Summary: you were Chris’s favorite drink, and he got drunk so quickly off of your touch
Warnings: mdni 18+, mature context, explicit sexual content, unprotected sex, dom Chris Evans, praise kink, spanking, overstimulation, dirty talk
A/N: I haven’t written for Chris Evans in a hot minute and it’s been long overdue so I hope y’all enjoy! I owe this one for @rogersbarber since they always checked in on me, and have been patiently waiting for me to write for him again! Reblogs and comments are encouraged and appreciated always support your fanfic writers! Also, my Chris Evans tag list is still open so feel free to join! Thanks! XOXO
Hall of Hunks
Chris Evans was the epitome of sex. Fucking you cruelly pounding your tight hole with no mercy whatsoever. His tight grip on your body was sure to leave marks almost like you were a canvas for him to draw on. Cries of pleasure leaving your lips calling out only his name.
"That feel good sweetheart?" He hisses directly into your ear as a hand comes down on your backside. A jolt coursing through your body at the impact making him snicker. Encouraging him to spank you again and again until he could see the outline of his handprint on your skin.
"Mmmm it feels good." Nodding your head as you turned your cheek to lay against the marble table that you were currently bent over. Lost in the intoxicating bliss of his touch your mind in a whole other world.
“That’s it baby fuck yourself against my cock.” He encouraged when he noticed you started to back your hips back to meet his. Keeping himself still for a few minutes and let you have control for a little bit. Loving to see this side of you that would come out of nowhere.
Tears glistening in your eyes as he pushed his hips harder against you your body being pushed forward on the table. Breasts rubbing against the table sending shivers down your spine. His lips warm and eager as they trailed across your shoulder leaving a trail of saliva across your skin.
"You're incredibly tight baby." His deeps voice drips with praise as his thrusts quicken. Moving your hands in front of you splayed out as you gripped the end of the table. “Don’t know how much longer I can keep going.”
Thick warm hands gripping your flesh as he squeezed the fat in the palm of his hands. Relishing in the softness of your curves. If there was one thing Chris loved it was to always be touching you. Watching as goosebumps would appear on your skin when he touched a certain spot.
"Oh my god." You whimpered closing your eyes shut as the senses started to overwhelm you, and you could feel the heat swarming your body. Feeling the stretch of your walls every time he pushed himself all the way into your gut.
Sex with Chris was always mind blowing, and definitely had you feeling sore for several days. He knew all the right places to touch, and right words to say. Chris knew your body inside and out even when you think he didn’t he could surprise you by awakening a new kink. He was adventurous and just wanting to explore new horizons with you.
“Use that pretty mouth and tell me how good it feels.” He demands as he stills his hips his voice laced with a mocking tone. The words stuck in the back of your throat as you struggled to speak any words.
“Come on baby, tell me how good I’m fucking this cunt.” Pulling back then slamming his body straight into yours with full force a scream leaving your lips.
“It feels so fucking good Chris.” Relentlessly pushing and pulling you back until all you could muster was gasps and whimpers.
Chris always thought you looked the most beautiful with makeup smeared down your face, and a glazed over look in your eyes. If he could take a picture of your face every time he would have enough to make a book describing each moment.
“I know you’re so close sweetheart.” He cooed as he leaned forward his chest pressed to your back kissing under your ear sucking on the flesh nibbling down hard enough to make you cry out. Reaching a hand between your bodies slithering his way to your swollen clit. Rubbing the nub in rhythmic circles alongside his thrusting. The feeling was becoming overwhelming as your head started to spin and your vision was becoming blurry.
“‘M right there baby let go. Wanna feel that creamy cunt cum around me.” Grunting and growling like a wild animal as he could feel himself getting closer. Your moans and whimpers getting louder as your knees started to buckle making it harder to stay still.
“Come on you know that’s all I want.” He begged as you recognized the familiar clench of your stomach around his length. Using the table to keep yourself propped up entire body going limp. Tummy sagging from the intensity and pure exhaustion as you just continued to lay there. Legs shaking as he fucks you with reckless drive.
Large hands palming the rounds of your ass as he uses you as leverage. Flesh of your ass cheeks jiggling and sticking to his thighs as the coil in your stomach becomes painfully tight. A low arch to your spine as he plunged deep inside your guts and hit that sweet spot.
“Fuck me that’s it I’m cumming I’m gonna cum in that sweet cunt of yours.” You whine with various cries his cock twitching aggressively inside of you.
A sharp gasp escapes him as he can feel you clenching your tight walls around him a warm liquid flood around his cock. Keeping still as he squirts his seed in your raw cunt some of it leaking out and dripping down your thighs. The feeling was ticklish but your legs trembled with ferocity that you didn’t care.
It was as if someone turned on the hose as he pulled out swiftly watching yours and his fluids descend to the ground. In awe that you were able to hold that much inside your stuffy and swollen cunt. Keeping hold of your body and he helped ease you through your long orgasm. A sheen of sweat glistening your body like a diamond.
“Fucked that delicious cunt so good.” He proudly stated as you tried to involuntarily push that last of the milky substance from your body. Licking your dry lips trying to obtain some type of moisture.
“So proud of you my sweet girl. You did so good for me.” Praising as he now rubbed his hands up and down your sides soothingly this time. Such sweet words had you weakly smile as your eyes started to grow heavy. Thinking it was over but mistaken when you felt the soft push of his swollen head into your throbbing cunt.
burn your life down | chef luca x fem! reader | part seven
summary: you and luca go to a club opening and take an opportunity to learn more about each other.
warnings: fluff, smut (18+ only), eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, slow burn, baby, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 5.3k
listen to: the official 'burn your life down' playlist
a/n: hi cuties. here is a long chapter with a whole lot of juicy content considering i've been gone all week. i'm also hard launching what luca's last name could be in this series -- something i've brainstormed with @arctvrvs and @superhoeva. there IS smut so please be respectful of it being 18+ only content.
also: mild implication on reader/mc having some kind of asian heritage, but you can super not take it that way, which is why i wrote joe's family as japanese-english. let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!
part six | masterlist | part eight
“Cool shoes,” you say, your eyes fixed to Luca’s choice of Nikes for the night, instantly chuckling to yourself as you realize how silly the words coming out of your mouth sound. It’s like you’re a kid again, sitting on the back of the bus with her crush, trying to come up with something– anything – to say.
Luca chuckles, stealing a glance your way as he replies, “Yeah I've got a bit of a thing for them – trainers.”
“I… noticed,” you say, exchanging a look with him, your eyes meeting his as the two of you sit side by side on the train.
“Oh yeah?” he asks, with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, there’s the coffee table book – that and you wore some to the ballet,” you explain, a blush running across your cheeks.
“You noticed that?” he questions with a hint of amusement in his voice, only a little surprised that you’ve picked up on the little things before he’s shared them with you.
“I notice you,” you answer, your voice quieter, yet genuine in your admission.”
He smirks.
“And?”
“And… so far, I like what I see,” you flirt, boldly, this time.
The right side of his mouth turns up into a small smile, and while you’re too busy reading his facial expressions, Luca’s busy finding your hand with his. You can feel it: the lightest touch that sets off butterflies in your belly, his fingers tangling with yours as you ride the train with him to Vesterbro, the humble beginnings of something good.
As Luca continues glancing over at you, he shakes his head incredulously, letting out a small laugh in the opposite direction.
“Hmm?” you hum, inquisitively, stealing a glance his way this time.
“You just ehm…” he trails off, almost as if he’s not sure how to say what he wants to say next. “... you look… really beautiful tonight.”
“Uh-, I-, Thank you,” you stumble through, deciding you’ll just accept his compliment.
It’s not like you don’t know it – didn’t know what you were doing when you put on the barely-there lace bodysuit meant to be a lingerie teddy, that lays perfectly layered underneath your high rise pair of denim. The plunge neckline is cut deep, showcasing quite a bit of inner boob, so much of your cleavage, that you put pasties on just in case. You can tell Luca’s having trouble not ogling you as you smirk, giving his hand a confident squeeze.
As you get off the train and back up to street level, you discover that it’s not a long walk to where the newly-opened club is located. Luca hasn’t let go of your hand and you savor the feeling of new love as the two of you walk hand in hand.
“So explain to me again what all the drama’s about again,” Luca requests, recalling something you previously mentioned.
“Oh it’s a whole thing,” you sigh, as you begin trying to explain yesterday’s gossip. “The guy Jesper is dating is one of the guys opening the club. I don’t think it’s serious, perhaps just a… fling of sorts, but Jesper’s ex-girlfriend who he dated for two years is a… well, she’s a bit of an influencer and it’s a whole thing because she’ll be there too.”
“Ooof,” Luca sounds, giving you a grateful hand squeeze.
“Yeah. Any ex girlfriends we might run into tonight?” you ask, only half-joking.
Luca shakes his head, “I doubt it. I don’t get out much.” He pauses. “Think my last serious ex-girlfriend moved to Spain a year ago or so.”
You hum in response, momentarily relieved that the likelihood of running into any of Luca’s exes tonight is low, considering it wasn’t something you’d worried about until the words were coming out of your mouth. You’re ready to wait in the line that’s formed outside of the club until you hear the sharp sound of Jesper calling your name, waving you into the club. You watch as he exchanges words with the bartender, while Luca mutters something to you about how fancy he feels about skipping the line.
You and Luca follow Jesper down the long, dark hallway, the feeling of pulsating music and a heavy bassline undulating underneath your feet with each step. It feels more like a grungy club in Berlin than Copenhagen, but it seems like it’s what they’re going for, and you thank your past-self for choosing to wear something this sexy. While you feel out of place, at least you look like you knew what you were getting yourself into.
“I’m glad you made it!” Jesper shouts over the loud music as he leads you and Luca to a table in the VIP area.
“What? Thought I’d skip?” you shout back with a raised eyebrow.
This time, Jesper leans in closer, “Thought you and Prince Charming would have a hard time leaving the bedroom now that you two are-.”
“Jesper!”
“What?” he asks with a shrug, looking from you to Luca, who sends you a quizzical look of his own.
You send him an ‘I’m so sorry’ look before ignoring Jesper’s comment.
“I don’t think I’m drunk enough for this yet,” you say, and you’re only half-joking.
“Can I get you a drink?” Luca asks, overhearing your comment.
“Yes,” you nod, before telling him your drink order.
“Great. I’ll go,” he offers, though it’s more like a confirmation than anything else. He leaves the sweetest peck on your lips, earning a look from Jesper as you watch Luca disappear into the crowd.
“Please don’t tell me you haven’t-,” Jesper groans.
“We haven’t,” you interject, firmly.
“You’ve got more self control than I would,” Jesper sighs, disappointedly as he shakes his head your way.
Before you can reply, a pair of arms are wrapping around you as Mathilde’s voice follows with:
“Jesus Christ! Who said you could be hotter than me at my brother’s fling’s club opening?” Mathilde teases you, giving you a big hug.
“It’s not just a fling!” Jesper protests at the same time as you, replying with: “It’s good to see you too, Mathilde.”
It really had only been a few hours since you closed down the restaurant for the night, but seeing the Mikkelson twins off the clock was a whole other animal. You can imagine a time, when they were both single, that the two of them could have ruled the Copenhagen social scene – two fiery forces to be reckoned with.
“So have we run into the ex-girlfriend yet?” you ask, desperate to get the spotlight off of whether you and Luca had slept together yet.
“Ahhhh,” Mathilde smirks. “No sign yet, but my money is on a fashionably late arrival.”
“What’s the drama? Claudio knows you’re bi. You and Sofia ended on good terms. I don’t get it,” you ask, curiously.
“Because it’s Claudio’s big night. And I don’t want anything to fuck with it,” Jesper begins.
“And because Jesper’s a big drama queen,” Mathilde adds, as her brother glares at her in response.
“Who cares about how the night goes,” you chime in, from the perspective of an optimist.
“So you and Luca…” Mathilde solicits, raising her eyebrows a few times cheekily.
“It’s good,” you guys, a broad smile spreading across your lips. “I mean… it’s really, really good.”
It’s good morning texts. And funny cartoons he sends you from the paper. And using him as a soundboard for new dish ideas.
“I’m proud of you, babe,” Mathilde smiles proudly. “For taking the leap.”
“I-,” you begin, before pausing. “Me too. I’m proud of me too.”
It’s then that you see Luca appear, just at the opening of the VIP area, headed in your direction with Emil following closely behind.
“Hey!” you greet the both of them as they approach. While Luca has your drinks, Emil carries a tray filled with shots that you're not entirely sure you’re ready for. Your eyes widen. “Shots?”
Emil only shrugs, as Jesper corrals you, Luca, and Mathilde for a round of shots. You all pick up the soon-to-be-yours shot glasses, as Luca scoots over so that he stands closely, next to you.
He leans in, the feeling of his lips ghosting over your ear sends a chill down your spine as he murmurs, “How much do you want to bet we’ll regret this tomorrow?”
“Oh, so much,” you answer, turning ever so slightly towards him, your lips inchest away from his.
“To a night of letting loose,” Jesper shouts over the loud music as he begins his toast. “To old friends.” He pauses, toasting his glass towards Luca this time. “And new.”
“Skal!”
“Skal!” you all echo as you cheers.
“Eye contact!” Jesper orders, earning a laugh from you and another questioning look from Luca.
Over the electronic music and flashing laser lights, you take in the sound of shot glasses hitting the table, the faces made in response to the bitter liquid, the whoops and cheers of a triumphant first shot of the night.
You set your shot glass down on the tray along with the other empty ones as Luca asks you:
“Eye contact?”
“Yeah,” you shrug in response, taking a more flirtatious approach as you continue your explanation. “You’ve gotta make eye contact while you cheers or it’s seven years of bad sex.”
“Huh,” Luca smirks in response as you take his hand.
“I think I’m ready for a proper drink now,” you coo, a seductive tone in your voice that Luca hasn’t heard yet.
He likes it. Not just because it’s for him, but because he likes discovering these new parts of you, unraveling you as he goes, finding something different every time.
And the more he learns, the more he likes you.
He really likes you.
Luca is quick to locate where he put your drinks down right before you started taking shots. He hands you yours, then goes for his this time, raising his glass towards you.
“Cheers,” you say with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Cheers,” he replies, clinking his glass with yours with immovable eye contact.
You raise your glass to your lips, taking your first sip, as Luca does the same, holding your gaze the entire time as if it’s a damn promise. Before anything can get too heated (because you swear the way he’s looking at you could start a forest fire) you hear the sound of Mathilde’s voice as she saunters over to the two of you.
“Luca!” you hear her call out. “Come. Have a sit. I want to know everything about you.”
You giggle, watching her usher Luca away so that she can bombard him with questions, and your heart fills with warmth. He’s here – meeting your friends, meeting your people – and you don’t even feel like running in the opposite direction.
-------------------------------
In tandem with the loud, pulsating dance music, you move your hips in a swaying motion, against the feel of Luca’s tall, broad body. You’ve got your arms wrapped around his neck and at this point, you’re quite sure you’ve lost count of the drinks you’ve had.
That anyone’s had, really.
“Have I told you how absolutely ravishing you look tonight?” Luca rasps, leaning down so that the sound he makes vibrates right against your ear.
You let out a gasp, the feel of his body pressed up against yours and the sound of his voice all feel too good.
“I think last time you said ‘beautiful,’” you tease him, playfully.
“Why can’t it be both, darling?” he asks you, grinning down at you.
Instead of answering, you pull him towards you, pressing your mouth to his in a passionate attempt, yet very sloppy, drunk kiss.
Do you want to get out of here? is what you think he’s going to say, but instead, Luca pulls back from the kiss, only to lean in once more as he whispers in your ear:
“Are you hungry?”
You laugh at the unexpected question, and suddenly, it becomes apparent to you that you’re starving.
“Yes. You wanna get out of here?” you ask back.
“Lead the way.”
Knowing it’ll take longer than you’d like for it too, you bypass the idea of trying to find everyone to say goodbye, and skip right to the Irish Goodbye, leading Luca out of the noisy club and back out to the bustling streets that are the red light district. The two of you are blissfully drunk and giggly as you sit on the train, on the way back to your place.
You’re more than grateful that you live so close to the train station, since it’s only a quick walk back to your apartment.
“I can’t believe those girls from the train were only just starting their night’s. Can you believe it?” you ask with a giggle, as Luca follows you up the stairs of your walk up. You fidget with your keys, unlocking the door as you continue on about how you’re not twenty five anymore and tonight’s reminded you that you can barely keep up now.
But Luca doesn’t answer your question.
Instead, as soon as you close the door behind you, he’s pressing you up against it and kissing you like he’s going off to war tomorrow. You sigh his name against his lips as you kiss him back, completely turned on by the brute force of a man as tall as him. Your head spins as you realize that he’s only just started kissing you and he’s already got you this hot and bothered. You can’t tell whether it’s the alcohol, the way his lips move expertly against yours, or the way his hands snake up your torso, inching dangerously close to the exposed skin of your plunging lace teddy.
“Touch me,” you gasp as an encouragement, impatient with the way your nerves seem to be screaming for more of his touch.
“Oh fuck,” he groans, his large hands moving to cover your breasts, only confirming his suspicions that you’ve been braless this whole time.
This new discovery leads to another moan from his mouth as his hands wrap around you, pulling you closer to him. Luca presses his forehead against yours, abruptly breaking the kiss, his breath heavier, more uneven now.
“Fuck, I think I might be too pissed for this,” Luca murmurs, as you try to catch your breath, knowing that he means drunk.
You giggle, as you admit, “That’s-. Yes. I… too am very drunk.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he starts up again, leaving a small kiss on your lips. “But I’m not sure that’s quite the impression I want to leave on you either.”
“That’s… so respectable,” you say on an exhale, in pure disbelief of how perfect this man is.
“Plus,” he continues, in between kisses as his lips begin to place gentle kisses along your jaw, your neck, your collarbone. “When we do finally sleep together. I want you to remember. Every. Single. Thing. I do to you.”
You’re not sure whether you feel completely sexually frustrated or entirely turned on by how responsible of a decision Luca’s making for the both of you, considering the circumstances. Luca leaves a trail of kisses up your neck once more earning a moan from you as manage to get out:
“Fuck, okay. Just let me cook you something.”
You both laugh as he agrees to the terms of your agreement. You playfully shove Luca off of you, knowing that you won’t be able to function much longer if he stays pressed up against you like this.
“Wait here,” you order, holding up your index finger as if to say, ‘give me a moment,’ before disappearing into your bedroom.
-------------------------------
By the time you emerge from your bedroom, you’ve changed into one of your favorite t-shirts to sleep in – an old, mildly tattered Rolling Stones tee that you once bought at the thrift shop back in college. Luca’s kicked off his shoes and has found a few of your cookbooks that he’s started flipping through as you pull an amalgam of half-full frozen dumpling bags out of your freezer. With your pan on the stovetop preheating, you silently offer Luca a glass of water, before leaving a soft kiss on his lips once more.
You put a little music on, just something soft for the background as you add oil to the increasingly hot pan. Luca hums along with the song that’s playing, cookbook in one hand, glass of water in the other, as he approaches you, making his way to the kitchen island that sits directly across from your gas stove. He settles in, placing both objects down on the counter top as he sits down on the barstool you have tucked underneath the kitchen island.
There’s a quiet intimacy about the way you move around each other, so comfortable, so familiar, even if you’ve only just met within the last few months. The sound of sizzling hot oil as you place the first frozen dumpling down into the pan adds texture to the symphony of your evening: your choice of music, Luca’s soft humming, the way the pan slides against the coils of your gas stove as you shake it.
“Did you grow up cooking like this?” Luca asks, breaking the comfortable silence between you.
“Uh… yes. And also no,” you reply, cryptically, ready to explain more.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Luca says with a chuckle. “You know… when I met you. When I first came to the restaurant… I was pleasantly surprised.” He takes a beat, taking a quick sip of water as he explains himself. “It’s just that the whole fusion thing got a little tired, a little too played out, but you seem to have given it new breath… new life.” Luca flips the page of the book he’s been examining.
“And I recall you saying something about an Italian restaurant… so the Asian inspired flavors….”
“Yeah, no, it’s a great question,” you reply, turning to look at him as you let the bottoms of the dumplings crisp up. “So my mom was a single parent – raised me solo. Growing up we ate a lot of easy things… you know, like frozen dumplings… and lots of Stouffer’s lasagnas which… you could say that that combination alone is perhaps the foundation of discovering my culinary voice.”
You chuckle, recalling your childhood memories as you share more.
“So no, I didn’t grow up cooking with her often. We didn’t do the whole… sit around a table and make dumplings for hours kind of thing, but Mom always has a bag of ‘em in the freezer and chili oil on hand. But yes, I grew up cooking like this, more so than anything I do now.”
Luca nods as he listens, his half smile growing as you so openly share about yourself. The way he responds to you – to learning about you – only makes you want to share more. It’s all true… but it’s not the whole story.
“Do you have siblings?” he asks, curiously.
“Nope, just me,” you answer, before deciding that you really do want to answer Luca’s initial question.
“I actually learned a lot of this stuff – about miso, how to make a proper dashi, how to pleat dumplings – from Joe. From his mom,” you hesitate, before pausing.
You want to check in with Luca, searching his face for any kind of reaction, before you proceed to talk about your ex husband considering you were so close to getting naked with him just minutes ago.
“Is it okay… if I talk about him?”
“Yeah,” Luca answers with a shrug, as if it were the simplest answer in the world. “He was a big part of your life – of you. And I like learning about you.”
You accept his answer, trying your best to be cool about the fact that the level of emotional maturity it takes to respond that way really impresses the hell out of you. Realizing that it’s time to add water to your fry pan you turn your back to Luca momentarily once more. You add the smallest bit of water from your drinking glass, a white hot sound filling your ears as the cooking process goes from pan-frying to pan-steaming. You cover the pan tightly with its lid before turning back to Luca.
“Joe’s family… they’re Japanese-English, which is really where I learned to start blending my own stories into food,” you explain, with an honesty that makes you feel incredibly naked right now. “His mom would teach me very traditional Japanese recipes when we first started dating – I think it’s how she knew how to connect with me, how we got to know each other, and I was more than eager to learn. we got to know each other. I… sort of always had a thing for food, for cooking, and learning things I didn’t necessarily learn in my immediate family unit… it was cool, you know? I just, I didn’t think it could really be a career, wasn’t my priority at the time to be an artist as the full-time gig.”
“But the more I learned from her, the more I realized that it wasn’t dissimilar from what I’d learned growing up inside of my best friend’s family’s Italian restaurant. And it all just kind of… grew from there. After Joe and I got divorced, I figured it was now or never, take the leap, do the thing I always wanted to do.”
“Opening a restaurant. That was your dream?” he asks, searching for confirmation. You nod as he smiles proudly.
“And look at you now.”
“Yes,” you chuckle, taking a breath. “Yeah, somehow I now have a whole new life and restaurant in Copenhagen.”
“You do,” Luca nods, admiration evident in his eyes.
You take a beat because the way he looks at you sends another rush through you, and this time, you know it’s not the alcohol.
“While we’re on the subject… What about you? What are your parents like?” you ask, shifting the spotlight over to him this time.
“Well, like you, I grew up mostly with a single mom,” Luca replies, as a flash of recognition flashes through your eyes.
“Mostly?” you question.
“Yeah um..” he trails off.
“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t-,” you interject.
“No, I-, I want you to know,” he reassures you, a soft look in his eyes that makes you want to trust his word, as if he wants you to know him too.
“Okay,” you say, softly.
You’re not sure a man’s ever let you in like this before and it feels terrifying and electric all at once.
