You stare at him with wide eyes as he slowly backs away from you. His hand is still cradling the side of your face. You stare at his lips which have a hint of shininess to them, clearly evident from the kiss the two of you just shared.
…….
It finally dawns on you. You just kissed your neighbor and you enjoyed every second of it even if it wasn't under the best circumstances. Jesus, you were just having the hots for Spiderman and now you're kissing your neighbor? Okay well, not exactly the hots you were just pretending to take off your clothes for him as a joke.
“He's gone now” You expected him to wipe off his lips but instead he licks it and stuffs his hands into his pockets while looking around. You nod your head and begin to fiddle with the strings of his hoodie. Your ex-husband was here and you were this close to getting stuck in his web again. It took you forever to find a place where you think he wouldn't find you and now look. If it wasn't for your neighbor—O’Hara you would've been back “home” and you're positive he wouldn't let you out of his sight again.
Suddenly going to yoga doesn't sound too appealing right now. You feel your eyes fill with tears as you feel her moving. Is it bad to say that you don't want her to meet her own father?
“He's gone now there's no need to worry” You look at him confused now that you think about it how in the world did he know that that was your ex-husband?
“Let's go you're going to be late” You follow him absentmindedly as he has a hand on your lower back guiding you to the parking lot. You press your car keys to locate your car and he leads you there. You go to get in the driver's seat when you feel his hand on your forearm. “Are you okay to drive?”
You shrug your shoulders. “Well, I don't have anyone else are you going to the same gym as me?” He nods. “Do you mind driving?” He shakes his head. “Get in the passenger seat” You walk around the other side getting in the car and putting on your seatbelt.
You give him the directions for the gym and for the first 10 minutes you guys sit in silence. You have to say something right? You guys literally just kissed…well that felt more than a kiss but it feels weird to call it anything else so a kiss it is. But honestly, your head can't wrap around the fact that he knew. It makes no sense the only person you told about your ex-husband was Spiderman. Just how much do they talk about you?
“I get that you and Spiderman are friends but it does make me feel a little weird that you guys talk so much about my personal life. How did you know about my…ex-husband?”
It takes him a minute to respond. It's like he's contemplating what he should say. “Spiderman didn't tell me anything your husband-”
“Ex-husband we're not together”
“Right…well he came and said he was looking for someone who's pregnant, his wife to be exact. I assumed it was you cause you're the only pregnant woman I've seen here”
You slowly nod as you process this information. “Please tell me you didn't tell him where I live I don't-”
“No, I didn't tell him anything I told him that there's no one who's pregnant that lives here” You let out a breath of relief and you played with the ends of his hoodie. “You didn't tell him what floor I live on if you ever saw me or-” He cuts you off.
“No, I said nothing you have my word. I figured if you're not living with him then you clearly don't want him knowing where you are. You’re his wife and you're carrying his child. Anyone would expect you to be with your husband but you're not so the evidence is clear” You mumble a thank you to him as you stare out the window.
“We're really not together, I just can't get a divorce. He agreed that he'll let me leave but we have to remain married”
“What made you want to leave him to the point where you would consider having this baby alone?” It seems like you're still not ready to have this conversation. But c'mon who in their right mind would be okay with telling someone that their partner used to hit them? It's embarrassing like really embarrassing and you really don't want to hear “Well why didn't you leave him?” Because they would never know how much you tried to.
You tried the first time and even though it was years ago that memory is still etched in your brain still fresh where it feels like it happened yesterday. You would never forget the horror you felt after the first blow across your face, you would never forget the fear in his eyes when his hand connected to your cheek and you would never forget the time when there was no longer fear in his eyes. There was simply nothing there. You've tried the second, third, and fourth time, and finally when the fifth time rolled around you knew that no matter what he would find you and you would never get out of this cycle. So you gave up since that felt like the easiest thing to do.
You tap your cheek when you feel droplets of water on your chest. When did you start crying? You dab your face with the ends of his sweater trying not to smear your makeup. You groan when you notice it staining his sweater. “Sorry I'll wash this whenever I get the chance”
“You didn't answer my question”
You sigh he isn't going to let this go, is he? “Nothing much he was just controlling and-”
“You thought I was going to hit you all those months ago just by me raising my hand so it's not just “Nothing much” and you know that”
“So then why are you asking if you know the answer already?” You fold your hands across your chest as you stare at him. What's his problem?
“Forget it” For the rest of the ride you both sit there in silence as you occasionally steal glances at him. You don't know how you didn't realize it from before but holy shit he's practically naked right now. Okay, you're over exaggerating he's not naked per se but he might as well be. He's wearing a thin wife beater leaving his huge arms on display. You always knew he was ripped from the first time you laid eyes on him but damn seeing him with so little on is putting things into a different perspective…he looks good.
…….
