vividly.

I had to push it down. If Tom had done what he’d promised, there would be an offer on the table… or, a rejection. So I just had to wait. I decided I would treat myself after finding a spare 20 in my coat pocket, heading to town to grab a bite of breakfast to eat. As I walked into the Rising Sun Eatery, however, it seemed that… someone else… had the same idea as I did.

Tom and Emily were sitting at a table at the far back of the restaurant, Tom hidden behind a large pair of sunglasses and a hood. It didn’t matter, though. I recognized Emily clear as day with her platinum blond locks that reached her backside, and her flashy pink talons, which I liked to imagine were a reflection of her true personality. It looked like Sam was also there, currently engrossed in his phone.

Immediately, I shrunk down, asking for a table outside. Emily wouldn’t see me anyways, she was facing the other way. I was just on my way to be seated when, unexpectedly, someone yelled my name. I swiveled around, scanning the room for anyone else who could’ve said it. Some people were looking around for the cause of the commotion, but no possible perpetrators, except for– well, Tom, who was waving his hand over for me to join them.

I felt like I was obliged to join after that, so I apologized to the hostess and awkwardly made my way over to their table. “Hi… guys.”

“Y/N! This is my brother, Sam– he’s in town for the next two months or so while I get a start on this new project– he’s my, uh, personal chef and brother!”

“Hi Sam, pleasure to meet you,” I stuck out my hand, and he thankfully shook it, smiling at me kindly. He seemed a little meeker than Tom, perhaps– a spray of freckles and a shyer smile.

“Pleasure is all mine,” He replied, beckoning for me to take the seat across from him, which, naturally, was next to Emily. She smiled, poison dripping from those glossed lips.

“Y/N, right?”

“Emily, dear, don’t be silly. You’ve met Y/N, several times I believe.”

“Oh, yes, how could I forget? The pretty one next door.”

“Thanks Emily. I don’t mean to intrude on you guy’s brunch, so I’ll just head out if that’s alright.”

Tom bit his lip uncomfortably. It was hard for me to figure out whether he did that because he wanted me gone or because he wanted me to stay. I mean, he did call me over, so it would be weird if he wanted me gone– but perhaps he had a lapse in judgment and had only now remembered that his girlfriend hated me with a burning passion.

Sam, oblivious to this whole affair, put away his phone. “Nonsense, Y/N, I would love to get to know you! We’ve been neighbors for so long and I haven’t even had you over for dinner!”

“Oh, that’s alright. I’ve got a busy schedule, anyways.” You saw Tom quirk his eyebrow at you and you sent him a challenging look right back. What gave him the right to judge you for not leaving the apartment?

“Still, I’d love to have you. How’s Friday night sound?”

“Uh…”

“But Sammy, I won’t be avail Friday night!” squealed Emily. I lifted my head.

“Friday? Friday sounds great.”

“I’ll be there too,” Tom added. I almost immediately regretted my choice, looking away from Tom’s penetrating gaze.

Emily was still pouting, but I liked seeing her so upset. Almost made up for how mean she was.

The waiter dropped by with their dishes, noticing me at the table. “Oh, pardon miss, I didn’t realize you were seated here as well! Do you have an order?”

“Um, no. I’m alright.”

“What? Y/N, it’s lovely here. Order something.” Tom insisted.

“I don’t want to spend your money on my food. That wouldn’t be right.”

“I do it all the time for Ems here; it’s not a big deal.” I tried to ignore his comment about Emily always letting him take the check and just shook my head.

“No, that’s okay.”

“Okay then. Everything alright with everyone else?”

“Delightful, absolutely delightful.” Tom hummed as he took another bite of his pancakes.

Sam looked at me with sad eyes. “If you won’t spend Tom’s money, will you at least have some of my omelette? I promise I don’t mind.”

Knowing he wouldn’t give up, I surrendered. “Sure, I’ll have a couple bites.” Emily huffed, rolling her yes, and I tried to ignore it. Sam forked over almost half his dish before I had to stop him, “Whoa, not the whole thing! You still have to eat.”

“You’re too kind, but ever since I got into culinary school, all I’ve been doing is eating. I’ll be fine.”

I took a tentative bite of the omelet, then a bigger one. Wow. “Um, this is really good.”

“Heavenly, right?”

“Yeah… no kidding–”

“Just between you and me, my omelet is better. But this will serve.”

“I guess I’ll just have to try yours,” I shrugged, and Sam smiled.

“Finally! You’re in a good mood!”

“I was before!” I protested.

“You were not!” Sam chuckled, wiping egg off his lip. “I really like you, Y/N. You seem very kind.”

“And you seem very wise.” I joked back, finally laughing. You saw out of the corner of your eye that Tom was leaning back in his chair, furiously typing something. You ignored it, focusing on conversing with Sam, who was quite a racket.

“Hmph,” Emily whined softly. Nobody paid her any mind, so she did it again, but louder. When everyone ignored her again, she spoke up. “Tommykins, who’re you talking to?”

“It’s work stuff,” He said, brushing her off, still totally engrossed in whatever he was typing.

“Tommy, what kind?”

“What?”

“What kind of ‘work stuff’? Why are you so worked up, babes?” She said in a cutesy high voice, making me wanna stick a hand down her throat.

“It’s nothing. You’re never interested in whatever I’m working on, you won’t be interested in it now.”

“Tommykinsss,” Emily dragged out, finally making a grab at Tom’s phone. He snatched it back, and she made another grab, this time looking serious. “Tom. What the fuck? What are you working on you little asshole? Huh? You can’t keep secrets from me, I’m your one and only. Hand over the phone.” Tom looked like he was in pain, but he submitted to her, handing it over.

I gave him a concerned look, but quickly changed it to disgusted. I can’t believe he just lets her walk all over him like that.

“What. The fuck. Is this?” Emily cocked her head, holding out his phone. I couldn’t read it from my spot but it looked like an email.

“Ems, it’s an email dear. Just a little referral. Networking.”

“Yeah? Just a little ‘referral’. Why does it say ‘Cherry’?

“It’s my next project, love.”

“Yeah, duh. But why does it say Cherry and her name?” Emily hissed. Tom swallowed, red rising in his cheeks. He was so hard to read. Was he angry, embarrassed? She was obviously causing a scene, and making me very uncomfortable.

Sam raised his hands up defensively. “Who’s name?”

“It says here. ‘Addressed: Joe and Anthony Russo and the writing team. During the current production stage of Cherry, I would like to make a referral to a new friend of mine who is new to the scene in LA. Below is listed her resume, credentials, and information. Please consider having her added to the team, as I feel she could be an interesting added perspective.’ And below that, name of referral.”

“Yeah?” Sam pushed.

“Y/N L/N.”

“What?” I said, eyes wide.

“Yes, you little boyfriend-stealing bitch, he referred you to his new team. Which he’ll be working with for the next year. So, he wants to spend time with you for a year, huh?”

“No– I don’t think that was it, I just am really struggling– and he, um, probably just felt bad.”

“Yeah,” Sam piped up, “as a member of the writing team, Y/N isn’t going to be working that closely with Tom at all. It probably isn’t as it seems.”

“Tom?” Emily asked accusingly. He looked defeated, his eyes holding her with regret.

“I referred her to them because I believe she would be a good fit.”

“How do you even know that?” Emily pestered. How does he know that?

“I read one of her scripts. She’s a talent.” Tom explained, but sadness laced his voice. He read my script? Why?

“I’m not putting up with your womanizing shit, Tom. It’s me or her.”

“What? Emily, that’s so unreasonable.”

“You heard me. Either you retract your statements of recommendation and bar her from working on this project with you, or I leave you.”

“But… this is her livelihood. It’s her job. I can’t just take that away because you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous! I’m being perfectly reasonable about my boyfriend prioritizing me over some– some crazy bitch!” Emily exploded, getting up from the table. “You have 24 hours to decide.” She stormed out of the restaurant, drawing eyes to the table.