“My full name is Luca Davies-Bernardi,” he starts. “...but I dropped the last part when I turned eighteen.” Luca flips another page over, glancing down quickly before he returns his gaze to yours.
“My mum had me when she was pretty young. Got a bit of the short end of the stick when my dad left her and me. I was… three or four maybe? A real tosser, if you ask me.”
“Woah,” you sound on an exhale, as you listen.
“Yeah,” he scoffs, before continuing.
“He got another woman pregnant. Moved back to Italy instead of staying here with us. Apparently I’ve got a sister, out there… somewhere.”
You wait a beat before asking:
“And he never tried to keep in touch?”
“He tried,” Luca admits, a hint of bitterness in the way the words come out. “But I was a really angry kid. And as I grew older, I just didn’t see the point.”
“I’m sorry,” you apologize, empathetically.
“No it’s-, I dunno,” Luca shrugs. “I much rather put my energy into my relationship with my mum. We’re actually quite close.”
“Yeah?” you ask with a smile, because it really is the most darling thing you’ve ever heard.
“Yeah,” he answers, leaning in to show you the larger forearm piece he has on his left arm. “I got this tattoo for her. She was a nurse… for most of my childhood. It’s what she had to do, so she worked a lot. I had a lot of time on my hands, perhaps why I got into so much trouble as a kid. Really put her through it till I started working in the kitchen.”
“You little rebel, you,” you tease him, with a giggle. Turning your attention back to your stovetop, you remove the lid and the pan for its heat source, before turning off the stove entirely. Giggling again you add, “You know, I’m just trying to picture it.
“Oh, I’m sure I have a few old photos around my flat somewhere,” Luca laughs, as if it’s a promise that he’ll show you someday.
“Your mom sounds like a badass,” you sigh, making your way around your small kitchen island so that you’re standing right in front of him.
“So does yours,” he replies, reaching for your hands.
As your eyes take in the ink that adorns his hands and his arms, you drag your fingertips across the little designs: the A, the scotch bonnet, the nurse tattoo he got for his mother.
“And I like them… your tattoos,” you finally say, breaking the momentary silence between the two of you.
“Oh yeah?” he smirks, his eyes catching yours as you look up at him.
“Yesssss. They are… very sexy,” you smirk in return, biting down on your lower lip as you run your fingertips along his inked forearms.
“Glad you like ‘em. They’re permanent,” he preens, showing off cheekily
“Oh shut up,” you tease him as you place the gentlest peck against his full lips.
He chuckles, pulling you in for another kiss, this time deepening it.
As Luca kisses you, your mind wanders to his choice of words.
Permanent.
Of course it’s too freaking soon to think anything else of it other than this:
If it were up to him, Luca’s not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.
-------------------------------
As the morning light trickles in through your bedroom window, it dawns on you that you are not alone. You blink your eyes open, taking in the image of the gorgeous man that lays beside you.
The one who you ate dumplings with on your couch in the early hours of the morning. The one that fell asleep with you in your bed last night, because there was no way in hell you were letting him walk home at 4 am. The one who's making your heart race and your head spin and who reminds you that there is romance in this world.
Yep, that one.
You slip out of bed, careful not to wake him as you get up to pee, the massive headache a result of far too many drinks consumed last night. You tiptoe into your kitchen, filling up your glasses from last night with fresh water before heading back to the bedroom.
“Good idea,” Luca says, as he notices the glasses of water you return with.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” you ask.
He shakes his head, “It’s alright.”
“Figured they’d be helpful considering neither of us are 21 any more,” you joke in reference to the water, as Luca sits up in your bed.
Handing him his glass, he happily takes it before taking a few greedy sips of water. It’s a silent exchange: he hands you the water glass and you place it back on your bedside table before crawling back into bed with him.
The way you fit curled up against his side feels better than you imagined as he wraps an arm around your shoulders, whispering a soft ‘good morning.’
“Morning,” you reply softly.
You’re not sure how long you lay there, or how long it takes, or who makes the first move, but one minute you’re peacefully snuggled up to Luca’s side, and the next, he’s all over you, rolling you over onto your back as he presses hot kisses to your mouth, to your neck, his hands snaking underneath your favorite Rolling Stones t-shirt as you sigh out his name.
“Luca.”
“Yes, love?”
You repeat your plea from last night – now that neither of you are intoxicated.
“Touch me.”
No longer hesitant, Luca grabs at your breasts, his face buried in your neck as he sucks, kisses, leaves love bites all over you as you arch your chest up into his hands. Large hands cover each breast and you moan as you feel his thumbs graze your nipples, your breathing becoming heavier with each touch.
“God, you’re incredible,” he murmurs into your skin, one hand making its way down your body at a smooth, slow pace. His fingers play with the waistband of your panties, and he knows that he’s got you in the palm of his hand as you’re more than impatient for him to continue his exploration.
“May I?” he asks cooly.
You let out a frustrated moan, anticipating his touch like your life depends on it.
“Please,” you beg, a desperateness in your voice that you’re unfamiliar with.
“Well when you ask so nicely,” Luca smirks, cockily.
You wish you had it in you to roll your eyes, to shake your head, to tell him to shut it, but as soon as his fingers slip into your panties, your mind goes blank. He sighs softly at the feel of you, then puts all of his energy into sliding your panties down your legs, the wet heat of you already slick with desire for him.
“My god,” he groans, as soon as his fingers find the wetness that’s pooled between your legs. “This all for me?”
And you don’t even have it in you to reply, letting out a loud, keening moan as his fingers slide through your folds, parting them as he explores new territory. They move up a few inches, dragging your wetness up and down your core, expertly finding your clit as you hiss in pleasure.
“What do you think?” you bite back, letting out another moan.
Luca smirks, watching as you writhe underneath him, enjoying the way you look at his mercy.
“I think,” he begins, his fingers rubbing circles around your clit, earning a gasp from your mouth. “I know. That this is all for me.”
“Fuck!” you cry out as Luca pushes his index finger into you.
The way you feel stretching around his finger elicits a moan from him too this time.
“You’re so tight, love,” he groans, as if he’s getting off to the idea of you.
You fall into a haze as Luca begins to fuck you with his finger. One. Then two. And before you know it, he’s moving at a rapid pace, his fingers buried deep inside of you, hitting that spongy spot inside of you that has you calling out his name while his thumb comes up to pay close attention to your clit once again. You’re on the edge, ready to come undone, the coil that’s building in your belly ready to burst.
It’s all Luca, and fuck, and I’m so close, and yes right there, are met with groans of your name, eyes that look at you like you’re a work of art, and hands that are intent on bringing you to your climax.
“I want to see you fall apart, love,” Luca commands, his voice low and raspy.
And that’s all it takes for you to cum around his fingers while they work you through your climax so beautifully. You cry out his name, your eyes snapped shut as you experience one of the best orgasms you’ve had in a long time.
“Holy shit,” you pant, trying your best to catch your breath as you come down.
You whimper at the loss of him as he slides his fingers out of you, both hands come up to your torso as he kisses you passionately, deeply, breathlessly.
“C’mon,” he says as he pulls away from the searing kiss, knowing that he is fully in control here.
“Let’s get you some breakfast.”
-------------------------------
a/n: IS EVERYONE DOING OK BC WOW THE SEXUAL TENSION
burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter five
summary: you and luca finally talk about what happened the night of the ballet -- and finally have a chance to clear the air.
warnings: fluff, eventual smut, eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, slow burn, baby, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 3k
a/n: let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!
part four | masterlist | part six
You’ve been avoiding his calls all day.
After Luca bid you goodnight on Thursday, you’d practically sprinted upstairs and into your apartment, slamming the door behind you while wondering what the hell was wrong with you?
You’re too stubborn for your own good, you think to yourself, recalling the moment – the one where you could’ve kissed him but you didn’t – between you and Luca. You stood there, too paralyzed to make a move, yet unable and unwilling to walk away from him.
Luca had given you space most of yesterday, save for a text later in the evening, but the fact that today is Saturday, the day he almost always comes into the restaurant, is not lost on you. Instead of dealing with it, you’ve been hyper focused all day, choosing to bury your head in work as you run lunch service with Mathilde, more than grateful that business has run at a steady pace today.
It’s not until you hit a stop, forced to pause after a few hours in between the lunch and dinner rush, reaches a lull. Your brain is suddenly inundated with too many thoughts: was this it? Had you scared him away forever? Did he think you were a total freak considering you’d practically run away from him after he’d said goodnight?
“So are we going to talk about it?” Mathilde presses you, ripping you out of your thoughts with the sound of her voice. You look her way, noticing that her lips pursed in sheer annoyance at your avoidance mechanisms.
Your face falls, unable to carry this solo for much longer, letting out a sigh of resignation because you know she’s right.
You can’t run from this – from your feelings, from Luca – forever.
“Yeah,” you give in. “Yeah, okay.”
“What the hell happened?” Mathilde hisses as she approaches you. “I mean, he’s gorgeous, he’s cultured… he took you out to the ballet, and you like him!”
“I don’t know,” you huff, disappointedly. “I just-, I think I got too caught up in my head. It’s like one minute I was really jazzed at the idea of being on a date, let alone a date with Luca, and the next I’m just… I don’t know… totally psyching myself out and pushing him away.”
“Merde,” she swears in French this time.
“Fuck,” you sigh, at least releasing a little of the pent up pressure you’ve been holding onto all day.
“Babe, I know that holding all of this,” she begins, gesturing wildly towards you, “gives you a certain edge in the kitchen… but I can’t imagine it’s good for you.”
You send her another look – one that says ‘fuck off because I know you’re right’ this time.
“I don’t know what to do, Mathilde,” you confess, your eyes pleading with her for some advice.
She turns to you, this time with a much more serious expression as she says, “Luca seems like a really great guy. Maybe you should just tell him all of this.”
You nod slowly as you process. It’s not that you haven’t thought about it – it’s not like it’s a new concept to you – you were married once, after all. But the idea of being vulnerable like that, showing someone new your whole hand feels really scary. You know it’s the thing you need to do; it’s the kindest, most honest option that you have – and you know that Luca deserves just that: kindness, transparency, the truth.
As you continue to think it over, the only words that come to you are:
“I told him that I wasn’t in love with him anymore – with Joe. When he asked.”
“Luca?”
“Yeah.”
“It wasn’t a lie. Was it?” Mathilde questions you carefully.
You share your head, growing more and more certain in your answer.
“No, of course not. It’s not that. My hesitation has never been about Joe. It’s-, it’s about me…” you explain, finding the right words in the moment. “... about my heart.”
Mathilde places a gentle hand on your shoulder as you share a knowing look as she listens.
“What if I do this? I mean, what if I jump… and it’s a horrible mess… and I ruin a good thing with a really great guy because I’m not ready?” you ask, shining a light on your biggest fears.
She takes a beat, thinking it over, before crossing her arms over her chest, as the two of you stand side by side, leaning up against a stainless steel prep station.
“Then you do,” she answers, as if it were that simple. “And you figure out the rest. You’re only human after all.”
You chuckle, playfully rolling your eyes at Mathilde’s not-so-friendly reminder.
“Here’s an idea,” she starts back up again, catching your attention as you glance sideways to look at her. “What if you jump? And it’s the best thing you’ve ever done? What if it’s worth it?”
You take a deep breath, letting her words sink in, letting yourself feel the possibility that this could also be the best thing you’ve ever done too. But before you can say anything in response, Jesper comes back into the kitchen, calling for you.
“Hate to break up the slumber party, ladies, but can I borrow you for a moment, Chef?” he asks, making it clear that he’s talking to you. You and Mathilde exchange glances as Jesper nods through the open kitchen to where Luca waits for you in the dining room. You open your mouth to say something, but instead, you just nod, murmuring a ‘yeah, of course,’ quick to follow Jesper out of the kitchen.
It’s impeccable timing, really, you think to yourself, that you were just contemplating the possibility that this could be something you could do.
You could jump, you remind yourself, if you really wanted to.
“Hi,” you say, barely above a whisper as soon as you see Luca.
“Hi,” he smiles warmly in return, causing Jesper to look from you to Luca, then back to you again.
“I’m just gonna-,” he starts, searching for an excuse.
Only, he doesn’t have one, so Jesper simply excuses himself before disappearing into the kitchen to find a place where he and Mathilde both can pretend to do something when really eavesdropping.
Jesper’s abrupt and clumsy exit seems some of the palpable tension, earring a laugh from both you and Luca.
“I thought-,” he begins as you simultaneously say, “I’ve been meaning to call-.”
“Sorry,” he says with an apologetic half smile.
“No I’m-. You go first,” you encourage, blushing on a little as the two of you clumsily dance around each other.
Luca takes a breath, reminding himself that it wouldn’t be this weird if there wasn’t something between the two of you – that he hasn’t been imagining this – not even a little bit.
“I hope that it’s okay. That I’m here,” he finally says, his voice steady and even.
“I-, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” you ask him, suddenly insecure about the fact that he felt he needed to ask in the first place.
“I just-, well I thought ehm, maybe you’d need some space. I didn’t want to ehm, you know… show up here if-, even though it’s Saturday because it is your place and I wouldn’t want-,” Luca tries to explain, stopping and starting again and again.
“Luca, no I-,” you say, before pausing, swearing to yourself under your breath as you mutter. “Shit. Fuck, I-. Goddamn, you really are fucking perfect.”
“What was that?” Luca asks, only catching the swearing part at the beginning and the ‘fucking perfect’ part at the end.
“Um…” you trail off, looking around you.
As you catch Jesper and Mathilde ducking behind a shelf out of the corner of your eye, and a few of your waitstaff hurrying to make it look like they’re busy and not listening in, you realize that you and Luca have managed to earn the attention of some very curious onlookers.
“Do you want to step outside for a moment?” you ask, gesturing towards the front door.
“Sure,” he nods, letting you lead him to a spot outside.
You make sure that you're both as out of sight as possible, staying far away from the broad windows that line the front of your restaurant.
“Hi,” you say again on an exhale.
“Hi,” he says back, simply.
“I’m glad you came. I know I-... I should’ve called, or- or texted you… after Thursday,” you begin, nervously, eager to own up to the very big part you’ve played in the lack of communication.
“Yes. You should’ve,” he repeats, his eyes catching yours as you nod in confirmation.
It’s good – that he’s not going to let you off the hook – and while you like it, you like that he has boundaries, you’re disappointed in yourself as you say:
“I’m sorry.”
Luca sighs, shaking his head as he immediately counters with:
“No, I’m sorry. I mean, yes, you should’ve called. Or at least texted. But I should’ve been clear in the first place that Thursday…” he trails off, almost as if he’s mustering up the courage to say what he needs to say.
“... that Thursday was more to me than our regular excursions. That it was a date. To me at least.”
“Luca-.”
“I wish I would’ve told you – made it clear in the first place – so you knew what you were getting into,” Luca finishes, carefully watching for your reaction. There’s something so honest in the way he goes about this conversation, and you sure as hell feel like you could take the proverbial jump right fucking now.
“I appreciate that. Really, I do…” you start, before trailing off again. “But I-. This isn’t on you, Luca.”
“How do you mean?” he asks you, his expressive brows knitted together, as if you’d just spoken in tongues.
Here goes nothing, you think to yourself.
“I-. This has been great. I mean… I really like spending time with you,” you start, anxiously, instantly realizing that it sounds like you’re breaking up with him. “Fuck, I-.”
You let out a frustrated groan as it seems you’re having an impossible time getting out what you need to get out. You take a breath. And a beat, before continuing.
“And I’ve really liked this… hanging out, getting to know you… borrowing your books. I-, I just… we’ve got such a good thing going and I really don’t want to fuck this up, you know?”
He sighs your name this time, looking down for a moment as you add:
“I’m-, I’m afraid that… I’m going to fuck this up.”
“Yeah. I know,” he answers, heavily. “I-, I am too.”
“And then Thursday night, things were so, so good, and I-, I panicked and I feel terrible because… you don’t deserve that. You don’t.”
Luca takes a beat as he listens. He’s not sure what exactly that means, but he reminds himself to stay on track, stay the course and make sure that he says what he came here to say to you.
“It’s alright,” he reassures you, softly, taking a step towards you. “I don’t want you to feel like… like you have to feel a certain way just because I-.”
“No, that’s not it! That’s not-, that’s really not the problem,” you interject as you struggle to explain yourself, unsure of where to even begin. You take a step towards him this time too, your voice softening as you continue. “Luca, I don’t feel obligated to feel… any kind of way just because you-.”
“Because I?” he questions you.
The silence his questions leaves goes on a few beats longer than you expected, and you realize that he’s waiting for you to fill in the blank.
“Well, I don’t know,” you pause, a shocked look on your face as one of you waits for the other.
“You didn’t-, I never let you finish your sentence so,” you ramble aimlessly, immediately bursting out into a fit of laughter as you realize that neither of you are getting anywhere.
Luca laughs too, joining in on the much needed reprieve.
The two of you exchange glances, and one more shared laugh, before settling in once again.
With a crooked smile spread across his lips, Luca can take a hint, realizing that he may need to take the lead on this one.
The way your name sounds on his lips is so heavenly, so divine, so soft that you know you’ve got it bad, as you scramble for a way to tell him everything that you’ve been feeling.
“May I?” he asks, in reference to taking the lead.
“Please.”
“I just came here to tell you… I want to tell you…” he corrects himself, taking a step towards you.
“... that I really like you. I really like spending time with you. I like that you get me out of the kitchen in search of something different. And I think that your mind, even though incredibly neurotic, is absolutely brilliant. And if what you need is for us to be friends right now, I want that. We can… slow all of this down. All you’ve got to do is talk to me.”
It feels like time fucking stops, and the world goes black and white for a moment, then full color all at once as you hear the words coming out of his mouth. Your revelation comes rushing in, clear as day – that this man cares so deeply for you and that maybe, your heart could be safe with him. Unsure of how to deal with the grace and compassion Luca is showing you, you’re only left with one question, as it falls from your lips like a boulder.
“How?”
“What?”
“How do you always have the right thing to say…” you ask him, your voice caught in your throat as you finish your question. “... when I only have the wrong things to say?”
Luca opens his mouth to say something you’ll never hear, as you choose to completely throw caution to the wind.
Perhaps the question was rhetorical anyways.
You’re not sure what’s coms over you, but instead of words, you only have actions left, and the only thing that will remedy the situation is to do the thing that you’ve been panicking over doing since Luca showed you into the pastry room at AOC. You charge forward, reaching out for him, and he’s right there with you, meeting you halfway as you eagerly press your lips to his.
You can feel all the blood in your body rush through you as your lips connect. Your heart flutters. Your head spins. It’s the kind of kiss that people write sonnets about – write love songs about. It’s almost three months of simmering tension, finally allowed to reach its boiling point. You pull away, just for a moment, uttering out a breathless:
“Holy shit.”
Luca laughs with a shake of his head as he agrees with a, “Yeah.”
You exchange a look, and a laugh, before kissing him again.
And this time the kiss is a hello, it’s a new beginning, it’s a ‘thank god I met you.’
This time, Luca pulls away, reluctantly releasing you as he does.
“It’s not that I don’t like this,” he begins, using all of his restraint to put this on pause. “I really, really do, but… I’m kind of getting mixed signals here.”
“No, no, I know,” you apologize, turning as you hear your name called, swearing under your breath again as soon as you see Mathilde peeking her head out of the front door.
“Oh… my God! I am so sorry, I’ll just-, except for we need you to-, she calls after you, stumbling over her words as soon as she realizes what’s going on between you and Luca.
“Nevermind it can wait!” Jesper exclaims, poking his head out of the front door as well, before dragging Mathilde back into the restaurant.
You and Luca exchange another laugh.
“They’re… something,” you chuckle, with a shake of your head.
“Good wingmen,” Luca adds, mirroring your previous exchange with his coworker.
Returning his focus to you, Luca shakes his head incredulously, considering this is not the way he thought this conversation would go. He grins as he takes you in, but knows that this is time limited. He’d noticed the curious staff of your restaurant that he’s come to know and love doing their best to pretend they weren’t listening in on your conversation earlier. They know exactly what’s going on here, so if they felt the need to interrupt, Luca knows that you’re most likely needed back in the kitchen.
He shifts his weight in between both of his feet, taking a small step back as he states:
“We’re gonna have to talk about this.”
“Yes,” you agree, your declaration certain.
“But right now you have to go,” Luca continues.
“Right now I have to go,” you echo as confirmation. “Later. I promise. We’ll talk. Tonight?”
“Yeah ehm. Not to be… presumptuous. But my place is closeby. We could… perhaps talk. Tonight. There?” Luca suggests, trying to downplay the fact that it sounds like he’s asking you to come over for a booty call.
It’s certainly not his intention, considering he’d just offered to slow things down, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it.
“Yeah. I’ll text you,” you agree, suddenly nervous again. “When I’m done here. If you’re still up.”
“It’s a date,” Luca agrees, deciding to move in towards you again.
You nod, taking another step towards him so that you can kiss him again.
“Oh, and Luca?”
He hums in response, his eyes flickering from yours to your lips because he really can’t wait to kiss you again either. .
“I should be-. I want to be clear,” you begin, deciding to be brave in this moment.
He raises an eyebrow.
“I really like you too,” you say, before standing tall on your tiptoes, and pulling him down to you for, this time, a see-you-later kiss.
----------------------------
a/n: ummm hi how are we doing is everyone doing ok?!
burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter four
summary: you and luca go to the ballet, bringing up a very important question: is this, and could it be, a date?
warnings: fluff, eventual smut, eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 3.3k
a/n: this chapter is all about things left unsaid, the pining TM and yearning TM. shoutout to @arctvrvs who recommended onegin, as the ballet they go to see. thank you again for all the shares, reblogs, comments! let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!
part three | masterlist | part five
You: I have your book. Devoured it over the weekend.
Luca: Glad you liked it.
You did like it?
You: No, I clearly hate-read it one weekend.
I’m kidding.
Of course I liked it!
Luca: You’re hilarious 🙄
You: I can return it to you later today.
If you have a free minute.
Luca: For you? Always.
Come by the restaurant?
You: Done. See you later.
Text exchanges like this have become more and more regular between you and Luca and it makes you question why you’d ever been so hesitant to tell him about your ex husband in the first place. You know part of the answer: you’d been afraid – afraid of what he’d say, afraid it’d be too much for him, afraid it’d scare him away – and yet, your admission seems to have only brought you closer.
Which is a fact that makes you feel incredibly seen and also scares the shit out of you.
But, with Luca’s copy of A Work In Progress: A Journal tucked underneath your arm, you decide you’ll conquer one mountain at a time as you come in through the doors of the closed restaurant.
“Oi!” one of Luca’s pastry chefs, a burlier man with deep brown eyes and a beard that only facial hair enthusiasts could dream of hollers, in an attempt to grab Luca’s attention when you enter the pastry room. The man follows up his exclamation with something muttered in Danish – something that almost sounds like a cat call directed towards the head pastry chef.
Hey, loverboy. Come get your girlfriend.
You and Luca lock eyes from across the room, and you watch as his face simultaneously lights up as he sees you, while glowering in his coworkers direction. Luca shouts a ‘shut it, mate’ in return before approaching you,
“Did he just-?” you ask him, with a small laugh.
“Call you my girlfriend? Yes,” Luca admits, a blush running across his cheeks as he looks down, embarrassedly.
Brown-eyed-bearded-burly-chef exchanges glances with another chef, focused on weighing dough on a food scale, before asking you with an intrigued hint in his voice:
“You speak Danish?”
“Barely,” you answer, an apologetic half smile on your face.
