I know we’re all in love with Steven Grant and understandably so but Marc “I sought out the daughter of the man I died trying to save and then couldn’t tell her the truth bc I fell in love with her but then I had to leave her to save her from this moon god who’s got me in a lifetime contract and I hated myself so much for leaving her that I was willing to essentially k*ll myself and let my nicer alter live the rest of our life oh and I went out of my way to protect my system from my superhero life and even bought steven a new fish when I accidentally killed his so that he could keep working his cute job at the museum and be none the wiser” Spector is truly one of the most tragic characters I have ever laid my eyes on and I want to hug him so badly even though I know he’d probably spit on me for trying
Okay, so besides “El Melouk” being an absolute banger, it’s a cool touch that not only the starting landscape of the credits shift from London to Greater Cairo, but the moon can be seen to have further waxed from Ep1’s credits. Looking forward to how it progresses.
Bucky surfaces slowly, blinking the sleep from his eyes, and pushes a few stray strands of hair back from his face. He takes almost a full second to marvel at the fact that he can actually–finally–wake up feeling safe and whole, then offers a sleepy smile to the glowing moonlight in the open window.
“Good night, Moon.” He yawns, but he’s still smiling.
“Christ, Barnes. Are you ever going to get tired of that joke?” Marc thumps his head against the window frame in mock irritation, then slides the rest of the way into the room. “It’s bad enough Morgan makes me read the damn book to her every time we’re at the Tower.”
“It doesn’t seem likely,” Bucky says. He’s propped up on one elbow, carefully looking Marc up and down to check for injuries. Marc pulls off his mask and flashes him a knowing look. Okay, so maybe not as subtle as he’d hoped.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Marc lets out a breath. “I’m fine, Buck. A little bruised, but nothing broken, nothing bleeding.” His voice is soft. Reassuring.
“Maybe I want to check for myself,” Bucky says with a wink. But he yawns again as soon as the words are out. Glancing at the glowing clock on his dresser he understands: just after two am. He’s only been in bed since midnight, no wonder he’s yawning.
Marc is there, pushing him back onto his pillow, hand cupping his cheek. “Not tonight, you don’t. You were out on mission for three days and only got back a few hours ago–no, don’t give me that look, Steve texted so I’d make sure you get enough sleep.” The pad of his thumb plays along Bucky’s cheek, calloused but still gentle. “So sleep. There’s time enough for the rest later.”
Bucky’s eyes are sliding closed when Marc drops a kiss on his forehead. He tips his face up for more, but before Marc gives him another kiss, Bucky’s already asleep.
…
Sometime later, through his haze of sleep, Bucky registers Marc slipping into the bed beside him, tangling their limbs together. Bucky breathes him in, clean and damp and smelling of apples from his shampoo. “Mmm.” Burying his face deeper into Marc’s neck, Bucky murmurs, “You smell good. Like home.”
Marc is quiet, but Bucky is awake enough to know it’s a thinking quiet rather than a sleeping quiet, so he waits, focusing on keeping his body from tensing up and showing distress. They don’t talk like this often, and sometimes it’s too much for Marc. So Bucky just breathes, giving Marc the space he needs.
Finally Marc says simply, “I missed you.”
Bucky can’t keep the smile from his lips as he presses a small kiss into Marc’s neck. Reaching up to twine his fingers into damp, dark curls, Bucky says, “I missed you, too.” He rolls himself over, just a little, so his head is resting on Marc’s chest. “Hey look,” he says, trying to keep the amusement from his voice. “I’m spending the night on the moon!”
Marc groans and shoves Bucky off. “Come on, I don’t sing ‘Winter Wonderland’ every time I see you coming.”
Bucky just laughs. “It’s not the same thing. I don’t walk around dressed like a snowman. You, on the other hand…”
“I don’t–” Marc starts, but thinks better of it. He pushes at Bucky, just enough to say fine, you win! without actually having to admit it. Bucky–still laughing, still sleepy–lets himself be manhandled into a position comfortable for both of them. Bucky ends up the little spoon, which is fine with him.
“Good night, sweetheart.” And then, having to get just one more in, he sings softly, “Fly me to the moon…”
He tries to keep it in, but after a few seconds Marc lets out a laugh. “You’re such a dork.” He holds Bucky a little tighter, then together they fall into sleep.
summary: Sundays were always the best days of the week for Marc, especially the ones where he got to spend it with you.
pairing: marc spector x reader
tags: there are some slight nsfw mentions but not any actual smut (I’m trying to work my way up to it), marc spector being soft and vulnerable.
word count: 2k
notes: I hit 300 followers so thank you so much! Now, there are a few mentions of Steven so if I have any incorrect wording or way of writing a DID relationship then please let me know, I never intend to do any harm to anyone with my writing! If anyone would like to be added to my taglist please let me know and enjoy!
Marc Spector would nevercall himself a saint, quite the opposite in fact.
Marc knew he was anything but a saint, but when he got to spend the quiet Sundays with you, he felt like that very thing. Sunday was his favorite day of the week because he had an agreement with Steven; Marc stayed fronted the entire day, giving him a whole day to be with you, no interruptions allowed. Seven always respected that, he knew Marc wasn’t one for the romantic dates and the love confessions so giving him a whole day to do and say as he pleased always seemed like a fair trade for allowing him to continue to work for the museum. Steven got what he wanted, now it was Marc’s turn.
Which led to where Marc was now, laying back against Stevens’ headboard, his arms wrapped tightly around your body, keeping your body close against him, your hair slowly beginning to stick to his chest as he started lightly sweating from the body heat. Marc didn’t necessarily care either, this was how he tried to show you that no matter how many ‘I love you’s and romantic date nights he misses, he cared for you as much as Steven did. The thought of you thinking such absurd things caused Marc to tighten his hold on you, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked down to you, seeing your eyes already locked on him.
“Marc… you have that look on your face again. What the hell are you thinking in that head of yours?” You had said it softly, knowing Marc wasn’t one for the invasive type questions. You had begun running your fingers up and down on his chest, waiting patiently to see how he would answer, or if he would at all.
“You know I love you right? I don’t say it the way Steven does, don’t show it that much either but I do.” Marc had kept his eyes on you, his eyes slightly mitsy at the confession. It wasn’t what you were expecting to hear from him. It was actually quite surprising to himself too; he wasn’t the one to openly express his feelings but the growing softness and urge to reassure you and himself got the best of him.
“Marc, of course I know that. You don’t have to say it or make these grand gestures and take me out to show me.” You had pushed yourself up, leaning on your elbow as you maintained eye contact with the emotional man in front of you. “I feel it every time you hold me, every time you ask me if I’m okay, anytime you kiss me I feel it. I feel it every day I spend with you.” It had made Marc’s eyes squint as he showed the special smile he saved for you, the sight of it had made you lean closer into him, running your nose against his.