“What the fuck?!” Tom said, to nobody in particular. I held my head in my hands, ready to cry.

Sam looked so taken aback; he just patted my arm in sympathy and watched her leave. “Tom, there are too many people watching. We should leave before the paparazzi arrive.” Tom was shaking his head in bewilderment.

“Okay. Y/N, need a ride?”

“No thanks.” I let them leave and then started my lonely walk home.

I wished this had never happened. Why did I have to leave my cozy suburban finance job for the big city? Why did my dreams have to revolve on everyone around me being sane?

Pt 4. CHOICES

This chapter is written from Tom’s perspective. In the future, chapters will start being shorter and switching between the two a lot. I hope this is not too confusing.

When we got back to the apartment, I was still in shock. Sam had been rattling off on me the whole ride down about how I was a bloody idiot for trying to make things with Emily work.

“Tom, seriously. What was that? She’s mental, talking to you that way– giving you an ultimatum. You know what the right choice is.” Sam declared.

“Do I? We were so serious about moving in together. We had a future.” I said, hope still lingering somewhere in the distance.

“Key word: had. And besides, things change. Or, in her case, they don’t. Don’t lie, she’s been like this forever. You can’t have a girlfriend who’s a jealous mess over any girl that you come across! You're adored by millions, it’s in the boyfriend application.”

“Sam, don’t talk about her like we aren’t together.” He was being so… frustratingly off it. He’s my brother, he shouldn’t take a side. He should support whichever side I take.

“As far as I’m concerned, you aren’t. Not like this. Don’t be a prick. Y/N is bloody brilliant. She’s so sweet and… genuine. Nothing like Emily. If anything, you should be dating her.” That did it.

“Sam, will you fucking SHUT UP about dating– for another 24 hours, I am with Emily. And, who knows. Maybe after that. Just– fuck– don’t mention Y/N. I feel guilty enough.”

Sam groaned. “You never learn.”

“Pipe down, too, okay? She can hear us.” I added. Sam rolled his eyes, leaving the room with his middle finger right up.

“Fuck right off, mate. If you don’t stand up to Emily, I’m gonna release your phone number to the masses. Bite that one off.”

I sighed loudly, crashing onto the bed. Why, why, why.

Pt 5. OPPORTUNITIES

I sat alone in my living room, wondering why on earth life had me collide like this. I was just hitting wall after wall. A week since Emily had started that huge scene, a week since I’d spoken to Tom. Not a text. Not even in the hallway. It was so quiet, I almost thought he’d moved out. Until I heard the noises. Those god-awful sex noises.

So they were back together. Right on– and I had no job. Again. I couldn’t believe Tom, betraying me to… stay in that nightmare situation. God has no mercy on me– and I am going to go homeless by the end of next month. Maybe mom would let me move in with her again.

I rubbed my hands across my face, holding back a loud cry that I wanted to let out. I knew Tom was home. He made a racket coming in. It was so late at night… why? Why was he disturbing the peace so late at night?

I opened my phone again, surprised to see there were text messages. And they weren’t from my mom.

Unknown Number

Hi, this is sam. ~9:46am

Please get back to me ~12:04pm

Can we meet up for dinner? ~3:57pm

Okay I don’t know if you aren’t seeing these or if you’re ignoring them but we need to talk. ~8:12pm

Hi– I didn’t see them. We can call, or you can come over. ~12:02am

I’ll come over. ~ now

You opened the door to Sam’s light knock and saw him looking kind of ghastly.

“Hey Sam, what’s up? What’s… is something wrong?”

“Uh, Tom doesn’t know I’m here. So if we could… is there a place where he can’t hear us?” Sam asked, looking around anxiously.

“Um, not really. But we can be quiet. What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been really sick these last couple days, and usually Tom helps me get better when mom’s not around; like with soups and stuff, but I don’t know what’s going on with him. He hasn’t been around at all. I collapsed next to the sink when I went to… the restroom,” he flushed.

“It’s okay, we all do that.”

“And I, um, I was crying for him to come… and he never did. He showed up so late, that I had already made it back to my bed, and when he saw that I had really badly cleaned up my, uh, vomit, he just got really angry at me and hasn’t spoken to me since. He was so drunk, and… and, I know I’m such a big baby for needing him to take care of me, but I’m really sick and I just… hic! … need my brother.” I felt a surge of panic and sympathy towards Sam, so despite his kind-of stained clothing, I pulled him into a tight hug and held him there. He let out a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, buddy. He has no right to treat you that way– everyone gets a little helpless when sick. You can stay over here until you’re better, I don’t trust you alone over there, what with Tom acting the way he is.”

“I’m sorry ms. Y/N. I’m… hic! … so sorry,”

“Don’t be. You’re fine, bud. Just relax and I’ll get you settled on my bed. I’ll take the couch.”

“You don’t have to! It’s okay…”

“In the words of someone very wise, ‘nonsense, you must stay!’ Trust me buddy, you’ll be better in no time with doctor Y/N on the case.”

He smiled weakly and allowed me to lead him to the bed, instantly snuggling up under the covers. “I can’t sleep,” He muttered softly, and I sat up next to him.

“That’s okay. I’ll stay until you do.”

“Don’t you want to ask me about Tom?”

“And why would I want to do that?” That was exactly what you wanted to do, but you couldn’t, because your priority was keeping Sam safe.

“Because he’s being weird and you barely know why.”

“Okay, you got me. I do want to know. What happened?”

“He sent in the offer anyway. Broke it off with Emily. She took everything the first day, told him it didn’t matter; she never liked him, she was cheating, and left. She literally hasn’t said anything since. He was so bummed, naturally, because that was super hurtful. But he knew he had to do it.”

“So he’s gone out drinking to what? Pick up chicks? Rebound?”

“That, and he never heard back from them about your referral. They’re not working closely yet, so it’s purely digital contact, and he’s done all he can to get you the job. And radio silence from them.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know how to react. He… he put himself forward for me when I thought he’d abandoned me… and he’d still lost everything. He didn’t even have the satisfaction of knowing he did a good thing; knowing that I had a job now. This was because of me and my shitty writing. I made him hurt, with my shitty writing and my shitty experience and my shitty communication with his crazy ex. He probably hated me so much for tearing his life apart. Tearing him away from a girl he could've loved for forever.

I was the mistake.

“Y/N, why are you crying?”

“‘M not. You’re seeing things.”

“Y/N, it’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, it is. It’s my fault, and now Tom hates me. And he's drunk. And he yelled at you!”

“I yelled at him first.”

“For what?”

“When she gave him that ultimatum, I told him to shove it up his arse and just cut her off. I said… a lot of things, actually. And I got really mad at him. Called him some names.

“Oh, Sam…”

“I had only met you but I knew you were some kind of national treasure. I wasn’t going to let my idiot brother choose his lunatic girlfriend over you getting a job of a lifetime.”

“But I didn’t get the job.”

“They haven’t rejected you yet, Y/N.”

“But haven’t they? It seems like a sign. I should move back to the suburbs, start a family with some unassuming upper-middle class gentleman, and forever work in finance or as a housewife.”

“Since Tom said they were good, I went and read the scripts you wrote. They really are good, you have talent. You’re meant to be a writer, Y/N, and no one can take that away. This is just a speed bump. You have great things ahead.”

“Thank you… Sam, for the speech. You’re probably right. I can get through this. But, can Tom?” I waited for Sam to say something ridiculously optimistic, but then I saw he had fallen asleep, a small bit of drool leaving his mouth. I tucked him in tightly, then hopped off the bed to rest on the couch.

We’d talk tomorrow.

Pt 6. SICKENING

This chapter is written from Tom’s POV.

When I woke up, my mind still felt hazy with the memory of the night before. I felt the edges of my thoughts tickling my head, making me dizzy.

God, I hadn’t had a hangover this bad since Haz’s 20th birthday.

I felt instantly as if I was going to throw up, so I stopped trying to lift myself up and just breathed.