He exchanges a knowing look with the other pastry chef in response, then snickers, because he really is only trying to be a good wingman here.
“I don’t know what the hold up is… but I see it,” he says in English this time, his Danish accent thick as he wags his finger towards the both of you, earning another glare from Luca.
“Okay, let’s step outside,” Luca hurries, ushering you out of the kitchen and into the empty dining room with a hand on your upper back.
Your laugh echoes in the barren dining room, since pastry prep starts so damn early in the morning, and the physical restaurant doesn’t open for service till evening.
“Again, I’m terribly sorry about him,” Luca apologizes, a little more flustered than you expected him to be.
“No, it’s okay,” you reassure him with a warm smile. “If anything, you at least now know you’ve got a great wingman when you need one.”
You watch a brief flash of, well you’re not sure what, flash across Luca’s face as he wonders if that’s what you’re hoping for. Instead of overthinking it, wondering why you’d want his coworker to act as his wingman in the first place, he pushes it to the back of his mind, moving forward with what he’d planned on bringing up with you anyways.
“Your book, sir,” you say, handing Luca his copy of the book.
“I’m glad you liked it,” he grins.
“Yeah, thanks for lending it to me. Took me a few weekends to carve out the time but… once I started, I couldn’t put it down,” you inform him, gushing over the borrowed book.
“I have something for you,” Luca states, as he pulls out a white envelope from one of his apron pockets. “In return.”
“Awww. Don’t tell me you went through all this trouble to get me a bookmark and when I’ve already finished it,” you banter with him, playfully.
“They’re not bookmarks,” he smirks, as he looks at you with those electrifyingly blue eyes.
“Ah, tell me more,” you encourage him, curiously.
“They’re tickets,” he answers, handing you the envelope.
“Oh.”
Before you can wonder whether Luca went out of his way to purchase you tickets to the ballet, he continues with his explanation.
“Yeah we’ve got this regular diner. Always entertaining, bringing in investors, board members, the likes... Turns out he’s the Artistic Director of The Royal Danish Ballet. Hooks us up with tickets all the time,” Luca says.
“Couldn’t make it opening night so but what do you say… to a performance of Onegin Thursday night?” he continues. “That is if you can – if you want – to take the night off.”
“With you?” you ask, a glimmer of hope in your eyes.
“Yeah, if you’d like,” Luca answers. “Figured I owed you after you purchased the Jazz Fest tickets.” Taking a more playful approach, almost as if he’s testing you as he adds: “Unless there’s something other bloke you wanna take instead of-.”
“No!” you protest, quick to correct him. “I mean, yes. I want to go. With you. Let me see what I can do scheduling wise.”
Was this a date? You wonder to yourself.
For whatever reason, this proposal feels much more like a date than anything else you’ve done with him so far. Bike rides to bakeries, walks through the park, even asking Luca to join you for Jazz Fest with tickets you purchased almost a year ago, still haven't felt this monumental.
But a night at the ballet?
A night of getting dressed up and taking off work to spend time with each other?
This feels much more like a date.
And you might even be excited about the prospect of having one with him, with Luca specifically, something you haven’t felt for anyone in a long time.
“Just let me know,” Luca says, coolly, followed by his oh-so-charming-crooked smile.
By the time you take this… proposition – taking off a night at the restaurant for a maybe-a-date-with-Luca – Mathilde and Jesper are practically pushing you out of the restaurant swearing that if you don’t go, they’ll write you out of the business partnership, and that Mathilde is more than happy to run the kitchen all by herself that night.
While you appreciate the support, it feels like it add pressure – expectations, really – to Thursday night.
You push the thought from your head, choosing to charge forward despite your nerves, before sending Luca your official yes via text message.
So… what does one wear to the ballet?
-------------------------------
You settle on a silky white slip dress with thin straps, a sweetheart neckline, and a slit in the skirt that travels up the leg in a way that’s revealing yet still appropriate. You’ve draped a blazer across your shoulders because you can’t be bothered to properly put it on during the warmest month of the year but you know you’ll want it when you’re inside of the Opera House. You slip on a black kitten heel to match your bag, then pull your hair back into a loose ponytail, allowing the stray pieces of hair that fall out of it to frame your face.
It’s not until Luca shows up at your flat with a text that he’s here, do you make your way outside. Your head is buried in your bag, taking a last minute inventory, ensuring you have what you need for the night: phone, keys, ID, extra lip gloss…
“Hi,” he says on an exhale, as soon as he sees you.
There’s something in his voice that sounds different, you note, as you lift your head to look at him.
Holy. Shit…
Fuck me, you think to yourself, as soon as you see him. He’s dressed in black slacks with a blazer to match, layered over a white button down worn without a tie, and pristine white trainers that you can’t help but notice.
It’s classic – classy – with a little bit of swag from the trainers that feels… pleasantly unexpected. You look like one of those hip couples that decided to stick it to tradition and get married at the courthouse with a dope photoshoot instead.
“Hi,” is all that comes out of your mouth, your eyes wide as the two of you stare each other down.
Yeah, this really feels like a date now.
“Hi,” he says in return before exhaling. “You look great.”
He’s grinning from ear to ear now, and the man cannot take his eyes off of you.
“I-,” you start, as you gather your words, reminding yourself that you do in fact know the English language. As your words come back to you, you take a more playful approach instead, making up for lost wit as you say:
“You don’t look too bad yourself.”
Luca smirks, a twinkle in his eye that tells you he’s pretty damn enchanted by you right now. The two of you share a look – one that feels very not-friendly, emphasizing just how much more date-like this seems to be.
“Shall we?” he asks you, offering out his arm for you to take.
“Let’s,” you answer, taking it as he escorts you to the metro.
You and Luca look wildly out of place while waiting for the metro, then on the metro as you make your way to the Royal Danish Opera House in your dressier-than-normal apparel. You share small talk while you wait on the platform, ramblings over your day and then his while finding a place to sit, then nervous giggles and flirtatious stolen glances while seated next to each other on your journey.
It’s nice to be reminded that you haven’t entirely forgotten how to flirt.
From its shoreside location to its sparkling interior, the Royal Danish Opera House is awe inspiring. You take it all in as you and Luca settle into your seats and a comfortable quiet intimacy as you look over your programs, just before the show begins.
Onegin, you come to find as the show begins, is a story of unrequited love, missed changes, and ‘too little, too late.’ Its relevance is not lost on you as you watch as the young country girl falls in love with the worldly Count. She is young, naive, a hopeless romantic, perhaps the character you would’ve related to when you were younger – before your marriage ended. A younger version of you might laugh at the fact that you somehow find yourself relating more to the Count. He’s cold, jaded, a pessimist even, only to be rejected when he realizes he missed his chance at love so many years ago.
You steal a glance in Luca’s direction, his eyes fixed to the tragedy that plays out on the stage in front of you.
He really is stunning, you think to yourself, as you carefully examine the near-perfect symmetry of his face, before returning your focus back to the performance.
To say that you haven’t noticed the way Luca looks at you would be a lie. And you can’t help but notice how eager you’ve been lately to find any excuse to spend extra time with him too.
But you can’t help wondering about just how ready you are – how and when you might know when you’ll be ready:
Ready to date. Ready to open yourself up to someone. Ready to fall in love again.
Would you know when it was time? And was this a sign – meeting Luca – that it’s time for a new beginning now?
But what if it weren’t? What if you weren’t ready now? Then what?
It’s not like you’d expect for Luca to wait for you or anything, but the idea of a new beginning, of falling in love again, of possibly getting your heart broken again instills the kind of terror in you that shakes you to your very core.
But what if this was your only chance?
You can’t imagine Luca would be single for much longer – the fact that he even is now completely perplexes you – and you’re sure that he has an entire roster of women lining up, ready to take your place. Not that you feel like it’s your place now, though you’re not sure where he’d have the time to entertain an entire roster of women with how much time you’ve been spending together lately.
You push the thoughts from your mind, trying your best to focus on the dancers, even though it’s the thing that’s got you pensive in the first place.
And it’s almost as if, right on cue, the minute you turn your attention away from Luca, his eyes are on you, admiring the way that you marvel at the story unfolding in front of you.
Luca smiles to himself, in pure disbelief that the same woman who brought him much needed inspiration could also be the same woman he’s begun to have feelings for. He finds you extraordinary: you’re funny, you’re incredibly talented, and you make his heart skip a beat every single time you walk into a room. He doesn’t know which deities to thank for meeting you, but he’s sure he must’ve done something right in a past life for it to bring you to him in this one.
He’s glad you told him – about your ex husband, about the divorce – and while it’s filled in some blanks for him, it’s also brought up more questions. Questions like:
Were you even interested in dating? Were you ready to start dating because he couldn’t blame you if you weren’t? And if you were, would you be interested in dating him?
These last few months of getting to know each other have been wonderful – and he’s thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you as friends – but Luca wants more. He wants to hold your hand while walking along the Nyhavn waterfront. He wants to press a kiss to your lips when you stop by the restaurant as he’s getting off shift, before heading into your own. He wants to wrap you up in his arms, curl his body around yours as you settle in with him on your shared couch after a long night at the restaurant, going on about your new special, or your recently hired line-cook-in-training.
Luca wants to call you his, and he wants nothing more than for you to call him yours. He yearns for the quiet domesticity he thinks he could have with you – one he knows he could have with you.
He doesn’t want to miss his chance. It’s why he asked you that question when you told him about your ex husband – are you still in love with him? – because Luca can’t bear the thought of falling in love with a woman already in love with another man.
He replays the answer in his head – no, I’m not in love with him – almost as if he’s reassuring himself.
Luca knows what he needs to do. He just needs to talk to you and tonight feels like as good of a time as any to do so, considering you’re practically on a date. Luca makes up his mind about it – that he’ll bring it up after the performance, maybe even ask you on a proper date.
As the performance ends, the two of you applaud with the rest of the theatre before exiting the performance space. You and Luca linger outside of the theatre, watching the other patrons walk by, arrange rides for themselves, head out for a night cap. He’s working up the nerve to bring up the conversation, watching your lips carefully as you go on about the performance, a brilliance in your eyes that he notices you get whenever you talk about something you’re passionate about.
You’re in the middle of dissecting the end of Act Two as he Luca abruptly blurts out:
“You hungry?”
You pause as your mouth hangs agape, noticing that’s something different, that’s something’s shifted between the two of you.
“Uh… no. Don’t you have to be up early tomorrow?” you ask back, hesitantly.
“Ehm. Yes, I do. But eh, I don’t know. I’d ehm, I’d be up for a bite. If you are,” Luca manages to explain because he’s not ready for the night to end.
You can feel it – the tension between the two of you hangs thickly in the air – and you know this isn’t just a ‘let’s go out for a bite’ kind of ask.
You wondered how you’d feel when this moment came, and instead of being ecstatic, instead of wanting to jump at the chance, the panic sets in, filling your belly with the urge to jump into harbour instead.
You wish you felt differently – you want to feel differently – but you don’t.
So instead, you stammer out a:
“I think I’m just ready to head home, but you should go. If you want to. I think I’m just going to walk home or-.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll take you home,” Luca offers.
You hesitate before agreeing, “Uh… yeah. Okay. As long as you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” Luca says as he places a gentle hand between your shoulder blades, guiding you in the direction of home. “I’d rather know you got home safe.”
You nod, instantly filled with guilt as Luca’s demeanor changes, his facial expression moving from somewhat-confused-and-disappointed to one of concern, kindness, and genuine care.
What the hell is wrong with you? You think to yourself.
But you know you can’t push it – you can’t push yourself to be ready, to open up – regardless of how perfect Luca is.
As Luca walks you home, there’s a palpable shift in the dynamic between the two of you. He seems cautious, almost as if he’s tiptoeing around you, uncertain about where the two of you stand. And truthfully, he is uncertain. He’s worried that he scared you off, if he came on too strong, if his ask changes something between the two of you. Luca realizes tonight is perhaps not the night, but he’s not sure how much longer he’ll be able to wait – be able to keep the way he feels about you to himself.
“Thank you… for walking me home,” you say, as you arrive at the door to your apartment building.
“‘S no problem. Had to get you back to your flat safely,” Luca reassures you with a smile on his face.
You stand across from him, mere inches away. You could do it – close the gap between the two of you because you really do feel like an asshole for earlier – but it feels like something’s stopping you. You wait too long, letting your impulse move too thoroughly through your body, until it’s too late and the impulse is gone.
You’re at an impasse: Luca opens his mouth to say something before pausing and you’re not sure what to say either, the two of you standing across from one another, frozen in a moment in time.
Instead of speaking, he simply steps forward, wrapping his arms around you in a warm embrace as he inhales.
It feels too good.
This feels too good: the way he smells, the way it feels to be pressed up against him, his hands running smooth patterns across your back.
“Luca,” you begin as you pull away from the hug, your eyes locked with his.
He waits, but as you open your mouth to say something else, nothing comes out.
You’re not sure if it’s a look of disappointment, regret, or something else that flashes across his face, before he gives you a half smile. Luca takes a few steps backwards, almost as if he needs to create space between you and him, his voice a low deep rumble as he says:
“Goodnight, love.”
-------------------------------
a/n: and now we're getting somewhere. i PROMISE we are getting somewhere. just wait ;)
burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter three
summary: while you and luca seek inspiration outside of the kitchen, you finally share a piece of yourself with him.
warnings: fluff, eventual smut, eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 2.2k
a/n: thank you again for all the shares, reblogs, comments! let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!
part two | masterlist | part four
It’s been a month or so since Luca’s tasting menu for one, and he’s been nothing but a good thing in your life: a friend, a collaborator, a regular diner who gives fantastic feedback. You’ve become fast friends, and after what he did for you, how could you not? You find yourself spending days off with him at a more frequent pace as of late: enjoying cups of coffee, perusing bookstores, following Luca on bicycle as he shows you the city’s lesser known, yet spectacular bakeries. He gives you a heads up when he can’t make it into the restaurant, but most Saturdays, he continues to make his regular Saturday 7 pm date week after week.
Some days you make him something off-menu – something you’re working on, something you’re recipe testing, a dish you’ve bounced ideas around with him over – and other days he’s eager to try whatever new thing you’ve just added to your menu, insisting for you not to go through the trouble of whipping up anything else. It’s a special relationship – something only food-people can understand – and you’re glad that Luca entered your life.
“Hey, your boyfriend’s here,” Jesper says, interrupting your dinner prep as he grabs your attention.
“My what?” you ask him, with no clue in the world what he’s talking about.
“Luca,” he answers plainly, as you and Mathilde both exchange a look.
“Shut up, Jesper,” you both snap in unison, shooting a glare his way.
You exchange another look with Mathilde, almost as if to say: you good? She nods towards the front of house as if to say: yes, I’ve got this covered.
“Yeah, give me a second and I’ll be right out,” you finally direct towards Jesper, as you put down your knife. You reach a stopping point, wiping your hands on your apron, as you leave behind the Mikkelson twins bickering about what Jesper’s previous comment.
Something about ‘you baby her’ from Jesper and a ‘you’re going to scare her away and this is a good thing, you idiot’ from Mathilde in return. At least that’s what you’re able to make out from your basic Danish language skills (you’re working on it, you swear, and right now you know enough to get by in the kitchen and that’s enough)!
You spot Luca with a package tucked underneath his arm as he leans up against the front door, waiting for you.
“Hi,” you greet him, choosing to ignore the fact that your heart skips a beat as soon as you see him.
“Hey. I was on my way to the post office around the corner. Thought I’d stop in and say hello,” he replies with that ever-charming crooked smile of his.
“No, yeah, I-. I’m glad you did,” you return, unable to hide the smile that spreads across your lips.
You don’t want to make a big deal out of it, especially if this is somehow something you’ve made up entirely in your head, but it seems as if Luca’s found different ways – different excuses – to stop in more and more frequently as of late.
“What’s in the box?” you ask him, curiously, gesturing to the package he holds underneath his arm.
“Remember that American I was telling you about? The one who came to stage?” he asks, looking down for a moment.
“Yeah.”
“His restaurant opening is this week. Wanted to send this off. As a gift.”
“That’s kind of you.”
He blushes, just for a moment.
“Think we’ve lost touch with the art of a handwritten note. A novelty these days,” he says, with a quick raise of both eyebrows.
“Absolutely. I mean… it worked on me,” you chuckle, immediately regretting what’s come out of your mouth.
You’re not sure why you said it and what exactly it is that worked on you you’re referring to, but it’s too late to take it back.
“Yeah, I’ve got him to thank, really,” he chuckles, almost shyly. Taking a bolder approach as he continues with, “For reminding me to walk the walk. For bringing me to you.”
You pause, your heart catching in your throat. In the event of fight, flight, and freeze, it really feels like you’re choosing ‘freeze’ whenever Luca’s been around.
“I bet you’re a really great teacher,” are the words that fall out of your mouth, immediately regretting them for how silly your response sounds.
“So was he,” he parries back.
“Sure,” you nod, still reeling from whatever the hell came out of your mouth a moment ago.
Your disconcerting slip-of-the-tongue seems to leave an uncomfortable silence between the two of you, tip-toeing around each other, unsure of who should make the next move.
“Anyways,” Luca clears his throat, collecting himself. “I ehm, gotta get going. Gotta get back to the restaurant here in a few. It was good seeing you today.”
“You too,” is all you reply, frozen and stuck in your own head.
What the hell is wrong with you? You think to yourself as you watch him go.
“Luca, wait,” you say, pushing through the front door to your restaurant as you chase after him.
He turns back towards you, a kind of ‘did I leave something behind?’ look on his face.
“I can’t stop thinking…” you trail off, taking a breath before you continue your sentence, leaving Luca unsure of what you’ll say next.
“...about that dish you’re stuck on. And about what you said.. about finding inspiration. Being open to… you know, what’s out there.”
“Yeah?” he asks, smiling at the thought of you thinking of him.
“Yeah I… I think I have an idea,” you declare boldly.
And it may be a baby step, but it’s a baby step towards him, towards who knows what, towards whatever’s ahead of you.
-------------------------------
You pitch the idea to Luca – to explore different mediums of art as a way of seeking out inspiration (and maybe it’s just another excuse to see him too) – and after a few weeks of busy schedules, covering at the restaurant for coworkers-on-holiday, and lining up days off, you and Luca finally make it happen. It’s been over a year now, since the restaurant opened – and almost two since you came to Copenhagen in pursuit of a dream.
“Wait a second. So you haven’t read Rene Redzepi’s A Work In Progress?” Luca asks incredulously looking for confirmation of the obscene tidbit of information you’ve just revealed to him.
“No,” you admit, guiltily stealing a glance his way.
“My god, it’s fascinating! I’ll have to lend you my copy,” he charges forward, solving the problem at hand without question.
“I’d like that,” you smile, almost to yourself as you think about how much you like being around Luca. “And I’d love to hear about your time at noma – what working under him was like.”
“Uh… that’s maybe a different story for a different time,” he deflects with a chuckle, shooting you a look. “Perhaps after a few pints.”
“Heard,” you nod in understanding, turning to him as the two of you find a good place to post up in the park. You and Luca set your lawn chairs down in Kongens Have, or rather The King’s Garden, right behind a row of other lawn chairs set up that face the tent-covered stage.
“It’s good to see you,” you finally say, really taking him in.
“It’s good to see you too. Sorry it’s just working out now,” Luca apologizes emphatically.
“No, it’s okay! We uh… we’re both busy. We both run restaurants. I mean-, I’m surprised we figured it out in time for the show,” you reply, easily letting him off the hook.
“This is pretty cool,” he says, taking in your surroundings. “First time here?”
“Yeah I-, I didn’t make it when I first moved here… and then this time last year I had just opened the restaurant so… yeah first time. You?”
“Yeah, first time,” he echoes with a reassuring nod.
“Really? I just thought-, well, I thought Copenhagen Jazz Fest was like a huge deal here,” you inquire.
He shrugs, responding with, “I reckon you’re a big jazz fan then, eh?”
“Yeah,” you say.
“Have you always been into it or-?” he questions curiously.
“Uh, no. I… my ex,” you hesitate, figuring you should tell Luca sooner rather than later. “... my ex-husband is a music historian so… I got really into it when we first started seeing each other.
He balks, only for a moment, hoping you don’t notice the strong reaction that briefly flashes across his face.
“You were married?” he asks, barely able to hide the surprise in his voice.
“Yeah,” you admit, nervously.
He waits a beat.
“Do you… want to talk about it?” he asks carefully, with an honesty and genuine curiosity in his voice.
“I-I don’t mind. As long as you don’t-,” you stammer, only a little taken aback by the grace he’s shown you.
“Please,” he encourages, listening carefully. “I like learning about you.”
You freeze for a moment, searching for where to begin, and more than anything, in awe of Luca.
“We met right after I moved back home to Boston – right after I finished school,” you begin, watching him carefully for any kind of reaction.
“And it was good. For a long time. But after a few years of being together, his mom got sick and uh… we both decided that we wanted to move to London so that he could help his sisters take care of her. It was just easier… if we got married… with immigration and stuff.”
“But you loved him?”
“Yes,” you answer. “I think… we knew we wanted to stay together… so we took the leap, unafraid of the fact that everything has its expiration date too. Ours just uh, came a little sooner than we expected.”
“What happened?” Luca asks.
You chuckle dryly, racking your brain for the answer to a question you’ve asked yourself a million times.
“Um… moving back home changed a lot, I think. And we met when we were so young that I don’t think by the time we were caring for a sick parent together, we realized we didn’t really even know who we were anymore,” you explain, putting words to a feeling that’s live in your heart for so long – long enough that you’ve barely shared them with anyone else.
“And… I was living in a whole new country without any kind of familiarity. I was homesick, and all of it – it was just really hard on the both of us,” you think through as you speak.
“I think it just made us realize that we had changed… and that maybe we weren’t the same people who fell in love all those years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Luca apologizes, sending you an empathetic glance.
“It’s okay,” you’re quick to reassure him. “It was tough. Don’t get me wrong. Like… really tough. But nothing… horribly wrong happened. Some people can grow together.” You pause, only for a moment. “We didn’t. We… weren’t those people, I guess. So we grew apart.”
Luca takes a few moments to process what you’ve just told him with a pensive look on his face – and you can’t blame him.
He waits a beat, before returning his gaze to you, a respect for you in his eyes: for your honesty, for your story, for your resilience.
“Are you still in love with him?” he finally asks.
It’s a good question – an interesting one – and even more interesting that he asked in the first place.
“There are parts of me that will always love him,” you share, the vulnerability coming more naturally to you as Luca makes you feel more and more comfortable. “He’ll always be a part of me and… I still keep in touch with his family, you know. They became… my family too.” You pause, knowing that you can say this next part with full conviction:
“But to answer your question, no. I'm not… I’m not in love with him anymore.”
Luca nods slowly, almost as if he’s waiting for you to change your mind – to take it back – to say something that convinces him otherwise. But you don’t, and he’s not sure he’ll be able to help himself from giving in to things he’s been feeling for you.
“I hope you don’t mind that I asked,” Luca finally says.
“No I-,” you begin. “I’m glad you did. It feels nice… having someone ask.”
He smiles, “Like I said. I like learning about you.”
And with that, the two of you settle into your lawn chairs as the performers make their way onto the stage. There’s a shift – within the crowd, between you and Luca – as the musicians take their places, ready to perform. With the first few notes, the tuning of a guitar, a few keys on the piano, you feel yourself relax a little, encompassed by the warmth of the Copenhagen summer night.
It’s almost as if telling Luca, sharing this with him, has lifted a weight off of your shoulders – no longer hanging over your head as you go back and forth of when to tell him, and if you should tell him, and thoughts of ‘why the hell are you worrying about this it’s not like he wants to know’.