“You know it’s a miracle these Sunday’s always work for us, right? Steven must really care about us to not interrupt a heartfelt moment like that.” It had earned a laugh from you, the noise ringing out in the quiet apartment, Marc watching and listening with a keen softness on his face. The sight of your eyes crinkled shut, your smile brightly directed towards him made his chest grow tight, his own eyes growing those small crinkles at the corner of them, his face itching closer to yours. Marc let his hands snake tighter around your body, pulling you flush against him as he raised a hand to your cheek, pulling your face closer to his own.
“God, you’re so beautiful, you know that?” At the words Marc had whispered against your skin, you had felt the heat rise against your neck and cheeks as you nuzzled your nose against his shoulder. “Well look at you hotshot. First an ‘I love you’ now a compliment. What’s next? You’re gonna take me to one of those dinner dates?” It had been a joke, something you knewwould make Marc roll his eyes and lean his face away from yours, which is why it was surprising to see Marc staring deeply into your own eyes, his lips quirked up in a small smirk.
“Do you want that? It’s our Sunday. We can do whatever you want.” At the offer, you slowly slid on top of Marc, sitting up to sit on his lap with a raised eyebrow. Marc’s hands had run up along the back of your thighs as he sat up fully against the headboard. “Marc, I don’t want you to do something you never do just because I enjoy it every once in a while. This is our day, not just mine.”
Marc kept his eyes locked onto yours as he pulled you down against him, his hands finding their way into your hair as he pushed his lips against your own. You leaned further into his arms as you let his lips entrap you in the feeling of his hands slowly lowering down to your hips, slowly moving them against his own. A small moan slipped out of your mouth as you placed your hand in his hair, slowly tugging on the messy curls. As you pulled away from Marc, you felt him let out a deep breath against your lips as he whispered, “You make it really hard to stay focused you know that baby?”
You let out a giggle as you pulled further away, slowly raising yourself from his lap and off the bed. “Get up, Spector, we’re getting brunch then going to the store for a movie night.”
Letting out a deep groan while throwing his feet off the side of his bed, Marc quickly got up, following you into the bathroom. “Yes ma’am.”
“I still don’t understand why they keep the bread all the way in the back, I mean it’s such a common item that people get Marc, it just doesn’t make sense.” You were making your way back into the apartment as you both had bags in your hand, continuing the conversation from the car.
“Baby I promise if I knew I would tell you.” Marc had felt completely content with himself and how the day was going as he watched you stand by the table, slowly unpacking the groceries. This was the reason why Sunday was his favorite day of the week, every Sunday, he gets to see you standing in his apartment, unpacking groceries, sometimes even standing in one of his shirts. It made him realize the gravity of his own feelings, every time he saw you like this; completely comfortable with him, his home and in his presence, he truly realized that he was in love with you.
Marc walked over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist, nuzzling his face in your neck as he placed light kisses along your neck. Your hands had made their way to his own as you leaned back against his chest, letting out a content hum. “What’s this for? You trying to get in my pants, Spector?” At the small quip, Marc let out a small laugh against your skin as he trailed kisses along your neck up to your ear to whisper, “Trust me sweetheart, if I wanted in your pants I’d use my hands and mouth for something much more productive than this.” Marc had trailed his hands up your body, slowly rubbing circles against your hips, effectively pushing you against his own hips. You let out a small sigh as you rolled your head back against Marc’s shoulder as you groaned out, “Yeah, you always were pretty productive with those.”
Marc had let his hands drop further down your hips, slowly letting his fingers dance around the band of your pants, slipping the button out of its loop. “You think you’re so slick, huh Spector?” Your hand had trailed down to his, interlocking your fingers as you turned around to him, pressing your interlocked hands against his chest. “The ice cream will melt if your hand gets any lower, hotshot.” Marc had brought your locked hands up to his lips, pressing chaste kisses on your knuckles with his eyes closed. “I don’t really care about the ice cream right now baby.” You let out a laugh as you pulled your body away from Marc, turning back towards the bags of groceries as Marc let out a sigh and pressed a kiss on the back of your head and headed to the bags of canned goods.
“Alright, let’s get the ice cream and groceries up then we can have the rest of the evening available to do whatever we want.”
You had rolled off of Marc as the two of you let out deep sighs. “Alright… now what?” It had been at least two hours since the two of you had finished putting away the groceries, the two of you being entangled with each other since the pantry door closed.
“You always know how to use your hips huh sweetheart.” You had let out a giggle as you turned to lay your head on his chest, his arms quickly wrapping his own arm around you as he pressed a kiss against your forehead. You knew this side of Marc was something he didn’t show often and you didn’t want him to go back to the fleeting kisses, quick ‘Are you okay?’s, and the many nights where he’d bury his anger and sadness deep inside of you. You would never try and bring it up, knowing he’d feel even worse and quickly draw away from you and Steven both, something you would never want for any of the members in the relationship you were in. Even though you always promised to never ask about the certain days where one of you were acting different but you had to know.
“Marc, how come you’ve been acting differently today?” You were hesitant to further develop the question as you whispered against his skin, which had tensed up at the question, causing you to quickly reassure him. “You know it’s usually smaller, quick actions to show your love, not declarations and the soft touches and whispers… I love it, don’t get me wrong but what’s different about today?” You felt the man slowly untense his body as you had slowly rubbed small shapes and patterns against his skin.
“You deserve the declarations and the softness that Steven shows you. I don’t want you to realize that I’m this…broken mess of a man that’s just waiting for you to realize it and leave me.” At his words, you were quick to turn onto your stomach, your elbows against the sheet as you stared at him, seeing his eyes closed. “Marc, please look at me.” You watched as Marc clenched his jaw as he opened his eyes to stare back down at you with tears littered against his lash line.
You kept your eyes locked onto his as you spoke clearly, “You are notbroken Marc. You are an amazing man who protects the people he cares about. I mean, you make me feel safe and secure every time you’re around me.” You had raised your hand to Marc’s cheek, wiping the tear that fell from his eye. “I wish you could see yourself in the same light that I did. You would realize how amazingandcompassionate you really were.” Marc had leaned into your hand as he let out a shaky breath. “I wish I could see myself that way too, I really do.” You nodded your head as you pulled him down to you, laying kisses along his forehead as he wrapped his arms around your waist, burying his head in the crook of your neck as you ran your hands through his hair.
You knew It would take more than one talk after a good day for him to see himself in the same light you did, but you were ready to spend all of the Sundays performing a miracle that was making Marc Spector feel loved.
welcome to my masterlist! as of right now I am only writing for moon knight, but I can definitely see that changing in the future!
please remember that I am a new writer and am not an expert on DID, if any of my writing does hurt or impact anyone, please let me know! my asks are open!
ღ - fluff!
