Year One (Spiderman/Blackcat)
Title: Year 1
Rating: PG-13ish
Pairing: Spiderman/Blackcat
Prompt: "Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable." (John D. MacDonald)
Summary: A collection of drabbles/ficlets that show that being superheroes doesn't make the first year of marriage any easier.
AN: written for jtav's wishlist. Thanks to bk03 for being my beta
“I caught you!”
The cry of triumph is without warning of any sort from his trusty spider-sense. Peter had long ago learned that his personal alarm system had apparently declared Felicia to not be a threat and never went off when she was nearby. This did not bode well for him as he had come to rely on it when dealing with some of his sneakier opponents and no one was sneakier than Felicia.
“Mr. Parker,” she purred as she snuggled her head into his bare shoulder, “did we open the new bottle of toothpaste before finishing off the old?”
The evidence was there of course. A nearly full tube lying open, the toothpaste on his brush colorful, rather than showing any sign of age or having come out in small, stodgy spurts, and finally the crimped, crooked, old container lying forgotten in the rear corner of the surprisingly uncluttered bathroom counter.
Felicia may have grown up with money, but Peter had come to find out that she was incredibly frugal. Every drop or piece of anything they bought was used till there was absolutely nothing left. It was endearing at times, other times frustrating as hell. Her eye seemed to catch everything, a skill she may have adapted as the daughter of a thief on the run or a business woman who was legendary for reading through contracts with an eagle eye for detail. What it all boiled down to though was this: he’d been caught.
“I couldn’t get it out?” The excuse is as lame as the delivery. It’s a part of him he doesn’t quite understand, the change in personality when he puts on the mask. The quips and one-liners never come to him without the mask on, though he wonders what exactly he would have said had he been wearing the mask and what her reaction would have been. He's slightly grateful that the quips won't come right now when the image of a furious Felicia thunders through his mind.
In complete contrast his Felicia sighs and reaches for the older tube and slowly takes the bottom of the tube and rolls it up towards the cap, forcibly pushing whatever remnant of toothpaste still remain to the top of the tube. That done, she smears it on her own toothbrush and calmly begins brushing her teeth.
He’s gracious for the save from a possible argument that would probably end in her getting mad and then eventually laughing at something he’d done. The impetuous part of him can’t help but reach for the new, unopened bottle of Listerine, which just happened to be next to the old, nearly empty bottle. The warning in her glare and sudden grip on his arm is more than enough to chastise him.
************
He really had tried to stop it, but still the idea would not leave his mind and so he’d laughed, despite every tendon in his body straining to keep it from happening. It had come and gone as quickly as that, but the damage was already done. She twitches in his arms, a sigh of frustration that warms his naked chest. He’s caught and that knowledge scares him just a little as he watches her head rise from its once comfortable position on his stomach. Her hair parts as she lifts her head and he can see a mixture of intense annoyance and curiosity in her eyes. It’s a promise.
“What’s so funny?” she said. Gone is the silky tone she’d used to talk him out of his photo lab and into their bed. It’s been replaced by something much more threatening.
“The ceiling,” is the first thing he blurts out. The truth in his statement does nothing to assuage the idea that he started it wrong and that more detail might have helped him. A lesson to be exercised another day if he lived through this.
She casually looks up at the ceiling and then back at him. He feels her grip tighten on his right bicep. “Please do go on, Peter.”
“I uh...overheard a conversation about what our...Spiderman and Black Cat’s um love life would be like and the gentlemen were rather inventive about the sort of places you and I would or could…”
“Make love?” she finished for him, her right eyebrow quirking upwards in disbelief.
“Yeah.” He can feel his throat drying now.
“And they thought the ceiling would be a good place?” she asks with a disbelieving groan.
“Yeah.”
She looks thoughtfully up at the celing and grimaces. “That would be so uncomfortable. All that blood rushing to our heads when we’re hanging upside down.”
He almost laughs at the mental image of a red faced Felicia that produces, but quickly clamps down on his tongue. It wouldn’t do well to irritate her any further, especially now that he can feel her relaxing just a little.
“No one ever thinks about this stuff with the Fantastic Four or-“
“Scarlet Witch and Vision,” he supplied.
Felicia paused in thought at that. “I bet you he could go forever though.”
**************
They rarely worked together. She thought it sort of ironic in a way. After all, it had long been her dream since they had first met to continue working side by side with Spider-man, but then their point of views were so different when it came to this aspect of their lives.