You sigh as you move on to counting the trees the fact that you are able to switch your thoughts up so drastically is rather concerning. You steal one more glance at him and you take note of his hair; it's brown and full. He clearly takes care of it. You take note of his sharp features, thick eyebrows, and high cheekbones. Your eyes land on his lips. They look exactly how they feel. Plump, inviting, and soft. Kissing someone with small lips isn't always the best and you should know you've been doing it for 9 years. My goodness, what is wrong with you? You should not be thinking of your neigh—Mr.O’Hara like this. You share one kiss with him and now you're realizing that he’s fine?
You stare at him a little longer playing with the strings of his hoodie again. Watching as his arms subtly flex as he drives with one hand. His right hand is on the wheel while his left elbow is resting on the open window with his head propped up on his fist.
“You’re staring” Your eyes go wide at his words. Dammit, he caught you. Oh well, it's time to lie your way out of this.
“I wasn't, I was just staring out the window” He glanced at you and somehow you could immediately tell that he knew you were lying. When he stares at you longer than you like you pull on the strings of his sweater in order to hide your face. Maybe you just have a thing for embarrassing yourself in front of men.
Finally pulling into the gym's parking lot you wait until he fully parks the car before unbuckling your seat belt to gather your stuff. You mumble a thank you as he opens the door for you. Resting a hand on the side of the door so you can get out comfortably you feel your balance beginning to waver and you immediately reach out grabbing onto his shoulders and his hands go to your waist.
You stare up at him and it feels like the distance between the two of you is getting smaller and smaller by the second. Your eyes dart to his lips and when you look back up he's staring at yours. Uhhh what's going on? You decide to do the smart thing of starting a conversation with him.
“You kissed me earlier” Immediately his eyes met yours. Jeez, what a great conversation starter.
“I did” You watch as his eyes dart down to your lips again, the hands on your waist slowly withdraw and he takes a small step back. As he stuffs one hand in his pocket you remove your hands from his shoulders and he leans forward to close your door. He hands you your car keys as he fixes the strap of his bag looking everywhere but at you.
You fix the strap of your own bag as you pull the hood of his sweater down off your head. “I enjoyed it if you were wondering”
…
……
……….
You hope when you die scientists will take your brain and use it as a prime example of someone who has gone mentally insane. Why in the world would you say that? You're going to have to have a serious talk with your doctor about the effects that pregnancy hormones are having on your brain.
He tilts his head as he narrows his eyes at you before heading in the direction of the gym. “I wasn't wondering…..but we're humans of course we enjoyed a kiss it'll be unusual if we didn't”
You follow him as he leads you to the lobby doors. “We?” You glance at him as he holds open the door. He says nothing as he shrugs his shoulders. Okay, so he definitely enjoyed the kiss as well. Well essentially there's really nothing that you can do with that information but it's nice to know…?
You walk into the gym and you check the time and dammit it's 6:10 you're late. You begin to look around in search of the room paying close attention to any signs that can lead you to the Prenatal yoga class.
“What are you looking for?”
“I'm here for a class that someone from work told me about. You won't know her but she's pregnant as well. Her name's Jess” You look up from your phone after reading the directions that Jess sent you but you still can't find it. You look at the time on your phone and it's now 6:15. You begin to walk around trying to find it before you're even more late but the longer you stand there the more you realize you have no idea where you are.
You begin to grow hot so you unzip his sweater as you continuously search for the class. My god can’t you do anything right? Your day was going fine until you came home and now everything is a wreck. Maybe you really should've stayed home. You feel your hands begin to sweat as you grow nervous with each passing second. Turning around in frustration you basically force your phone into O'Hara's hands. You can feel your face heating up and your eyes well up with tears. Here we go all over again.
•°~°•
“What are you-” Miguel stares at you as you angrily hand him your phone slowly realizing that you're crying…..Dammit again?
“I can't find the class a-anywhere like why is this gym so freaking big. Can you find it for me I'm already late by 15 minutes so please. All I wanted to do was relax a little bit after work and now look where that got me” He stares at you as tears rapidly fall down your face. He doesn't know what to do whenever you start crying. He always feels like a deer lost in the headlights. He doesn't like comforting people or rather he doesn't know how. And it's even worse because you're pregnant.
He can't tell you to stop crying because it's only going to make things worse. He begins to look around for the class eager to stop you from crying. People are starting to look at the two of you and it's no doubt that they think he made you cry. Once he sees a small sign on the wall near the bottom of the steps he immediately points at it to let you know.
“Hey hey look it's right there” He uses his index finger to point to the sign and he places a hand on your shoulder to turn you around.
You begin to walk in that direction. “How come I didn't even see it?” You wipe your eyes with the back of your palm, you’re positive your makeup is ruined so it doesn't matter anymore.
Miguel guides you to the sign with a hand hovering over your lower back. When finally reaching the class a lady who is also pregnant greets you with a warm smile.
“Sorry I know I'm late but can I still join in?” The lady nods her head yes as she gives you a hug. “You're fine we had to find a new instructor since the one that we had went into labor so we are actually just getting started” You let out a breath of relief as you rest your hands on your stomach.