Except he did and he does because he wants to know you.
And tonight, because he asked, because he’s proven to be a great listener, and because he looks so damn good doing it, you might just let him.
-------------------------------
a/n: ok how the hell are we feeling now that we know a little more about reader, her past, and why she's been holding back?! i honestly wanted to write a character that felt fresh, and different from me/my make my heart surrender character SO yeah, this where we're at --second chances at love and a story about opening up again -- with more to come.
burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter three
summary: while you and luca seek inspiration outside of the kitchen, you finally share a piece of yourself with him.
warnings: fluff, eventual smut, eventual angst not use of y/n, conversations about divorce, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 2.2k
a/n: thank you again for all the shares, reblogs, comments! let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!
part two | masterlist | part four
It’s been a month or so since Luca’s tasting menu for one, and he’s been nothing but a good thing in your life: a friend, a collaborator, a regular diner who gives fantastic feedback. You’ve become fast friends, and after what he did for you, how could you not? You find yourself spending days off with him at a more frequent pace as of late: enjoying cups of coffee, perusing bookstores, following Luca on bicycle as he shows you the city’s lesser known, yet spectacular bakeries. He gives you a heads up when he can’t make it into the restaurant, but most Saturdays, he continues to make his regular Saturday 7 pm date week after week.
Some days you make him something off-menu – something you’re working on, something you’re recipe testing, a dish you’ve bounced ideas around with him over – and other days he’s eager to try whatever new thing you’ve just added to your menu, insisting for you not to go through the trouble of whipping up anything else. It’s a special relationship – something only food-people can understand – and you’re glad that Luca entered your life.
“Hey, your boyfriend’s here,” Jesper says, interrupting your dinner prep as he grabs your attention.
“My what?” you ask him, with no clue in the world what he’s talking about.
“Luca,” he answers plainly, as you and Mathilde both exchange a look.
“Shut up, Jesper,” you both snap in unison, shooting a glare his way.
You exchange another look with Mathilde, almost as if to say: you good? She nods towards the front of house as if to say: yes, I’ve got this covered.
“Yeah, give me a second and I’ll be right out,” you finally direct towards Jesper, as you put down your knife. You reach a stopping point, wiping your hands on your apron, as you leave behind the Mikkelson twins bickering about what Jesper’s previous comment.
Something about ‘you baby her’ from Jesper and a ‘you’re going to scare her away and this is a good thing, you idiot’ from Mathilde in return. At least that’s what you’re able to make out from your basic Danish language skills (you’re working on it, you swear, and right now you know enough to get by in the kitchen and that’s enough)!
You spot Luca with a package tucked underneath his arm as he leans up against the front door, waiting for you.
“Hi,” you greet him, choosing to ignore the fact that your heart skips a beat as soon as you see him.
“Hey. I was on my way to the post office around the corner. Thought I’d stop in and say hello,” he replies with that ever-charming crooked smile of his.
“No, yeah, I-. I’m glad you did,” you return, unable to hide the smile that spreads across your lips.
You don’t want to make a big deal out of it, especially if this is somehow something you’ve made up entirely in your head, but it seems as if Luca’s found different ways – different excuses – to stop in more and more frequently as of late.
“What’s in the box?” you ask him, curiously, gesturing to the package he holds underneath his arm.
“Remember that American I was telling you about? The one who came to stage?” he asks, looking down for a moment.
“Yeah.”
“His restaurant opening is this week. Wanted to send this off. As a gift.”
“That’s kind of you.”
He blushes, just for a moment.
“Think we’ve lost touch with the art of a handwritten note. A novelty these days,” he says, with a quick raise of both eyebrows.
“Absolutely. I mean… it worked on me,” you chuckle, immediately regretting what’s come out of your mouth.
You’re not sure why you said it and what exactly it is that worked on you you’re referring to, but it’s too late to take it back.
“Yeah, I’ve got him to thank, really,” he chuckles, almost shyly. Taking a bolder approach as he continues with, “For reminding me to walk the walk. For bringing me to you.”
You pause, your heart catching in your throat. In the event of fight, flight, and freeze, it really feels like you’re choosing ‘freeze’ whenever Luca’s been around.
“I bet you’re a really great teacher,” are the words that fall out of your mouth, immediately regretting them for how silly your response sounds.
“So was he,” he parries back.
“Sure,” you nod, still reeling from whatever the hell came out of your mouth a moment ago.
Your disconcerting slip-of-the-tongue seems to leave an uncomfortable silence between the two of you, tip-toeing around each other, unsure of who should make the next move.
“Anyways,” Luca clears his throat, collecting himself. “I ehm, gotta get going. Gotta get back to the restaurant here in a few. It was good seeing you today.”
“You too,” is all you reply, frozen and stuck in your own head.
What the hell is wrong with you? You think to yourself as you watch him go.
“Luca, wait,” you say, pushing through the front door to your restaurant as you chase after him.
He turns back towards you, a kind of ‘did I leave something behind?’ look on his face.
“I can’t stop thinking…” you trail off, taking a breath before you continue your sentence, leaving Luca unsure of what you’ll say next.
“...about that dish you’re stuck on. And about what you said.. about finding inspiration. Being open to… you know, what’s out there.”
“Yeah?” he asks, smiling at the thought of you thinking of him.
“Yeah I… I think I have an idea,” you declare boldly.
And it may be a baby step, but it’s a baby step towards him, towards who knows what, towards whatever’s ahead of you.
-------------------------------
You pitch the idea to Luca – to explore different mediums of art as a way of seeking out inspiration (and maybe it’s just another excuse to see him too) – and after a few weeks of busy schedules, covering at the restaurant for coworkers-on-holiday, and lining up days off, you and Luca finally make it happen. It’s been over a year now, since the restaurant opened – and almost two since you came to Copenhagen in pursuit of a dream.
“Wait a second. So you haven’t read Rene Redzepi’s A Work In Progress?” Luca asks incredulously looking for confirmation of the obscene tidbit of information you’ve just revealed to him.
“No,” you admit, guiltily stealing a glance his way.
“My god, it’s fascinating! I’ll have to lend you my copy,” he charges forward, solving the problem at hand without question.
“I’d like that,” you smile, almost to yourself as you think about how much you like being around Luca. “And I’d love to hear about your time at noma – what working under him was like.”
“Uh… that’s maybe a different story for a different time,” he deflects with a chuckle, shooting you a look. “Perhaps after a few pints.”
“Heard,” you nod in understanding, turning to him as the two of you find a good place to post up in the park. You and Luca set your lawn chairs down in Kongens Have, or rather The King’s Garden, right behind a row of other lawn chairs set up that face the tent-covered stage.
“It’s good to see you,” you finally say, really taking him in.
“It’s good to see you too. Sorry it’s just working out now,” Luca apologizes emphatically.
“No, it’s okay! We uh… we’re both busy. We both run restaurants. I mean-, I’m surprised we figured it out in time for the show,” you reply, easily letting him off the hook.
“This is pretty cool,” he says, taking in your surroundings. “First time here?”
“Yeah I-, I didn’t make it when I first moved here… and then this time last year I had just opened the restaurant so… yeah first time. You?”
“Yeah, first time,” he echoes with a reassuring nod.
“Really? I just thought-, well, I thought Copenhagen Jazz Fest was like a huge deal here,” you inquire.
He shrugs, responding with, “I reckon you’re a big jazz fan then, eh?”
“Yeah,” you say.
“Have you always been into it or-?” he questions curiously.
“Uh, no. I… my ex,” you hesitate, figuring you should tell Luca sooner rather than later. “... my ex-husband is a music historian so… I got really into it when we first started seeing each other.
He balks, only for a moment, hoping you don’t notice the strong reaction that briefly flashes across his face.
“You were married?” he asks, barely able to hide the surprise in his voice.
“Yeah,” you admit, nervously.
He waits a beat.
“Do you… want to talk about it?” he asks carefully, with an honesty and genuine curiosity in his voice.
“I-I don’t mind. As long as you don’t-,” you stammer, only a little taken aback by the grace he’s shown you.
“Please,” he encourages, listening carefully. “I like learning about you.”
You freeze for a moment, searching for where to begin, and more than anything, in awe of Luca.
“We met right after I moved back home to Boston – right after I finished school,” you begin, watching him carefully for any kind of reaction.
“And it was good. For a long time. But after a few years of being together, his mom got sick and uh… we both decided that we wanted to move to London so that he could help his sisters take care of her. It was just easier… if we got married… with immigration and stuff.”
“But you loved him?”
“Yes,” you answer. “I think… we knew we wanted to stay together… so we took the leap, unafraid of the fact that everything has its expiration date too. Ours just uh, came a little sooner than we expected.”
“What happened?” Luca asks.
You chuckle dryly, racking your brain for the answer to a question you’ve asked yourself a million times.
“Um… moving back home changed a lot, I think. And we met when we were so young that I don’t think by the time we were caring for a sick parent together, we realized we didn’t really even know who we were anymore,” you explain, putting words to a feeling that’s live in your heart for so long – long enough that you’ve barely shared them with anyone else.
“And… I was living in a whole new country without any kind of familiarity. I was homesick, and all of it – it was just really hard on the both of us,” you think through as you speak.
“I think it just made us realize that we had changed… and that maybe we weren’t the same people who fell in love all those years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Luca apologizes, sending you an empathetic glance.
“It’s okay,” you’re quick to reassure him. “It was tough. Don’t get me wrong. Like… really tough. But nothing… horribly wrong happened. Some people can grow together.” You pause, only for a moment. “We didn’t. We… weren’t those people, I guess. So we grew apart.”
Luca takes a few moments to process what you’ve just told him with a pensive look on his face – and you can’t blame him.
He waits a beat, before returning his gaze to you, a respect for you in his eyes: for your honesty, for your story, for your resilience.
“Are you still in love with him?” he finally asks.
It’s a good question – an interesting one – and even more interesting that he asked in the first place.
“There are parts of me that will always love him,” you share, the vulnerability coming more naturally to you as Luca makes you feel more and more comfortable. “He’ll always be a part of me and… I still keep in touch with his family, you know. They became… my family too.” You pause, knowing that you can say this next part with full conviction:
“But to answer your question, no. I'm not… I’m not in love with him anymore.”
Luca nods slowly, almost as if he’s waiting for you to change your mind – to take it back – to say something that convinces him otherwise. But you don’t, and he’s not sure he’ll be able to help himself from giving in to things he’s been feeling for you.
“I hope you don’t mind that I asked,” Luca finally says.
“No I-,” you begin. “I’m glad you did. It feels nice… having someone ask.”
He smiles, “Like I said. I like learning about you.”
And with that, the two of you settle into your lawn chairs as the performers make their way onto the stage. There’s a shift – within the crowd, between you and Luca – as the musicians take their places, ready to perform. With the first few notes, the tuning of a guitar, a few keys on the piano, you feel yourself relax a little, encompassed by the warmth of the Copenhagen summer night.
It’s almost as if telling Luca, sharing this with him, has lifted a weight off of your shoulders – no longer hanging over your head as you go back and forth of when to tell him, and if you should tell him, and thoughts of ‘why the hell are you worrying about this it’s not like he wants to know’.
Except he did and he does because he wants to know you.
And tonight, because he asked, because he’s proven to be a great listener, and because he looks so damn good doing it, you might just let him.
-------------------------------
a/n: ok how the hell are we feeling now that we know a little more about reader, her past, and why she's been holding back?! i honestly wanted to write a character that felt fresh, and different from me/my make my heart surrender character SO yeah, this where we're at --second chances at love and a story about opening up again -- with more to come.
burn your life down | chef luca x fem!reader | chapter one
summary: leaving your old life behind, you move to copenhagen to follow your dream of opening a restaurant. almost a year after opening, luca's quest for inspiration brings him right to your doorstep.
warnings: fluff, eventual smut, eventual angst not use of y/n, second person pov, swearing, danish inaccuracies, very little connection to the world of the bear.
word count: 2500
a/n: remember when i said we'd get pastry chef luca fanfic whether we liked it or not? well, it seems i can't be normal about anything bc i have an outline of (potentially) 10 chapters right now based on this headcanon. while i try to keep reader characters pretty neutral so that you can picture yourself, i have this reader creating food from her own life experiences/cultures so do what you will with that. also, i tagged some peeps from my headcanon post, but please let me know if you'd like to be removed.
masterlist | part two
He’s in search of inspiration when he finds the restaurant – your restaurant.
It’s an American stagiaire and a single conversation that makes him realize that he’s missing something – that he’s been in need of something fresh, a new perspective– setting him on his quest.
The best things are inspired.
Luca stares at a blank piece of paper for what feels like hours, writing a few things down, sketching up an idea, before viciously crossing them out, hopelessly stuck on new ideas for the new menu. After a few half-baked ideas that go nowhere, It occurs to him that he may be in need of a little inspiration himself. He can’t think of the last time he’s taken his own advice, mulling over the carefully-chosen words of wisdom imparted to Marcus a couple of weeks ago, and he’s determined to change that.
A review in the paper, an old colleague’s recent trip there, and a glowing recommendation from a close friend are what bring him to the restaurant.
He’s not sure what to expect – having forgone any interest in cuisine described with the words trendy or fusion a long time ago – but Luca reminds himself that it’s the writer’s word choice, not the chef’s, when writing the article.
When Luca steps into the small home-turned-restaurant, he’s immediately inundated with a warmth, a homeyness, that takes him by surprise. From the open kitchen, to the golden lighting, it feels vastly different from the classic Danish-style, fine dining establishments that have swept the country.
But Luca reminds himself that the announcement of noma’s 2024 closure, has shifted the conversation around dining culture in Denmark, and already, he can feel that this is the breath of fresh air that he’s been looking for.
Luca’s seated quickly with care and hospitality by a highly-attentive host, which he only assumes is a symptom of the fact that he read somewhere that you’re an American. While Danish, the host is boisterous, as if he’s known Luca since childhood. Luca smiles politely in response, graciously thanking the man and his chocolate brown curls.
The menu is small, indicating that each dish receives enough care to be excellent and he likes that, despite being described as trendy and fusion-focused, your menu is creative. It’s different. It’s inspired.
He chooses the special of the day: the mapo tofu bolognese – a traditionally Italian concept done from an Asian perspective – and the suggested wine pairing.
It doesn’t take long for him to receive his glass of wine, or his food, and he’s pleasantly surprised by how efficient service seems. Stealing glances through the open kitchen, he watches as you and your sous lead dinner service with a kind of compassionate leadership and playfulness that warms him from the inside out.
“We recommend mixing the whipped tofu into the dish for a creamier sauce. Skal,” his waitress greets, with a warm smile on her face as she sets down the bowl of noodles.
“Cheers,” Luca replies, his eyes savoring every single detail of the dish.
It’s somehow elevated, thoughtful, and elegant, yet comforting all at once.
Luca picks up his fork, using it to collect a little bit of everything – a perfect noodle twirl with just enough sauce, and ground pork before running his fork the whipped topping – raising the fork to his lips for his first bite.
As the flavors hit his tongue, he closes his eyes, and it’s as if time has stopped, just for a moment.
The wheat noodles are perfectly al dente while the whipped tofu is almost ricotta-like, transforming into a silky smooth addition to the dish, cutting the tingle and heat of the Sichuan chili peppercorn-based sauce.
The corners of his lips turn up as he takes a breath, opening his eyes as he savors the delicate layers of flavors. With a crooked smile on his face, he decides that he’ll most certainly be back next week.
-------------------------------
You make peace with the fact that tonight is one of those nights – a slow night – as you finish washing your hands. It being a slow night, you’d encouraged your staff to up the hospitality at the pre-shift meeting. Treating guests with the utmost personal touches in an effort to build genuine connections would be the focus of tonight’s slow service. In fact, you and Mathilde, your sous chef, had been running dishes out this evening – something you rarely had the luxury to do.
“You should go say hello,” your sous encourages, nodding towards the dining room through the expansive window of the open kitchen.
“Thought it was your turn,” you reply in a casual tone, paying no attention to who she’s referencing.
“No, I think you should take this one,” Mathilde nudges you, causing you to look up. You shoot her a funny look, your eyes flickering over the mischievous expression she has on her face, to where she’s gestured towards.
“To-?” you begin to ask, before seeing exactly who she’s talking about.
“Ehm. Tall, blonde, and tatted!” she emphasizes in a whisper yell.
You don’t really need the description as you glance over at the dining room, easily spotting the man seated at a two-seater near the front window.
“You’re right. He’s become a bit of a regular,” you agree with a curt nod that means all business, no pleasure, as you move a few things as you walk and talk around the kitchen, tidying up.
“That’s not what I meant,” she scoffs with a playful eye roll.
“You know, Jesper thought he was Swedish because… look at him… but he’s apparently a Brit,” she gossips with you, her eyes stealing a glance his way. “We’re slow tonight. He’s here every week. Sure he’d appreciate a direct thank you from the chef!”
“I-,” you hesitate, wondering why she’s so damn insistent on this. “... yeah, alright. I’ll go.”
“That’s my girl!” Mathilde cheers, in a sing-song voice, she hands you the beautifully plated bowl of pasta to take out to the dining room.
As you walk over towards his table, you make a note that it seems as if the mystery man has made this a bit of a routine. He shows every Saturday at exactly 7 pm, week after week, for the past month or so, as if it’s a standing date he has with himself. After his first visit, you half-expected him to bring a date when he returned, or bring a group of friends, or for something different to happen.
But it hadn’t and you’ve watched him come in, week after week, with a different book each time. He always orders the special of the day and whatever suggested wine pairing Jesper’s recommended that week.
Most Saturday nights you're busy leading a kitchen or cooking on the line – having little to no time to fixate or wonder curiously over your weekly diner – but tonight’s pace affords you the luxury to spend more time at the front of house. Truthfully, you know it’s the thing that sets you apart. Sure, the hospitality here in Copenhagen is excellent, but you bring an American hospitality-style to this restaurant – and above and beyond mentality – that feels welcoming, personal, even, as if your restaurant itself is just an extension of your home.
You’ve heard your staff – front of house and back of house – whispering about him, all seemingly enamored and enchanted by the charming Brit. All any of you knew about him was that his name was Luca and that he’s always more than kind to your front of house staff.
He doesn’t say much when he comes in, you’ve noticed, but every Saturday at 7 pm, he’s pushing his way through the front door with punctuality and a gentle ease.
The whisperings from your staff had all revolved around who your mysterious regular must be: whether he was Danish or Swedish, that someone that good looking must already have a partner, that he doesn’t wear a ring.
You hadn’t paid much attention to the gossip (or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself) more focused on running dinner service then trying to piece together the story of your handsome, mysterious regular.
“Hello,” you greet him warmly. “I just wanted to come introduce myself and say thank you for becoming one of our regulars. Your support means a lot to all of us.”
“Hi, I’m Luca.”
You share your name with a smile as he shakes your hand.
Luca turns his attention down to the bowl you’ve put in front of him, his eyes taking in the beautiful presentation hungrily.
“Wow, this looks… incredible,” he marvels, returning his gaze back to you.
“Thank you. I’m sure my front of house already walked you through this but if you’d like for me to-,” you begin.
“Yes, that’d be great, thanks,” he interjects, a crooked smile on his face that makes your heart skip a beat.
You have to pull your attention away from him, hoping he doesn’t notice that you’re quite possibly gawking at him.
He’s kind, charming, and he’s easy on the eyes (easy on the eyes, really being an understatement here).
“Today’s special was inspired by a childhood favorite of mine,” you begin, walking him through each component of the dish.
Crispy Rice. Caramelized marinated trumpet mushrooms and charred broccolini. Your mom’s sauce approached with classic French techniques, courtesy of your sous, Mathilde, a classically French-trained chef.
It’s a marriage of your story. Of the people around you. It’s your heart and theirs, put into a dish.
“You’re the chef?” he asks, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.
“Yes,” you answer, trying your best to get a read on him.
He balks, and you’re unsure of how you’re supposed to respond. Was he surprised that you’re a woman? That he’s been eating your food the whole time and expected a male chef? Before you can overthink it, Luca clarifies with:
“I’m sorry. It’s just-, I can't think of the last time I saw a head chef work front of house, let alone with this much care.”
Oh.
You let down your guard, wondering why you’d assumed the worst when the man’s been nothing but kind to you and your staff so far.
"We're a little short staffed tonight. And I love getting to talk to diners… especially on nights like this,” you explain, trying your best to sound like you hadn’t just assumed that he was a sexist asshole.
He shakes his head in disbelief, looking down at the picturesque bowl, then back to you.
Luca is impressed, and he has no intention of hiding it.
He picks up his wine glass by the stem, raising it to you.
"Cheers,” he says. “And thank you. This is a really beautiful dish.”
“Of course. Enjoy,” you reply, giving him a polite smile, before heading back into the kitchen.
-------------------------------
“Good service tonight, everybody!” Jesper, your front of house manager, announces while clapping a few times to signal to staff that it’s time for a post shift meeting.
As you all gather in the pristine front of house space. Some of your cooks have taken their aprons off, others haven’t had a moment to unwind from the shift yet – business picking up in the last hour or so of service.
Jesper goes through his nightly wrap-up notes, celebrating the wins of tonight, and making sure to celebrate how everyone rallied to pick up pace when business spiked. He’s gregarious, larger-than-life, the kind of person who can talk to anyone about anything, making him an excellent front of house manager, and even better sommelier. You really lucked out with the twins, you think to yourself – with Jesper and Mathilde – when they were more than eager to work with you on opening this restaurant.
“Oh, and before we go, a client left a gift… table number four,” Jesper says, in reference to Luca’s table. He pulls a tan-colored pastry box from another table, setting it down on a table where everyone can take a look.
“As a thank you. He requested for me to share. So have it and let’s make a note next time he’s in to really treat him like a VIP.”
One of your most-talented servers opens the box, eliciting a chorus of gasps, giggles, and excited whispers as soon as the assortment of croissants and pastries are revealed.
You and Mathilde exchange a look as everyone else busy themselves with unpacking the pastry box. Mathilde raises an eyebrow and you’re not sure what to say. Witnessing your silent exchange, Jesper makes his way over to the both of you, before extending his arm to reveal the card he’s holding.
“And this, my dear…” he begins, exchanging a look with his sister. “...is for you.”
“What do you-, just me?” you ask as you take it, hesitantly.
“I think so, yeah,” he nods, confidently.
To the Chef, the front of the card reads.
“Jesper, let’s check out some of these pastries, yeah?” Mathilde suggests, not so subtly hinting towards her brother.
He nods, giving you a little space so that you can read the card Luca’s left for you.
As your staff divvy up the box of laminated pastries, sighing with joy as they taste the decadent, hand-crafted sweets, you take a few steps away to open the note. His handwriting is pristine – perfectly neat in every way, like he’s written over carefully measured invisible lines.
Chef,
Thank you for all of the great meals. I'd like to return the favor, that is, if you're open to it.
Tomorrow. 5 pm. Dronningens Tværgade 2, 1302
While Luca’s gift has been more-than-generous, you find yourself overwhelmed by questions. Was he a chef too? And why had he not said anything? And what was this gesture all about anyways?
You read the card a few more times, turning the words over in your head as you try to make sense of it.
Mathilde can see your overwhelm, your eyebrows knitted into one confused expression as she saunters back over to you.
“What does it say?” she asks, curiously. “A love confession perhaps?”
“Mathilde, you really have to stop reading all of those French romance novels!” you tease her. “It’s giving you too many ideas.”
“It’s the only way I keep up with my French!” she defends herself with a lackadaisical shrug, earning a laugh from you.