⍟ - angst
♗ - smut (or mentions smut)
♢- slow-burn
gift shop accidents ღ - In which Steven Grant of the gift shop realizes sometimes accidents are exactly what he needs in order to score a date with someone he’s only dreamed of being with. (OC x Steven Grant)
time at the museum ღ ⍟ - you thought you were having a good time with your boyfriend Steven until he starts acting like a completely different person.
stressful discussions ღ⍟ - the reader is surprised when she finds her boyfriend, the person’s calls she’s been ignoring in order to decide whether or not she should discuss her discovery of Marc, waiting at her door one day after work. Commence the Stressful Discussions. (part two to time at the museum)
please notice ღ ⍟ - reader thinks she has no chance of Steven liking her after hearing about his date, without realizing all of the things he seems to notice about her, until she gets the help from donna of all people.
i always notice ღ - Steven is confused and hurt why you’ve gotten sharp with him, which finally pushes him to let you know he’d always notice when it came to you. (part two to please notice)
a neighbor and the cult man ♢ - you never expected to be in a fight with an invisible jackal after escaping a crazy cult, all with your friend Steven Grant and his supposed ex-wife Layla.
coffee and kisses ღ - Steven Grant hated coffee, but he loved the way it tasted against your mouth. Marc Spector loves coffee, longing to taste it on your mouth.
coffee and kisses ღ - Steven Grant hated coffee, but he loved the way it tasted against your mouth. Marc Spector loves coffee, longing to taste it on your mouth.
summary: Steven Grant hated coffee, but he loved the way it tasted on you when he kissed you. Marc Spector loves coffee, longing to taste it on your mouth.
pairing: steven grant x reader
tags: fluffy, steven is literally so soft for reader, this whole thing is really just making out (with a bit of grinding and lowkey alludes to smut) reader is aware of Marc and the business with Khonshu!
word count: 2.3k (small thing while i get a master list out!)
notes: hello, I hope you all enjoy this! It’s a short little thing while I try to figure out and get a master list all sorted out! As always, please let me know if I have made any form of mistakes with writing DID, it is never my intentions to hurt or misinform someone with my writing! But alas, please enjoy!
Stevenhatedthe taste of coffee, loathed the smell of it even more. But when you come home from work, begging for a cup and for him to hold you, it all goes right out the window.
He doesn’t care that the smell wafting around his loft is nauseating, nor does he care about the fact that you had spilt a small drop of the caramel brown liquid onto one of the random pages he had scattered around the desk. No, all he cares about is the weight of you sitting down against him, the smell of your coconut and honeydew shampoo wafting in his nose, immediately relieving the knots in his stomach, caused by the smell of coffee, as you let out a deep sigh, finally being able to relax.
“Hello, my love…” Steven had been quick to wrap his arms around the front of you, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck, littering soft kisses on every bit of exposed skin he could feel, his hand beginning to softly rub your stomach and waist, your body falling against his own as you shut your eyes.
“Mhmm… This is all I’ve wanted all day, just to be here, wrapped up in your arms.” At your words, Steven let out a hum, running his nose up along the side of your neck, ghosting his mouth over it as he whispered back to you, “I always want this… always want you. In any way you’ll have me.” His accent was thick, but the words were coming out in a soft whisper against your skin. A giggle had slipped past your lips as you had reached out in front of you, putting the cup of coffee on the table before turning around in Steven’s lap. You stared down into his eyes, the ones who always made you feel safe, comfortable and loved.
At the new position, you had moved your hands up to his face, slightly caressing the full cheeks as you lowered your lips onto his, Steven eagerly moving his hands to your hips, grasping at them as he lowered your body against his own, letting out a small sigh at the contact.
Stevenhatedcoffee, but with the way you were kissing him, slowly moving your hips on top of his own, he didn’t care about the bitter taste transferring onto his own tongue, not when all he could focus on was you. Steven let his hands run further down your body, his hands slowly grasping your ass into his hands and causing your hips to roll against him. A soft moan slipped past your lips at the feeling of him underneath you, circling your hips against the semi-hard on you kept feeling brush against you.
As you slowly pulled away, keeping your foreheads touching, you heard Steven let out a dejected whimper, quickly chasing your lips to press his lips back on yours. His hands were still gripping your ass but as you sat up fully, looking down at him, they fell to the back of your thighs, where he continued to slowly rub.
“Anyway I’d have you eh? I like the sound of that.” As you had playfully quipped back at him, he let out a soft laugh as he threw his head back, a dazzling smile and pink tint on his face. “Yeah, whatever way you want, darling. I’m all yours, always will be.” At that, Steven grasped your thighs tighter and quickly lifted the both of you out of the seat, making his way to the bed. As you both plopped down, he turned to you, raising his hand and brushing your hair away from your face, pressing a soft kiss against your forehead.
“Now, tell me about your day. Why’d you wanna come home so bad?” At the question, you let out a sigh, wrapping your arms around his middle, nestling your head on his chest as one of his hands slowly started dragging up and down along your back, while the other found solace in your hand, slowly rubbing circles on the back of it.
“Just my boss keeps trying to make me get him coffee and his lunch. I’m not his bloody servant, hell I’m not even his secretary and he still likes making me run around for him. I swear it’s an ego thing.” You hated thinking back on it, the image of your stereotypical looking boss’s smug face as he would watch you run around for him. You especially hated that the image in your mind had been quick to ruin your entire mood, forcing the soft smile back into a deep scowl.
Steven watched as your face contorted into a look of anger or annoyance, his hands slowly raising up to your face as he pressed the thumb of his hand into the crease between your eyebrows. “I’m sorry love… Maybe I could send a strongly worded letter, not that you can’t handle it!” Steven was quick to stumble out the rushed words as he worried you would take offense. “I know you can, probably better than I can but… I want to help you darling, just don’t know how exactly. Maybe we can ask Marc.” At his rushed words and clearly frazzled hand movements, you let out a laugh, leaning closer into him.
“Steven, I know you would if I asked you to, so thank you but I can handle it. I’m probably just gonna have to deal with it, without you or Marc interfering..” As you had leaned closer onto Steven’s chest, his hand had started rubbing the small shapes and patterns onto your back, your muscles relaxing into him completely.
As Steven had continued working out the knots in your upper shoulder blades, you had let out content sighs at the feeling of his hands on you, working away the stress and anger you had built up during the long day. Your eyes were closed, your hands closing around the gray shirt he wore to bed, your mouth parting slightly as you let out a raspy breath at the feeling of a particular knot coming undone.
“The way you use your hands on me will never not amaze me…” At your words Steven froze, looking at you as you had continued your words, “You’re getting every knot out and you’ve barely even done anything.”
Steven had gulped at the words, his doe eyes staring down at your face as you relaxed further into his hold. Steven never understood why you wanted him; he was awkward, and he wasn’t exactly confidentin bed, and he was definitely not the most handsome man who’d asked you out. Steven never understood but God did he know he was lucky. Luck was all he could say it was, luck is what helped allow him to be here now, kneading his hands on your slowly-relaxing shoulder, soft sighs slipping out of your mouth. When he realized he hadn’t said anything he cleared his throat and managed to spit out, “Well, whatever you need I’m there, yeah?”
You nodded your head at his words, you knew he’d always be willing to help you in any way he could. That was one of the things about Steven, he was always eager to please. Whether it be making you a cup of coffee after a long day despite hating it or even when he insists on laying on his stomach; legs cramping from the awkward angle, tongue and fingers deep inside you, bringing that burning white pleasure you couldn’t seem to reach yourself. Steven was eager and you loved it.