Watching him put on his costume was like watching a man having a ton placed on his back. For all of Spider-man’s jokes, no one took his job more seriously than Spider-man, not even Captain America. She on the other hand, while not necessarily lax, often seemed to enjoy it more than Peter. She had a responsibility, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a bit of fun while she did it.
There was also the matter of seeing someone you loved constantly in danger. If it came down between her and a hostage she would have sacrificed herself every time, but between a hostage and Peter…that’s where she drew the line. She knew where her weaknesses lied. A woman who had had few honest, personal relationships growing up tended to find herself more than a little selfish with those she did have.
****************
There were times she wondered what it would be like to be a couple without powers. Boring wasn't quite the right description she could come up with, but it was the best she could come up with. It wasn't as if the two simply ran around on walls, or regularly lifted the refrigerator while the other swept underneath or literally gave the other a lift to work if they couldn't avoid traffic and were late to work. There were little surprises here and there though
The time Peter had run rampant through the apartment trying to find the bottom half of his costume while still wearing the top half, mask and all. Despite the sirens she couldn't help but be brought to tears in laughter. In the end she had been the one to answer the call, laughing all the way. The bottom half of his costume had been later found behind the couch.
Another time he had caught her just as she was leaving for work. The evening prior had been spent in one of their rare team-ups fighting Harry Osborn in a crowded street. She'd been so tired she hadn't even changed before falling into bed. The clothes she changed into were tight, something she'd put off as nothing more than Christmas weight though.
"I think the office might wonder how you got to be a head taller over night, Felicia," he said just as she stepped out the door. She called in sick that day.
Finally, there was the camaraderie with others from the super set. It had been something she thought she would avoid when they first married, but they'd had to make so many excuses for missing events, parties, drinks and they'd both been on the end of understanding looks from friends who assumed their partner was cheating on them. Their powers, their very lives set them apart from those they wanted to protect and yet she had begun to accept that.
Her life had gotten better since then. The need to defend Peter or for him to do the same for her when friends gave them those looks became less and less as they had parted ways with those old friends. She found kindred spirits in Sue Storm and, surprisingly enough, the Vision, both of whom seemed just as surprised that this was the life they led and yet were grateful for it all.
Rating: PG-13ish
Pairing: Spiderman/Blackcat
Prompt: "Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable." (John D. MacDonald)
Summary: A collection of drabbles/ficlets that show that being superheroes doesn't make the first year of marriage any easier.
AN: written for jtav's wishlist. Thanks to bk03 for being my beta
“I caught you!”
The cry of triumph is without warning of any sort from his trusty spider-sense. Peter had long ago learned that his personal alarm system had apparently declared Felicia to not be a threat and never went off when she was nearby. This did not bode well for him as he had come to rely on it when dealing with some of his sneakier opponents and no one was sneakier than Felicia.
“Mr. Parker,” she purred as she snuggled her head into his bare shoulder, “did we open the new bottle of toothpaste before finishing off the old?”
The evidence was there of course. A nearly full tube lying open, the toothpaste on his brush colorful, rather than showing any sign of age or having come out in small, stodgy spurts, and finally the crimped, crooked, old container lying forgotten in the rear corner of the surprisingly uncluttered bathroom counter.
Felicia may have grown up with money, but Peter had come to find out that she was incredibly frugal. Every drop or piece of anything they bought was used till there was absolutely nothing left. It was endearing at times, other times frustrating as hell. Her eye seemed to catch everything, a skill she may have adapted as the daughter of a thief on the run or a business woman who was legendary for reading through contracts with an eagle eye for detail. What it all boiled down to though was this: he’d been caught.
“I couldn’t get it out?” The excuse is as lame as the delivery. It’s a part of him he doesn’t quite understand, the change in personality when he puts on the mask. The quips and one-liners never come to him without the mask on, though he wonders what exactly he would have said had he been wearing the mask and what her reaction would have been. He's slightly grateful that the quips won't come right now when the image of a furious Felicia thunders through his mind.
In complete contrast his Felicia sighs and reaches for the older tube and slowly takes the bottom of the tube and rolls it up towards the cap, forcibly pushing whatever remnant of toothpaste still remain to the top of the tube. That done, she smears it on her own toothbrush and calmly begins brushing her teeth.