“Uh no… it’s actually a thank you card… only I think he… wants to feed me,” you share with her, holding the card out so that she can take a look.
“He’s a chef too?” she asks, taking the card from your hands.
“I think so, yeah,” you reply, letting out an exasperated laugh.
“Oh shit!” Mathilde exclaims, as soon as she sees the address that Luca’s written down.
“What?” you ask her, wondering if there’s something you missed.
“The address… that’s AOC. I think he’s a chef at AOC, babe,” she gasps, shaking her head as she hands the card back to you, sending a ‘you lucky, bitch’ look your way.
— miguel gives you shocking news. and as you go to head home you end up in a different universe, meeting some spider kid, leaving miguel and the rest of them to worry and search for you.
contains: angst??; violence; speaking of injuries — damn y/n is in the wars; cute little worried, mad miguel; since I’m going from y/n’s perspective to Miguel’s a few times it’s may seem a bit jumpy, hope that doesn’t annoy anyone <3
You walk with purposeful steps. Passing by spider variants, who spare you confused glances at your almost pissed off expression. Though when one would meet your gaze you’d smile—genuinely, which made them think that a certain person was the target of your anger.
“Oi y/n— wow.” Hobie jumped down in front of you, observing your furrowed features. But yet again they would smooth out upon seeing a face you didn’t want to punch. Pavitr and Gwen were close, coming to stop beside Hobie.
“Hi.” You greet them.
“You look stressed as hell.” Hobie comments, making you forcibly chuckle.
“Not at all.” You quickly say, before veering to pass them.
“You alright, y/n?” Gwen asks.
“I appreciate the concern. I do.” You say, walking backwards. “But I’m in a bit of a rush. And annoyingly this can’t wait.”
“Careful!” Pavitr warns as you quickly skirt past a table your hip almost hit.
“Thank you!” You shout back as you rush towards a certain office that made the lines return to your forehead.
You push open the door, stalking towards the centre of the room. At the outburst Miguel looks down. He looks away knowingly, upon seeing you and your angry expression.
“Fired?!” You exclaim up at him. He doesn’t spare you a glance, continuing to tap and swipe at different screens. “I’m fired?!”
You hold up a scribbled note that said ‘You’re fired as of Tuesday’.
“You still have a day.” Miguel comments calmly.
You scoff in disbelief. “What the hell did I do?! …and can you come down here, it’s very hard yelling like this!”
Miguel sighs, but drops down in front of you. He looks bored. And that seems to piss you off more. You step closer. “You wrote me a note?” You’re still in disbelief. “You didn’t even add the reason.”
“Believe it or not that was purposeful.” Miguel monotonously says.
You narrow your eyes. “Why?” You try to lower your tone, taking deep breathes.
Miguel just tilts his head, observing your antics. You blink. “So, you’re not gonna tell me?”
He doesn’t say a thing, confirming so. You’re beyond annoyed and in all honesty what have you to lose? You’ve already lost your job, for a reason you’re dying to know and your adrenaline enduced veins seem to think that pressuring him is a smart idea.
You step closer, but realise that your “intimidating” gaze is doing nothing, his towering height making you feel like an ant. You dart your gaze around, stopping on a swivel chair, you snatch it, quickly standing on it, so that you’re somewhat of a millimetre taller than him.
“We made a deal.” You say, finally feeling a little more in control now that Miguel is looking up at you.
“And now its over.”
“That’s not how deal’s work.” You say.
“Oh.” Miguel hums. “That’s a shame.”
Your nose twitches as you hold back a snarl. Miguel is an infuriating man—it’s just that simple.
“I’m not leaving, not until you at least give me a reason.” You say, trying to appear threatening. But being in front of a man who looks it 24/7 is really dampening your confidence.
He continues to look up at you and your heaving chest, and face that’s tightened in annoyance. He sighs. “It’s better this way, y/l/n.”
“And why is that?” You try again to get the ‘reason’ out of him.
“You can go.” He turns, beginning to head back. You stare after him, mouth opening in disbelief at his complete dismissal.
You go to get off the chair, feeling your entire being deflating. But your foot seems to miss the step down as you begin to tumble forward. But before you can hit the ground a web is attaching to your hand, and yanking you into a chest.
Miguel’s breathing is displayed in that quick moving chest. One hand wrapped around your waist, while the other—that had shot the web—has ahold of your wrist.
Your eyes are wide at the fast movement of it all. “You want to know why you’re fired?” Miguel begins. “Because you’re accident prone. One trip and you could mess everything up.”
You meet his gaze. “That’s very assumptive.” You say. “You and I both know that I haven’t “fucked” anything up.”
“Yet.”
“Yet?” Your brows furrow. “You’re betting on a ‘yet’?” You step away from him, getting your wrist out of his hold. “You made a decision based on your own wrong assumptions.”
Miguel’s expression has finally changed, actually displaying an emotion—anger—but still an emotion. He grabs the bottom of your shirt, pulling you harshly back to him as his breath fans over your face.
“How do you know my “assumptions” are wrong? Huh?” He snarls.
You glare up at him. “How do you know they’re right?” His grip tightens around the material of your shirt, but you continue. “Right now, if you were to tell me that you hated my work ethic, or that I was genuinely shit at my job, I’d leave—maybe a bit upset—but I’d understand.”
Miguel’s eyes are darting everywhere they can.
“But you’re giving me nothing.” You’re blurting everything you can think to say. If not the job back, then you’re going to get your reason for it being gone. “Just say, you hate the way I work.”
You stare at him. “Please.” You’ve somewhat calmed down. Your face softening to one close to simple pleading.
Miguel gulps, his chest slowing but his heart beating on overdrive. You were so close, looking up at him with a genuine pleading look. You just wanted closure.
His hand hadn’t let up its grip on your clothes, part of him not wanting to let go.
“I thought you said you had to have a reason to fire me.” Your voice is back to your normal tone—one that always made Miguel feel comfortable, safe. Which is odd considering you wouldn’t be able to protect him or practically anyone here. Physically at least.
You sigh, realising that there’s no budging Miguel. It’s him, for crying out loud. You were stupid to think you could get anything out of him that he didn’t want you to know.
You reach your hand down, grabbing his wrist and pulling your shirt away. You back up, hands up in an almost surrender—saying ‘fine, I’ll go’.
Miguel doesn’t like the silent sentence for some reason, his expression morphing back to anger. He again swiftly shoots a web to attach to your stomach, yanking you forward again.
“Can you stop that?” You ask, once you’re directly in front of him again. “At this rate put a leash on me.” You mutter. You’d given up. And all you wanted to do was pack up and leave. Why was he dragging this out?
“Would that work?” He whispered. And now through your annoyed haze you noticed how close he was…again.
But the drop of his tone made your breath hitch, different from before. He leans closer, red eyes fully focused on you. “Would it?” He asks again.
“Would what?”
He tilts his head, licking his lips. “A leash.”
Your eyes widen, as you choke out your answer. “That was…a joke. I was kidding.”
“But would you stay out of trouble if you had something constricting you?”
Your mouth opens and closes. He had slowly been pulling you closer by the attached web, his claws dancing across the orange before they reached the material of your shirt again.
“Es eso todo lo que tengo que hacer, chaparrita?” (Is that all I have to do) He darkly whispered.
You focused on his words. You had wanted to understand Spanish before, but now you’re dying to know. And luckily, in your own time you had been studying—having stolen your phone back.
“No, O’hara.” You begin. “Todo lo que tienes que hacer es ser honesto.” (All you have to do is be honest.)
Miguel stares at you, brows furrowing for only a moment. He looks taken aback. And from his underlying impressive expression, you know your words had made sense.
“When did you learn that?”
“Why are you firing me?” You counter.
And for once, Miguel finally gives in, up to a peak with his emotions. “Because of the fucking attack!” He finally says it, or more so ‘exclaims’ it.
You pause. “The attack?”
He hisses in annoyance at himself. “I’m supposed to be helping people—the multiverse. That was the whole point of this.” He mutters out.
“I’m not following… How did I mess that up?” You ask, staring at him in confusion.
“You didn’t. Which is beyond annoying, because I’d much rather a reason where you were the problem.”
“That’s…very flattering.” You mutter, as he continues.
“But the reason why I’m firing you is because…” he clenched his jaw, closing his eyes for a moment, seeming annoyed to even think of saying it.
“Because you got…hurt.”
And of course it goes in one ear and out the other. Because in what universe does that make sense. You stare at him, blinking too many times.
“What?”
“I’m not saying it again.” He says, stepping away from you.
“No, no. What?”
Miguel is turned away and cursing at himself. Why did he admit that? He should have just said you were shit at your job.
You finally assess his words, maybe not the underlying meaning, but his general words at least. “I’ll be honest…” you begin. “I thought that was in the job description.”
Miguel turns. “What?”
“Getting hurt.” You say. “I mean maybe not that extreme considering I’m behind a desk, but I knew the risk.”
“You knew you might get hurt if you took this job?” He reiterates.
“Yeah.” You breathe. “But you’d understand. I mean you are spider-man.”
“Yeah…” he drifts off. “But you’re…”
“A weak human?” You ask.
He looks away, frowning. “I didn’t mean that.”
“It’s fine.” You say. “I can’t lie and say it isn’t the truth.”
“It’s not—“ he says extremely quickly before he extremely quickly follows with: “—entirely true. You’re also annoying.”
You raise your brows. “So, I’m an annoying, weak human who just got fired?” You slowly ask.
Miguel presses his lips together. “It’s bet—“
“Better this way.” You cut in. “Yeah, I heard you.” You sigh. “Thanks for telling me the reason.” Your tone has shifted to one Miguel really doesn’t like. You sound…disappointed…distant. And why wouldn’t you be? Of course Miguel expected this but for some reason it just didn’t settle right in his stomach.
But before he knows it you’re opening the exit door, giving him a small smile and a nod, saying: “Sorry for the…outburst.” Before you’re shutting the door and leaving.
;;
“Where is she?” Miguel is asking Peter, thankful for once that he didn’t bring Mayday.
Peter scratches the back of his head, pretending to look busy. Miguel begrudgingly turns to Hobie, raising a brow. Hobie looks him up and down before scoffing. “You’re the one who ‘fired’ her, remember mate?” He sounds annoyed.
Miguel swiftly shifts his gaze to Gwen. “She still has a day. Where is she?”
“She decided it was best to leave today.” Gwen says.
“How’d she get a wristband?” Miguel asks, narrowing his eyes. He slowly shifts his gaze back to Hobie, who is sitting, legs up on a table.
“Hobie.”
“Yes, boss?” Hobie asks, praying innocence.
“Why?” Miguel asks, gritting his teeth.
Hobie stands, walking up to him. “Why do you care? Ya clearly seem to think she’s an annoyin’, weak human.”
Miguel holds the bridge of his nose. “Did she tell everyone that?” He mutters out in question, more so to himself.
“No, she didn’t. I ‘appened to hear it.” Hobie says, making Miguel look back up.
“So she just left?” He asks, his uninterested expression cracking a fraction—only a fraction.
“That is what you wanted.” Pavitr chimes in, twisting one of his gold bands.
;;
Miguel breathes, heading back to his office. Once inside he taps his wristband, opening up a portal. He pauses. Why was he even going? You’re gone, home, safe. Just like he wanted. Why is he messing that up by seeing you?
But he’s already through the portal arriving outside your door. You lived alone so he didn’t have to worry about scaring your family. He knocks on your bedroom door, and waits. And waits. And waits.
Look, patience isn’t something Miguel is very good at, so he twists the handle, opening the door to your room. He narrows his eyes, seeing you not inside. Sure, you could have easily gone out, but as he scouted the room, he began to realise that you hadn’t been in here for a while. Dust had formed on your desk, while your bed stayed untouched and made.
“Lyla.” He calls, her appearing quickly by his shoulder. “Was y/n here?”
Lyla computes the room, scanning for footprints or any of your fresh DNA. “No. She hasn’t been here for a while.”
Miguel goes to turn back to his portal, when he steps on something. Looking down, he sees a bracelet by the very edge of the door. Picking it up, he asks Lyla again.
“Ah, she was here, recently. Only in the doorway, it seems.” She answers.
Miguel goes to pocket the bracelet but realises that he technically doesn’t have any, so he instead puts the bracelet around his wrist, walking back through the portal.
;;
“What?” Peter voices his surprise. “But she was just heading home. She’s not there? And hold up, why did you go—“
“Hobie what wristband did you give her?” Miguel interrupts, turning to Hobie. “One of your faulty ones?”
Hobie rolls his eyes, swinging his guitar strap around his body. “It was a normal one, a spare I found.”
“And you’re sure she’s not just out?” Gwen checks.
“No, I’m not, Gwen.” Miguel sarcastically states. “You really think I didn’t check?”
“Do you think she could have gone to another universe?” Pavitr asks.
“Why would she do that?” Peter asks, brows furrowed.
“Dunno, maybe she wanted to rebele.” Hobie comments. “Wouldn’t blame her.” He shoots this at Miguel, who narrows his eyes.
“I called you all here to find her.” Miguel says. “You seem to have been around her a lot. You’d have more of an idea then any other spiders.”
;;
While the spider-men and woman were all wondering where you had went, you were wondering the exact same thing.
You had been walking down the street, trying to face any form of familiarity. But nothing stands out. This wasn’t your home. This wasn’t your universe.
You keep touching your wrist in hopes to magically find the wristband there, but no, it’s still gone. Where? You wanted to know that too.
You watched as people chatted and ate, many at the city’s cafes and restaurants. It was growing darker and as you looked up you felt a single drop of water land on your cheek.
You manage to reach a bus shelter, taking a seat. Where the hell were you?
“Miles!” A man’s voice calls.
“I’ll be back, dad! I just…forgot something…at school!” Miles answers.
You shift your gaze from the falling sky to a cop and his assumable son, who is rushing down the street. You go to shift your gaze away again when you catch sight of something falling out of the kid’s bag. Narrowing your eyes you just catch what looks to be a spider-man mask, before Miles is quickly shoving it back in.
You then hear a ruckus some way down the street. A shop…being robbed. Then it clicked. This ‘Miles’ was running to the scene, because he was this universe’s spider-man.
You quickly stood, covering your head with your hands, preventing some of the rain from soaking your hair as you rushed to follow. Maybe this spider-man was apart of the spider society, and had a wristband. Whatever the outcome, you felt better that you had somewhat of a plan.
;;
When you reached the shop you chose to wait outside, knowing it not smart to just run into danger.
The fight is finished rather quickly, with a few broken windows and thrown food, but no one from the looks of it got hurt.
And as you began to follow Miles—having spotted him heading to an alleyway—you realise how creepy you would seem just following this kid who doesn’t know who the hell you are. But it’s too late to backtrack because he’s swiftly turning and shooting a web to attach your hand to the concrete wall.
You gasp in shock as the kid quickly runs up. “I’m sorry, I thought you were—“
“An evil dude, yeah don’t worry I started to think so too.” You chuckle, slowing your breathing. Your hand had smacked pretty hard against the wall, and as Miles cuts the web you realise that your hand is partially red and bruised.
“Sh— I am so sorry.” He said, spotting the slight injury too.
You wave him off. “That’s alright. I…uh needed to ask you something.”
Miles stands straighter, probably expecting you to point him in the direction of more danger. “You are the spider-man of this universe, right?”
Miles pauses. “Wait, you know—“ he shuffled closer, whispering. “You know about the other universes?”
You nod. “I was wondering if you had a wristband.”
“A wristband?” Miles’ confusion makes you deflate.
“So you don’t know about that…” you sigh, your plan dissolving away.
“Know about what?”
You smile. “That’s alright.”
You begin to step back out of the alleyway, placing your hands in your jacket pocket. “Nice job, by the way.” you gesture to the hung up robber.
“Thanks.” Mike’s shrugs, still looking thoughtful.
But as you near the street, you suddenly glitch, hitting against the wall, hissing in pain. Shit, or course. You were in a different universe…without a wristband.
Miles quickly reaches your side. “You’re not from here.” He mutters. He then loops his arm around your midriff, your body continuing to slightly glitch. “Jeez, I didn’t think that would hurt as much.” You mutter.
Miles brings you back into the alleyway, resting you against the wall. “What universe are you from?”
“14–“ you glitch. Then finally you stop, resting your head against the wall.
Miles kneels by you, still deep in thought. “Would you know a girl named Gwen?” He suddenly asks. Almost as if he had been waiting to ask someone this exact question.
You quickly meet his gaze—through the mask, of course. “You know Gwen?” You ask
“You know Gwen?” He repeats back.
“Yeah, she’s apart of the spider society.”
“The spider what?” Miles asks.
But you continue. “How do you know her? Wait.” You pause. “You’re Miles right?” You double check, not wanting to seem creepy and stalker-like.
“Yeah…” he drifts off.
“She spoke about you.” You smile. “A lot, actually.”
Miles decided on taking his mask off, either deciding on it being fine for you to see, or knowing that you must know what he looks like already. You can spot a faint blush on his cheeks at the mention of Gwen mentioning him.
“How did you get here?” He asks.
“It had to have been from the wristband.” You mutter. Before speaking louder for Miles. “There’s these wristbands that can transport you to different universes without all this glitchy mess.”
“Wow. Do you have one now?” He asks, looking to your wrist.
You shake your head. “Somehow I lost mine. And to be honest, I didn’t plan on coming here. I meant to go home.” You then get reminded of the fact that you got fired, and you mentally narrow your gaze at a non existent Miguel.
His reason still didn’t make sense to you. But you did get one. And you weren’t one to backtrack on your word, leaving like you had said.
“I’ve helped send a few spider…people back to their universes.” Miles begins. “But that was using something kingpin—this villain, created.”
You rest your head back against the concrete wall, the rain growing louder and louder, and heavier and heavier. “How are you gonna get home?” Miles asks.
You sigh. “I’m really not sure.”
;;
Miguel has gotten Lyla to try and retrace your steps through the different universes. But there’s a lot. So, even though it’s been a few hours she’s found nothing as of yet.
Miguel didn’t know how to feel about the two different options of your disappearance. You could have either gone on your own—chosen to, like Hobie had said. Why you would ever do that, Miguel would love to know. But would that make it his fault if something happened?
He knew you loved your job. And he had fired you, for selfish reasons that he covered up with, it being ‘in your best interest’. To Miguel it was, but you wouldn’t see it that way. He’s sure you don’t.
But then there’s the alternative that you had gotten taken. Miguel barely dove into that theory, his hands turning to fists so tight that he cut the skin of his palms through his suit, his claws tainted with his own blood. He almost felt bad for whoever had the terrible idea to take you.
If you thought what happened to those masked men in the office was bad, then you’d be horrified to see what he’d do to this supposed captor.
But right now it seemed to be worse—the not knowing. He didn’t know if you were happy, scared, living your best life, or…dead.
“Lyla!” He exclaimed turning to her and her tiny computers.
“No matter how many times you yell my name, it’s not gonna make me find her any quicker.” She sing songs.
He groans, going back to pacing. Then he hears the arrival of Gwen, Hobie, Peter and Pavitr. Turning, he doesn’t like the looks on their faces. “What is it?” He asks, crossing his arms.
Gwen looks down. “We found out that…she didn’t go voluntarily.”
There’s silence besides the almost ‘loud’ gaze of Miguel. “What was that?”
“There’s been talk through majority of the universes, about these…guys.” Peter begins.
“And when one showed us a left behind mask, it was the exact same as what those men that infiltrated HQ wore.”
“What do you mean by ‘didn’t go voluntarily’?” Miguel asks, stepping closer to them all. “How do you know that?”
“It’s more ov’ a guess.” Hobie says. “From what people were sayin’, those “guys” never let someone get away alive.”
“Y/n did.” Gwen adds, looking solemn.
“So, you lot came here, with one piece of information saying that she’s either gonna get killed or is already dead?” Miguel calmly asks.
But his ‘calm’ tone isn’t necessarily…calm. It’s more like the calm before the storm.
“It’s information that could help us.” Gwen tries to stay positive. “We can try and track these masked guys. Maybe there’s a base in a universe. That’s where she could be.”
“All I’m hearing is ‘could’ and ‘maybe’, Gwen.” Miguel says. “I’m gonna need something a little more definite than that.”
All the spider-people seem to notice the way Miguel’s expression shifted the moment the ‘masked men’ were brought up. He knows something they don’t. And that seems to irritate Hobie the most.
“Well, what do you ‘ave?” He asks Miguel. “We’ve at least found some’ing. What ‘ave you found?”
Miguel’s gaze is narrowed, his face solemn as he stares at Hobie. Hobie steps closer, his boots the second loudest thing in the room.
“Another thing,” Hobie adds. “While I’m talking…” He taps at his jeans to a beat only he can seem to hear. “I’ve never seen you act—I’m surprised to say—worried. Especially with y/n. I thought you hated her.”
“Mind your business.” Miguel turns, preparing to web up to the screens.
“My bad, boss.” Hobie backs up, a small smirk on his face.
“I thought you two were friends?” Why Miguel was suddenly having this conversation with Hobie he wasn’t sure, he just felt angry, because Hobie sounded so entitled to you. Like Miguel should stay “hating” you and that’s it.
Of course Hobie was just being his normal self, but with Miguel’s gaze glazed over with too many emotions he’s barely felt before, he sees red.
“So, why don’t you seem more worried about her?” Miguel continues.
Hobie chuckles. “You are worried.” He mutters to himself, shaking his head.
Miguel grits his teeth. “Ever heard of guilt?” He asks. “I don’t particularly want her to die. Having that on my back is gonna be extremely annoying.” Lies, lies, lies.
“Sure, Miguel.” Hobie hasn’t wiped his smirk off yet, and Miguel’s temper is rising.
“Alright, this is not helping.” Gwen quickly chimes in. “Y/n’s helped us, and we’re gonna help her…let’s just leave it at that.”
Miguel heard her. But all he can seem to focus on is Hobie’s smug face, as if he knows something no one else does. Something not even Miguel has really admitted to yet.
;;
You and Miles have talked, about a lot of different things actually. You had originally been trying to come up with a plan to get you home, but it soon evolved into telling each other’s life stories.
“Please tell me that is not how Gwen got her hair like that?” You’re laughing.
“I hadn’t known what to do.” Miles groans, slightly embarrassed at the memory of his first day as spider-man. His hand—being extremely sticky—not leaving Gwen’s hair.
“Wait.” Miles suddenly stands, gazing around. “Somethings wrong.”
You quickly join him, darting your gaze around the alleyway. The rain had ceased, so the sound of heavy footsteps were growing much clearer.
You stiffen, as you carefully follow Miles to edge of the alleyway, right before you walk onto the street. But that’s when your heart stops.
A small group of masked men stand, much more intimidating in the clearer light—the rush of the explosion and fear before having clouded your vision. What were they doing here?
“You were supposed to watch her!” One is exclaiming to another. “Now she’s run off somewhere. Did you at least take her wristband?”
Your eyes widen. They’re the reason you’re here? You press further into the wall, listening hard. Why? You desperately wanted that answer.
“Of course I took—“ but he stops, quickly snapping his head in the direction of you and Miles. You quickly hit back against the concrete, Miles doing the same as both your chests heave.
Miles begins to pull down his mask, preparing to face them. But you grab his arm. It wasn’t a coincidence that these same men infiltrated HQ and are now here, assumably having sent you here as well. Something didn’t feel right, and something seemed to tell you that they upgraded in some way since their last attack.
These guy’s suits are bigger, more armoured, with neater woven green stitching. This was obviously some sort of ‘crew’. Most crews are based on a cause. Like the spider society, for example. They’re there to protect the multiverse from inter-dimensional anomalies.
