Arranged Marriages & Forbidden Love - Chapter 11
Notes: Here’s chapter 11! I really like this chapter :) anyway, chapter 12 comes out next week at the same time! Please continue to like/comment/reblog this, it helps me out so much you guys! Thank you so much!! <3
Summary: Peter tries to confront you about the past.
Arranged Marriages & Forbidden Love - Chapter 11
Peter Parker x Stark!Reader
Word Count: 1,353
Warnings: usual angst and fluff i guess
| Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |
“(Y/n)?” There’s a knock on your door. You stay silent, trying to stop the tears that are already flowing freely down your face. You raise your head to see Peter walk in, a grief-stricken look on his face when he sees the tear stains on your cheeks.
“Pete…” You cry, voice cracking. You break down in front of him, not able to hold it in any longer. You sob as the pain in your wrist grows unbearable.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” He shuts the door behind him and goes to sit down by you on the bed. You don’t stop him, you don’t have the energy right now. Instead, you lay your head on his shoulder as he wraps a comforting arm around your waist.
“M-My wrist…” You unwrap your hand from around your wrist, showing him your mechanical right hand. He frowns, studying your hand. There’s no visible scar where the flesh meets metal, it looks normal. You feel the metal digging into the center of your wrist, mostly, not the outside.
“Hey, shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Peter pulls you into his chest as he leans back, laying you down on the bed with him. You curl into him, not wanting to put up a fight right now. He’s trying to be there for you, so you let him.
You want him to be there for you. You want this to be normal, for there to be an unspoken thing between you two like there was before. You want so badly for him to be yours again, and for you to be his again. You know that can’t happen, but this is the closest you’ll get to it. So, you take it. You lay down with him and you relax into his embrace as his arms wrap around your torso and pull you flush against his chest. You let him pull a blanket over the two of you as you slowly drift to sleep, feeling safe in the one embrace you never thought you’d have again.
~+~
The next morning, you wake up to your wrist feeling fine again. The pain has subsided and you feel okay. For now. Except for the fact that the space next to you is cold and empty.
Peter is gone.
“Hngh…” You groan, sitting up in your bed as the blanket bunches up around your waist. You kick your legs off the side of the bed and get up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. You trudge over to your door and slide it open, stepping out into the cold hallway.
“Oh, you’re awake. Is your wrist feeling better now?” Peter walks up to you, a small smile on his face. Your heart speeds up. You haven’t held a proper conversation that didn’t involve yelling or crying in two years.
Then, you catch your father’s eye over Peter’s shoulder. Well, it’s more of a glare.
“Peter,” you lower your voice, “if you think last night changed anything between us, you’re mistaken.”
“What?” His eyes go wide with hurt as he stares at you. You spin on your heel, turning away from him as you choose your next words carefully.
“You caught me in a vulnerable position. I didn’t want to fight at the moment. That’s all it ever was, we’re still not on speaking terms.” You murmur, walking back into your room. Peter follows you and shuts the door behind him, much to your dismay.
How would this look to your father?
“You can’t tell me that’s all it was. I know it wasn’t.” He furrows his brows, looking to your bed which is still disheveled from the two of you laying on it.
“It was, Pete. I-I’m getting married soon.” You screw your eyes shut, not ready for this conversation. You don’t want this to happen yet, you’re not ready. You just spoke to him for the first time in two years yesterday. Everything is happening so fast and you’re not prepared for any of it.
“Look me in the eyes and honestly tell me right now that you’re in love with Harley and that you want to marry him,” Peter demands, staring at you. You can’t look into his eyes.
“I want to,” You whisper.
“That’s a load of crap. You can’t even look at me when you say that.” He scoffs, running a hand through his curly, bedhead hair.
“Go away.” Tears prick at the corners of your eyes. You’re not ready for this confrontation yet. You’re not ready to deal with the pain of the past, to reopen wounds that you thought were finally healing. You’re not ready for him to know that you’re still in love with him.
“No, I’m not going away until you’ve convinced me that you aren’t still in love with me.” He leans against the door, arms crossed and one eyebrow arched.
“P-Peter, you can’t...I love Harley, that’s the end of it. You have a girlfriend, anyway.” You groan, glaring at him. He raises his eyebrows in surprise.
“Last time, you had a boyfriend--”
“This is different and you know that!” You argue, pointing a mechanical finger into his chest. His chest rises against your finger, causing a blush to settle on your cheeks as you realize the close proximity between the two of you.
“I saw the way you looked at me after I told you I was still in love with you, (Y/n). I know you feel the same, so what’s stopping you?” He whispers, wrapping his hands around your mechanical one. You slip your hand out of his grasp, insecure about it.
“We can’t.” You mumble, looking down at your hand.
“Why won’t you let me hold your hand? Your mechanical one, specifically.” He asks, reaching for it again before you pull it away from his reach.
“It’s not a real hand. It’s...It’s metal, and it’s weird. It’s mechanical, it doesn’t feel the same. Y-You shouldn’t hold it. Besides, we shouldn’t be holding hands in the first place.” You look up at him, eyes pained as you stare into his sad brown ones.
“It’s not weird, (Y/n). So, what, it’s mechanical? That doesn’t matter, it’s pretty cool that you have a fully functional mechanical hand. You lost it fighting valiantly against a man who attacked you. I don’t care if it doesn’t feel the same as a ‘normal’ hand. I want to hold your hand, (Y/n), because I want to hold you. I love you.” He steps closer to you, almost chest to chest, as he reaches between both of you and grabs your mechanical hand, intertwining his fingers with yours. Your breathing hitches in your throat as he does this.
“We shouldn’t be doing this.” You look down at your intertwined hands.
“That didn’t stop us last time, did it?” He asks, voice lowering as he stares at you. You look up and realize that his face is much closer than it was.
You want to kiss him. You want to wrap your arms around his neck and resume your relationship from college.
But this isn’t college anymore, and you still have a duty to uphold. You still have a man you have to marry.
“I’m sorry, Peter, but I can’t.” You step away from him, letting your grasp fall from his. He sighs and runs another hand through his hair.
You wish you could run your hand through his hair.
“I have to go. But...I’ll be back, soon. Please think it over. If you think it over and still say no, then fine, I won’t bother you anymore. But if you know that you still love me and that you still want to be with me, then tell me when I get back. We’ll figure things out like we always do.” He gives you a small smile and presses a soft kiss to your cheek before he’s gone.
You raise your left hand to your cheek and brush your fingers over the spot that he kissed. Butterflies fill your stomach at the thought.
You know what you want to do, but will you follow your heart or your head?
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