“That's really great I started crying because I was running late and then I couldn't find the directions to the class oh my gosh you have no idea” Miguel watches as you give the lady a smile before her eyes land on his.
“And it's so good to see you too. We are always happy when the dads join us. Partner yoga is proven to strengthen the relationship”
“Oh, he's not…”
“We're not together”
He glances at you when realizing you spoke at the same time as him. You begin to awkwardly wave your hands in dismissal stepping away from him thinking that the lady will get the hint but she doesn't.
“It's okay if it's complicated, all that matters is you being here” Miguel doesn't even have time to resist as the lady pushes you both inside the classroom. Just great. He looks at you to tell you something but you immediately ignore him walking straight ahead.
“Oh Jess your here!” He feels his blood run cold as he watches you walk up to Jess and give her a hug. This is definitely what he needed. He watches as you and Jess embrace each other and he watches as Jess gives him a glare over her shoulder. Shit, she better not say anything. He watches as you wave him over to most likely introduce him to your friend.
You place a gentle hand on his forearm as you introduce them to each other. “O’Hara this is my new friend from work Jessica and Jessica this is my neighbor Mr.O’Hara”
“Mr.O’Hara…seriously” His eyes lock on Jess sending her a warning glare he subtly shakes his head no as your eyes dart between the two of them. If Jess somehow ends up letting you know about who he really is he doesn't know what he would do. He knows he has to let you know one way or another but honestly, that is an obstacle for another day.
“Do you guys know each other orrr…” Your voice trails off as you study the staring contest that's happening between the two of them.
He turns to face you not wanting to let the moment linger. “No, we don't, where do you want to sit?”
You lean in, lowering your voice as you speak to him. “Oh, crap I forgot I'm sorry you don't have to stay I don't know why she thought we were together it's so obvious that we're not…” He stares at you for a second as your awkward laughter reaches his ears before nodding his head. He doesn't know why she thought that too nothing is proving that you guys are together.
He folds his hands across his chest as he observes the room full of pregnant women and presumably their partners. He'll be banned by this gym for sure if he leaves you here. “It's fine it'll be weirder if I left plus I'm sure everyone in this entire gym would probably give me dirty looks wherever I go knowing that I left my pregnant girlfriend to do this alone” The minute the word girlfriend comes out his mouth he wants facepalm himself. Girlfriend….seriously out of all the words he could've chosen his brain went straight to-
“It's okay really but if you want to stay then that's cool too I don't mind” He watches as you fiddle with the ends of his sweater and for some reason he just knows he won't be getting it back. Not that he would take it away from you anyway but still. He would feel like a douche if he did, surprisingly you’ve made yourself comfortable in his sweater and oddly enough he doesn't mind seeing you in it.
…….
Uh, what….?
Well, he's not saying he likes seeing you in his sweater, he's just saying he doesn't mind in the sense that he's not angry seeing you in it. He's just feeling neutral if that makes any sense.
You nod your head before turning around to face the front of the classroom and of course, he doesn't miss the pink stain on your cheeks.
•°~°•
You have been following along to the poses for the past 20 minutes and everything would have been so perfect if you were able to ignore O’Hara calling you his pregnant girlfriend. Even though he didn't mean it directly. But still, he could've just said his pregnant friend or something but pregnant girlfriend….
It's now coming towards the end of the session and the instructor signals for the dads to come up behind the moms. You immediately look over at O’Hara and he slowly walks over to you and you give him a small smile.
“And now I want you to place your hands right under her belly and slowly lift. This will help her relieve the weight that she's been carrying. And moms you should feel like a huge weight should be lifted literally” You watch as the instructor begins to slowly walk around the classroom checking on everyone. As you look around you realize how close the dads are standing behind the moms. There's literally no space left between them. Yeah, there's no way your neighbor isn't going to do this.
You turn back around to look at him only to find him directly behind you. “Hey O’Hara you-” You jump startled at his presence.
“Uh, so this is more suited for moms and dads, not neighbors so we don't have to do this” You stare up at him and his expression is unreadable. That's exactly what you need right now. “O’Hara-”
“The faster we do this the faster we'll get this over with”
“But-” He cuts you off immediately.
“Just relax” A beat passes as you begin to feel his body heat radiating off of him. You feel his hands slowly snake under your stomach and you feel your heart rate pick up. “If you feel uncomfortable then we can stop” You shake your head as you face forward.
“It's fine…..j-just do what you have to do” Before he can lift up your stomach the instructor walks by you guys and you give her a smile.
“Why are you so scared to get close to her? We can see that she's already pregnant. There's no need to be shy” You're too embarrassed to even correct her so the only thing that you can do is cover your hands with your face. You hear him take a deep breath from behind you as you try to steady your breathing.
You then feel him pressed up behind you with little to no space left between the two of you. Your back is pressed against his chest and your bottom is pressed right up against his uh….nether regions. The longer you stay there it dawns on you that he's wearing gray sweatpants and basically no top all thanks to yours truly. You can feel him pressing up against you…..you can feel all of him to be exact.