What are these guys fighting for? Could they possibly be fighting against something?
You had too many unanswered questions to let this kid get involved. “Just hold on.” You say to Miles, staying pressed to the cold wall. He pauses, shifting his gaze who you, in question.
“I’ve seen them before.” You begin. “I think they might be the reason I’m here…”
“Then we should talk to them. Capture them and get them to talk.” Miles eagerly says.
You chuckles. “I appreciate that. But I don’t think it’s wise. Not with them.”
Miguel goes to say more, when the sound of footsteps near. You immediately pull Miles farther out of view. Then Miles feels it. Instead of the ‘tingle’ he gets when danger is near, it’s more like a foreboding that travels though his entire being. And now he can understand your cautiousness, because for the first time in a while he feels genuinely scared—powerless.
The only thing you can think to do is begin to head down the alleyway, picking up speed. Then you’re both running. “Hey! I think I found her!” A voice shouts, and that’s when you run. The type of run that makes you feel lightheaded, and sick in your stomach.
Miles grabs you, web slinging across a building. “I should be fighting them!” He exclaims through the wind. “Why am I running away!?”
“It’s probably a survival instinct!” You exclaim, as he continues to swing. “Which is concerning since your spider-man.” You mutter this more to yourself. If spider-man’s first instinct was to run then what could this mean for the rest of society?
Then suddenly Miles is getting yanked back, his web snapping, resulting in you both falling to the hard ground. You hit the concrete with a harsh slam, making your eyes blur and your ankle scream.
“Shit.” You mutter. You’re praying it’s not twisted. Please don’t be sprained—you chant in your head, as you scramble to your feet, spotting a nearing masked man, claws out and ready.
You couldn’t see Miles, but to be fair you couldn’t see much. So you ran, or more painfully hobbled away. You had to put pressure on your ankle so that you would move. The man is nearing, his heavy breathing sounding louder than it should be.
But then you feel a hand wrap around your waist, pulling you somewhere dark and desolate. You go to scream, eyes wide, when a hand gets placed over your mouth, quieting any forming sounds that were about to fall.
You can’t see who it is, your blurry gaze and the dark atmosphere making it difficult. You squint, only knowing that someone is pushing you up against a wall, one hand wrapped around your waist, as the other keeps you quiet.
Then you feel a breath by your ear. “Don’t move.” He breathes. And finally the slight accent and familiar tone makes your entire body slump.
Miguel.
You never thought you’d feel so relieved to know it’s him, but once he had spoken, Miguel could feel your entire body relax, nearly sliding to the floor, the pressure you were placing on your injured ankle now faltering.
Miguel keeps you upright, tightening his grip on your waist, as he keeps his mouth by your ear. “Would now be a bad time to ask why you left a day early?”
And you actually laugh, half heartedly and mixed in with a groan of pain, but still a laugh nonetheless.
Then Miguel is moving his hand to hold your chin, as he tries to focus your gaze. “Can you see?”
Your eyes had begun to droop, the exhaustion gradually catching up to you. But then you grab Miguel’s arm tightly. “Miles.” You say, remembering the kid.
“Miles?” Miguel questions.
“The kid. I was with a kid. Another spider-man. Is he okay?” You rush this out, forcing Miguel to place his hand back over your mouth.
“Shh. You’ll get us caught.” He whispers.
You protest, needing an answer, because you could feel yourself slipping from consciousness.
“He’ll be fine. Gwen is with him.” Miguel consoles, seeing your stress. Your shoulders slump in relief, and finally the exhaustion catches up, grabbing a hold of you, as your eyes begin to flutter.
“Wow, wow.” Miguel mutters, catching your dropping body. “Don’t close your eyes.” He all but demands, but it’s too late. Your eyes roll closed, as darkness gives you a hug.
Miguel slips to the ground with you, holding the back of your head from hitting back. He prays that it’s just exhaustion, and nothing more…permanent.
His chest is heaving, his eyes trained on you, while his ears stayed focused, in case the sound of heavy boots broke the city noise.
But he hears nothing of concern, his finger—at first without permission—dragging along your jaw.
Your lips were slightly parted, your body so limp in his hold. “I’m sorry.” He mutters quietly, his dragging finger drifting up to your face, to brush a stray hair, still slightly damp from the rain.
His finger pauses by your lips, not quite touching, just hovering. He’d been in denial. Big denial. And maybe you wouldn’t feel the same, maybe you hated him. But right now Miguel couldn’t find it in himself to care, all the loud voices in his head zoning out to one single voice saying ‘I like her’ … ‘I like her a lot’.
sorry, this one kinda goes everywhere. i needed to add my guy miles <3 i don’t know if I like this one *crying* it feels too random. I’ll hopefully get back on track next chapter
part six is on its way! — thanks so much for all your guys support on this series, you guys are truly incredible <3
— when you’re left alone in the tech room, many spiders out on missions, something unexpected happens. when miguel finds out his face falls and his claws twitch in anger. after the incident, you find miguel walking down the hall, calling to him he asks you questions, and you offer your help with something.
contains: violence + mentions of blood and injuries (this is quite visual ha); angry + kinda ‘blood lust’ miguel; someone gets electrocuted, reader kinda does (small amount—I’ll be honest I don’t know how getting electrocuted exactly works, so for the purpose of the story ignore if the way it happens isn’t realistic, thank you!)
It was silent. For what felt like too long. Besides the tap of your fingers on the keyboard—which had begun to slow.
Usually you’d hear distant conversations or the sound of web shooting, but instead only silence greeted you. Unease began to make your body turn, your chair spinning with you.
You weren’t sure if you were just being paranoid. You were alone in the office. Which wasn’t anything strange, but it meant that your growing paranoia festered a little stronger.
You edged closer to the door, finally hearing what sounds to be rumbling. Low and too vague for you to decipher. Your hand reaches out to the door handle, but just as your fingers brush the smooth metal, you’re forced back.
Your body flies, coming to a bruising hit on your hip, making you hiss in pain. But you’re quick to get up, rushing to a clear wall, and away from the explosion. You breathe heavy as you slump against it, your ears slightly ringing, while your gaze stays blurry against the random scraps of metal and dust.
You look to the communal intercom, quickly rushing towards it. Someone or something that isn’t supposed to be here is. You have to warn the spider-people who are out on missions.
But where are the others?
Just as you reach the com, the sound of quick scuffling boots can be heard to your left. You snatch up the intercom, slipping under your desk, tucking your feet into the dark just as multiple pairs of unwelcome boots come into view.
Your shrink further into yourself. You couldn’t speak in warning to the spider variants or these guys would hear you. Your eyes narrow on the bottom of their legs. All black, but so far appearing humanised rather then some large monster. An anomaly?—you think to yourself—multiple?
You clutch the intercom mic tighter, your finger grazing the on button. And that’s when they begin to speak.
“Get the tech.” A gruff voice says. “Now! We can’t waste our time!”
You can hear more scuffling of boots as the sound of unplugging, or more so ripping follows.
“Boss, they’ll be back.” One of them said. You try to get a good look at them, but your movements will cause too much attention, so you grind your teeth and listen harder.
“If you pick up that damn monitor we might have a chance to get out quick enough.” What you assume to be the gruff voice of ‘boss’ says.
“Who even made you in charge?” One grumbles out.
“Who’s idea was it to lure those stupid spiders out on some fake mission, that, might I add, required a decent bunch of those freaks?”
“Not all of them, though.” One adds. You try again to peak out. You manage to scale the bodies of three, all in black, with…masks. Damn it. They looked worn out—handmade.
“Well, lucky for us the remainders are all too busy in the lobby. Now hurry up and pack the bags.” Boss agitatedly says.
And as if luck is still on your back-burner, your foot slips, only a fraction, but enough to knock a piece of stray metal across the floor.
“What was that?” One of the masked men asks.
The silence now following sounds threatening. You place your hand over your mouth, to quieten your breathing, as the scuffs of boots draws closer.
;;
“Peter P!” Exclaimed Miguel, just as static breaks through his ear. He hisses, not expecting it, as he holds the earpiece, brows furrowed. Then the static grows clearer.
“Get the tech. Now! We can’t waste our time!”
“Boss, they’ll be back.”
Miguel narrows his eyes as he listens, confused at first. When he looks to the other spider-people they’re are all holding their own earpieces, trying to comprehend what they’re listening to.
“Who even made you in charge?”
“Who’s idea was it to lure those stupid spiders out on some fake mission, that, might I add, required a decent bunch of those freaks?”
“Lyla, what is this?” Miguel asks. She appears by him, tapping away at screens.
“It appears to be coming from a communal intercom.” She says.
“At HQ?” He asks, already flexing his claws. “Which one.”
“I’m just finding out. The connection is muffled.” More tapping.
“Well, lucky for us the remainders are all too busy in the lobby. Now hurry up and pack the bags.”
The voices still infiltrate Miguel’s ear. “Lyla.” He sounds impatient. “Which one?”
Then she stops tapping. “Y/n y/l/n’s.”
Miguel freezes, looking at Lyla as if she would be one to crack a joke. Then he hears the knock of something metal through his ear piece, followed by a ‘“What was that?”’. He can now hear your heavy breathes, slightly muffled, as heavy boots hit the floor.
Then all sound is gone.
He doesn’t wait for anyone, pressing his wristband to open the portal to HQ. But Jess stops him. “Miguel, think about this. What if it’s them?”
Miguel glances at her, shrugging her grip off his arm, as he taps at his wristband again, the portal opening up. His expression is downcast, one could easily say terrifying.
“Miguel! You have to think this through.” Jess persists. “We have spider-men and woman back at HQ—”
“Who are clearly too distracted to do something.” Miguel grunts out, webbing towards the portal. But Peter P intercepts this time.
“She’s right, Miguel. Don’t worry about the tech, we can get it back, or even get new ones—“
“The tech?” Miguel actually sounds in disbelief. “You think I’m fucking worried about the tech?!” His red eyes gleam, and Peter P gulps.
“Then what are you worried about, Miguel?” Jess asks, exasperated. “Because I don’t see anything else that needs urgent attention. The tech is the main—“
“¿Tú no? The tech is the last of my worries, Jess.” Miguel interrupts. But this time he isn’t yelling. This time it’s toned down, and somehow that makes him appear much, much scarier.
“Miguel.” Jess tries to calm him down, not understanding what he could find more worrying. Data had been saved on that tech, important data. She places one hand on his wrist, but he immediately shrugs her off, glaring.
“Get out of my way.” He snarls. She doesn’t move, crossing her arms. “The reason why you aren’t hurt against that wall is because you earned my respect. That’s slipping, Jess.”
“Miguel you’re frantic.” She says.
“Call it what you want. I’m getting to HQ.” He webs past her, and Jess finally has the mind to let him go. Though she still stands there worried, and confused about what could have made Miguel so urgent to get to the scene.
;;
You tighten your hold on the intercom, now switching to use it as a possible weapon, as the boots near. You prepare yourself by silent deep breaths and a focused gaze.
The boots stop in front of you, pausing for only a moment. Then the desk is being flung to the side. You choke a gasp, managing to slam the intercom down into the guys shin, the harsh metal side bruising and buckling his leg.
He exclaims in pain as you scramble to your feet. You can finally see the detail on the three mens’ outfits. A dark green weaved into the fabric. Then you see the claws for hands, and all three of their masks turned to you. Shit.
“Who are you guys?” You manage to get out, as you reach behind you for a keyboard.
One looks at the other before looking back at you. “Were you here the whole time?”
You say nothing, edging closer to the exit. It’s silent from them for a moment then “…kill her.” The gruff voice of ‘boss’ says. And they’re quick.
You try to rush away but one yanks you back by your hair. You angrily swing around and knock the metal keyboard across one of their heads. Some of the pieces shatter against his mask.
But then one is grabbing your neck, pushing you against the wall. “Sorry—boss says no tattle tales.” The guy tightens his hold, and your hands scramble against his in an effort to intake air.
There’s a moment where your vision blurs. But there’s also a moment where his knee shifts letting your leg harshly kick out. You’re glad to find him humanised in his pants as he doubles over.
You rush away from the wall, heaving. One of the masked men is already trying to grab you and as his clawed hand wraps around your arm, he’s pulled back, a shining orange web yanking him straight into a monitor, his head smashing against glass.
The speed makes his claws cut across your flesh but your adrenaline is far too prominent for you to care. You notice the other guy stalking towards you, making you swiftly gaze around at your environment, Weapon. Weapon. Weapon. You stop on a machine, wires poking out, sparking with electricity. Holding a certain point you pull two out, ripping the electric wires, before stabbing them into his stomach, the electric current making his body shake and twitch.
You soon have to let go as they grow unbearably hot, leaving scolding burns on your fingertips and palms. That’s when you notice the owner of the orange web. Miguel has ruined the guy he originally threw into a monitor, his body now a bloody pulp.
You have to quickly look away to the second guy who had obviously gotten up from your kick and landed straight into Miguel’s palm. Miguel is retracting his claws from the masked man’s body, blood tainting the tips of his fingers, as he breaths harshly but somehow still controlled.
Miguel looks to the guy knocked out in front of you, still occasionally twitching from the strong current of electricity. You feel light headed, placing your hands on your knees as you try to slow your breathing.
But then you feel a hand. And not a friendly one as the masked man passes on some of the electricity moving through his body into your thigh. You scream, the half electrocuted guy—his hair frizzed and slightly cinched—stumbling to a stance, just as you fall to the floor.
Then you hear a crash and a curdling scream—not from you.
Miguel inserts his claws into the guys neck, practically ripping his throat out, as the guy chokes on his own blood. The blood sprays across Miguel’s face, leaving slight speckles as he rips the rest of the man with his teeth, letting him drop to the floor.
It was animalistic in way, as his tongue licked his fangs, his breathing now harsher—angrier.
But then he sees you drifting from consciousness on the floor.
Miguel doesn’t know what breathing is, or the meaning of the word slow, as he reaches your side in a millisecond, his hand coming to grab your face between his fingers—maybe a little harshly but his entire being was still on overdrive.
Miguel tightens his hold on your cheeks as he slightly shakes your head. “Y/l/n.” He hisses. “Wake up.“
He’s gentle now, realising that you’re a human and not some villain he needs to hurt, as he checks your pulse not wanting his claws to cut you. “Y/n!” He finally exclaims, as you get roused awake.
Your leg feels painfully numb, as your eyes flutter open. A thin layer of tears is making your eyes sparkle as you finally meet Miguel’s gaze. You try to slow your breathing, shutting your eyes to reassess.
Miguel tightens his hold on your cheeks. “No, no. Open them.”
You do, though they stay hooded. “I’m just…tired. No need to sound so harsh—shit.” The lasting electricity still spasms up your leg, as the hold of Miguel’s hand makes the tears fall.
You begin to shake your head, partially trying to get out of his hold. “Stop.” You say.
“Stop what?” Miguel instantly replies, his gaze shooting to your thigh.
“Just—“ you breathe. Then Miguel finds the deep scratch mark on your arm, his hand grabbing it as his eyes dart. “It’s fine. Just a cut.”
“Y/n, you just got attacked. You’re a weak human, don’t try to sound so tough.”
“You’re not helping.” You hiss, tilting your head back as you try to keep the tears in, not wanting them to fall. “And that was kind of mean.” You mutter the last part just for the sake of it. Using your pain induced state as an excuse to blurt out your annoyed feelings with Miguel.
Miguel grabs your chin, trying to pull your gaze back to his, but you resist, keeping it tilted away. “Stop.” You say again.
“No.” He answers, successfully pulling your chin back, and holding it there. “Why aren’t you looking me?”
Your eyes are darting around, before you choose to close them. “Y/n.” Miguel is stern, but underlying that he sounds almost desperate—almost.
You can feel him move closer to you and you place your hand out to stop him, your palm ending up against his chest. “Can you not—“
“What—not help you?” He asks harshly.
“Can you look away.” You say, finally opening your eyes. “Please.”
“Why?” Miguel isn’t budging, staying close to you. He’s already dialled in medical on his wristwatch.
“Jeezus Christ, Miguel! I don’t like fucking crying in front of people. It’s a weird thing I can’t get rid of. I hate it. It makes me feel embarrassed—“
“Embarrassed?” Miguel interrupts.
“Yes. Embarrassed.” You hiss harshly. You couldn’t find your filter, your tone far more aggressive then usual with the throbbing pain in your arm and the spasm of your thigh.
“Well, that stupid.” He says.
“Yeah, it is. But it’s not going away. So if you could just look away and let me…I dunno…recompose myself.”
“Recompose yourself?”
“Yes! Stop repeating what I’m saying!” You exclaim, only to follow with a groan of pain as you try to sit up.
Miguel knows your mind is frazzled and your body is reactive. He pushes you back down, grabbing your cheeks again.
“You got partially electrocuted and cut—deep, I’d think you’re a psychopath If you didn’t cry.” Miguel says, his volume dropped to one almost soothing—almost.
“Doesn’t make me hate it any less.” You mutter.
“Wow…I’ve never seen you this annoyed before.”
You narrow your eyes on him. His hand that was gingerly inspecting your thigh had slipped over your waist, partially caging you in.
You try again to sit up. But Miguel yet again, keeps you pressed to the floor. “O’hara.”
He leans closer to you, narrowing his eyes. “Stop moving.”
“I’m fine.”
“No your not.” He easily answers, which earns him a half hearted scoff. “You know I think I prefer you trying to suck up instead.”
You meet his gaze glaring. “I have not been sucking up, I just like—“
“This job. Yeah I’ve heard you.” He interrupts.
He can hear commotion behind him, but the voices of rushing spider-people makes his shoulders relax. The medical have arrived, and as you notice the new people you quickly wipe your cheeks, brushing against Miguel’s hand, as you get up.
Miguel finally let’s you, by slipping his arm around the back of your waist. You try to swat it away—any physical touch usually induces the waterworks you desperately wanted to keep at bay—but he tightens his hold, resulting in your side being flush against him.
The medical spiders inspect your bruised body. “It’s her thigh and upper arm…” Miguel begins telling the spiders. Then he grabs your hands holding your palms out. “And hands.” The burnt marks look raw, and you hiss as Miguel had to slightly stretch the skin to show.
He immediately lets go upon hearing the sound of pain. “Thanks Miguel, we’ll take it from here.” A medical spider says, already at your side checking your cut.
Miguel narrows his eyes on the spider variant, watching as you bite your lip as they inspect your wound. He sighs, finally getting up and letting your waist go. At the sudden shift your hand flies out to his leg, or more specifically his thigh.
Your quick, tight grip has Miguel stopping. You change your position, not having realised how much you were using Miguel as physical support, before you’re quickly taking your hand away and coughing.
You give him a brief nod. “Thanks for the help.”
Miguel scoffs. “Help? I did a bit more than help.”
You’re praying to get some anaesthetic soon so that your pain won’t make you loose your job. You press your lips together harshly. “Of course. You did spectacular.” You say.
The sarcasm isn’t lost on him. He eyes you once more before he’s walking out the exit.
You sat there, finally taking a proper breath. You don’t know why you were holding it for so long. …maybe you did have a clue. The image of Miguel ripping the guys neck out, blood staining his face is still fresh in your mind.
You’ll be honest, it scared you. He kind of scared you. But not in way you’d think he’d hurt you, just one that made him seem unpredictable. I mean what happened just then, with his touching and softer tone was something completely unforeseen.
If someone told you he would be do that today you’d actually laugh. Miguel was unpredictable and intimidating in general, sure, but what seemed to scare you more was the way he looked when his eyes shone with blood lust. His eye colour seemed fitting now.
You also happened to be scared of the way the sight made you feel. Something that settled far too low in your stomach.
;;
Miguel went straight to the lobby where a spider variant he kept high up in the ranks resided. “You. Get up. Now.”
The spider variant immediately stood, as he nervously followed Miguel to his office. The orange tech screens were the main thing lighting the place.
And as Spider-Man took a breath he lost it as soon as Miguel slowly turned to him. Blood still stained his skin and claws and suit, and the spider-man felt the urge to run.
“Where were you today?” Miguel asked, leaning back against a table and crossing his arms almost too casually.
“I was…here, Miguel.” He said steeling his spine. He knew where this was going.
“Were you?” Miguel asked, his eyes trained on the spider.
Spider man gulped. “I’m really sorry, Miguel. I didn’t hear any sort of explosion. I didn’t get any awareness. Which…shouldn’t happen.”
“You know what ‘shouldn’t happen’?” Miguel asks, now twirling an empty glass on the table. “Spider men and woman shouldn’t only rely on that “tingle thing”.”
The spider hangs his head lower in apology. “Someone could have died today.” Miguel continued. “And you would have what—been too busy playing poker?”
The spider variant winces at his words. Miguel knew of his addiction, always using his free time to gamble.
“Do you get that?” Miguel asks.
“I do. I’m sorry.”
“Sadly that’s not gonna cut it.” Miguel says, making spider man look up. “I left you in charge while I was gone. You failed miserably.”
“Miguel. I didn’t mean to only rely on my usual awareness, it’s a force of habit. That’s never happened before. I can always sense when danger is close.”
“But you didn’t.” Miguel says. “There’s someone in medical right now who got injured—badly. And she was all alone.” Miguel has stood up, stalking towards him.
“Now for personal reasons I may find her annoying.” He quickly mutters out. “But that certainly doesn’t mean you can let her die. Do you hear me?”
Spider man quickly nods. “Of course. This’ll never happen again.”
“No it won’t.” Miguel turns away, and the finality in his voice makes spider man’s eyes widen.
“Miguel—“
“Go home.” Miguel cuts in, stepping up to his screens. Anger still seeped from every pore.
;;
You woke up, feeling a dull ache in your body, but for the most part you felt alright. Better, a lot better. You swing your feet off the medical bed, realising that the lights were out.
Your feet hit the cold floor, before you quietly step towards the exit door.
Making it out to the hallway you were grateful you were already on the high level, no need for a long travel up the stairs.
You needed to rest. Alone. Not surrounded my medical items. You slowly headed to your room, but stop upon seeing a familiar body walking away.
“O’hara.” You say, making the figure freeze.
You quicken your steps, reaching him. He turns and you have to stop the intake of breathe at the reminded visual of the now dried blood.
“You didn’t want a shower?” You joked, forcing a chuckle.
Miguel just scans your body, narrowing his eyes, his expression is it’s typical, solemn and moody. “You should get back to bed.”
“I was actually heading to my room. But I just wanted to…thank you.” You say, finally making Miguel meet your gaze.
“You really did help me back there.” You spare him a small smile and a nod. Then your gaze gets caught back up in the blood stains, as you gulp.
“You saw, didn’t you?” Miguel suddenly asks.
You look up. “Mm?”
“The reason I’m covered in blood.”
“Oh.” You say. “It was…quite impressive.”
“No it wasn’t.” Miguel says making your brows furrow. He steps a fraction closer. “You didn’t think so.”
“What do you mean?”
Another step. “You thought I looked animalistic. Scary.”
You dart your gaze down to his slowly moving feet before quickly looking back up. You shake your head. And in return Miguel nods.
“You think I’m scary.” Everything he’s saying is statements. He knows, but you keep shaking your head.
“Don’t do that. Don’t lie.” He says, much, much closer now. “You’re terrible at it.”
You stop the shake of your head, blinking a few times. “O’hara—“
“Just be honest.”
“I am.” You say, straightening your spine. And as your eyes dart you notice a deep cut running across his thigh. The dried blood, his.
You step closer. “Why didn’t you get that check out?”
He glances down at his wound. “It’s fine.”
“Oh come on, don’t do that. Don’t act like your above it all, including pain, and infection.” Your blatancy makes Miguel raise a brow.
