the most wonderful time of the year | otto octavius
Pairing: Otto Octavius / GN!Reader
Story Summary: After a horrible Christmas with your family, you went to the only place you knew would make you feel better, a very small Christmas party hosted in an Oscorp break room.
Words: 1.8k
Tags/Warnings: !!TAKES PLACE AFTER NO WAY HOME!! Smallest spoiler ever, swearing, hurt/comfort, mentions of reader having a bad/uncaring family, fluff, not fully beta-read
A/N: This is an extremely self indulgent comfort fic. This takes place in Tobey!Peter’s universe.
Your fingers curled into a fist, tears finally being released from your dewy eyes once you were finally parked in the all too familiar parking lot. It had been a long awaited release of emotions being bottled up throughout the entire morning as you suffered through Christmas with your family. It was supposed to be a holiday that brought happiness and cheer but all it brought to you was an overwhelming sense of disappointment and resentment, a reminder that you were the odd one out.
A broken sob left your lips as your chest heaved painfully, your mind turning fuzzy as the memories of the morning already started to become muddy.
The most painful reminder of it all was the guilt you felt for being so disappointed. Had it been selfish of you to not enjoy the things wholeheartedly even though you already knew exactly what you got? You glanced over at the pile of books lying pitifully in the passenger seat next to you. There wasn’t a single present that screamed ‘I was thinking of you when I got this’, no uniqueness to it like your other family members had gotten. But even still knowing that you still felt guilty for wanting more effort put in, that you didn’t appreciate it enough, or smile enough when tearing the paper to yet another book.
A knock on your driver’s side window made you jump violently in your seat, you looked over through your tear filled eyes, the figure obscured and blurry but you still knew who it was. Your window slowly rolled down as you wiped the tears from your eyes and the sight of Peter Parker was finally clear.
“You okay?” Is all he asks, concern evident with how his brows furrowed and lips are twisted into a frown.
“Oh… You know, just family being family.” You chuckle as if you hadn’t just been caught bawling your eyes out. “Are you guys still having that Christmas party? I know I said I probably wasn’t gonna come but…”
“Hey don’t even worry about it, you’re always more than welcome. It actually just started not too long ago.” He reassures you, opening the door for you once you unbuckled yourself. “MJ was just asking about you actually.” He held his hand out for you to take, helping you out of your car even though you didn’t really need it, Peter was just doing what Peter did best.
“That’s so sweet.” You say with a watery smile, the tears welling up again in your fragile emotional state.
---
You were awestruck when you walked through the door, one of the break rooms in Oscorp having been decorated so perfectly, not a single inch of the room had been left untouched by streamers, tinsel, or shiny red and gold decoration. The tree was beautiful too, perfectly decorated and standing tall in the corner. Norman very clearly took advantage of the opportunity to go all out when Peter had brought the idea of a party up at the beginning of the month.
“Oh you came!” MJ came up to you with a beaming smile, a cup of apple cider in her hand. She gave you a warm hug, rubbing your back with her free hand, “It’s so good to see you.” She said with a softer smile, one that told you that she was here for you.
“We’ve got food, music that Norman insisted on being played, non alcoholic drinks because it’s twelve pm, and your best friends to help you feel better.” Peter placed a hand on your shoulder “Oh and Octavius is here too.” Peter wiggled his eyebrows at you with a smirk plastered on his face, making your face heat up.
“Shut the hell up, Parker.” You laugh, hitting him in the chest with the back of your hand.
“Oh, don’t tease them Peter.” MJ half heartedly scolded with a smile on her face, “He is here though, right over there.”
She pointed at Otto, who was standing in front of Norman laughing at something he had said. The tentacles on his back moved around occasionally, thankfully no longer a nuisance on him like they had been. He was wearing a deep red turtleneck and the long black coat that he always wore.
“You guys are evil.” You muttered to yourself as you quickly averted your eyes and looked back at MJ. You risked a glance back at Otto, finding that he was already looking over in your direction. He gave you a small smile, waving at you.
“Oh god.” You whisper under your breath, waving back at Otto with a smile. “Do I look okay?” You ask them anxiously
“You look great.” MJ says, placing a comforting hand on your bicep.
You spent the remainder of the party talking with Peter and MJ. Eventually Norman made his way over to you followed by Otto, who still had the ever present smile on his face slowly nursing his own cup of apple cider. The hours went by filled with laughter, pleasant conversations, and scientific discussions you didn’t understand.
But things came to a halt when Peter stopped abruptly mid sentence and glanced towards the window just in time for a loud explosion to be heard in the distance.
“What the hell was that?” You asked, your arm brushing against Otto’s when you turned to look at everyone else.