You try to focus on your breathing and maybe on his too but you are too nervous out of your mind right now and honestly, you're too distracted. A man's body shouldn't be distracting you so much but yet again here we are. Plus the fact that you're standing so close to him is making your mind turn foggier than it already is.
“I'm going to lift now” You let out a shaky breath as you whisper okay. Although there are probably 20 other people in this room right now it only feels like it's you and him and of course your little one. You hear him take another deep breath before you feel him cautiously lifting up your stomach as if he's scared he'll end up hurting you both. As he slowly lifts piece by piece you feel the weight that you've been carrying disappear. You close your eyes on instinct and rest your head on his shoulder letting out a sigh of relief.
“How does it feel?” He is so close you can feel his breath on the left side of your face.
“It feels amazing” You guys stay like that for a couple of seconds and then you realize just how intimate this is. There’s literally no space left between the two of you and it feels like you can feel his heart beating against your back. Is it weird to say that you don't mind this? Being so close and intimate with him your neighbor Mr.O’Hara. The last time you've been so intimate with a man felt like ions ago and you don't mean sex. You mean just being vulnerable and feeling safe and protected in a man's arms. It's a different feeling, it's a different kind of intimacy. Your ex usually whenever he came home from work or any of his week or sometimes month-long business trips he would always come back under the influence whether it be alcohol or drugs whatever it is 9 times out of 10 he was on it. Things would be even worse whenever he used to do his…. extracurricular activities. You won't allow your mind to wander too far off into those memories that you would do anything to get rid of.
Slowly and hesitantly you open your eyes and you find him already staring at you. As you stare into his eyes it really does feel like it's only you and him in this room. You guys are mere inches apart, your breaths fusing together. Just for a split second, your eyes dart down to his lips only to find him doing the same. The amount of times you stared at this man's lips today alone should be illegal and it's all because of a single kiss you guys shared. Prior to that of course you noticed how attractive he was but you didn't really care cause he was a douche.
You both are pulled out of the trance when the instructor signals for the dads to slowly lower the mom's stomach. When he's done his hands still linger underneath your bump and just as you open your mouth to say something you feel her move and he jumps back as if he's been burned.
“Hey, are you okay?” He says nothing as he looks down at your stomach and then at his hands before forcefully stuffing them in his pockets. You hear him curse under his breath as he begins to pick up his bag and haul it over his shoulders. You watch as he begins to walk out the door although the class is finally over and although he was kind of forced into doing this you didn't think he would leave so quickly. You look around to find Jess only to catch her already staring at you.
“I'll see you tomorrow Jess thank you for this” You wave at her as you grab your own bag and begin to walk out the door eager to catch up to him.
You look around for him only to find him way ahead of you. “O’Hara wait up I can't walk that fast” You stare at his back with every step that he takes and you can tell he isn't slowing down nor does he have any plans to. What's gotten into him? He sits down at a machine and drops his bags on the floor.
When you finally catch up to him he doesn't even look in your direction, his eyes are glued to the machine as he fixes it to his liking. You go to place a gentle hand on his shoulder but before you can make contact he grabs onto your wrist and pushes your hand back to your side. You are immediately getting the memo that he doesn't want you to touch him. You can respect that but he's acting like he wasn't the one cradling your stomach less than 2 minutes ago.
“Don't touch me” You look at him confusingly. “Did I do something wrong? If I did I'm sorry I wasn't trying to. Or was it the baby did she freak you out-”
He begins to put in his headphones before stopping and giving you a brief glance. “If you're done I would like to do what I came here to do which is work out”
You rest your hands on your stomach as you stare at him. “How are you getting home? I can wait for you in the car”
“Don't just go home”
You shake your head no. “I don't mind waiting for you we came here together after all”
“I'm going back to work after this so just go” You take a small step back as you stare at him beginning to lift some weights with his legs. “Thank you for today I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there for us” You stand there expecting him to give you some kind of acknowledgment of what you're saying but he doesn't it's like he's flat out ignoring you.
“Um okay….well I'll see you around” You stand there for a few more seconds waiting for him to tell you anything but he doesn't. The longer you stand here the more embarrassed you're getting. It's just best if you leave. “Let me know if you like the gift. There are cookies in there so put it in the fridge or if you don't want it just throw it in the garbage” You take a few steps back rubbing your stomach as you feel her moving again. You let out a deep sigh when you realize he's not going to answer you. God this is so embarrassing.
Finally feeling her kick you get the memo that it's time for you to leave. Turning around, you lean in to whisper to your stomach. “Come on baby let's go home” As you walk out before getting in your car you turn around looking into the gym only to find him no longer working out his head resting in his hands. Before you turn around to walk Jess walks up to him and she looks angry. You thought they didn't know each other?