I knew I had brought a girl home last night… Shay? Ray? I didn’t remember at all. She wasn’t there, but I had to tread lightly in case she was in the main room. Sam would probably be bothered if there was a strange woman while he was trying to prepare breakfast, if he was even doing that since I went off on him.

I hadn’t really spoken to him lately, but I’ve been busy– not that there are any pressing projects or filming, but I’ve had meetings here and there. He was sick, but he just kept leaving stuff everywhere! I mean, I’m a busy man. I don’t have time to take care of his sorry ass when he gets a little fever.

I finally cleared the spots in my eyes enough to lift myself out of bed, taking a stroll to the main room. Oh, she was gone. Thank god. I hated having to put up with the girls who didn’t understand this was a one time thing.

Just to clarify, I’m not usually a… one-night kind of person. But I’ve been bloody miserable since Emily left, and a man has needs. LA is the kind of place where I can get my needs fulfilled.

I checked my phone for messages. I still felt a twang of sadness when I saw no notifications from Emily, but… it had to happen.

Or maybe it didn’t. Clearly, the Russo’s didn’t care much for Y/N’s writing, despite me thinking it was amazing. And Y/N hadn’t spoken to me either, so I had just lost twice. Three times? I was too bogged to count.

Seeing as Sam wasn’t up yet to cook, I might as well take him to breakfast on the town again. He’s been wanting to try this place near the pier that has weird crepe flavors. Maybe I’d humor him.

I knocked on his door loudly, “Sam? In the mood for a bit of a walk?”

No answer. Hmm. Well, it was my apartment. I opened the door, which, to my surprise, was unlocked, and peered through. He wasn’t… there.

That’s weird. He usually texts me if he’s going out someplace.

I open up my phone again to see if I missed anything. Huh. Nothing since… yesterday? Asking me to buy him Nyquil. So he was still sick? He really shouldn’t be out and about, then.

Sam, where r u? ~ 9:17am

Can u respond pls, trying to make brunch reservations. ~ 9:22am

Are u coming? ~ 9:23am

Sam. ~ 9:46am

Hello? Are u dead? ~ 10:12am

I was honestly shocked. What the hell had gotten into him? Immediately, I dialed up mum, wondering if she knew. “Mum, do you know what’s gone on with Sam?”

“Sammy? He is alright, isn’t he?”

“Well, I can’t find him and he isn’t responding to my texts, so ‘alright’ doesn’t cover it about now.” I said, now slightly panicked.

“Hmm. I did get a call from him the other day. He seemed sad. Are you treating him well, sweetheart?”

“I am housing and feeding him, no?” I sighed. “Okay, just, tell me what he told you on the call.”

“Well, he expressed the feeling that he wanted to return to England. I don’t think he was having a very good time. He also seemed sick, so I told him that if he had to come home, at least get better first.”

“He wanted to go home?”

“That’s what he said,” my mom seemed perplexed at how I was acting. “Why, is it the first you’ve heard of it?”

“Actually, yes. It is. If you don’t mind, mum, I gotta go. Don’t put out a missing persons report for another 24 hours, alright?” “‘Course, sweetie. Well, if you do find him, tell him to call me. Alright. Bye, love.”

I hung up, sweat beading on my forehead. Holy fuck. Sam ran away. God, what a childish move.

And before you go thinking I’m a bad person– of course I was worried! But sometimes you have to put logic first, and in this case, my logic says: Sam’s gone and lost his marbles.

I mean, where would he be? He’s not exactly stacked with cash, and LA hotels are not cheap. There’s no way Emily would allow him in her apartment; not that he’d want that. Hmm. He was sick, so maybe he took a visit to the doctors? There is a 24 hour clinic close by that he could’ve walked to.

I didn’t really think he was so sick that a clinic would be necessary, but knowing it was a possibility sunk into me coldly.

So I rushed to the hospital and asked them to look for records of Sam visiting.

“Sir, it does look like we have Sam Holland in our records from today, around 8 am. He’s since left, though.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I’m afraid we are not allowed to disclose any personal details of any of our patients.”

“I’m his brother, for fucks sake!” I had lost it at this lady. Who did she think she was? “Fine. Just tell me: did he come in alone?”

She looked taken aback at how I had just blown up on her, but she quickly composed herself and pursed her lips. “I really shouldn’t be telling you anything.”

“Please, please– just tell me who he was with, if– just tell me!” I was on the verge of tears. Angry and sad and guilty ones. My face stung with emotion.

“I believe it was a girl. Same age.” That was an awful description if I’ve ever seen one.

“Anything else? Hair color, eye color?”

“I don’t recall. In any case, that would be too much information to give someone,” she paused, scrutinizing me. “Even you, Mr. Holland.”

‘Ugh. Whatever,” I said, leaving the hospital. I refused to believe that Sam was actually hurt, but where on earth could he be? What girls did he know? I was fairly certain he didn’t have a girlfriend, and as far as I knew, he wasn’t too close to anyone from his work. Who would know where he is?

In a last ditch attempt, I doubled back from my apartment door. I locked eyes on the one next to it. I remembered Y/N and Sam had gotten along quite well at that disastrous brunch… and he had later defended her, even against me.

He probably wouldn’t be with Y/N, but it was worth it to ask.

Was it?

Ugh, I couldn’t bring myself to speak to her. I had let her down, let myself down, and worst of all, she probably hates me.

But I had to, for Sam.

I knocked twice, then stepped back, holding my breath expectantly.

I heard a weird shuffle going on in the apartment, a small yelp, and the sound of a large object falling.

She opened the door, looking fresh out of a magazine. How did she manage to look good on mornings like these?

Then again, she hadn’t gone through the hell I’d been through.

“Sorry, I fell off my chair,” She explained, finally looking me in the eye. I could see her eyebrow tweak downwards, and I already knew I had upset her.

“My apologies– I didn’t mean to, uh, startle you.”

“Um. Okay,” she started, her line of sight trailing her right. I swallowed, and she snapped back to focus. “Sorry, is there a reason you’re here?”

“My brother, Sam. I can’t find him and he’s not answering his texts.”

“Ah,” She nodded slowly.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Can’t say I do.”

“I really, really need to find him. Please, do you have any idea where he might be?”

She looked deep in thought, her hands fumbling around together. “I might not, but I think that if he went to these lengths to avoid you– sorry, to escape you– I think he probably just wants to be left alone.” Her face was right below mine, but she was not small. She was almost frightening.

“And how would you know anything about what HE wants?” I yelled, finally letting the walls crash down.

“I’m just saying– I don’t think it’s a smart idea for you to pursue this; I’m sure he’s safe.”

“You don’t know that. I’m his brother, I need to take care of him and I said I would and I was doing just fine and I’ve fucked up and he’s gone.” I cried, holding the collar of her shirt in my hands. She was shrinking. Oh no. She was scared of me.

“Please, Tom– let– Tom, let go I can’t–” I instantly released her, tears in my eyes.

“I’m sorry,”

“Tom, what the hell? Are you drunk?”

“No, I’m– I’m not, I promise. I’m so sorry. Please just help me find him. Please help me find my brother.”

“I don’t think that it’s the smartest idea, Tom–”

“Please! What– what if he got kidnapped, or hurt, or– I mean, I don’t know! He was in the hospital, they told me! And I don’t– what if something’s really wrong?”

“He’s fine, Tom. He’s fine.”

“How would you know–” I was cut off by the sound of another person in the apartment. “Do you have someone over?” Something in my brain starts throbbing, rage filling my senses.

Y/N winces. “Not really.”

“Not really? What does that even mean?!” I feel helpless. In so many ways.

“I can’t– Tom, no. I can’t.” She moved to go back inside the apartment, but I held her arm tightly. “Tom, ow! What the hell? Stop–” Apparently, too tightly. Then the door opens all the way. It’s Sam.

“Tom, what the hell are you doing to her?” I release her arm and panic rises in my chest.

“What– what is going on?” I ask demandingly. Sam looks livid. Is he mad at me? And why is he not wearing a shirt? What the hell is going on between them?