“I don’t know…” Peter said slowly, quickly making his way to the window and pushing some of the streamers out of the way so he could see outside “Shit, I have to go. I’m so sorry guys, I promise I’ll be back just in time to help clean up.” He was rushing out of the room, giving one final wave to you all and letting the door close behind him.
“Well, I feel like it would be a good time to call it a night before a car gets thrown through my building with all of us in here.” Norman jokes, already making his way to the food table and taking a snowman sugar cookie from the plate they were placed on, “I’m going to get more trash bags, I’ll be right back.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go help him find those, be right back!” MJ said following after Norman.
A nervous heat began to rise in your body at that realization that you were standing in the room alone alone with Otto next to you, hoping you didn’t seem too awkward as you turned to the side only to see Otto already looking at you from over the rim of his cup.
“I guess it’s up to us to start cleaning then.” He said with a soft chuckle.
“I guess so.” You agree.
Both Otto and you went to opposite sides of the break room, filling the trash bags with the streamers and tensile that were hanging all over the room.
You were really glad you came to the party, even if it had ended as abruptly as it did, it helped you forget how horrible your morning was. You couldn’t have been more thankful to have Peter and MJ in your life.
You’ve been best friends with Peter and Harry since high school they’ve seen many of your highs and lows throughout your life, especially when it came to your family, and in the end Peter and MJ were always by your side.
Once the trash bag you were holding was almost entirely full you wanted to place it by the door, you looked down at your sweater, adjusting the sleeves around your wrists as you walked to the door, looking up just in time for you to almost collide with Otto who had also not been paying attention to where he was going.
“Oh shit, sorry!” You rush out as you lightly bump into each other. Otto’s hand instinctively caught your forearm to steady you just in case you fell, “Should’ve been watching where I was going.”
“It’s no problem.” Otto smiles, his gaze soft. “Did you get everything over there?” He asks, looking up at the ceiling where the streamers had been skillfully hung by Peter’s webs.
His eyes lingered on a certain spot above the both of you though, you followed his gaze to the little green decoration hanging above both of your heads. The mistletoe was tied at the end with a red bow with gold edges, hanging just high enough above the door to not be shut into it.
“Oh…” You whisper with a slightly awkward chuckle, “I didn’t even know that was there.”
“Me neither.” Otto muttered, his cheeks becoming a soft red, “We don’t… If you don’t want…” He trails off awkwardly.
“Well I mean if you don’t…” You add, “I mean…” Your face became hotter as you carefully pushed out your next words quietly, “It is tradition… It’s actually kinda interesting because in Norse mythology Loki actually used it to kill Baldur. But in some stories he’s resurrected and Frigg was so happy that it became, well… What it is...” You trailed off awkwardly, your rambling coming out slightly strained as you tried to alleviate the anxiety you felt while standing beneath the taunting green plant with the man you’ve had feelings for.
Finally you were able to tear your eyes away from the mistletoe to see Otto already staring at you for the third time that night, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want just because it may be tradition.”
“Who said I didn’t want to?” You say before even thinking, your brows furrowing when you look into his deep brown eyes, happy that they weren’t being obscured by the sunglasses he sometimes wore.
Otto seemed taken aback by your quick response. Your eyes fall to his lips when they part only slightly, “I…” He starts but doesn’t finish as he throws caution to the wind and leans in, your lips touching in a soft kiss.
Your hand comes up to rest on his bicep, drawing yourself a little closer as you kiss him back hoping to diminish any doubts he may have. His own hand makes its way to your jaw, his thumb softly stroking against the apple of your cheek before you slowly pull away from each other.
You found it hard to open your eyes, still feeling as if you were floating on a cloud, but when they fluttered open you looked into his beautiful brown eyes which looked back, swimming with emotion and a small smile plastered on his face.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a while.” He whispers.
“Me too…” You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Sorry I took so long! There was this huge- oh!” Peter stopped in tracks after swinging into the window you had left open for him “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” He held his hands up, you could practically hear the smug smile he had behind his mask as you and Otto quickly separated from each other “Glad you guys found the mistletoe through! Great party, I’m gonna go ahead and find MJ, bye!” And just as fast as he came he was gone again through the same window.
“That little shit.” You mutter, unable to shake the smile on your face as you glanced over at Otto, who mirrored your expression.
NOTE: I will not be writing for Tom’s Peter because he is canonically a minor in all current movies, so please do not request stories for him. I can write him into stories but the reader will never be in a romantic relationship with him.
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Otto Octavius
One Shots
the most wonderful time of the year | otto octavius ✦ ♡