•°~°•
For the next month, you managed to get into the swing of things. Monday-Fridays you go to work with the exception of Wednesdays because you have class. On Mondays and Fridays, you go to the prenatal yoga class after work with Jess. Sometimes you and Jess leave work together and sometimes you go back home. But one thing that has surprised you is that Spiderman has been dropping you home literally every single day. You don't know why he started doing that in the first place. You don't mind it, you really don't, you're just surprised he's doing it without you asking.
And with O’Hara your neighbor, you don't really see him that much. You only ever see him after coming out from work. You never see him when you're leaving to go to work in the mornings only in the afternoons. It's a little weird but maybe his schedule changed because you remember when you would see him every morning when you used to work at the bar. Although things were weird seeing him after the first yoga class he ended up apologizing for his behavior.
There are times that he even accompanies you to the yoga class. At first, you were extremely nervous going to class with him but you both decided it's best that you continue the charade that you are together. You really don't want to explain to them that you're a single new mom you get judged more than enough already.
So here you are 28 weeks pregnant at work taking an ice cream break because of your cravings. Your stomach has gotten even bigger and you honestly don't know why people(men) were calling you big when you were only 20 weeks. Now your feet are very swollen. You can't wear sneakers or any tight shoes, you can only wear flats or slippers. You're very very grateful that it's the summertime and not winter. Your baby girl kicks and moves around a lot more now even while you're trying to go to sleep. It's starting to become exhausting but you know it will all be worth it in the end. You and your doctor have measured her fetal movements and you've memorized it so you can know if it ever slows down or not.
You've gained a lot of weight, your breasts have grown quite a bit and now that you have roughly 3 months left it's becoming hard to deal with the changes in your body. Your body will forever be changed now and there's nothing that you can do about it. You'll just have to embrace it. The stretch marks along your sides are dark and you've become more sensitive to a lot of normal scents too. But you're very excited not only are you graduating in a few days but you've invited some of the spiders to your graduation. You know it's a stretch because their jobs are literally saving the world but you hope that they can come. You even invited Spider-Man and your neighbor Mr.O'Hara.
You have been able to get a lot of stuff for her nursery now and you couldn't be more excited for her to finally get here. You were able to get a crib, more clothes for her, and a few more diapers, and you started buying things for your hospital bag. There's nothing wrong with getting a head start on these kinds of things especially when you don't know what can happen.
You let out a sigh as you eat your last spoonful of ice cream. You've limited yourself to one carton a week and it's only Thursday. You place a hand on your stomach as you feel her moving again.
“How is she?” You turn your attention to the watch that Spiderman has given you. So now you can talk to Lyla as you work.
“She's fine she's a mover that's for sure you know I think she can hear you clearly now” You bring your hand closer to your stomach to bring Lyla closer. “Maybe I should introduce myself. Okay little one I'm your cool auntie Lyla I'm one of a kind and I might not be able to hold you but I'll be able to keep you company. Now be nice to your mommy, she's trying very hard to take care of you” You watch with a big smile on your face as Lyla gives your stomach a little pat even though you can't feel it the action is very heartwarming to you.
“You think she'll recognize my voice when she gets here?” You shrug your shoulders. “She should…..you know whose voice I think she recognizes though and this might be crazy but I think she recognizes Spider-Man” You watch as Lyla gives you a smirk while she wiggles her eyebrows.
“Lyla don't give me that look”
“So you've been spending a lot of time with Spider-Man huh? I told you what would happen if you started spending time with him. I don't know how you aren't as grumpy as him yet” Damn it you can already feel your face heating up so you wave your hands in dismissal. “No no, it's just that whenever he speaks sometimes she kicks and moves and she does the same thing with my neighbor I don't know maybe she just likes to hear a man's voice”
You watch us Lyla roll her eyes “Oh come on you can't really think that right? You know I see the way you look at him it looks like you have hearts in your eyes” Your eyes grow wide and you honestly consider turning off your watch now you get how Spider-Man feels whatever he gets aggravated with Lyla.
“No, I don't, he's just been helping me a lot through my pregnancy that's all” You watch her humming in response but you can tell she doesn't quite believe you. “Listen, he's been taking me to the supermarket. He's helped me carry the things for a nursery inside the house. He's even helping me build her crib and he's even gotten me a job it's kind of hard not to like him with everything that he's done”
“And what about your neighbor? I know the two of you shared a little smooch and I know you still have his sweater” You grimace as Lyla begins to make kissing noises yeah you totally regret telling her anything. “That was weeks ago and plus it never happened again but he's great too he's been coming to the yoga class with me and Jess but you already know that. Oh and I think I might ask him to help me paint the nursery but I don't know yet”
“You know what this sounds like?”
“Amuse me”
She leans in close to you near your ear. “This sounds like you got that man wrapped around your finger”
You tilt your head as you look at her. “That man….Lyla, it's two of them” She widens her eyes just a smidge before breaking out in a coughing fit. “Yeah, you're right it's two of them they're totally not the same person or anything” You stare at her confusingly. What is she talking about?