“You shouldn’t be here.” Sam says coldly. I notice he still looks ill; his nose is reddish and his skin is really pale. Y/N is holding her arm and wiping away a tear. What have I done?

“Are… are you guys together?” I say, my heart beating really fast. They did hit it off at brunch. Maybe a little too much.

But then, Sam shakes his head. “No, I wouldn’t do that to you.” He’s scowling. At me. “I came over because I have no friends in this shithole, and when I was relying on you to take care of me while I was sick, you left for the bars.” Sam was still so angry.

“Yeah, and unlike you, I cared about your brother enough to take him to the doctor to get checked out. He has a minor case of the flu, paired with pneumonia. Didn’t know that, did you?” Oh god, and Y/N too.

“I really didn’t mean to. I’m just very overwhelmed right now.”

“So overwhelmed, yet you can still bring home girls? It’s not like you, Tom. I’m staying here until you fix whatever is going on.” Sam spat, placing a solid hand on Y/N’s shoulder.

They went back inside, and I heard the click of the lock almost immediately. How did this happen?

Pt 7. NEWBIE

“Hi Sammy,” I called as I got home from work. Since the devastatingly slow pace of my writing career, I had taken up being a contracted marketing advisor to some small companies. It paid, but not as well as I would’ve liked. Still, Sam was working on his degree and had two part-time jobs on the side, so he was finally helping pay rent, and the load taken off of my back was huge.

In the month and a half since he stopped living with Tom, he had permanently moved in and I had rearranged the already cramped living room to fit a futon/bed for him. He bought a cute little divider so he had his privacy in the early mornings, but besides that, we pretty much shared the same space.

Tom hadn’t texted me at all. I didn’t know what had gotten into him, but I knew he needed to sort it out on his own. Besides, I knew deeply that he was probably hurt from how I had caused his breakup, and nothing would change that. I was a failure, and I had dragged Tom down with me.

“Hi, Y/N. I prepared dinner for you. It’s sitting on the counter, but I need to go to the bathroom real quick.”

“Thank you so, so much. Man, I’m starved. Work was a nightmare today.”

“You can tell me all about it,” he bounced up and down on his heels, “once I pee! Eek!” I laughed and settled down at the table, where I found he had prepared the exact dish I said I had been craving! He really seared the Korean beef to a perfection for an amateur, and the sauce was the perfect mix of tangy and sweet.

“Do you like it?” He said as he left the bathroom, beaming at me.

“Yes! It’s perfect. You should make it more often.”

“I think I will– believe it or not, it only took me like 10 minutes to cook, not counting how long the sauce had to sit.”

“Awesome. Alright, so how was your day?”

“It was lovely! So, you won’t believe it, but I think…” I continued to gobble up the dish as Sam rattled on and on about his day, which sounded super chill in comparison to mine. He was one of those people that really liked the praise of other people, and everytime I smiled at one of his jokes, or mentioned something that he had said to me in passing, he would just light up. I was always taking mental notes to keep him on his toes. And happy, most of all.

Just as I was going to fish out my phone to take a picture of the sun setting behind the Commerce Tech building, loud rock music started blaring. I looked around the apartment for my speaker, wondering if I had accidentally turned it on, but Sam had it already and it was off.

“Do you think it’s Tom?” I asked him.

“WHAT?” Oh, he couldn’t hear me.

“I SAID, DO YOU THINK TOM IS PLAYING THE MUSIC?”

“NO, I DON’T THINK SO– IT’S COMING FROM THE OTHER WALL.”

“ACROSS THE HALL?”

“NO, OTHER WALL!” He pointed towards the wall that faced him and I nodded my head.

“I’M GOING TO GO OVER AND ASK THEM TO QUIET DOWN.”

“OKAY!” My head was ringing with the loud percussive noises. Jesus, did these people know they lived in an apartment?

I had just made it to the door that was sourcing me with enough decibels to break a wine glass, when I stopped in my tracks. Damnit.

“Hey, Y/N,” he said tersely, his chest heaving with a breath.

“Hi. I was, um, just going to–”

“File a noise complaint with the new neighbors? Yeah, me too.”

“They’re new?”

“Yep. Big douchey bachelor dude. Came knocking on my door the first night he arrived asking if I had a spare beer.”

“You did, didn’t you?” I knew he was still getting drunk on occasion– I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it.

“Well, yeah, but you don’t just go on asking a man for his beer.”

“Are you going to knock or what?”

“Um, yeah. I’ll knock,” Tom stood back as he waited for their response.

“So, not a good impression of him?”

“No, not anything like yours,” Tom said offhandedly, but I caught it.

In the past month or so, I’d had lots of time to mull over some things– like how the last time I spoke to Tom, Sam had said that we weren’t a thing, and then said ‘I wouldn’t do that to you’. I knew, of course, that this implies Tom had a thing for me, or something similar. But if that was the case… Why did he treat me so poorly? And why had he made so little effort to make it better?

“I seem to remember our first meeting was a little less orthodox than most. And that it quickly turned… unenjoyable.”

“If we pretend Emily was never there, it was pretty decent.”

“I can’t pretend she doesn’t exist.”

“Why not? I do.” I went silent. He wasn’t happy, I could tell. It pained him, maybe, to see me.

“How has he still not answered the door?” I asked, exasperated.

“Well, as you well know, I’m not a stranger to just opening it anyways.”

“Oh, I do recall that quite vividly. You are… strange.”

“Whatever.” That seemed to have struck a chord with him, so I kept it in my mental no-no’s box. He went to open the door, revealing the inside of the new tenants apartment to be… horrendous.

There were about 50 people in this tiny-ass studio, all laughing and throwing shots, and none of them seemed to care at all that they were causing quite the cacophony.

“Yo, is that Tom Holland?” One of the drunk party goers shouted, and Tom immediately ducked his face down.

“Nah bro, you’re so high right now! Tom Holland doesn’t go to parties with us.. Heh,” his equally-drunk friend responded, clapping his hands really loudly. Tom rolled his eyes.

“What, are you what they say you are? Do you not enjoy parties?”

“Not these kinds of parties, Y/N. Come on, let’s get the idiot who owns this place to keep it down.” Tom grabbed me by the wrist, which sent me back to the last time he had done that. I shook my head and tried to wash out the discomfort, and even though I didn’t see him look, he still loosened his grip as he led me through the crowd.

“Alright, party people! Is this the best house warming party or what, Double G style?” A beer-bellied man with a fizzing bottle of beer in one hand and a girl on the other yelled out to the crowd.

“Wow, Mr. G, this place is popping– the deposit must have been cray!” One of his scummy friends said, right before slapping his girl on the thigh.

“Wow. This is revolting.” Tom said, shaking his head.

“Yeah. I’m beginning to see why you don’t like these kinds of parties. I, myself, don’t enjoy being sexually assaulted– and I doubt she does.”

“These people aren’t exactly classy. They don’t care about how she should be treated. Let’s just get out of here.”

“So, Mr. Good Guy, you treat women with the utmost respect?”

“That’s how I was raised, darling.” Darling. Tom never stopped, did he? We had finally made it to Double G, and he was currently eyeing me up and down like a toy.

I snapped my fingers in his face. “Hey, eyes up here. I’m your new neighbor, and I’d like to request you keep it down. We have thin walls, you know.” Tom raised his eyebrow.

“That’s my line,” He whispered in my ear.

Ignoring you, he faced Tom. “So what, she your broad?”

“Sorry, broad?” I asked incredulously. What was this, the 1950’s?

“She’s a woman, an independent one, and her being ‘mine’ is frankly revolting.”

“Okay, I see you’re into this ‘politically correct’ stuff, yeah? I mean, is she your girl? Because if she is, tell her she should really be dressin’ it up. She’s like a 2 dressed like this, but showing a little more skin? I’d tap that.” Tom made a face.

“It doesn’t matter. Turn the volume down, or we get an official sound violation set up.”

“Bro, what’s your damage? Just quit tryna stop the party and wear headphones or something!”