“I know you are darling, you’re always there.” You had turned to look at him, meeting the soft brown doe eyes. You smiled up at him as you reached your own hand up to run through his hair, moving your body to reach up and connect your lips with his own. Steven, eager as ever, had been quick to drop his hands to your hips, molding your bodies together. Steven had dropped his head into the crook of his neck, his lips leisurely pressing kisses to the skin as you reeled your head back to give him more access. You had kept your hands in his hair as they had slowly made small tugs as you had slowly started circling your hips on his, making Steven groan against your neck, softly nipping at the skin below your jaw.
“Steven…” At the sound of his name falling from your lips, he was quick to rut up against you, letting out a desperate whimper at the contact, pulling away from your neck and looking up at you, breathing deeply. “I’m sorry… I know you had a bad day. I’m sorry we don’t have to-”
“Shh no Steven. Don’t apologize, I want this too… but you just got back from some stupid Khonshu mission, and you haven’t fully healed up. I don’t want you to over do it.” At your words, Steven let out a sigh as he threw his head back against his pillows. “I know lovey, god I can still feel the broken rib healing.” At his words guilt started eating up in your chest, clearly visible to Steven as he gently grabbed your face, pressing a kiss against your forehead as he whispered to you. “I haven’t done anything I couldn’t handle my love. You’ve done nothing wrong, I swear.”
“You’re alright, right? You didn’t hurt yourself when you picked me up or anything? I can mo-” You cut yourself off as you watched as Steven’s shoulders grew tense, his eyes closing tightly, his head jutting up, neck constricting as his veins became prominent. You knew what was happening, you had seen it many times before so the urge to ask ‘Steven’ if he was okay had dwindled as you realized Marc had fronted.
“Marc.” At your voice, Marc’s eyes snapped open as he looked up at you, a small smirk falling onto his face. “Well, I certainly like this position baby.” At his words you rolled your eyes playfully as you slid off of his lap and laid beside him. “How’s the rib feeling for you?” As you had asked the question, you watched and saw Marc tighten his jaw and turn his head away from you. You hadn’t expected anything much of an answer, Marc was never one to show or discuss his pain. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust you, it was just how he was.
“It’s fine, you don’t have to worry about him. Our body has been through worse, believe me.” At his gruff words you looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” At the question a small smile graced his features, something you hadn’t expected from him, being sure to smile back at him, causing him to look away from you.
“I promise, Steven is okay.” At the use of ‘Steven’ you let the smile on your face drop. ‘Does he think I only care about Steven?’ “Marc…” At your tone, Marc had kept his gaze turned to the chipped paint of the door, refusing to meet your eyes. “Please just look at me.” Without thinking about it, he whipped his eyes towards your own, seeing the confusion embedded deep in your irises. “I don’t just worry about Steven. You’re important to me too.” At your words, Marc had tried to look away, but your hand on his face had stopped him. “I never want you to get hurt, you know that, right?”
At your question, Marc had continued staring into your eyes, only giving a small nod of his head towards you. You knew it was all you were getting, and you were okay with it. “I know you think that I’m only ever asking about Steven… But I hope you realize that I care about you too Marc.” At your words, Marc had looked down at the hand that had been placed on his chest, making quick work to grab ahold of it and bring it to his lips to press soft kisses along your knuckles.
“I know, baby. You always make sure I’m okay.” At the confident words, you let out a small laugh as you nodded your head, playfully flicking his covered thigh. “Yeah, don’t forget it, hotshot.” Marc had watched as you had walked over to your forgotten coffee cup and how you were taking the last remaining sip of the cold drink.
“That coffee? Steven hates coffee.” At the question, you let out a humorous hum with a nod of your head. “Oh yeah he does, but he seemed to be understanding of the fact that I needed it after today.” You had made your way to the sink, quickly washing your mug and laying it on the drying rack. “Today? What happened?” Marc had risen from the bed and made his way over to the makeshift kitchen, standing against the wall with his arms crossed. “Was it that boss again?” At the last question, you let out a small ‘“Ah!”, pointing at him, nodding your head.
“Right on the head with that guess, Spector. Just the same old stuff he’d do.” Marc had nodded his head, tightening his jaw as he spoke confidently, “The offer for me to knock his ass out still stands.” At the suggestion, you had let out a bright laugh as he had watched you with a content smile of his own.
As he watched you quickly clean up the small mess of books and scattered pages, Marc couldn’t take his eyes off of you. He wanted those sweet coffee-tasting kisses and soft touches on his face. To feel loved fully by you, in a way only Steven knew.
But for now, he’d be content with the questions on his well-being and the feeling of your hand being wrapped in his own, always longing for the coffee kisses.
as always, if you’d like to be added to my tag list you can let me know by responding on here or even sending me a message or ask!
summary: You never expected to be in a fight with an invisible jackal after escaping a crazy cult, all with your friend Steven Grant and his supposed ex-wife Layla.
pairing: slight! steven grant x reader, slow burn so not a lot in this part!
tags: this is more so a slow burn, I do plan on making at least a part two, this was pretty much the start of it, friends to lovers’ trope! the reader is a bit snappy (only with steven once) let me know if I missed anything!
word count: 6.2k (most I’ve written!)
notes: I hit 100 followers! Which is so insane and I love all of you so I tried to make this on a bit longer! I’m not too sure if I like this so please let me know what you think! This is a slow burn fic! please always let me know if I ever hurt anybody with my writing, and please enjoy and leave any comments/concerns, a few people have asked about being added to my tag list so if you’d like that, please comment and let me know! without further ado, please enjoy!
You never meant to end up in the fight.
You didn’t even have any business being here really. You should have been at home laying down with your cat while watching the last showing of ‘Mamma Mia’, but instead you were standing beside a beautiful woman, small cuts and bruises littering your skin as you watched your neighbor fight an invisible jackal.
While wearing a masked suit.
Now, none of this would even be happening if you had just minded your business and left it all alone. But when were you the type to shy-away and keep your nose out of someone else’s business?
“Yeah, that’s right, kick the invisible monster’s ass Steven!” You had been cheering him on, throwing your closed fist up in celebration as you watched Steven land a hard punch, you were able to tell he landed it by the way the car a few feet away from you had suddenly become dented. As Steven had let out a victory cheer of his own, a laugh passed your lips as you watched on.
Now, how the hell did you get here? Well…
“No mom, I don’t want you to send me any chocolates or flowers. That’s even more embarrassing than having no one give me any.” You were trying to talk your mother down from sending you even more comfort food. Why was she sending you comfort food exactly? You had caught your boyfriend of two years cheating on you, with one of your best mates.
‘Well darling I know you like your comfort foods when you’re upset! Oh! I could make my famous peanut brittle and drop it off!” At the thought of the deliciously sweet and salty mixture you let out a hum.
“Okay well that and no more! Look, I’ve got to take this trash out or I never will. It’s been sitting here for the past week,” Yeah, you had taken the breakup/discovery pretty hard. “Probably smells a bit better than me though.” You had muttered the last bit as a passing thought as you quickly hung up the phone and grabbed the bag while slipping a pair of crocs on your feet.