“Of course, they are not the same person oh my gosh could you imagine Spider-Man and O'Hara being the same person they are two completely different people” You roll your eyes at the thought even if they miraculously happen to be the same person he has to have suffer from split personality because you don't think that they're the same at all.
“Mmhm yeah totally”
You begin to play with the ends of your shirt. “I'm being serious, why don't you believe me? Spider-Man, well Miguel seems a little more gentle while O’Hara can be gentle as well he has a lot of moments where he's kind of mean if I'm being honest. He was a complete douche to me in the beginning but Spider-Man has been nice to me from the start” You watch as she nods absent-mindedly as she pretends to kick rocks. You stop for a second and stare at her. “Do you really not believe me, don't tell me you think they're the same person?”
“I didn't say anything you did”
You stare off at the little flowers you managed to make that you put around the room.“I mean yeah they kind of sound similar but Miguel's voice is a little deeper and yeah they are the same height but the same person no Lyla come on that's a major stretch. Plus why wouldn't he have told me anything? It's been what 5 months since I've met him…. that's not….I just don't think he would like you know keep that from me”
“Yeah you're totally right he wouldn't do that”
You sit with Lyla in silence as you resume your work when all of a sudden you hear her intake a sharp gasp. “Oh no…he's back I thought they got rid of him”
You watch as panic sets in her face. “Lyla, what are you talking about?”
“Crap come upstairs immediately Miguel would kill me if I left you down here”
You immediately get up to follow her orders and it isn't until you feel vibrations throughout the building that the panic sets in. “Lyla, what in the world is going on?” You grab your stuff and rush to the elevator.
“He's back oh my god he's back we thought he died” You hastily press the button on the elevator as you impatiently tap your feet.
The minute the doors open you are greeted with Miguel barking out orders to the spiders and everyone running around. “Lyla you're freaking me out what the heck is going on” The minute you lock eyes with Miguel he practically sprints to you grabbing onto your forearm.
You protectively begin to cradle your stomach. “Miguel please tell me you know what's going on Lylas freaking me out”
“You're going to stay exactly where I put you do, you understand me” You nod at him as he drags you to his platform. “But wait tell me-”
“We're under attack, Spinebreakers goons are back. Just when we thought he was dead his goons appeared out of nowhere we haven't had anything from him in over a year we thought he was dead” The minute you hear the name Spinebreaker you feel your blood run cold that can't be right. He—he promised he'd never do that again….
You feel your legs locked forcing yourself to stay rooted in place. Miguel gently tugs on your arm pulling you forward. “Come on we don't have enough time you'll be safe up here” You slowly allow him to place you on the platform that is until the sound of a baby crying reaches your ear and knocks you out of your trance. You turn your head and you find Peter trying to console Mayday in her carrier but with all the chaos going on it's not working at all. You open your arms out for her and she reaches for you.
“No you will not hide with her she will only create noise and draw attention to you. Her father needs to take care of her”
“Miguel I can’t fight while she’s crying she’ll have her blinky and her toy just for today please”
“Don’t piss me off Peter she's pregnant she has her own child to protect and it’s not yours” You stare at Miguel with wide eyes how could he say something like that? You take Mayday from Peter turning your attention to him. “I’ll keep her safe you have my word”
Miguel angrily turns your way reaching out to grab you but you take a step back. “You’re not indestructible don’t you get that?” You nod your head as you protectively put a hand over her head trying to soothe her amidst the chaos. “I know but what do you want me to do let her hide alone? It’s sick that you would even-”
“That's not what I meant and you know that” You stare at Mayday as you rock her back and forth to get her to stop crying walking you both further onto the platform. You hear presumably Miguel letting out an angry breath, nothing he can say or do will let you leave her behind. You feel a hand on your shoulder right as you feel the building beginning to shake again. Turning around to face him you watch as he barks orders at Lyla before turning his attention to you. He presses a button and the platform starts lifting.
“This will take you straight up to my office stay in there. It locks from the inside and whatever you do don't come out. The door can only be opened and closed with my handprint. They're infiltrating the building so this may take a while” You nod your head as your eyes begin to fill with tears. “You hear that Mayday Spidey has a safe space for us to stay” You continue to rock her back and forth as her cries die down. You have to wipe your eyes so your tears won't fall on her face.
“This is a bad idea you shouldn't be trying to look after a baby in a situation like this but you never want to listen to me”
You lower your voice when realizing that she's fallen asleep. “I don't care I can't leave her and she's sleeping now we'll be fine” Miguel stares at you before he hastily begins to walk back and forth. “You don't get it you just don't fucking get it”
“Seriously Miguel-”
You take a few steps back as he walks up to you. “Don’t seriously me nothing explain to me how much of a fight you think you can put up when you're like this. Huh, tell me? You have to protect yourself plus the baby and now you want to try to protect another baby with superpowers. Be reasonable here.” Your tears are falling freely down your face as you listen to him.