You pause for a moment, mulling over potential decisions in your head. Then before it could get later and before you could back down you speak. “Follow me. Let me help.”
Miguel stares at you. “It’s fine—“ he goes to monotonously repeat.
You just grab his wrist, pulling him towards your room. Miguel grabs your wrist in turn, preparing to pull your hand off.
“Hey. You made me go to your room, now I’m just returning the favour.” You say.
Miguel stares at you, scoffing. You let go of his wrist, knowing you don’t have the strength to pull him. “If you’re scared I don’t know what I’m doing, then know that I studied to be a nurse before I found out about…all this.”
“Why?” Miguel asks. “Why help?” He elaborates.
“I just told you.” You say, beginning to head to your room. “I feel weird if I’ve seen your room when you haven’t yet seen mine.”
“That’s not a good reason at all.”
“But your walking my way aren’t you?”
Miguel hadn’t realised that he’d moved to your door without the permission of his mind. He curses under his breath as your scent floods his senses, your room making it ten times worse. This is the last thing he needed.
But you’re already shutting the door and ushering him further in. “You can um…” you look around. “You can just sit on the bed.”
No—Miguel thought. God, no. But you were already getting out an older looking kit from under textbooks—your stuff having been brought to you from your universe.
He slowly sits, trying not to get one bit comfortable. You reach his side placing the kit on the bed, as you drop to your knees.
Miguel’s breathing stops at the visual. You’re directly by his thigh…kneeling. No, no.
Miguel clicks his jaw, looking away. He looks back down, to see your hand is midway from touching his cut thigh. “Why are you doing this?” He can’t fathom why you would actually want to help him.
You sigh. “I just feel kinda bad.”
“Bad?”
“Mhm.” You nod.
“For any particular reason?” Miguel pushes.
“No.” You sarcastically scoff. “You’re just generally a person everyone feels bad for.”
Miguel narrows his eyes as you chuckle. He shifts on your bed. “Stop doing that.”
Your hand stops by his cut, thinking it’s the touching of his wound, when in actual fact it was the way your ‘chuckle’ had sent a strange vibration through him to somewhere he desperately didn’t want you to notice. He was right. This was a terrible idea.
Then you’re touching him. Delicate and gentle, as you pull away his ripped suit. You begin to dab what looks to be an alcohol cloth onto his wound, and in response Miguel snarls, his grip tightening around your sheets.
“Sorry.” You mutter.
“Dios.” He mutters, closing his eyes a moment. “Stop being nice.”
You look up at him. “I have to say, I’ve never heard someone say that. Usually it’s ‘stop being mean’.”
His face is tight as you continue to clean his cut. “Someone said that to you?”
You pause. “No actually. But I just mean in general. And I’m not being ‘nice’ to you. I’m returning a favour.”
“Ah.” He hums, before all his muscles tense. “Can you hurry up.”
“You’ve never let anyone touch you up before, have you?” Catching onto the fact that he’s clearly cleaned his past wounds himself.
Miguel glares at you. “So, you can stop.” He reaches to take the cloth from you, but you lean away resting your hand on his knee for support.
“You can just sit on the bed.” Miguel grits out. He couldn’t watch you being on your knees for him any longer. Not unless he’d do something he’d end up regretting.
“That’s okay, it’s an easier angle here.”
God. You had to stop. ‘Easier angel’? Yeah, Miguel definitely wasn’t thinking about you cleaning his cut. He runs his hand through his hair.
You quickly reach out grabbing his wrist. He looks at you, expectantly. “You have uh…blood on your fingertips…claws.”
Miguel darts his gaze across your face. “And you’re worried about it getting my…hair dirty?”
You shrug. “Well, now you’re making me sound stupid.”
“I don’t need to do that.” He quips, and you shoot him a glare. “But um…” he drifts off, as you look up at him, now waiting expectantly.
“Did you find me…scary, or whatever?” He asks, and surprisingly there’s a hint of…vulnerability hidden in his tone? No—you think to yourself—that can’t be right. “Before. With the anomalies.”
You dab a fraction harder, making Miguel hiss a groan. You ignore the way it vibrates through your body. You shake your head.
“Why do you keep lying?” He asks.
You sigh. “I just—“
“Just?” Miguel seemed to really want to get an answer out of you. He shifts closer. And when you don’t answer, continuing to focus on his wound, he grabs your jaw, pulling you up to meet his gaze. You gulp, his large hand nearly reaching to wrap around your neck.
“Do I scare you?”
Your chest picks up a quicker beat. He leans closer, pulling you towards him, your chest hitting his thigh. “Do I—“
“Yes. Alright.” You quickly say. “A little bit…yes.”
His grip tightens around your chin a fraction. “Because of what you saw?”
“And the way you talk to people.” You mutter out. Why were saying this? This isn’t something you say to your boss.
You hadn’t noticed at first but one of his claws had begun to brush back and forth against the skin of your jaw, his eyes not leaving yours. You were utterly frozen. And there’s a moment that you just catch where his gaze darts down to your lips, his breath feeling extremely close.
But then he’s leaning away, his jaw clenching as he looks to the door. “Are you done?”
You quickly look down to his cut, rushing to get out a bandage. “Uh, almost.” Your entire body was buzzing.
While you stayed focused on finishing him up, Miguel’s gaze went back to staring at you. He almost gave in—almost. He wouldn’t, though.
You were scared of him. He knew you were somewhat so, but now hearing you say it confirmed that you’d never see him how he had gradually started seeing you. He had to stop. Now, before he dove in far too deep.
He couldn’t let himself go any deeper. Because at this rate he’d certainly drown, and if he was going to die, it wouldn’t be from some silly little crush.
okay, I’m sorry, I lied. there is nothing sexual in here. but I didn’t think adding anything like that yet would work. since a lot of you guys asked for a slow burn <3
again, I hope this is up to a good standard for you guys to continue reading. I wanted to add something a little different then the usual Spanish lesson then Miguel’s end of the deal. I needed some action of some sort.
and ofc, part five will come soon x love you all MWAH
— miguel o’hara has never liked you—a human—joining the team as the ‘person in the chair’. he’s made his distaste for you clear. but when he speaks certain spanish words you don’t understand, he reveals that his annoyance of you is by the fact that you make him feel ‘hot’. soon, a deal surfaces, his promotion benefitting you both.
contains: I’ve gotten some help with my Spanish and have approved/fixed accordingly (if you have any suggestions on the Spanish please speak up!); enemies to lovers trope; not obvious, but subtle jealous miguel; human(not spider-person)!reader; Spanish term of endearment ‘chiquita’ (little thing/small)
Miguel watches as you fiddled with the different tech machines, tapping with a focused gaze. He tilted his head, staying by the large spider, having spread out screens filled with the many mission's info.
He had a slight scowl on his face, his expression usually one considered moody. But this time he had a reason for it. You.
You were a pain to Miguel, far too nice to every spider-person. He hadn't liked having you here the moment a few of them recommended you. They described you as the 'person in the chair'. You were smart, sure, but Miguel didn't think you belonged here. You weren't a spider-person like the rest of them, you were human.
He jumped down, landing beside you. You look to your left, having to tilt your head up at his sheer height. You gulp. You've always been nervous around Miguel O'hara. You didn't think he once smiled, his gaze only seeming to harden, especially when you would speak.
So, you kept it minimal. Only talking to him when it was required. "O'hara." You nod, turning quickly back to your work. "Anything I can help you with?"
"Nothing you can help with, y/l/n." His small jab at your inability in many areas, such as swinging from buildings with web, made you straighten your spine.
You ignore his tone, again not daring to meet his gaze. "Then, I'm sure Jessica will be here soon to help with anything."
Miguel's eyes wander your stiff posture. He could tell that he made you nervous, and part of him relished in that. It helped him think that you knew your place.
When you noticed that he wasn't leaving, you go to say something else, when Hobie and Peter burst into the room. Both yours and Miguel's attentions shift. Hobie easily moves towards you, making you smile. He reached his hand out as you did what many would call a typical 'bro handshake'. But Hobie instead chose to call something far from normality, in his prominent british accent.
Hobie was one of the ones who recommended you for this job. And you've been beyond grateful since.
"How's your bloody boring shit going?" Hobie asks, leaning down to see whatever nonsense you had typed up.
"Describe 'boring shit'." You say, your tone turning smug.
He scoffs, eyeing the screen again, before giving up and grabbing your chin to turn back to the tech. "Keep working."
You chuckle, just as Miguel speaks. "Aren't you supposed to be out?"
Hobie looks to Miguel, straightening his guitar strap. "What—should I start calling you boss, and kissing your boots?"
Hobie has always been one to 'do his own thing' and completely bypass the rules. Miguel looks unimpressed, as Hobie holds his hands up in fake innocence. Peter chimes in. "He doesn't wear boots."
Hobie glances at him. "Thanks Peter. I didn't know."
Peter doesn't have time to respond before he's running after his swinging daughter. "Just get back to work." Miguel says. "That includes you, Peter. And didn't I say not bring her here?" He sounds exasperated, as he pinches the bridge between his nose.
You spin in your seat watching as Peter sends back a 'sorry', as he disappears, running through the large exit door. Hobie is quick to follow sending you a nod and a smile.
You wave them off, feeling the tension flood back into the room now that it's just you and Miguel again. You swiftly spin back in your chair, your fingers going back to tapping, as your legs spread comfortably.
Miguel looks back at you, before running his hand down his face, muttering. "No abras las piernas como una invitación." (Don't open your legs like an invitation.)
You pause, glancing at him. "What was that?"
He glances back at you, eyeing your confused expression. You, of course, didn't know spanish.
He places his hands against the desk, leaning a fraction closer to you, his gaze fluttering across your features. "Podría decirte cualquier cosa en español y no sabrías lo que quiero decir." (I could say anything to you in Spanish and you wouldn't know what I mean.)
"You know I don't know spanish." You mutter.
"I know. And the thought of you being so unaware, makes me want to tell you..." He leans closer to your ear, making your pulse beat rapidly. "....cuanto me haces arder, chaparrita. (how much you make me burn inside.) And it’s beyond annoying.”
You sigh, pushing slightly away from him. "Look, I know you find me annoying." You begin. "That's fine. But just...can you at least give me somewhat of a chance?"
"Do to what?" He asks, crossing his arms, as he leans back against the desk.
"To prove I'm helpful."
"Helpful?" Miguel asks, tilting his head. "You want to be helpful?"
"Of course."
"Then find a more suitable job." He stands to walk away.
"If you want me gone, then why don't you fire me?"
He pauses for a moment. "Sadly, I need a proper reason for that. So, if you want to be helpful to me. Then fuck something up."
"But while you're here being useless you should probably learn spanish." Miguel says as he walks out the door.
You huff, staring after him, watching as his back muscles contracted in a way that made you look away, gulping. Fucking Miguel O'hara.
;;
You sit, feet up by the tech, as you tapped away on your phone. You got a congratulatory 'ding' whenever you got a word or sentence right, and a rather loud 'booing' sound when you got a word or sentence wrong.
Yes, you're trying to learn Spanish. You sadly hadn't remembered word for word what Miguel had said to you, so you couldn't put it through translation. He must have purposefully spoken fast so you wouldn't have time to catch each word and remember.
'Me gusta ir al museo.' Your phone spoke. It translated to 'I like going to the museum' You had gotten it wrong, putting ‘park’ instead.
You groan, your head knocking back as your eyes shut in annoyance. You were only smart in certain areas. You let your phone drop to the desk, as you stretch, keeping your eyes shut tight, as if you could find the Spanish language hidden behind them.
"Spanish?" A deep voice spoke, making you jump, swiftly getting to your feet and spinning.
Miguel stands in his signature spider suit, your phone in his grasp. "I didn't think you'd actually listen to me."
You snatch it back, switching it off, as you scratch the back of your neck. "I was just..." You drift off sighing. "I like this job."
Miguel watches you closely. "You're committed, I'll give you that."
You smile, the word 'progress' swirling in your brain. "I learnt a sentence." You say, brows creasing in remembrance. "Me gusta...ir al...musio?" (I like going...to the...musio?) You say this more so as a question as you meet the amused gaze of Miguel.
"Ir al museo." (To the museum) He corrects, knowing the generic 'hobbies' sentences most kids learn.
"…I was close." You say, smiling, before you realise who you're talking to, your nerves returning.
Miguel nearly kicked himself for feeling warm at the small smile that you gave. You were trying to learn spanish—loosely—for him. "Can I make you a deal?" He suddenly asks.
You narrow your eyes a fraction. "What kinda deal?"
"One where we can help each other." He mutters, stepping closer. "You want to stay, correct?"
You nod.
"Then you're gonna have to convince me that you'd do anything for a mission."
You straighten, eyes widening at the chance to prove your worth. "I lead most missions, so loosely, you'd have to do anything for me."
He's much, much closer, eyeing you. "But we can make this a ‘give and take’. Let me teach you Spanish—something you'll need working for me, and in return for every lesson, you have to do something for me."
You eye him. "Like what?"
"Anything." He answers. "Because you'll have to do anything that's required for those missions. Call it practice, or proving your worth, chaparrita."
You lick your lips thinking. You can't see anything inherently wrong with this 'deal', so you nod. And that earns you the very first smile you've seen from Miguel O’hara.
i know this is short, but I just wanted to see if any of you guys would be interested in a full fic like this…
also if you would like to be in a taglist for this story — just comment
— after a mission, a group of spider-people come back bruised and for the most part injured, all including a seemingly unbothered miguel. miguel offers a first spanish lesson, one that ends with the reminder of something in return—I wonder where your new home is…
contains: learning spanish (I don’t speak spanish, so please correct me if I’m wrong with anything here); non detailed mentions of injuries; male masterbation
You hear the crash and commotion of a group arriving. You watched as medical spiders’ rushed towards the injured. They were all practically injured in some way. You quickly stood, making sure everything was out of the way, like rolled away chairs and random cords.
Your brows creased in concern as you spotted different spider-people holding their wounds, their suits ripped. You shift your gaze to the only one standing, appearing fine, besides his cut up suit and bloody face, bruises forming by his cheek. Before you know it, you're walking up to him. "O'hara."
He turns his head, his chest still breathing heavy. "You should sit." You suggest, watching as the rest of the group heads towards the large door, most likely heading to the medical room.
Miguel just walks past you, heading to the space you barely see him away from—by the big spider that teleports. You watch him walk, noticing the continuing tear of his suit, that gives you a good look at fractions of his bare muscled back.
You turn, quickly heading towards the exit, remembering something that might be helpful.
"Where are you going?" Miguel's sudden voice makes you slow as you briefly glance back. You catch his gaze. "You should be working." His general solemn expression is present, and oddly that makes you feel settled. Familiarity is always nice, especially after a clearly hard mission.
"I'll be back." You say quickly, before you rush out the door.
When you arrive back, Miguel is looking at his cuts, some clearly deeper than others. You tighten your hold on the large spider suit as you near him.
He instantly notices your presence, most likely a 'spider-sense' thing. His gaze shifts to the material in your grasp. "I know you'd rather someone else's help, but I know for a fact that we don't have spare spider suits, which is kind of stupid considering how dangerous your guys' job's are."
You near him, now noticing the way he's sitting, legs slightly spread, his body leant back in a swivel chair. And as you look closer, you realise that it's your swivel chair. You extend your hand with the suit, which he takes, eyeing the matching material and design of the worn-out one he has on now.
"I made a replica when I first arrived—when I was learning about how things worked here. Your suit is rather unique and I wanted a closer look. Not to mention that the design correlated to data I have saved on all of you."
Miguel raises a brow. "Data?"
"Lyla's data, to be exact. Since I'm working with her, she had to show me."
You watch as he runs the material between the pads of his fingers, his tongue coming out to lick his cut lip. A shiver runs down your spine as you notice his fangs. You'd noticed them before, but was never confident enough to ask him about them. No other spider-person had teeth like that.
You begin to step back. "Wear it if you want. I'm just heading to lunch."
And that was the nicest conversation you think you’ve had with Miguel. Mainly because you did all the talking.
Miguel watched you go, a nervousness very obvious to him practically flowing off you. Nerves he noticed heightened when you gave him the new suit.
He brings said suit into view, tilting his head in observation. He's thankful nobody was there to witness the small smile that had begun to edge his lips.
;;
"I'm sorry, when did you ever think that the patriarchy wasn't something terrible?" You ask Hobie, who had decided to join you for lunch. He had just showed you a new song on his guitar, the lyrics completely different from what you knew Hobie to be.
"Oh, society’s fucked. But I want to keep up an element of surprise." He says, continuously eating most of the food on your plate. "Can't stay predictable, now can I?"
You chuckle, slightly shaking your head, snatching some of the food out of his greedy hands. "Did you know what that mission was about, with all those injured spider-men?" You suddenly ask.
Hobie pauses, before shaking his head. "Though I did hear it got cleared from the database. Miguel asked Lyla to scrap it."
Your brows furrowed. "Why? I wasn't stationed for that mission, so, I was a little surprised to see the bloody fists and faces. Usually when Miguel leads a group things go so..."
"Smoothly?" Hobie fills in, to which you nod. "I don't know, mate. Maybe they lost, and poor Miguel's embarrassed."
Your lips curve up in a smile, as Hobie snickers at the thought.
"And weren't you just saying that you'd kiss my non-existent boots the other day?" Miguel's voice abruptly makes both you and Hobie swivel in your seats.
You instantly catch on to Miguel's clean suit. You hold back a smile threatening to surface at his semi acceptance of your help. Miguel notices your expression. "Don't take it personally, y/l/n."
You forming smile drops as you try to display indifference. "Did you need something, boss?" Hobie partially jokes.
"Not from you." Miguel looks back to you, before tilting his head to the side, silently asking you to follow him, as he turns and walks away.
Nerves crawl up your spine as you stand. You slide your plate closer to Hobie, as you speak. "Don't worry, you can finish it." Your sarcasm in your assurance is obvious, knowing he would have helped himself anyway.
Hobie places his hand over his heart, touched. "You're honestly an angel, y/n."
You scoff, quickly following the now disappeared Miguel.
When you near the tech and teleportation room—or in other words your office—you spot Miguel bringing up a second swivel chair to be placed beside yours.
When he catches your confused expression, he speaks, leaning back into the chair. "I have some spare time now for your first Spanish lesson. And Lyla is occupied, as of now."
You're quick to take a seat, a slight determined shine in your eyes that makes Miguel's throat tighten, which only sets a more prominent scowl on his face. "Te ves como una niña ansiosa mirando los regalos."
You blink, eyes narrowing as you try to decipher any of what he just said. "You look like an over eager child staring at presents." Miguel translates.
The shine in your eyes shifts to a glare of your gaze as you click your jaw. "As I said: I like this job."
"Mm." Miguel hums. "You've made that clear."
You lean back in your chair, trying to match his relaxed posture. "Can we start with something more simple?" You ask, wetting your slightly dry lips. Your nerves seem to do that to you.
"Don't worry, I don't think you're a genius or anything." His tone makes your nose twitch as you take a breath. You'd love to tell him how infuriating he can be.
"Repeat after me: Me llamo…" Miguel says.
"Me llamo."
Miguel is surprised by your rather accurate accent, his gaze shifting to your lips. "Me llamo y/n."
Your body becomes stiff as you hear your first name spill from his lips. You gulp, your throat now feeling dry. "Me llamo y/n."
"I'm sure you can guess what that means." Miguel says, his dry humour shining through.
"My name is y/n." You prove.
"Good." He says.
"Gracias." (Thank you.) You say the one word you do know, a hint of pride filling you as Miguel's eyes meet your own without the usual spite hidden behind.
"Since you know a basic word, let’s learn another." He rests his arm against the armrest, your eyes betraying you as they flicker to the tense of his muscles. "Por favor." (Please.)
"Por favor." You repeat.
Miguel's lips slightly curve up in a smirk. "You sound good being polite."
You narrow your eyes, before realising what 'por favor' means. "Please." You sigh.
Miguel's smirk hasn't dropped. To which you quickly speak. "Next word."
"Let's try a sentence using 'por favor'." He says. "¿Me puede ayudar, por favor?" (Can you help me, please?)
"¿Me puede ayu..." You drift off, unsure.
"Puede ayuder..." Miguel helps.
"¿Me puede ayudar, por favor?" You say, with a small smile.
"You're gonna be using that one a lot." Miguel says, licking his lips. What you don't know is that Miguel made you use the formal 'you', just adding more onto his layer of superiority. That's when you get reminded of his cut lip, which looks like it hasn't been tended to, most likely on his call.
"Are you sure you don't want to make sure that that doesn't get infected?" You ask, gesturing loosely to his bottom lip.
He raises his hand to it. "It's fine."
"Yeah, now it is." You say with a slight scoff. "It might not be—"
"It's fine, chaparrita."
"What does that mean?" You ask. "You've said it to me before."
Part—no, most—of Miguel doesn't want to tell you. Sure, he could play it off as an insult, but the way he can't help but let his tone drop to one of softness when he says it would give away the fact that he uses it as a form of endearment rather then one of hatred. He can't have you knowing that.
His silence makes you speak. "Fine, I'll just search it up then." You go to grab your phone—which sits rather far behind you—when he intercepts, using his web to snatch it up, pulling it back into his awaiting palm.
Miguel stands, taking the device with him. "Hey!" You call after him. "I need that."
"No you don't. Nothing of work importance is on here." Miguel calls back. You scoff, staring after him. Just as he's about to disappear through the exit he speaks. "Oh, and y/l/n?"
You wait in annoyance but also expectancy. "Don't forget you owe me something in return." Then he's gone, leaving you to lean into your chair, feeling heavy with all the different heights of nervousness you had just felt.
;;
It was dark, only a few spider-people wandering around headquarters. You’re preparing to teleport back to your universe, holding the wrist band you were given, when a certain voice stops you.
“Y/l/n.” You spin to see Miguel. You can’t help but let your gaze drop down his body. He wasn’t in his normal spider suit, wearing instead, grey sweatpants, and a loose (very large) shirt.
You had planned to say something, maybe ask what he wanted. But all you could muster was the open and close of your mouth.
You let your gaze shamefully drag back up to his face. His red eyes seemed to stand out more with the monotoned colours of his clothes. You gulp, refraining from shaking your head to clear your…interesting thoughts. You force a smile, maybe one too wide.
Miguel watches you, wishing he didn’t feel so amused by your confusing display of emotions.
You cough. “Did you need something, O’hara?”
He lets his gaze drift down your body, making you stiffen. And of course, he notices, holding down the curve of his lips. He wouldn’t smile in front of you. Though, he’s sure that self-made rule has already been broken by today’s Spanish lesson.
“Stay.” Miguel finally speaks, meeting your gaze.
“Stay?” You repeat.
“Mhm.” He hums, crossing his arms.
“What do you mean?”
Miguel raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “What do you think it means?” He asks dryly.
You narrow your eyes at his tone, running your tongue along your teeth. “I thought only spider-men and women can stay in headquarters?”
“I thought you wanted to do anything to prove your worth?”
Realisation hits you. “Oh, this is part of the deal? Your end?”
“In return for today’s lesson, yes.” He replies, walking closer to you.
He grabs your teleporting wristband, pocketing it in his sweatpants before he’s turning and heading towards a side door.
“Come on.” He orders.
You hurry your steps catching up to him.
Soon you’re beginning to walk up what looks to be the stairs to heaven. So. Many. Steps. You glance up at them, then shift your gaze to Miguel. “We’re walking all the way up there?”
“Feel free to web your way up instead.” The jabbing hasn’t left, which sets a small scowl on your face.