“It’s shaking the walls, mate. Just turn it down.”

“You’re really getting on my nerves, neighbor. I’ll turn it down, on one condition.”

“What?”

“You let me feel up that girl of yours.”

“What? Hell no.” Tom said before I could step in.

“Then no deal, homie.”

“Turn it down, or you’re getting in legal trouble.”

“Whatever, dude! Get out of here!” One of ‘double G’s’ friends said, splashing their beer at Tom. Tom stepped back reflexively, and it hit another girl right in the chest. She started hollering, immediately rushing forward at the dude, slapping him. She threw something, which in turn caused someone else to throw something, until pretty much everyone was fighting each other.

“Jesus, Y/N, let’s get out of here.”

“I’ve never agreed with you more,” I replied as we squeezed by to leave. As we stepped into the hallway, Tom held up his hand to stop me from saying anything.

“I don’t wanna waste any more of your time. I’m going to leave– just don’t bring this up with Sam, okay?”

“I was just going to thank you for standing up for me back there,” I said sheepishly, watching his eyes droop.

“Look, it’s nothing. And sorry for letting them believe I was your boyfriend or… whatever.”

“Again, it’s fine. I’m thanking you.”

“You shouldn’t,” he sighed, turning his head away so I couldn’t look him in the eyes. His lips tightened. “I’ll be on my way.” I didn’t know what to do, so I let him leave. The music had shut off completely, which made me think someone had broken the speaker. Thank god.

With that, I headed into the apartment to try and sleep.

Key word: try.

“Hey, Y/N, wait–” Sam said before I entered my room.

“Yeah, Sam?”

“I um… didn’t mean to overhear your conversation with Tom outside but–”

“You heard that? Oh, man. Um–”

“No, I’m not gonna ask you about it– I mean, I am, but you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Do you… have feelings for Tom?”

“Well, no. I mean, I don’t think so.” I bit my lip. I really didn’t think I had feelings for Tom– I mean, I spent a lot of time thinking about him, but it was mainly to worry about him not liking me. Sam met my eyes and narrowed his.

“Okay. Yeah,” Sam looked down. “Are you totally… sure?”

“Maybe? Oh god, please don’t make me have a crisis right now.”

“I’m sorry– I shouldn’t have asked, it was out of place.”

“No, it’s fine. There’s no harm in that question. I just don’t dwell too much on it. I haven’t had a relationship in forever, and now that I’m kind of settled– it might be a good idea.” I smiled at him. “So, if anything, I thank you for reminding me.” Sam let out a chuckle.

“You don’t let anything get to you, huh? How do you do that?”

“I let things get to me, I promise. I just… don’t show it as externally so others realize.” I let out a tight smile, but my eyes were sad.

Sam rubbed the back of his neck, not looking at me. “I hope you feel better, then.”

“I hope so too,” I laughed sadly, blinking a lonely tear away.

“Okay, goodnight, Y/N.” He hesitated, then looked me in the eyes and held out his arms to bring me into a hug. I accepted gratefully and threw my arms around him tightly, wiping my tears on his hoodie.

“You smell… so bad.”

“Thanks, Sammie.”

He let go of me, keeping his hands on my shoulders. “I love you and you deserve everything.” He said earnestly, staring right at me. I swallowed a sob and shook out a reply.

“Not everything. I don’t deserve you.” He shook his head and let out a chuckle, then turned to go to bed. I took a refreshing breath.

Sam was too kind. And to think… with the way we met, I never would’ve expected this to happen. For us to become friends, for him to live with me.

I thought happy thoughts as I lay myself to rest that night, thoughts that were louder and much nicer than Tom’s grunty snoring.

Pt 8. ACCEPTANCE

This chapter is written from Tom’s POV

I couldn’t rest that night. Not after… seeing her. I had dreamed of talking to her– making up for ruining everything. I had dreamed of finally getting her number. Finally being real, certified friends.

I was so desperate for Y/N to like me. It was pathetic, frankly. Maybe I just had the love to spare after the devil herself left me in the ice.

Too much love. Too little to love.

I sat at my dining table, eating another sad takeout meal whilst scrolling pointlessly through Instagram. I missed Sam’s awesome cooking, and I missed Sam.

A part of me wanted to burst through their door and declare that I cared about them and that I wanted to not be lonely– but I knew these things couldn’t just be… left behind.

So I’ve been cowering. Like that’s the answer.

There were 2 weeks until filming for Cherry started (finally. I’m so bored, sitting at home doing nothing.) I’ve yet to visit my mum, but I haven’t been missing her as much as I usually do. Maybe it’s just because I’m occupied missing other people at the moment.

And still no email from the Russo’s. It almost pained me more to not have heard anything. You would think I would at least get a rejection. Now all I had was false hope and hopeless sadness.

And it was all my fault.

It was already noon. If I went out in a couple hours, I could be brainlessly drunk with a girl on my arm by sunset.

Somehow, I felt I didn’t want to do that tonight. After my short encounter with Y/N the previous night, I felt fresh. Not fulfilled, exactly– but I remembered what was wrong. And how… sleeping around wouldn’t help a thing.

This whole situation was killing me slowly. I could hear Y/N’s laughter through the walls, and it was pure torture. My brother probably had something frying on the pan, and they were probably watching her favorite trashy TV. Why couldn’t that be me?

Why am I so stupid… How did I let her go like this?

It wasn’t that I was obsessed with Y/N. Or in love, or whatever. But… I was single. She was single, as far as I knew– and… well, she’s amazing. Maybe that’s too enthusiastic. It’s just– her. She’s so brilliant and pretty (no, beautiful. That’s the proper way to describe a woman.) and… God, she is powerful. The power she had over me… not that she forced anything over me, but I would willingly follow her to the ends of the Earth. She had an air about her that made me want to pledge myself to her side forevermore.

Oh god, maybe… I am obsessed. Maybe… in love? God, that’s a concept. But, I barely know her– kind of, I mean– I can hear her uneven breaths when she has a late night. I know she’s been having trouble sleeping. I know she cries too much to be truly happy. I know she curses a lot when others aren’t around, and that she watches Mean Girls religiously. I heard her explain to Sam that it was her favorite movie, and though her scripts are considerably more deep and riveting than… Mean Girls… she still gets emotional defending it. I know that she thinks Love Island is ridiculous (it is, but I love it. So shut up.) but will watch it if Sam begs enough. I know she hasn’t talked to her dad in ages but speaks to her mom nearly every other night.

I know her. We don’t know each other. In her eyes, we are basically strangers. If I wasn’t such a fucking weirdo, I wouldn’t know all these things. These private, private things.

These things can’t be dwelled on, though. Especially when she ignores me and hopes I’ll stop existing.

She never said that. But it feels like she did– her cutting me off was so painful to me. And for what?

For what…

I had been resting on the couch, for a large amount of time, I think, contemplating things I could do to get my mind off my loneliness. Things that didn’t involve drinking the night away and forgetting 5 hours of my life.

Then, there was a rapid knock on my door. Really quick and sharp. And it was relentless.

“Hello? Hello? HELLO?” I shouted at the door, too unbothered to remove myself from my comfortable spot on the couch.

“It’s me, you idiot! Open up!” An assertive voice said. Y/N.

I nearly hopped out of the couch in anticipation, scrambling to get the door open.

“Sorry I don’t leave it open for unsuspecting strangers,” I coughed, as the door opened all the way.

She rolled her eyes at me, looking almost pissed, but seemed to remember something. Her whole face lit up, in the most perfect way…

Ugh. God. No more gross love-bird stuff. “What… is it? Why are you so– happy?”

“I got a job!” She exclaimed, holding a fist up to her chest in victory. I took a second, and smiled for her. I suppose I should be happy. And if getting a job meant she would speak to me again, I guess it wasn’t so bad that I failed her the first time around.

“That’s wonderful.”

“You aren’t as excited as I thought you’d be.”

I sighed, then fixed myself with a faulty ‘ecstatic’ face, taking a look at her. “Is this better?”