“Well, what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to think of yourself for once that's what” You stare up at him as the platform comes to a stop. You look around and this is the highest you've ever seen it go. You allow him to lead you to his office and you step inside sitting on his chair. As you stare at his desk you realize how messy it is. There are takeout containers and obviously his work—You pause and let out a deep sigh you shouldn't be thinking about this right now there are more pressing matters at hand.
“I will communicate with you through the watch. I'm going to check in with you every 5 minutes to make sure you're okay” You nod your head as you stare up at him. Everything's happening so fast that you feel like your brain is all messed up and somehow you feel like this is all your fault. You are pulled out of your thoughts when Miguel walks up to you resting his hands on the armrest of the chair. “I don't have enough time but whatever you do don't answer the door, only I can open it. No matter what you hear, stay in here, do you understand me?'' You slowly nod eager for this day to be over but why does this feel like a final goodbye?
You begin to rock slowly as Mayday begins to stir. Slowly you reach out your left hand to cradle his face. “No matter how long it takes just come back okay” For a moment you swear he leans into your hand, just for a moment. He stares at you before walking out of his office backward and it isn't until he uses his hand to close the door that you let go of the breath that you've been holding.
•°~°•
It's a mess, everything is a mess. He doesn't even know how they managed to get inside the building. He built Spider society with the intention of being safe for everyone so how in the world did this happen? And most importantly why are Spinebreakers goons back? Spinebreaker is probably one of the toughest villains he has fought in his life. Not only has he been MIA for over a year he is sending his henchmen to attack the Spider Society directly. He doesn't even have to explain how bad that is.
This is his 40th time checking in with you and he expects the sound of your voice to bring him some kind of comfort but instead, it only brings him pain. He doesn't know why he's feeling this way but with each head he smashes into the floor his anger rises. He shouldn't have left you there; he should've fought harder to let Peter handle Mayday. As shitty as it sounds, hiding with Mayday makes you both a target. Mayday would be safer with her father. You would be safer.
Fuck he can't think like this not right now. “5 minutes boss” He nods as he subtly whispers into his watch to check in with you.
“Speak to me” He gives you 5 seconds before he's speaking into the watch again. Maybe he's being dramatic but it shouldn't take you that long.
“I said speak to me”
“Sorry sorry we're here. Mayday just woke up, it's dark in here so I think she's scared Miguel” Dammit he should have thought of that. “There's a light switch to your left you have to stand up to touch it let me know when you got it” Miguel shoots out a web tying up one of the henchmen before knocking them out cold.
“Okay I got it” As he listens in he can hear Mayday’s cries in the background. It's subtle but it's there. He lets out an angry breath as the number of henchmen slowly decreases. If anything happens to you he's holding Peter accountable no ifs ands or buts.
“You see what I mean you don't listen”
“She's fine she just needed a moment”
“In times like these all it takes is one moment-”
“Damn it Spidey just stop it okay” It sounds like you're on the brink of tears shit he probably pushed it too far. He's just trying to get you to understand how vulnerable you are right now. There's only a door and an invisible barrier that's keeping you out of harm's way apart from that there's nothing else. It's just best if he drops it. The last thing he needs is you getting upset.
“I'll be back in 5”
•°~°•
“Mayday baby please stop crying” You're standing up rocking her back and forth trying to console her. Since she's woken up she hasn't stopped crying. You gave her her toy, you gave her her pacifier, and she wants none of that. You don't know what to do and you don't know if it's because of the current situation but her tears are making you want to cry.
“Do you want me to sing to you baby c-cause I can just please please please stop crying” You begin to hum a song that you remember from your childhood. Once you start to hum she slowly begins to quiet down and you let out a sigh of relief. You slowly begin to sit down, careful not to startle her when you feel a sharp pain in your lower back and legs. It hurts so bad you almost scream out in pain. Crap your doctor warned you about this but hell you didn't know it would be this bad. You have to bite down on your lip to prevent yourself from making noise.
“Checking in” You try to calm yourself down but it's no use it hurts—it hurts so badly.
“I said I'm checking in” You gently place Mayday down on the floor along with her toy. You can't hold her in this state.
“You have 5 seconds to answer me or I swear-” You begin to do the breathing exercises that your doctor showed you resting your hands on your stomach as you feel your baby moving.
“You're taking too long I'm coming”
You pause when you finally must have the courage and the strength to speak. “Spidey…don't worry we're good” You sound like you've just run a marathon. You wouldn't even believe yourself if you were on the other line.
“Why do you sound like that? What's going on?” You can hear the panic in his voice, damn you aren't trying to worry him.
“Nothing, it's just pregnancy pains. My doctor said this should be happening around this time-” You have to break in order to bite down on your lip. Shit these aren't even contractions and it hurts like hell.
You hear him let out a breath of relief. “Sciatica…you need to stretch, it gets worse if you stay seated” How in the world does he know about this?
“Uh that's easier said than done b-but I can try” You slowly begin to sink your body to the floor you try to remember some of the stretches your doctor showed you but it feels like the pain is only getting worse. When you finally get into position you keep your eyes on Mayday as you try to focus on your breathing.