You wave your hands in the general direction of the higher steps. “You can do that, I’ll catch up.” You say as you begin to mount the stairs.
Miguel watches you for a second, pressing his lips together to hold back an unwanted laugh at the preparing deep breath you took.
He follows you up the stairs. You reach halfway when you realise he’s behind you. You spin, your chest slightly heaving. You’ve always felt jealous at all the spider variants’ fitness.
“Why aren’t you swinging?” You ask between breaths.
“Last I remember, you report to me, not the other way ‘round.” Miguel answers.
You scoff while trying to slow your breathing. “It was just a question.”
“Maybe we should switch lessons—do fitness instead of Spanish.” You watch as Miguel passes you, continuing up the stairs.
Your eyes are narrowed as your gaze follows him. “You’re funny.” You call after to his leaving form.
“No tan divertido como que estes sin aliento, chaparrita.” (Not as funny as you being breathless.) Miguel calls back.
“What?” You ask, breathlessly.
Miguel just chuckles. Your brain halts. Miguel just chuckled? Miguel seems to be thinking the same thing as his face returns, rather quickly, to its normal moody expression.
You’re both soon at the top, Miguel having reached it in a decent amount of time before you. Just as your bent of your knees, breathing heavy, Miguel turns, walking away again.
“O’hara.” You call, placing your hand over your rapidly beating heart. He doesn’t answer, continuing to walk.
“Miguel!”
At the mention of his first name he freezes. He doesn’t like the fact that his mouth goes dry, forcing him to gulp. He hasn’t liked the fact that you’ve made him ‘chuckle’, smile and actually forget about his morning’s mission.
“Your room is to the right. Be awake before six.” Miguel says monotonously, as he turns towards you, passing your now straightened body to assumably head to his own room.
You watch him go, your breathing slowing as a small frown forms. But it soon goes, grateful that this new room means O’hara is warming up to the fact of you staying.
;;
When Miguel reaches his room, he slams the door shut, some of the wall’s plaster crumbling off in sprinkles. He was mad. How dare you make him feel that many emotions in one day. One. Day. That’s all it took.
But what he hated more was the fact that underlying his anger towards you, was lust. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, your face and your voice was the thing that helped him late at night.
He hits back against the headboard of his bed, not caring about the creaks and groans of the wood. Because all he could think about was the way your chest looked heaving up and down. The way your mouth opened in pants.
He hated you. His hand slipped down to his pants, sinking into his sweatpants. He hated the way you smiled. His fingers wrapped around his hard on, beginning to stroke, his eyes shut as his head stayed pressed against the wall.
He hated the way you looked at him—big eyes staring with a mix of curiosity. His breathing began to hitch, as his pace quickened, a small groan falling from his lips. He hated the way you smelt—cherry following you everywhere you went. His hips began to thrust up into his palm.
He hated the way…
He hated…
“Coño...” (Fuck.) He whisper-hisses, his cock throbbing with the want to release.
His other hand gripped tight on his messy sheets, as he bites down on his lips, his eyes beginning to roll. His abs contract as his mouth hangs open in a pant. “Ay, chaparrita—dios.” (god.)
Miguel O’hara hates the fact that only you can bring him to an orgasm that makes him desperate to feel another.
Fuck you—he thinks to himself. Fuck you, y/n.
I’ll admit— I didn’t expect this to get so much love, thank you so so much all of you angels, MWAH
I promise more parts are to come!
also some words/how things work in the ‘spider-multiverse hero crew’ might be different then how you picture it—certain details I just made up, hope you all don’t mind
an: i love how as a fanbase we have collectively decided that this man has a massive breeding kink!! thank you for the request <33
-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-
“quiet, baby,” miguel’s deep voice whispers, looking down at you while he towers over, hips thrusting in and out of you like there’s no tomorrow. “don’t wanna get caught now, do we?” he purrs, gently smoothly down your pretty hair with his large hand, it slowly coming down to tip your face up to look at him.
the callouses tickle your chin, strangely adding to the sensuality, and you can’t help but whine, it’s building like a fury in you, the knot tightening and not coming undone. you try to say his name, too much of a struggle though, even to bubble out his nickname, and when you do try, it just comes out as a random spew of incoherent language only decipherable as moans and whimpers.
“yeah, baby? what is it?” he looks so good like this. lazy smirk emphasising his soft dimples, the shine of his fanged canines and the sultriness of his voice. his pretty chestnut hair sticking to his sweat slicked forehead, humidity volumising the locks and heaving them down so that he looked like he just came out the shower, all steamy and smelling so good.
but you know how miguel can get ahead of himself. how you’re ‘too much’ and he just ‘can’t help it’ when he’s balls deep inside you. the way he looks at you when peter babbles stupid babyish words with mayday and times when he randomly says things like ‘solana sounds like a pretty name for a girl, don’t you think?’ so it’s your responsibility, despite the eyes-rolling-into your-skull feeling of his dick inside you, to prevent an…accident.
“miguel. pull out.” you just barely sound out through swallows of saliva from how good he’s bruising your pussy.
he benignly chuckles: “i’m not sure if i want to, baby.” he groans at the tightening of your pussy, cursing in spanish about the feeling.
“you feel way too fucking good, and you’d make such a pretty mama,” he rubs your belly and coos at you with only your helpless hums of the prefix syllable ‘m’: gibberish to anyone— but miguel’s not like the others, he’s quick-witted and reads you like a book and he knows, in your own fucked-out, drunk-on-sex way, you’re trying to say his name. so he indulges.
“say something, baby,” he kisses you passionately with cognisance— “i know you wanna fucking say something,”
his hips slam into you so harshly, it makes your heart jump up and down in your rib cage: so fierce.
“miguel…”
he bounces you up further into him, hands stretching the plushness of your ass.
you lull your head over his shoulder, it’s too heavy to keep upright, and your lips graze his ear, your sweet moans pumping blood through him faster and thicker than anything ever could.
he softly speaks, eyes darting to his lower left corner, “what is it? what do you need, honey?” unlike his earlier cocky manner, there’s a genuineness weaved in his tone.
your moans only hiccup as a response, the up- down oscillation stirring arousal in your womb, low and deep, clouding your mind.
he comes straight out with it, fervour in his lilt, “you want me to fuck a baby into you? mmm? is that what it is?”
he bucks his hips into you so suddenly and your eyes squint shut and your breaths divide into shorter, more frequent inhale-exhales and so desperately do you voice a meek: “yes.”
so lovingly does he kiss your cheek, the soft pop finalising his thorough ploughs and he comes ropes, gelling up your velvety, plush insides.
he rubs his hand against your belly like before, presses into it and doughs the flesh, prideful with what he’s accomplished.
“you feel that, baby? you can almost see it.” he kisses your neck then your lips, nourishing the tiny little scratches he left nipping your skin earlier.
he thinks a few smooches is enough but once he starts he can’t stop, he can’t fucking stop. your lips against his just remind him of how much he’s in love with you, how he bleeds for you, thinks of you. how everything feels like a dream even while everything around him is tangible. your soft lips, your cinched waist, the slope of your neck, and the absolute heaven of you sucking him in just so good.
“look at what you do to me.” he reminds you through firm kisses.
“i know.” you kiss back, hands toying with his hair.
“i want it again. i wanna come into you again.” he lowly breathes, like confessing a sin: addicted.
you rub your nose against his cheek and your lips find his ear again, whispering in oh-so-sultry ways: “okay.”
Warnings: Mention of killing and murder, and some swear words
Summary: You’re one of the best journalists in your field, and then one day convicted serial killer, Chris Evans announces that he would like to be interviewed since he’s on death row, and is willing to do anything to get the truth out
There’s a Bradley Bradshaw version of this story already on my master list if you haven’t already read it, but I thought I would do this through Chris Evans as well. Hearts and reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated! If you wish to be added to my tag list please let me know and I’ll be sure to add you! Thank you all so much! XOXO
✨Please do not copy and paste my work or steal my work or publish my work as your own or I will have you reported✨
Please check out my other Chris Evans writing
"Did you hear?" Your friend Erica squealed as she leaned over the front of your cubicle as you typed away for your new report.
"Hear what?" Asking without stopping as you quickly glanced up at her.
"That convicted killer Evans requested to be interviewed." Now that information had your full attention.
"Chris Evans?" Squinting your eyes at her. "Convicted serial killer Chris Evans?"
"Yep." Popping the p as you leaned back in your chair. "Came out early this morning his attorney made a statement."
"He's been in prison for like five years that doesn't make sense why he wants to talk now." Crossing your arms across your chest as you slowly shook your head. "When does he want to do this interview?"
"Apparently he demanded it be done this afternoon."
"This afternoon?" Repeating her words with a shocked expression on your face. "You've got to be kidding."
"I know I couldn't believe what I heard either." Erica exclaimed with wide eyes.
"There's no way they would let that happen." Scoffing through your nose at the thought of them letting him get what he wants.
"I heard it's cause he's on death row." Now that made a little sense as to why he wanted to talk.
"Well yeah I would hope after brutally murdering over a dozen women he'd be put on death row."
"Maybe he wants to clear his conscious." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Who in the world would want to interview someone like him anyway?" Your voice dripping with disgust at the thought of being alone with someone like him anyway.
"Someone whose stupid and isn't afraid of anything." She joked as you both laughed.
"Well I'll tell you I wouldn't even come within a hundred yards of that man." Pointing your finger at her in a matter of fact. "They couldn't get me to do something like that."
"Me neither I would rather just shoot myself if I had to interview him."
"Y/L/N." Turning your head to see your boss standing in the door way of his office looking straight at you. "Can I talk to you in my office for a moment."
"Yes Mr.Stan." Nodding his head as he turned back into his office.
"Someone's in trouble." Your friend teased with a singing voice as you rolled your eyes giving her the middle finger.
"If I'm in trouble I'm taking your ass down with me." You sneered at her standing up walking towards his office.
As you stood in the doorway knocking on the door he looked up from his paperwork motioning you to sit down. Shutting the door behind you as you took a seat patiently waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. He rarely called you into his office like this usually he called you on the phone to talk.
"Im sure you've heard all about this Chris Evans prick." He started off as you nodded your head.
"Yeah I was just kept up to speed." Smacking your lips together.
"Then you've also heard he wants the person to do the interview to be a woman?" Staring straight at him as you wondered where he was going with this.
"I did not." Your stomach churning at the feeling of where this talk was going, and what you were probably going to be asked.
"Which is why I wanted to talk to you." Clearing his throat as you waited to hear those dreadful words. "I want you to do the interview."
"I hope this is some kind of prank." Blurting out loud as he clasped his hands together on the desk.
"You're one of my best reporters." He complimented you as you sat frozen. "You're the only person who could ace this interview."
"I don't know." Looking down at your lap as your nerves were all over the place.
"Besides you would be the only person to do this interview, and you could get your name out there." He really wasn't going to let this go, and he did have a point.
Doing this interview would mean getting your name plastered over news channels, and radios. Everyone would know who you are, and it could also mean a pay increase which didn't sound too bad. It just horrified you to no extent being in the same room with that man.
"Do I really have a choice." Not meaning to say that out loud, but to yourself.
"I have you scheduled to be there at four thirty." Ignoring your statement as he informed you of details.
"You already called them?" Exclaiming as you leaned forward in your chair. The little shit had already decided who was going to do this interview.
"Well yes I knew you'd be the woman for the job." Smiling widely as he complimented you again.
"Can I at least have someone else come with me?" Asking him with nothing but hope in your voice.
"No he requested that only one person be there." Begrudgingly shaking his head disappointment written across your face.
"Fine." Sighing loudly as you stood up facing the door.
"You'll be fine Y/N I promise." He tried making you feel better but all you could do was just nod your head.
Dragging your feet as you walked back to your cubicle. Erica was by your desk immediately staring into your soul waiting to hear everything. As you sat down slumping your body in the chair looking up at her. Silently telling her exactly what she was worried about.
"Shut the fuck up." Whispering as you just nodded your head. "He's making you do the interview."
"Yep at four thirty today." Wishing that you would have just called in sick or something today.
"Could someone at least go with you?"
"Nope I already asked apparently this guy doesn't want anybody else there."
"Damn." Snapping her fingers as she looked at you with sympathy. "Well thank goodness I'm not as good as a reporter as you."
"Yeah we all can't be so lucky as you." Voice fanning with sarcasm it made her giggle.
"Well bring your mace with you just in case."
"Probably not allowed to have any kind of weapons on me." Informing her as she pursed her lips looking away.
"Shit your right." She responded as you laughed at her failed attempt to help.
"But they can't take away my mean right hook." You joked holding your right hand up in a fist as Erica shook her head at you.
"I hate to break it to you Y/N but your hands are like marshmallows."
Giving her a pathetic chuckle you decided keeping busy until it was time to leave would be the best thing. Except it wasn't cause your mind was racing at the thought of being alone in a room with this man. Unable to stop thinking about what could happen to you there. Even lunch was horrible unable to stomach eating anything at that moment.
Looking at the clock what felt like every ten seconds. Watching at time got closer and closer to leaving. Wishing that you could just skip through time, and avoid doing this interview. Maybe you could play sick and your boss would assign someone else to do it. Mr. Stan wasn't that stupid he'd know right away what you were trying to do.
Wondering to yourself if you should call family and friends to let them know where you are in case anything were to happen. Surely the place would be well guarded enough so nothing would happen to you.
Gathering your things you grabbed your tape recorder shoving it into your purse. Standing up you could see all kinds of looks from everyone. Guessing that word spread very quickly who was the unfortunate soul who had to do this interview.
Erica looking up at you giving you two thumbs up as you smiled at her. Heading out the front doors and to your car. Breathing through your mouth as you sat in your car for a minute to calm down. This wasn't how you expected you were going to spend the rest of your afternoon.
As you headed down the road you turned on some music hoping that would help put your mind at ease. Telling yourself that it wasn't Chris Evans you were going to interview but someone else. That helped at least a little bit easing your nerves.
You never really understood why your town lived pretty close to a maximum state prison, and why you lived in that town. You'd think something like that would scare people off, and not want to live there. The drive wasn't too bad and you found yourself almost calming down.
That dream faded though as soon as you pulled up to the large prison. Noting the tall fences that were lined with thick barbed wires, and towers on every corner with multiple armed guards patrolling the area. You've seen prisons before but this one looked scary and menacing.
"I have an interview with Chris Evans at four thirty." Handing the guard at the gate your ID and work badge. Watching as he scanned them through the system.
"Your gonna pull up to that parking lot over there and go through those double doors where you'll go through metal detectors." He informed you as he handed you your stuff back.
As you thanked him you couldn't help but notice the look of sympathy he gave you. Like he felt bad a woman like you had to be in the same room as a psychopath. Your palms were sweating now as you pulled into an empty spot. Heart felt like it was racing a million beats per second.
"Remove any jewelry you may have and put your purse or bag into the tray and step through the machine." A guard yelled when he saw you walk in looking around.
As you did what he asked you stepped through the detector, and watched your bag going down the conveyor belt. Once they figured you were clean you grabbed your bag, and looked around to see where you needed to go.
"Uh excuse me." Timidly asking a guard catching his attention. "I have an interview at four thirty with Chris Evans where do I need to go?"
"You'll want to talk to Mr. Briggs first and he'll tell you what to do from there. Go down that hall all the way to the end you'll see his name."
"Thank you." The guard nodding as you turned to where he pointed and walked down the hall.
Once you reached the end you saw his name in bold letter on the door. Knocking on the door you heard shuffling around before a loud voice telling you to come in. Opening the door just enough to step in to see a tall thin man sitting at his desk shuffling through paperwork.
"You must be my brave reporter." Greeting as he looked up at you.
"That would be me."
"I'm Martin Briggs I'm head of security here." Not knowing what to say you just nodded your head noticing all his certificates and medals he had.
"Well I must say I'm glad we were able to find someone so quickly to do this interview." Smiling widely as he stood up to walk towards you.
"Any chance to do a big story like this I'm in." Trying your best to sound excited and not disgusted.
"You know we've had a lot of reporters come in here, but I must say none of them have been as attractive like you."
"Thank you." Standing there awkwardly feeling slightly uncomfortable as his eyes were practically undressing you.
"There are a couple of rules that we have to go over." He coughed as he fiddled with a pen.
"Of course."
"Do not stand too close to the cell. Do not hand him anything or let him hand you anything. If he makes any threats you yell for us and we'll escort you out immediately." His manner and tone very serious. "Do you understand?"
"Yes sir I do." Nodding your head feeling a little lightheaded suddenly.
"Well let's get this thing over with shall we?" Leading you out of his office and back down the same hall.
"I trust you're not nervous?" He asked as you two stepped onto an elevator.
"Only a little."
"Well don't show it Chris can sense the nervous ones." His words didn't make you feel better.
"We have him located on the maximum security floor." He continued as you walked down another hallway where you could hear loud voices coming from all around you.
"Why is that?" You asked as you tried to keep up with him.
"He attacked some guards a while back and almost killed them." Feeling your throat closing as you tried swallow the saliva pooling in your mouth.
"Why is he separated from everyone else?" Noticing there was no other cell doors down this hall.
"He doesn't do well with others." Was all he said as you two stopped in front of another gate guarded with some security a loud buzzing went off and the door opened.
"Has he ever gone through any psychiatric evaluation?" You hated to ask but you were curious.
"Many times." He responded. "They've all said the same thing."
"Which was?" You pressed his body language becoming rigid.
"That he was a lost cause." Not turning to face you as you continued to walk down a hall.
A couple security guards were standing there as they nodded there heads at you. This was becoming all too real now. This wasn't just some bad dream this was reality. You were literally just a few feet away from a very dangerous man, and anything could happen. There was no turning back at this point.
"This is where I leave you good luck." Patting your shoulder as him and the other guards walked through the gate.
Watching them as they left realizing that you were now alone. Slowly walking down the rest of the hall to the cell he was staying in. As you stood in front of the cell now you saw him laying on the bed his back leaned up against the wall. A book in his hand not bothering to even look up at you.
"You must be the beautiful Y/N." His words like ice as he said your name. The air was thick with tension and the room felt like you were in a sauna.
"How did you know my name?" Trying not to stutter as you talked.
"They informed me of your coming." Chris placing his book down as he looked right at you.
"Well let's get this interview started shall we." Grabbing your tape recorder out as you grabbed a chair leaning against the wall pulling it to face the cell.
"Now Mr. Evans what made you decide to do this interview?" Leaning the recorder closer to him.
"Please call me Chris." He smiled at you as you bit back your tongue not wanting to anger him.
"Chris." The name sounded like poison on your tongue. "What made you decide to do this interview?"
"Because I'm innocent." His words completely turn you for a spin. Not expecting him to say that.
"Your innocent?" Questioning him to further explain. "Are you saying you didn't kill these women?"
"I was framed by someone. Someone that I know very well." He continued as he stood up this time.
"And who is that someone?" Not believing him for one second.
"You don't believe me do you?" Ignoring your question sensing your doubt in his answer.
"It's kind of hard to believe you when your DNA was found all over the crime scene of these murders." Holding the scoff hanging in the back of your throat.
"Like I said I was framed." He repeated his words. "Someone planted my DNA on their bodies."
"Tell me who." You pushed but he just chuckled lightly.
"Does it really matter they've already convicted me, and they want to throw away the lock and key." He didn't sound sad or angry but more of accepting of his fate.
"Did you know any of these women?" You continued.
"Yes I did." He nodded his head as he was standing right in front of the cell bars. "I went on dates with them."
"So women you went out with just whined up dead." You stated out loud to yourself. "Why do you think that is?"
"Because someone had it out for me and wanted me to pay."
"Seems a little extreme to butcher women all because they've got a problem with you." Squinting your eyes at him as you tried not to laugh at his response.
"People do crazy things when fueled by anger." He smiled at you as he sat back down on the bed.
"Several psychiatrists stated you deserve to be put to death." Crossing a leg over the other. "Do you agree with them."
"They were paid to lie." Shaking his head as his fists clenched in his lap.
"By who?" You asked cocking your head to the side.
"By the same person who framed me for these murders." He stated matter of factly.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I just do."
As you stared at him so many things were running through your mind. That this man really was crazy and murdered all those women, but was just in major denial of it. There is no way someone could have framed him for all these murders and then paid people to lie about it. That something you see in a cliche movie.
"You don't have a husband do you." He stated as you squirmed in your seat. "I noticed you're not wearing a wedding ring."
"Are you scared of commitment?" His questions were becoming a little too personal.
"No." Glaring at him at this point.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked you making you scrunch your brows.
"I don't think that's any of your business." Snapping at him a little harshly.
"It's only fair I get to ask you some questions." He was amused that he was getting to you.
"You asked to be interviewed." You scoffed not even bothering to turn off the tape recorder.
"Touché." Smirking at you sensing the real you coming out.
He was clearly trying to get a rise out of you. Which he probably did with most women anyway. Seeing if he could see which right buttons to push and then proceed with flying colors.
"Why did you want a woman to do this interview Chris?" Now this was something you were genuinely curious about.
"I love women." He answer basic making you roll your eyes.
"Oh please." Whispering to yourself and Chris chuckled when he heard you.
"Because women give off a sense of safety and comfort. There like a warm blanket to wrap around you when you feel cold or scared. A sense of security if you will."
"Do all women make you feel like that?"
"Not all of them." He looked down again at his hands.
Clicking the tape recorder off you shoved it back inside your bag just wanting to get out of there. This was the most confusing and weirdest interview that you have ever done. You just wanted to get out of there and into the safety of your own home.
"I think I've got all I need here." Standing up as you adjusted yourself Chris standing up as well.
"Thank you." Chris bowed his head to you.
"Mhm." You mumbled through your lips as you turned to head back down the hall. Feeling his eyes on you as you walked away.
"See you soon Y/N." His words almost had you stopped in your tracks. They didn't sound menacing or threatening though. As much as you wanted to ask him what he meant you just had to get out of there.
Smacking the button to get out of there the buzzer when off. Swinging the door open and practically jogging out of there the security guards watching you as you left. Mr. Briggs was nowhere in sight and you really didn't want to wait up for him.
He was creepy anyway and would probably try to ask you out anyway. You really didn't feel like dealing with any more men right now.
Making it to the parking lot you hauled ass out of there and took off down the street. Texting Erica that you were done and that you had survived the interview. All you wanted to do was get home and get into something comfortable, make a nice meal and then go to bed. It was starting to get dark anyway.
As you made it home you almost slumped into bed and called it a night right there. You just wanted to spend the rest of your evening relaxing and not worrying. Today was mentally exhausting for you, and you'd just hope you didn't have to go back. Cause then you really would call in sick.
The time going by quicker than you expected as you checked your phone it see it was almost eleven at night. Turning the tv off you made your way into the bedroom to get ready for bed. After brushing your teeth and doing your routine you jumped into bed, and set your alarm for the next morning.
Placing the covers over yourself as you snuggled into a comfortable position. Closing your eyes as you started to let the darkness of sleep consume you. Until your phone started to ring your eyes snapping wide open to see who was calling you this late.
"Erica?" You raspy voice answering the phone. "You better have a good reason for calling me."
"Please tell me you're watching the news." Her words rushed and panicked.
"No cause I'm getting ready to sleep." Groaning rubbing a hand over your face.
"Turn on the news now." Her words demanding.
"Okay okay calm down." Shuffling back into your living room you turned your tv on flipping to your local news.
"We have breaking news coming in from one of our local sources and we have just been informed that convicted serial killer Chris Evans wasn't found in his cell this evening." You we're sitting on the edge of your seat now. "Sources say Chris Evans has escaped from prison."
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