“Oh, come on– I mean, I’ll be working with you, and it’s– well, you got me the job!” I cocked my head.

“Wait– the job you got is my job, as in the job I– as in Cherry– like, that job?”

“Yes! That job!” I raised my eyebrows in surprise and fought back the urge to scream ‘THANK YOU!!!’ to the heavens.

“Oh my god! Um, wow! Congratulations!” Without thinking (at least, not very hard), I took a huge step forward and pulled her into a crushing hug. She was stiff for a second, not expecting it, but just as I was going to pull away, she hugged me back.

I felt like a great weight had been lifted off of me, and it was all thanks to this job offer going through. If only they’d accepted it earlier.

“So… you don’t hate me anymore?” I said softly, trying my best to ignore the way her hair tickled my nose as we still embraced.

“What?” She said, confused. Oh. Shit. I really should’ve kept my mouth shut. I pulled away and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand, searching her eyes for what she was thinking. “I didn’t… hate you.”

“But you… you didn’t speak to me after brunch. And we had that argument about Sam. And… I thought that I didn’t get you the job.”

“After brunch, I thought you had gotten back with Emily. I was so upset that you would choose that… nightmare over… well, me. I know that sounds so shallow but I– well, you didn’t. You put me first, in the end. I just didn’t know.” She lowered her eyes. “Sam explained everything to me, anyways. The only reason I was mad with you is because of how poorly you treated Sam. He was just looking for his brother to take care of him, and you went off drinking when he needed you most. And when you… came to speak to me… you were really different. Scary.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She held her wrists carefully, seemingly remembering what happened. God, don’t think about it. Or you might change your mind. “I just… instantly bonded with Sam. And you… well, you never came to me. At all. It was devastating. I thought you blamed me for losing Emily and I thought you resented me for everything that had happened.”

“I don’t. I never did.”

“Never?”

“The only thing I resented was everything I had lost.” You. I can’t say that, though. “I didn’t blame you for it. It was my decision.”

“It wasn’t exactly free will.”

“Not quite. But you weren’t at fault and it would be unfair for me to say you were.” I explained to her, begging for her to look me in the eyes again. For me to be met by those kind eyes would cure everything. Right there.

“I can’t believe we haven’t spoken to each other. All we needed to do was speak.” She said in exasperation.

“It’s rather ironic.” I said, a small smile finally breaking from my lips. And it wasn’t acting this time.

“Not quite the word. I think you’re thinking of ‘theatrical’.”

“Perhaps.”

“I’ll think about making this into a story.”

“Would you really?” I hoped she wasn’t kidding. I would read it.

“It wasn’t a promise,” she raised her hands playfully, and I had a sudden flashback to the first time we had met. When she had done the exact same thing. And here we were, almost two months later, and yet our relationship had barely budged in any direction. All these ups and downs and we were back to the start.

I realized with a start that I wanted to make things clear to her. I reached out a hesitant hand to cup her cheek, and rather than push me away, she allowed me to step closer to her. “Is this okay?”

“My hot neighbor just made physical contact with me. I’m not sure what’s okay anymore.”

“Are… we okay?”

“We always were.” She smirked playfully.

“Okay.” I parted my lips, feeling her nose in a whisper of a touch against my face.

“Okay.” She closed the gap between us, her kiss a reassuring gesture that she was ready for our next adventure, and she was leaving the old one behind.

A loud creak sounded, followed by the disruptive clink of a wine glass meeting the floor. “In the hallway? Really?! Get a goddamn room…” I heard Sam huff, before closing the door on us again. There we stood, alone and in each other’s embrace, finding some security in our relationship for the first time.

#tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x reader #peter parker x reader #sam holland #hurt/comfort #enemies to lovers #spiderman #peter parker fanfiction #original female character #miscommunication

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jenthemoon · 1 year

Text

Pity Party - OG character/ Steve Rogers

Word count- 242

Warnings- n/a just depressing

On the roof, a small breeze blows. The summer wind is warm and comforting. Genevieve sits with her knees to her chest.

"Is this what the kids call the bathroom now?"

Genevieve gives a dry laugh, "Only when their absent fathers fail to show up to their birthday.”

"I am sorry Genevieve."

"It’s funny, I am the biological daughter to one of the smartest humans in the world. And I came out ordinary. He hates me for it."

"No, he does not-"

"Yes he does Steve! I barley passed online school, I have no plans for college. My only career passion is singing and theater and he thinks that's stupid!”

Genevieve lets out a deep sigh, “Im not smart or strong like the rest of you and have no interest of entering your line of business and that pisses him off. You wanna know why he's not here? Because I am the bad investment he got stuck with. I will bet you $20 he is working on something with Peter. I know deep down he wishes that he was his."

Steve looks at the view in front of his. Small isolated house in the middle of Kansas. A quiet peaceful life. Steve grabs her hand, "Genevieve, I am proud of you."

She slowly looks up at him, and jumps into his arms crying. Steve certain of one thing, and that was that he would never let Genevieve feel like a second priority.

#marvel short story #marvel #tony stark #iron man #iron dad #steve rogers #steve rogers x original female character #super sad #peter parker #spider man #tony stark daughter

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akashababy · 3 months

Text

Masterlist 2

Characters I write for

My rules

Join my taglist

9-1-1

Evan Buckley

Evan Buckley x reader

The fire within

Eddie

The fire within

Alta/Lok

Iroh II

Iroh x y/n

Zuko

Zuko x top male reader

Demon slayer

Muzan

Muzan x Top male reader

Tanjiro

Tanjiro x top male reader

One piece

Luffy

Luffy x top male reader

A love uncharted

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Monster trio law and Kidd react to their So telling them they are pregnant

Luffy x Female reader

Luffy x reader x zoro pt1

Luffy x reader x zoro pt2

Luffy Kidd Law React to their S/o eating his meat

Luffy,Ace,Sabo and Law react to s/o wearing their hat

Worst generations react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Monster Trio react to theirs S/o sitting on their laps

Zoro

Zoro x top male reader

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Monster trio law and Kidd react to their So telling them they are pregnant

A love uncharted

Zoro x reader x luffy pt 1

Zoro x reader x luffy pt 2

Companion

Flames of the heart

Worst generations react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Monster Trio react to theirs S/o sitting on their laps

Ace

Luffy,Ace,Sabo and Law react to s/o wearing their hat

Sanji

Monster Trio react to theirs S/o sitting on their laps

Companion

Flames of the heart

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Monster trio law and Kidd react to their So telling them they are pregnant

Sabo

Luffy,Ace,Sabo and Law react to s/o wearing their hat

Law

Luffy Kidd Law React to their S/o eating his meat

Luffy,Ace,Sabo and Law react to s/o wearing their hat

Worst generations react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Monster trio law and Kidd react to their So telling them they are pregnant

Kidd

Worst generations react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Luffy Kidd Law React to their S/o eating his meat