As you had made your way out of the apartment, you met the frantic eyes of Steven Grant, your awkward but very friendly neighbor and long-term friend, taking a glance at the women behind him. “You alright?” It was a question that had managed to slip out without you even processing it.
“Yeah, fine, but um if you happen to see a dodgy little cult looking man be sure to let me know yeah? Cheers.” At that, he tugged the duffle bag closer to his chest, grabbing the women’s hand and hastily made his way into his apartment leaving you standing there, staring at the spot he used to be in with your mouth hung slightly open. ‘Was he getting laid? Wait- Cult looking man?’
“What does a cult looking man even look like…?” Was all you had muttered to yourself as you made your way down to the garbage chute. Your mind had started conjuring up images you could potentially look out for, ‘he said little, so he’s clearly a short fellow.’ But as you had gotten back up to the fifth floor of the building, you couldn’t help yourself in making your way to his door and knocking on it.
“Steven? Hey, it’s me, you know the neighbor slash friend, well you probably got that, but I’ve been wondering about that cult man you asked me about and I need more information on it mate. I mean, what color hair? Does he have any like burns or like a little stache’ or even sideburns,” You had shuddered at the thought of a shorter man with a creepy mustache and sideburns following people around, “God I hate sideburns.”
The door was quickly opened, and you felt a hand pulling you into the apartment, the smell of old books and, weirdly, sand had met your nostrils as you had looked around his apartment. You found shelves full of books and little Egyptian based figurines, even a pyramid paperweight. You were shocked at how much stuff he managed to fit into the smaller apartment, but as you continued to sweep your eyes around the apartment your eyes found a ring of sand and an ankle restraint around his bed, the woman standing beside it looking at you questioningly.
You had never fully been in the apartment, always either your place or out in town, getting lunch or brunch or dinner, never fully in here. You were starting to understand why too, who the hell has a ring of sand around their bed? The restraint was a bit better, more understandable, maybe he was just kinky, you didn’t judge!
“Did you see the man?” Was the last thing you expected for Steven to ask you. “Um no, I was gonna ask if you could give me more specifics, so I know what to keep my eye out for… I’m sorry but I have to ask, what’s with the sand… and the ankle restraint?” You had torn your eyes away from the miniature aquarium holding an abundant number of postcards and the one-fined goldfish, Gus, you remembered him telling you about him, to meet his eyes, quickly looking between the girl and him. ‘Was he a kinky little shit?’
They were wide and frantic as ever, clearly frazzled about whatever cult-man he was talking about, but as he realized the meaning behind your glances, his eyes widened for a different reason. “Oh no… no uh,” the brown eyes had looked away from yours and down to the bed and sand, quickly walking over to it and pushing the ankle restraint under the mattress, “I have a sleeping disorder…” At his words you didn’t know what to say or do so you simply nodded your head and muttered a small “Right yeah, think my cousin has something similar.” It was a lie. You didn’t even have a cousin, or at least one you actually talked to. As it had gotten silent, you realized you hadn’t said anything to the taller woman.
“Hello, I’m Y/N, Steven’s neighbor but you probably already gathered that.” God, it felt like you were introducing yourself to your class at a new school, but that awkwardness quickly dispersed as she gave a small smile and told you “I’m Layla, Marc’s wife.” Your eyebrows scrunched together at that.
“Oh, that’s great yeah… but who’s Marc?” Now it was Layla’s turn to give you a confused look. Layla had raised her hand and pointed at Steven, who kept frantically glancing between the two of you.
“Stevens Marc? Wait, you have a fake name? And you’re married! God! Steven, I’ve known you for over two years now. How could you not tell me this!” As you had thrown the questions at him, he was shaking his head as he tried to speak over you. “No. No, I don’t have a fake name and I’m not married!” You had given him an obvious ‘What-the-hell-are-you-talking-about’ look as you glanced back at Layla, gesturing to her with your hand, her tilting her head with a smile on her face.
“Look, I don’t understand what’s happening, but I swear, I’m not Marc and my name really is Steven and I’m sure you’re a lovely woman, but I did not marry you, hell I didn’t even know you existed until I found this bloody key and phone up in my ceiling yesterday!” Steven’s chest was heaving up and down as he had reached the end of his slight rant, you quickly side-eyed Layla to see her reaction to what he had said, quickly noticing how she had shaken her head, clearly not believing him.
There was a brief silence, but as you had tried to change the subject back to the ‘cult-man’ he warned you about, Steven had quickly delved into smaller details he could remember about the ‘cult-man’ and explained his encounters with him in his ‘dreams’ and how he showed up at work. It all sounded crazy to you; I mean a man from his dreams coming after him? But even though you were skeptical, you stayed. You knew what it was like to feel alone during hard and confusing times, and you didn’t want your friend to face it alone, and yes, he technically wouldn’t be alone, but he said he just met her, so you had been quick to offer him your company, asking if he would like for you to stay a little bit longer.
“You… You’d do that for me? I’m just your neighbor, a bit of a friend too but… a bad one at that, always stumbling about, missing our friend dates. Can be a bit annoying, right?” At his questions you let out a small laugh and shook your head. “No, not annoying. And yes, I’d do it for you, my very friendly neighbor because I know if it was me in your shoes you’d do the same thing,” Steven had watched as you ran a hand through your hair, glancing around his comfort space, “And honestly… I could use some company too and who’s better than you and a very pretty girl I met today!” At that, he nodded his head and offered a quick, but soft thank you while Layla let out a small laugh at your words.
The calm, serene mood of the room had quickly drifted as Layla had walked over to the duffle bag, you watching as Steven made his way after her, quickly talking about how he found it, how it would prove he wasn’t this ‘Marc’ person, digging his hands into the duffle bag to pull something out before completely freezing, his eyes glancing and staring off into space. It seems you weren’t the only one who noticed this as Layla had quickly questioned him.
“Show me what?” At her question, Steven looked down at the bag and started shifting around with his hands. “Nothing.” It was a soft whisper.
Layla didn’t like that answer as she had forcefully grabbed the bag from Steven’s hand, shoving him away. You were quick to grab Steven as she was digging through the bag, “Jesus, are you alright? Layla! What the hell was that?” Even though you had asked, Layla was more focused on the golden scarab that she pulled out of Steven’s bag. “Is that realgold?”
“The scarab pointing to Ammit’s ushabti? What we fought side by side for.” Steven was quick to shake his head as he gave a soft “No…” As Layla continued, you watched on in shock and disbelief. Steven had clearly seen the betrayal present on Layla’s face as he told her to take it, that he had no desire for it.
Before you could ask what itwas, you heard a pounding knock on his door, Steven glancing between the two of you as he harshly whispered, “They’ve come for me!” You had widened your eyes as Layla and Steven were frantically whispering between each other before you saw Layla head to the window, “Uh.. where ya goin’?”
“We need to hide, there’s a ledge out here, c’mon.” As she had stepped onto the ledge you peeked out there, wildly shaking your head at the tight squeeze. “Uh uh. No way, I’m hiding in his bathroom!” Forcing her grip off of your arm, you quickly bolted away from the window.