He’s gracious for the save from a possible argument that would probably end in her getting mad and then eventually laughing at something he’d done. The impetuous part of him can’t help but reach for the new, unopened bottle of Listerine, which just happened to be next to the old, nearly empty bottle. The warning in her glare and sudden grip on his arm is more than enough to chastise him.
************
He really had tried to stop it, but still the idea would not leave his mind and so he’d laughed, despite every tendon in his body straining to keep it from happening. It had come and gone as quickly as that, but the damage was already done. She twitches in his arms, a sigh of frustration that warms his naked chest. He’s caught and that knowledge scares him just a little as he watches her head rise from its once comfortable position on his stomach. Her hair parts as she lifts her head and he can see a mixture of intense annoyance and curiosity in her eyes. It’s a promise.
“What’s so funny?” she said. Gone is the silky tone she’d used to talk him out of his photo lab and into their bed. It’s been replaced by something much more threatening.
“The ceiling,” is the first thing he blurts out. The truth in his statement does nothing to assuage the idea that he started it wrong and that more detail might have helped him. A lesson to be exercised another day if he lived through this.
She casually looks up at the ceiling and then back at him. He feels her grip tighten on his right bicep. “Please do go on, Peter.”
“I uh...overheard a conversation about what our...Spiderman and Black Cat’s um love life would be like and the gentlemen were rather inventive about the sort of places you and I would or could…”
“Make love?” she finished for him, her right eyebrow quirking upwards in disbelief.
“Yeah.” He can feel his throat drying now.
“And they thought the ceiling would be a good place?” she asks with a disbelieving groan.
“Yeah.”
She looks thoughtfully up at the celing and grimaces. “That would be so uncomfortable. All that blood rushing to our heads when we’re hanging upside down.”
He almost laughs at the mental image of a red faced Felicia that produces, but quickly clamps down on his tongue. It wouldn’t do well to irritate her any further, especially now that he can feel her relaxing just a little.
“No one ever thinks about this stuff with the Fantastic Four or-“
“Scarlet Witch and Vision,” he supplied.
Felicia paused in thought at that. “I bet you he could go forever though.”
**************
They rarely worked together. She thought it sort of ironic in a way. After all, it had long been her dream since they had first met to continue working side by side with Spider-man, but then their point of views were so different when it came to this aspect of their lives.
Watching him put on his costume was like watching a man having a ton placed on his back. For all of Spider-man’s jokes, no one took his job more seriously than Spider-man, not even Captain America. She on the other hand, while not necessarily lax, often seemed to enjoy it more than Peter. She had a responsibility, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a bit of fun while she did it.
There was also the matter of seeing someone you loved constantly in danger. If it came down between her and a hostage she would have sacrificed herself every time, but between a hostage and Peter…that’s where she drew the line. She knew where her weaknesses lied. A woman who had had few honest, personal relationships growing up tended to find herself more than a little selfish with those she did have.
****************
There were times she wondered what it would be like to be a couple without powers. Boring wasn't quite the right description she could come up with, but it was the best she could come up with. It wasn't as if the two simply ran around on walls, or regularly lifted the refrigerator while the other swept underneath or literally gave the other a lift to work if they couldn't avoid traffic and were late to work. There were little surprises here and there though
The time Peter had run rampant through the apartment trying to find the bottom half of his costume while still wearing the top half, mask and all. Despite the sirens she couldn't help but be brought to tears in laughter. In the end she had been the one to answer the call, laughing all the way. The bottom half of his costume had been later found behind the couch.
Another time he had caught her just as she was leaving for work. The evening prior had been spent in one of their rare team-ups fighting Harry Osborn in a crowded street. She'd been so tired she hadn't even changed before falling into bed. The clothes she changed into were tight, something she'd put off as nothing more than Christmas weight though.
"I think the office might wonder how you got to be a head taller over night, Felicia," he said just as she stepped out the door. She called in sick that day.
Finally, there was the camaraderie with others from the super set. It had been something she thought she would avoid when they first married, but they'd had to make so many excuses for missing events, parties, drinks and they'd both been on the end of understanding looks from friends who assumed their partner was cheating on them. Their powers, their very lives set them apart from those they wanted to protect and yet she had begun to accept that.
Her life had gotten better since then. The need to defend Peter or for him to do the same for her when friends gave them those looks became less and less as they had parted ways with those old friends. She found kindred spirits in Sue Storm and, surprisingly enough, the Vision, both of whom seemed just as surprised that this was the life they led and yet were grateful for it all.