Monster trio law and Kidd react to their So telling them they are pregnant

Killer

Worst generations react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Nami

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Robin

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Franky

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Usopp

Strawhats react to So giving them kisses

Shanks

Yandere Shanks

Criminal minds

Spencer Reid

Spencer Reid x male reader

Spencer Reid x top male reader

Marvel

Tony stark

Tony x top male reader

Marvel characters react to their s/o kissing them but the runs away

Marvel characters react to their s/o smack their butt pt.1

Peter Parker

Marvel characters react to their s/o kissing him but the running away

Marvel characters react to their s/o smack their butt pt.1

Peter x top male Reader

A steamy encounter

Loki

Loki x top male reader

Marvel characters react to their s/o kissing them but the runs away

Marvel characters react to their s/o smack their butt pt.1

Natasha

Marvel characters react to their s/o kissing them but the runs away

Marvel character react to their S/O smack their butt pt.2

Wanda

Marvel characters react to their s/o kissing them but the runs away

Marvel characters react to their s/o smack their butt pt.1

Bruce

Marvel character react to their S/O smack their butt pt.2

T’challa

Marvel character react to their S/O smack their butt pt.2

Captain America

Marvel character react to their S/O smack their butt pt.2

Thor

Marvel characters react to their s/o smack their butt pt.1

Hawkeye

marvel character react to their s/o smack their butt pt.2

Red white and royal blue

Henry

Henry x top male reader

Alex

Alex x top male reader

Queen of the damned

Lestat

Lestat x male reader x Akasha

Akasha

Slashers

Billy and Stu

Billy x top male reader x Stu

Clark Kent

Clark Kent x male reader

Clark Kent x reader

The originals/Tvd

Klaus

Klaus x reader

Eternal embrace

Kai Parker

An Unforgettable Night

Haikyuu

Sakusa

Sakusa x Top male reader

Bokuto

Bokuto x Top male reader

Hinata

Hinata x top male reader

Outerbanks

Rafe Cameron

Rafe x reader

Dark Rafe x reader

Tides of the heart

A Loving and Spoiling Relationship

Teen wolf

Stiles

Void stiles x reader

Isaac

Isaac x top male reader

Celebrities

Henry cavill

Henry cavill x reader

Henry cavill x top male reader

Jungkook

Jungkook x top male reader

Drew starkey

Drew x reader

Dragon ball

Goku

Eternal Bonds

Vegeta

Eternal bonds

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cypherverze · 1 year

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SERIES MASTERLIST

Hardest Part of Ending is Starting Again

an avengers x john wick crossover fanfic

STATUS: ON-GOING

PAIRINGS: avengers x teen!reader (platonic) , tony stark x niece!reader , john wick x daughter!reader , peter parker x female!reader

SYNOPSIS: After the death of your father, you are left alone, struggling to cope up with the grief. You find yourself drawn in joining the criminal underworld, just like your father. With nothing left to lose, you began taking on contracts and slowly climbing the top, establishing yourself as a legendary figure that was once your father. As you navigate through your new found life, old enemies of your father had resurfaced to come after you, and along the way, you find yourself struggling to balance your new found family, work, and the thing the you never expected the most, love. You know that eventually, you’ll have to make a sacrifice.

WARNINGS: death, blood, violence, foul language, guns and knives, gory scenes and descriptions. (new warnings will be updated from time to time)

WORD COUNT: < 30k

REMINDER: this fic is purely fiction only. i don’t own all of the characters that will be mentioned in the fic, aside from the reader’s character. this is a crossover fic between john wick and avengers, some details may be inaccurate as i’m still a new fiction writer. there are connections that had been made that was not part of the john wick franchise for the sake of the story to come in full circle. this is my original story, please do not copy or repost my work in any way.

DIVIDER BY: @silkholland

CHAPTERS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CH APTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

TAGLIST:

@sirimiripetrichor @nimo-jay @preciousbabypeter @graysonmalik2550 @khaleesihavilliard

taglist for this series is also open, just send me a message or just comment if you want to be tagged. as always, thank you so much for your support!

#avengers x wick!reader #john wick x avengers #avengers x reader #avengers x teen!reader #peter parker x stark!reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker x wick!reader #tom holland peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker fic #avengers x john wick crossover

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thatdammchickennugget · 6 months

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REQUESTING GUIDELINES

Currently [ x ] open // [ ] closed

RULES;

✩ I will write character x reader, character x character and character x original character

✩ I especially love au's and I'm up for pretty much anything weird that gives me the ability to go wild and creative, so even if you think your idea might be a little out there, don't be nervous about sending it in

✩ don’t request smut for underage characters, also don't request fics for real life people, I will only write about characters

✩ I usually write from a female reader perspective but will write a gender neutral or male reader if requested

✩ I’m willing to write about characters that aren’t on the list below if I like the request and feel like I know the character well enough

✩ please try to be at least a little bit descriptive, and by that I mean literally everything that's more than just "enzo smut"

✩ unfortunately it can take me a while to get to your requests, but I'll do my best at getting them done as quickly as possible. but if I don't have any ideas for your request at all I might not write it. I'm trying to keep writing a fun thing, so I'm not going to force myself to write something I don't vibe with

✩ if you're unsure about your request and don't want to send it in as an ask because you might want to discuss it first, my dm's are always open for you!

✩ Harry Potter

➵ Marauders Era - Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald ➵ Golden Trio Era - Lorenzo Berkshire, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Mattheo Riddle, Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger ➵ Hogwarts Legacy Era - Garreth Weasley, Poppy Sweeting

✩ Other Fandoms

➵ Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood, Leo Valdez, Clarisse La Rue, Luke Castellan, Sally Jackson, Connor Stoll ➵ Top Gun Maverick - Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Jake “Hangman” Seresin, Robert “Bob” Floyd, Natasha “Phoenix” Tracer ➵ The Summer I Turned Pretty - Steven Conklin, Cam Cameron ➵ Avatar The Last Airbender - Sokka, Katara, Suki, Zuko, Toph ➵ Baldur's Gate 3 - Karlach, Astarion, Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, Dammon ➵ Julie And The Phantoms - Luke, Alex, Reggie, Julie, Flynn, Willie ➵ Tom Holland Characters - Peter Parker, Todd Hewitt ➵ Dylan O'Brien Characters - Stiles Stilinski, Joel Dawson, Stuart

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hiraeth-witch-11 · 1 year

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Magnolia Jasmine

Part 1: Pilot

Warnings: canon typical violence, explosions, some fear, mommy issues, wasps

Word Count: 2400

You are a disappointment to your mother, this you know. Your mother is fierce, beautiful, and brilliant. She is also controlling, particular, and unpleasable. You share the same fiery red hair, but that’s where the similarities end. You take after your dad and his family. Even your hazel eyes are from him. You think your mother secretly resents you for being so little like her. She had never confirmed it, and your dad wouldn’t really talk about it, but you think she had gotten pregnant with the sole purpose of having someone with her abilities to follow in her footsteps. Why else would she have approached your dad, someone who came from a family with plant based abilities, seduced him and gotten pregnant all within the span of 2 months? And as soon as she was pregnant, she broke off their relationship and had a shared custody agreement ready to go. With how you were raised, that’s the only explanation that makes sense.

“Again, Magnolia. You are supposed to be growing a tree, not a rose bush.”

“It’s not working, Mom.”

“If you actually tried, it might.”

“Or maybe, I just can’t grow trees. Maybe I can only do flowers like Aunt Nicki.” You love Aunt Nicki, always look forward to visiting her. She can’t grow without plant material, and she can only work with flowers, generally pink for whatever reason, but she’s kind and she teaches you the different meanings of different flowers.

“You are my daughter, you should be able to do much more than your father’s side of the family can. You just need to apply yourself.”

Your mother had been telling you this for years. Ever since you first started walking, dandelions popping up wherever your bare feet touched the dirt, she had been laser focused on growing your power. You are 12 now, and you can bloom all kinds of flowers, many weeds, and several vining and tropical plants. Your father is always impressed when he visits, but it’s not enough for your mother. She expects you to be able to grow anything she can, or could when she was younger. But in the 11 years you have been using your power, you have never grown any trees, edible food, or even grass. It was difficult for you to grow anything that did not blossom at some point, unless you already had a sample of the plant next to you while you tried.

“I am trying, Mom. I promise!”

“At your age I could grow and manage an entire greenhouse full of exotic plants with ease. You can barely keep some of your sunflowers alive without touching them day and night. You need to try harder.”

You dig your fingers back into the dirt and put all your energy and focus towards growing a tree. So much so, that you don’t notice the blood starting to run from your nose until your mother grasps your wrists and wrenches you away from the ground.

She wipes below your nose with her thumb and shakes her head. “Disappointing. Go inside and clean yourself up. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

You go inside and wash your hands and face. It’s barely 6 and you are exhausted. You sleep through dinner and until your mother wakes you up at sunrise the next morning. You hate summer break. It just gives her more time to ‘teach’ you.