You had quickly maneuvered your way to the white door, passing the ring of sand and glancing back at Steven as you had shut the door, leaving a small crack to listen to what the people at the door would say.
“Steven Grant?”
“Yeah, that’s me.. Oh no um now isn’t really a good time for.. Okay.” You had heard movement coming from the main room, trying to listen to where the footsteps were heading. As you continued listening, the footsteps had gotten closer to the door as you heard a woman’s voice ask, “Anyone here with you?” Steven had been quick to deny having any company over.
As you realized she would open the door you quickly pulled walked near the sink, acting as if you had used the loo and were simply washing your hands. As you had turned the water on, the door slammed open and you glanced towards the door, meeting the dark eyes of the female ‘officer’.
“Ever heard of knocking? I could have been naked, Jesus.” At your discovery, the woman grabbed your arm and led you out near Steven, seeing him talking to a ginger. “Thought you said you had no company?”
“Well technically I’m not really ‘company’. I live across from him and my water was out, and I needed to use the loo. Is being neighborly a new crime or are you just hasslin’ him to do it?” Steven was staring at you wide-eyed as he heard you speak to the officer like that, but you didn’t see anything wrong with it. “And by the way, where’s your warrant? You can’t be in here searching and taking shit without one and any realofficers would know of that, right?” You felt the woman’s grip on your arm tighten, meeting your eyes as a small glare popped up on her face. You had seen right throughthem.
But it didn’t matter as the man had pulled out a passport from the bag he had tried hiding from Layla and yourself earlier, “Fake passport for a…Marc Spector?” At the name you quickly moved your gaze onto Steven, gazes instantly meeting as you looked at him shocked. ‘Had he lied? Was Layla telling the truth?’
“So, a liar and a thief, it seems like you’re gonna have to come down to the station with us, answer a few questions, yeah?” You let out a loud scoff, ripping your arm out of her grip as you quickly asked, “What’d he steal? And that passport proves nothing, maybe he has a twin brother who’s staying with him. You have no real cause for taking him in, do you?”
The woman had taken a step closer to you, letting out a deep whisper, “You are reallystarting to complicate things.” A small smirk had graced your lips as you took a step closer to her and whispered back, “Who doesn’t love a complicated story officer?” Steven had simply stared in awe at how well you were handing this, ‘how the bloody hell is she not freaking out?!’
“Load them both up in the car, I have a feeling he’s gonna wanna talk to her.”
As you had been loaded into the car, muttering back to Steven that he desperately owed you for this, but you knew it had been on you. You had insisted on staying, you had run your mouth and you had decided to push the ‘officers’ buttons. It was all on you.
“Were the cuffs really necessary? Pretty sure we’re not even going to the bloody police department.” At your comment Steven looked up wide-eyed. “What do you mean? They’re cops.. Of course we’re going to the police department.” You looked over to him at that.
“Steven. They are notreal cops.” It seemed that the two upfront were choosing to ignore the quiet chatter from the two of you as they had interrupted your small explanation on how there was maybeatwo percent chance of them being real cops.
“Wow. Lookie, lookie. Guess what we’ve got here, Billy. We’ve got ourselves a full-blown, international fugitive.” At the word fugitive, you glanced between the pair and back to Steven. They had to be lying. This was Steven, the sweet, shy Steven Grant who could barely look at someone threatening, let alone be some form of killer.
“It’s not.. It’s a mistake. It’s not me.” Desperation was clearly leaking from his voice as he tried to convince the two that he was being framed or something was happening, that he didn’t understand what was going on.
“Marc Spector was part of a team of mercenaries that hit a dig site in Egypt. Here’s what they did to the archeologists.” The women had taken a glance back at Steven, a look of disbelief and disguston her face. “Zip-tied and shot in the back of the head, execution style.” At the new information Steven had seemed to be deep in thought as you had tried to convince yourself that it couldn’t be real, that he wasn’t Marc Spector, the mercenary who could so easily take the life of innocent by-standers.
“That’s dark, man.” ‘Billy’ had directed it towards Steven before his eyes fell on you. “And you can sit there and feel comfortable enough to use his loo, mental.” As he had directed the comment towards you, you rolled your eyes as you quickly retorted, “Yeah says the one who’s pretending to be some cop in order to kidnap two people. You don’t get to pick and choose what type of evil is acceptable, asshole.” As you had noticed they drove past the turn towards the station, you raised your eyebrows and asked them, “Now where the hellare you taking us?”
The silence after showed they were refusing to answer you, but you soon found out as they pulled into a dodgy alleyway, small streetlights being the only source of light.
“I thought we were going to the police station?” Steven had finally realized you were right. At the question you let out a groan as you looked at him. “I literally told you they were fake cops, man.”
“Now, why would you think that?” As he had adjusted the mirror you had seen the tattoos that Steven had mentioned on the cult-man. Your eyes widened as you nudged Steven with your arm, tipping your head in the direction of the tattoo. “That doesn’t happen to be the cult-man tattoo, would it?” At Steven’s widened, fear-stricken eyes, you took that as your answer as you nodded your head and looked down. “Yeah… that’s great.”
The two cult members left the car, leaving you and Steven in a tense silence. Before you had a chance to ask what to do, you heard a ball come in contact with the window, both Steven and you slightly jumping at the sound. “Hello. Hello! Excuse me, could you help us?” He had been knocking his head on the window to gain the girls attention, “Help, please. we’ve been kidnapped…” As he had trailed off you looked over his shoulder to see the scales tattoo staring you in the face.
“No… God what is up with the freaky tattoos! She’s like 16 at best, why the hell does she have a tattoo?” You were trying to maneuver yourself against the door in hopes of opening it up as you had muttered to yourself.
“That’s what you’re worried about? Newsflash, we’ve been kidnapped!” As Steven had raised his voice at you, you stared at him with your eyebrows raised. “Yeah? And newsflash, I’m the one who’s trying to get us out of here as you sit there staring after the fake cops!” Before Steven had a chance to respond, he had gasped and seemed to have folded into himself before whipping his head up again, your sarcasm tone quickly being replaced with worry.
“Steven? You alright?” Steven had either ignored you, or been too focused on the window behind you, seeming to be entranced by it. You whipped your head around to see what he was looking at, fearing the cult-man would pop up. “No. No, I saw what you did to those people.” At that you had looked back at him with a raised brow. “I beg your pardon?”
“I am never giving you control again.” His eyes had transferred to the mirror in front of the two of you, you glance up at it, confusion showing on your face. “Ever. Do you hear me?” And just as you were about to say his name again, you heard a radio click and a creepy voice raise out in the car. Cult-man.
“I hear you loud and clear, Steven Grant of the gift shop.” The door had swung open on Steven’s side, him falling out of it. “Wha- Steven!”
The door was slammed shut before you could make your way out of it, slamming your foot on it in anger. What the hell do you do now? Were they going to be doing blood rituals? Animal and human sacrifices? The thought of an animal being used like that made you queasy. God, you hated cults. You looked out to see a man walking with a cane, long greasy hair pushed back, walking towards Steven. “Cult-man!” At the sound of your yell, the man and female ‘officer’ glanced over at you. You saw the man whisper something to the girl as she nodded her head and walked over to the car, not fully getting in but seeming to stand guard against your door.
