Black Widow | 18+

35 | Serendipity

I stood in the middle of the room, my eyes focused on him as he focused on the wall across from us.

"You tell me Arté. Would you want to be constantly thinking about someone who was so unattainable? Someone who ran whenever they were given the chance?"

I pursed my lips and carefully walked towards him, examining his tense body language as his fists were clenched.

"You know why I had to run Anton," I said, "it doesn't mean that I enjoyed it. It was just as painful for me to force myself away," He remained fixed on the wall ahead of him but I didn't give up. "You changed me too Anton, a lot, but I don't regret a single thing about that change."

Finally he looked at me, his gaze softening, but his words were still cold.

"But you got to start a new life where that change worked for you, where you could move on. You left me, Artemisia. You just left and..."

The hurt in his voice was clear as day and I felt my heart break as I watched him, frustration and helplessness in his eyes.

"You left me to pick up the pieces of what could have been."

I gave up on giving him the physical space to say what he needed to and walked over to him, standing in between his parted legs and meeting his gaze beneath me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, tracing my thumb along his cheekbone. His hand came to the back of my thigh and I thought back to Madrid when we were in this position, but the circumstances then were entirely different.

Back then we were testing each other's limits, trying to break the other down, competing over our resilience.

This was entirely different.

"You hurt me," he said quietly and my heart faltered for a moment as I took in the raw vulnerability that he was expressing.

"I know," I said softly

"I don't know if it'll be the last time either," he returned. His grip on my thigh tightened ever so slightly and I shut my eyes as I felt an ounce of the emotional pain I had caused him. It was unfair, it was selfish.

"I'm so sorry my love," I mumbled, seeing a flash of content run through him at the use of the name. He pulled me down onto his lap and I brought my knees to his chest as I turned to face him. "I don't know how I can make it up to you, but I'll find a way."

It was a dangerous proposition, but given the events of earlier as we both reached our highs I wondered if I'd already done it.

"You're here now, and I'll savour it whilst I've still got you." He said before kissing my cheek. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head into the crook of his neck, feeling at peace in his hold, but I didn't miss the pessimism of his remark.

"Can we get in bed? I'm exhausted," I mumbled into his neck and before I knew it I was being carried bridal style and dropped onto the mattress.

He climbed in on the other side, sitting up against the headboard, before extending an arm out, "come here Angel."

I shifted over to him in the middle of the oversized bed and nestled myself into his side, my gaze falling from his to his chest where his all too familiar tattoos lay. I began to trail them subconsciously as if it was second nature, re-familiarising myself with the different pieces that all meshed together.

My gaze fell to the bow and arrow in front of the lion and my mind slipped back to his answer.

 'Man's greatest weakness Arté, a woman he cares for and would protect over himself.'