It continued this way for years and you made very little improvement in the diversity of species you could grow. You did, however, begin to excel in maintaining your plants from a distance. Much to your mother’s horror, you could even keep cut flowers preserved at a distance for days longer than was natural.

“I don’t understand why you insist on killing your plants for your own amusement, Magnolia. Cut flowers are just awful.”

You turn your back to her and roll your eyes. “The flowers will die eventually, Mom. This way they can share their beauty with others before they do.”

“I thought I raised you better than this.”

“Aunt Nicki cuts flowers all the time. The plant doesn’t feel pain like we do, sometimes cutting the flowers even helps with growth. You have to prune some things for them to thrive.”

“If you had better control of your power, you wouldn’t need to.”

You sigh, it was never enough for her. Even when you were 16 and began to communicate with bees and hummingbirds and butterflies, she was still disappointed.

“Dad said his great grandma could do it too! Isn’t it cool? They follow me around sometimes, which can get annoying, but they love when I bloom flowers for them!”

“You take after your father’s side of the family too much.”

Looking back, you think that is the exact moment you decided you were going to move far away from her one day. You won’t be a tool to further her sometimes extreme planet first agenda, even if you were powerful enough, you decide that you want your own life.

It had always been a given that you would go to college. Both your parents had their doctorates, though your father often told you his had been more trouble than it was worth. Instead of staying in state for school, you applied to places across the country. You may not have been as powerful as your mother, or a genius like either of your parents, but you are smart. Smart enough to graduate highschool near the top of your class. Smart enough to get into NYU and be granted a large scholarship.

“How do you plan to go? It’s expensive and halfway across the country.”

“I have some money saved, I can at least afford the first year if I get a job there. I wanted to ask if I could borrow some money from you. I plan to pay it back, with intere-”

“Absolutely not. I will not pay for you to leave and go to school that far away. You are supposed to be here, with me, practicing.”

“I am never going to be as strong as you, Mom! And as much as I love the planet and hate how much people are killing it, I don’t want to be an ecoterrorist like you were. I want to go to school and learn and maybe make friends. I want to explore things and figure out what I want to do with my life.”

“Go ahead then. Be ungrateful and leave me here. When you run out of money, you’ll be back.”

Your dad had a much different reaction than your mother.

“I’m so proud of you, Blossom! You are going to be brilliant in whatever you choose to do. Now, I don’t want you worrying about money and working too hard while you’re supposed to be studying and enjoying your youth. I’ve been building a college fund for you ever since your mother found out she was pregnant. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

You are practically speechless when he shows you the account and helps you set up automatic tuition payments. Your mother refuses to speak to you the few weeks leading up to your move in date and you are happy when your dad asks if he can come with you to help get settled.

The years go by fast. You alternate holidays at your parent’s homes and spend less and less time with your mother. You rarely speak to her at all, sometimes months go by without a word. Your dad is better about calling you, but he gets distracted easily. At some point near the end of junior year, you decide you want to open up a flower shop. Thanks to the college fund from your dad, you have been able to save some money during your years at school. After graduation, you spend a couple years working two jobs. One in plant based research and another at a high end flower shop. You even add in a third job waitressing for a while. But it isn’t until your grandma dies and leaves a large chunk of money to you in her will that you are finally able to open up a tiny store just before your 25th birthday.

Your affinity for plants gives you an edge and saves you a lot of time and money. You keep many pots of live flowers growing in your store and in your tiny apartment. Your customers appreciate seeing how fresh your flowers are, sometimes you even cut their selections in front of them.

You aren’t necessarily hiding your power by studying botany and opening up a flower shop. But this is New York City, and there are much stranger things to notice than a girl with a metaphorically green thumb and a downright friendly relationship with most pollinators. People don’t mind that your flowers stay fresh longer than they should and the plants you sell thrive and grow under near impossible conditions. They don’t mind, likely because they either don’t notice or there are much worse things to be concerned about. Things like electricity controlling criminals and flying, goblin-like villains.

It’s not that these were daily concerns, far from it. Spider-Man usually kept people safe and you were happy to leave the crime-fighting to him. Except for today. Today, the news alert on your phone has notified you, a few minutes too late, that Spider-Man has been seen fighting a wasp swarm that seems to be controlled by a team of men through some technological device. Too late, because you are currently watching this from behind a dumpster, having run into the alley the moment the explosions started. It looks like less of a fight and more of Spider-Man trying to stay out of the swarm’s reach while doing his best to thin them out and keeping civilians out of harm's way as the men reek general mayhem. His suit doesn’t seem to be sting proof and even with his extra durability, the wasps aren’t only attacking him. Enough stings can cause serious injury, especially in children.

So on this random day in May, you decide to take your first real dip into the world of vigilantism, in a much different way than your mother had ever intended for you. You tuck yourself closer to the wall and you tightly wrap yourself in a suit of vines, masking most of your face in soft pink petals, and weaving soft thin stemmed flowers through your hair until it is tightly braided and concealed. All this takes you less than 5 minutes, your mother would have expected you to do this in less than 1, but you were out of practice.

The first time you figured out how to use your flowers as clothing, you had been 13. Your mother used to wear costumes made of green vines when she was younger, so you scoured the internet for pictures and then diligently studied the way the vines overlapped and intertwined. It had taken you weeks to form something solid and relatively comfortable over your own clothing, but it had been worth it. That was one of the only times your mother had ever been proud of you.

You take a deep steadying breath, then dash back out into the madness. Start small, you tell yourself. Much of the street has been blocked with cars and debris, preventing people from easily escaping, especially the group of elementary school aged children hiding behind their chaperones. This you can help with. You sprint towards them, crouching once you are close, placing your bare palms to the pavement and summoning sturdy vines, mainly composed of kudzu, and instruct it to twist itself into steps, creating a bridge over the worst of the rubble.

“It’s okay, you can come out,” you wave to the children and their 3 supervising adults. Another blast across the street sends vibrations through the ground and a few screams are audible. The kids are terrified and the adults aren’t much better. “Hey, I’ll keep you safe, all you have to do is climb a few feet and you can get outta here.” You beckon them closer and this time they respond.

Half of them are over the structure when a swarm of wasps notices the movement and charges. I can help with this too, you reassure yourself as you reach out pseudo-telepathically to the insects. We are all nest-hive-friends-harmless. Calm-soothe-safe.

It’s hard to directly translate anything you communicate to pollinators, most often it’s more of an impression or image that you send towards them. A feeling or direction. These wasps are confused, the technology controlling them is sending impulses they don’t understand and your instructions are conflicting. You decide it’s best to send them as far away from here as possible. Home. Go home. Leave-flee-fly-away. Home.

The swarms all follow your instructions, breaking free of the control of whatever tech the villains had created. Another explosion almost knocks you off your feet and you turn to watch Spider-Man get thrown back against the building from the force of the blast.

You have no idea what these guys are after, maybe they just want to blow shit up and kill Spider-Man. You would really like to go back home, but the masked hero isn’t getting up fast enough and the bad guys are pointing their weapons at him.

“Frick, okay, here goes nothing,” you tell yourself as you kneel and place your bare palms on the cracked pavement. Thorny vines of roses reach up from the ground around Spider-Man’s assailants, wrapping around their weapons and yanking them down and to the side until they are no longer pointed at anyone. Spider-Man takes advantage of your distraction and quickly wraps the 3, now unarmed, men in webs, removing any remaining tech from their wrists and leaving them to dangle from the ceiling. You take this as your que to leave, you aren’t needed anymore.

You disappear into an alleyway and remove your plant based suit, before speed walking home as fast as you could.

*****

Spider-Man had noticed you while he was busy dodging explosions and angry wasps. Briefly, he had worried you were another threat, but that fear left once he saw you help the kids and disperse the wasps. It hurt like hell when he got caught between two blasts and slammed his head against the wall. He was preparing to dodge the coming fire even with his bruised ribs and ringing ears, but you had saved him the trouble.

He wishes he could have talked to you or even just thanked you before you disappeared. At least he had a handful of flowers to take home to Aunt May tonight.

******

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