`Great, you try to do something nice for a neighbor and get kidnapped by a cult, mom’s not gonna believe that shit.’
You watched as Steven and the seemingly ‘cult leader’ walked away from the car, Steven frequently glancing back towards the car, meeting your gaze. As they had managed to disappear from your eyesight you were left with your thoughts. ‘Was Layla still on the ledge of the building? Was she on her way to you guys? Were you going to die?’ As you continued thinking of the possibilities of where this was heading, you were disappointed in yourself. Who the hell just sits there and lets it happen? Get out of this car and get your ass out of here! Put up a fight at least, but don’t sit here waiting for some stupid cult to murder you!
You had started banging your hand on the glass, “Hey! Lady, look I need to wee really bad! Please, I don’t even know where the hell I am to run! And you guys clearly out number me.” The officer had merely glanced at you through the window, shaking her head. At the sight of her turning her head away from you, you gasped. “Hey c’mon now! I really gotta go! And my bladder is weak! I swear I’ll piss in this car and leave it for you and detective ginger to clean it up.” At that, she quickly turned to your door and opened it up, getting close to your face as she threatened, “You try anything, and I won’t hesitate to knock you on your ass.” You simply smiled at her as you got out of the car, “As long as my bladders been emptied, do what you want.”
Grabbing your arm and keeping the cuffs on, she had started to lead you to some form of mess hall. There were people everywhere, some laughing and cooking, some simply working, children playing. Before you had made it inside, you felt the wind pick up, tarps flying and bushes rustling, quickly rushing inside to be greeted with an unexpected sight. There were large pillars, with gleaming lights on them, tables filled with plates of food, sections of people watching a movie, they all seemed at peace, you were in awe of it all. ‘This is a cult?’
“I’m taking the cuffs off, but any wrong move, I knock you over the head with a pot and you’re out.” At her words you let out a small sarcastic laugh, “How charming…”
You glanced around the room, catching Steven’s eye, he was sitting down at one of the tables, eating soup. You were here, making a plan for escape and the bloke is sitting down eating soup? With the cult-man? “Sorry, I know this isn’t how you’re supposed to start friendships, but I lied back there and now that I’m out how bout we head over to my friend Steven, yeah?”
The woman sighed as she pulled you over to the table, unlocking the cuffs as you stood staring at Steven. “So… I get to sit outside wondering what the autopsy report will say and you get to be in here eating soup?” At your voice both the creepy cult-man and Steven turn their heads toward you.
“Oh, you must be Steven’s friend. I was just about to get someone to bring you to us.” As he was talking, he stood up, quickly grabbing a wooden tray and asking the women to grab you some of the lentil soup. “We were just talking about Steven and Marc being the avatar of Khonshu.”
“The avatar… Like the anime? And who the hell is Khonshu?” The cane wielding man had let out a small laugh, “I see you and Steven are more alike than we all originally thought.” You let out a weak laugh, glancing at Steven. “Well, as much as I am dying to try the…lentil soup, I think we better be going now, yeah, Steven? Got your fill?” As you had grabbed Steven to try and leave, the leader of said cult started speaking.
“That scarab functions as a kind of compass, leading us to Ammit’s tomb.” As the man had continued, both Steven and you noticed how all of his followers had seemed to be growing closer to you, circling you. “She’s out there, waiting, longing to be freed. While the cruel masses deserve to face her judgment… And in the wake of their screams, evil eradicated.” He was speaking so breathlessly, making your heartbeat harder against your chest as the group of people got closer to you. “So, the scarab.”
“Oh, I don’t have it.” At the quick response, the leader had tightened his eyes in suspicion. “No?”
“Honestly, we don’t have it.” It wasn’t what the man had wanted to hear, but nonetheless, he pressed the location of the scarab even further.
“Well, maybe you know someone who does? Maybe Marc?” You let out a sigh as you watched Steven glance over to the metal bowl of bread. “Look, we don’t have it, and we don’t know who has it. Can we please leave and just forget about all of this?” You were praying that he wouldn’t be able to tell you had lied, he can’t know about Layla.
It seemed as if the man had ignored you as he solely turned his attention onto Steven. “May I speak with Marc?” As Steven had stuttered, not giving a proper answer as the leader continued, “Marc, what has Khonshu promised you? That this is your last mission? Then you’ll be free? Trust me when I tell you Khonshu is a liar. There’s always one last thing.” It grew tense after his words, nobody moving or saying anything,
“Sorry. If Ammit judges people pre-evil, like, before the fact, then isn’t she judging an innocent person? I mean, a thought can’t be evil, can it?” As Steven continued to talk about the thought of killing his boss, which is understandable, you noticed movement from one of the balconies. ‘What the hell’s going on up there?’
“Sorry, is that… Is that what… you’re all into that, like, killing children and that? Maybe it’s just me, but that’s… I kind of draw a line there at child murder.”
“Yeah… child murder is definitely a red flag for me, ya know… too evil…” You had trailed off as the older man gestured to his cane. “Do you know what this is?” You let a small smile fall on your face as Steven answered, “Yep. It’s a cane, yeah.” The man had gotten out of his seat, grabbing the cane as he went. “This is… Ammit’s gift to her first avatar. It contains in it… A tiny sliver of her power.” Steven had taken notice to the group of people slowly backing away, quickly pulling you up to follow suit. “I don’t wanna use it.”
“Yeah, well then don’t… No need for it really.” You had gotten scared, your usual confident and snarky comments turning more shaky, hesitant. “I can’t.. We can’t help you.” The threatening man had been in denial as he quickly retorted back, “Yes, you can. I need to know, where is the scarab?” As we stood in the middle of the group, Steven staring straight at the man, You couldn’t help but continue glancing around at the congregation of people, slowly becoming more high alert.
After asking the question a few more times, staring directly at Steven, you heard Layla’s voice as she announced, “I have it.” You quickly darted your head in her direction, seeing her standing there, holding the golden scarab in the air, slowly emerging from the people.
“You couldn’t possibly understand the value of what you’re holding. Let me have that, I’ll keep it safe.” You quickly shook your head at Layla, praying she wouldn’t hand over the scarab. “Summon the suit.” It was directed towards Steven, him growing confused as he asked her, “Sorry, what?” “Summon the suit.” It was more urgent this time, Layla grabbing Steven’s jacket as she tried to get him to understand. As they continued to discuss what she meant, you noticed that the group of people were slowly closing in. “Uh guys.. Not to break up whatever marital problems you’re having, but they look pretty mad.”
At the sight of someone getting too close to you, you quickly threw a punch towards their face, landing it against their nose. “Okay, suit or no suit we are running that way!” You had pushed Layla as she had grabbed ahold of Steven’s sleeve, all three of you rushing towards the staircase leading to a balcony. Layla had been grabbed, the man slightly pulling her towards him, at the sight of it you quickly kicked the man in the balls, threw a loud, “Next time ask for permission!”, before continuing your way towards the staircase.