“Try to stretch while counting to 10 it's going to be hard so I'll count with you” You take a deep breath as you try to follow along with him and slowly but surely the pain goes away.
You take a deep breath as you brush Mayday's hair away from her face. “How'd you know what was happening?” It takes him a minute to finally answer.
“Lucky guess”
“Yeah but how did you know exactly what it-”
“I'll check back in 5” You don't even have time to say anything else because he hangs up.
•°~°•
The last two henchmen are in his eyesight just out of his reach but before he can get to them he sees them beginning to retreat. Like hell, he'll let them leave. He uses his webs to drag one of them to him in order to question them. Right as he raises his left hand to deliver a blow he stops at the sound of the man's walkie talkie bringing his movements to a halt.
“Boss said W is not here retreat. I repeat boss said W is not here retreat” What the hell are they talking about?
“What does W stand for?” The man says nothing and just spits in his face. Miguel doesn't hesitate to punch him. Grabbing the man by his hair he makes sure the man is inches away from his face before speaking. “I said tell me what does W stand for” When the man doesn't budge Miguel disengages his mask to showcase his fangs.
“I have enough venom that will paralyze you for life and all you can do is sit there and feel as your muscles begin to spasm I'm giving you 4 seconds” He slowly begins to wrap his hands around the man's neck the more he showcases how easy it is to take away his life the better.
“What the fuck does W stand for? 3…2-” As the words spill out of his mouth he makes sure to tighten his grip watching as air becomes less and less accessible to the man.
“Okay—okay, it's his wife he's looking for his wife” The minute the man finishes the sentence Miguel's eyes grow incredibly wide. No, surely he's not talking about you, right? He doesn't believe this, not one bit there's no way. First, he found out that your ex-husband is a raging fucking douche who has no respect for you now he’s actually a villain who he thought was dead. Frustrated with the man's answer he let go of his neck only to sink his fangs into it a second later. This man doesn't know what he's talking about at all. Leaving the man unconscious he signals for Ben to take care of him. He needs to get answers right now and you’re the only person who can give it to him.
•°~°•
You sit on the floor quietly with Mayday while she gently pats your stomach. She's been fascinated with seeing your baby girl move around in there. You gasp when you hear someone landing right in front of the door but as you hear it beginning to unlock you calm down remembering only Miguel can open it.
The minute he comes into view a big grin emits on your face. “Hey, Spidey is it finally over?” He says nothing as he stands there in the doorway chest heaving up and down. He stays there watching as Mayday plays with your stomach. Slowly you begin to get up and move towards him making sure to step over Mayday.
“Is it all over now can we come out now” Once again he stands there saying nothing. Maybe he's hurt or something. You begin to pat him down in order to check for any wounds but you can't find anything
“You know who Spinebreaker is don't you?” Your movements come to a halt at his accusation before forcing yourself to resume the task at hand if you don't say anything then they won't know.
“You're not hurt so then why..” You begin to turn around and pick up Mayday toys from off the floor. You walk back up to him and ask him the same question. “Is it all over now? Are we safe?”
He uses his index finger to guide your face to him and your eyes grow in size what is he doing? “Don't lie to me, do you know him?”
“I've only ever heard of-” He cuts you off immediately. “I said do not lie to me the truth I want the truth” You begin to pull away from him shaking your head rapidly his tone of voice sends shivers down your spine. “I really don't know Miguel if I did-”
“Is that why you froze earlier when you heard his name because you've only heard of him in passing and not because he just happens to be your husband and the father of your child?” You immediately make a beeline for the door M-Miguel doesn't know anything he's just making this up. Spinebreaker isn't your husband…he said he would never do this again he stopped. You swear on your life he promised he would never hurt people again.
Before you can even step foot on the platform you feel an arm grabbing you and pressing you up against him. You stare at him as you slowly feel your eyes fill with tears after everything he has done for you are you really going to sit here and lie to this man's face? This was something you were supposed to take to your grave, this was something no one and you mean no one was supposed to know about. There was so much trauma that came from knowing that this other side of your husband exists and that this version of him hurt so so so many innocent people. If you denied it long enough the thought of it disappeared the longer you stayed in denial the better it was for you both mentally and emotionally. And as soon as you got pregnant the second life that your ex-husband used to live was nothing but a fragment of your twisted imagination. It wasn't real.
Just thinking of the amount of lives you could have saved if you had the strength and the willpower to tell someone makes you sick to your stomach. How could you have said anything if you knew what he would do to you or your family that you no longer talk to? But it's time you grow up and face the music. You can't really think this wouldn't have caught up to you someday.
It isn't until you feel a warm hand on the side of your face that you are pulled out of your thoughts. You lean into it placing a hand over his and resting the other one on your stomach as you feel him using his thumb to wipe away your tears.
“Yes I know who Spinebreaker is he's my ex-husband”