At the top you had noticed Layla was beating some dude’s ass while Steven stared at her, shock clearly on his face while you had let out a happy giggle and screamed in joy. “Yes Layla! That’s what I’m talking about darling!” Steven glanced back at you in disbelief, “Are you seriously cheering her on?” At his look you shrugged your shoulders and pointed at the group of people making their way up the stairs. “We need to go now.” But as you had glanced back at the group of people, you saw the cult leader on his knees, the cane on the ground which was emitting a purple glow, chanting as the floor started sinking. “What the f-” You had been pulled into the room before you could stare any longer.
“Am I crazy or was the ground literally glowingandsinkinginto itself?!” As you had started looking around the room you heard Layla mention some suit again, telling Steven to summon it. Steven was clearly panicking as he shook his head, claiming he’d die in the magician’s man cave. As you watched the scene take place, the door rattling and Steven growing more panicked, you started breathing heavier. Layla wasn’t helping the situation as he had dropped to his knees, clutching his head, so you had tried to get closer to Steven.
“Steven, breathe. I know you don’t understand what’s happening, hell I don’t either but we have to get out of here and if Layla says you can do this, you can do this. Just breathe.”
“No.. No I can’t. I’m sorry.” You nodded your head as you quickly stepped back, trying to find another way out. Before you could say anything else, the door slammed open, but you were met with nothing but fog. “What the hell.. Where’d the people go?”
Steven seemed to have seen it though as he had quickly pointed out and screamed, “Jackal! Jackal! Jackal!” You and Layla made eye contact, both wondering what jackal he was talking about. As you continued watching Steven back up, you were shocked as you saw him fall out of the window. “Steven! Oh my god what the hell?!” You had scrambled after him, glancing out of the broken window. You watched as he fell, screaming out “Suit! Suit!” Before landing, now wearing a bright white, tailored suit with a mask over his face. “Layla.. He did it! He got the suit you were talking about!”
“C’mon we gotta get down there.” You had followed her, holding your breath as you had to climb down the fire escape. God you wanted to go home.
Just as you and Layla had made it to the ground, you let out a deep breath. “Never doing that again. Now where’s Steven?” Layla looked over at you for a short moment, “You fought pretty well back there. Where’d you learn it?” At her question you glanced back at her. You shook your head with a shrug of your shoulders but before you could fully answer her, Steven came barreling through the wooden fence, both of you gasping at him.
“You look.. different.” You let out an awkward cough as they seemed to stare at each other, quickly being interrupted as Steven’s body started being moved by the invisible jackal. You slapped your hand on your mouth as you realized he wasn’t lying about it. “Oh my god the jackals real!”
As you had started getting closer with Layla, Steven quickly yelled out “Stay away from me!” In her confused state Layla asked “Away from what?” Before she was pushed back while the jackal slammed Steven into the hood of a car. You saw a metal rod on the edge of the road and quickly grabbed it, calling out “Batters up!” before swinging the metal rod over the invisible object’s body. It clearly worked as Steven slumped against the car, but you now realized it was focused on you. “Shit.. No it’s fine, I’ve got this, just keep swinging everywhere.” You were frantically waving the metal rod around you, feeling it hit the jackal a few times.
Steven had gotten up from his spot on the floor as he quickly called out, “To your left!” You made a hard swing with the rod, feeling it hit directly on. Before you could hit it again, you felt something tighten around your throat, lifting you in the air.
“Get away from her! Yeah I see you, you plug-ugly coyote.” At the noise of his voice, the jackal dropped you hard onto the concrete as you gasped to get the air back into your lungs, watching as Steven stripped himself of the suit jacket. “You’re in the wrong ends, mate. You’re in my yard now.” As you continued to watch him egg it on, you made your way back to Layla, “Are you alright?”
“Me? You just got choked by that thing!” Before you responded, you got sidetracked by the way the car in front of you had dented on the hood, clearly where the jackal was standing as Steven continued to taunt it.
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, my name’s Steven with a V.” As he finished the jingle for himself, you watched as he pulled his arm back before launching it, making contact with the Jackal as it landed on the car again. You let out a loud cheer, raising your arms up in celebration, quickly adding onto his excited cheer of “Wagwan!”
““Yeah, that’s right, kick the invisible monster’s ass Steven!” You were laughing as you grabbed onto Layla’s arm, slightly jumping up and down.
“I did it! You got planted! Guys, Guys! Did you see that?” Just as you were about to answer, you watched as he quickly got kicked away, rolling in front of a car, horns beeping at him. You watched as he continued to flail his arms around, fighting with the jackal before he got hit with a car, sending him a few feet forward. “Steven!”
You ran towards him, moving towards the car, putting your hand out as you leaned down to him. “Jesus what the hell was that man? You had it going so well too…” You heard him let out a groan, “Not helping love.” A grimace fell on your face as he slowly started getting up, leaning his body against the bus as you tried to keep him stable. You watched as he seemed to have a conversation with his reflection, glancing back to the street filled with people and stopped cars, before his eyes fell on you. Steven stared into your eyes as he nodded his head and grabbed your hand, giving it a firm squeeze in appreciation. “You alright?” Steven let out a dejected sigh, giving a nod to the bus reflection as he said, “All right. Do it. Take control. For now.”
You watched as his body jolted up right, the white suit slowly being replaced as wisps of graying cloth started covering himself, a small golden crescent in the middle of his chest, his eyes glowing white until he had a mask and hood covering him. “Steven…” You watched as his demeanor changed, growing tense as he looked at you before shouldering past you, walking in the opposite direction.
That wasn’t Steven, you knew it wasn’t. Your mind was reeling as you watched him get further away, closer towards the supposed jackal. You didn’t understand how it happened, but for one thing you did know, you had just witnessed Marc Spector for the first time.
as always, if you’d like to be added to my tag list you can let me know by responding on here or sending me a message!
summary: reader thinks she has no chance of Steven liking her after hearing about his date, without realizing all of the things he seems to notice about her, until she gets the help from donna of all people.
pairing: steven grant x reader
tags: not a lot of steven and reader, more so mutual pining, there is a little bit of self-deprecating thoughts from reader, (in my eyes; a bad ending)
word count: 4k (most I’ve written yet!)
notes: this is loosely based on ‘Please Notice’ by Christian Leave, I say loosely because there’s only a few things related to it, and although there aren’t any mentions of the Steven/Marc dynamic, please let me know if I ever write DID wrong! the last thing I would want it to hurt anyone from my writing! Leave any suggestions or comments, but alas enjoy!
You never wanted to fall for Steven Grant, the dorky gift shop-ist.
You never wanted to fall for him and yet here you were, leaning the top part of your body on the cool granite counter the museum had recently installed, your eyes trailing after the man. He had arrived late, again, and he threw a quick smile and wave at you as he made his way back to the gift shop. And it made your heart race as you gave a flushed smile and a small wave of your hand. You were hopeless.
‘Bet he’s trying to steer clear of Donna’s wrath.’
Listen, you guys were friends, the closest friend you guys had actually. You had taken some sight-seeing trips, and had a few movie nights here and there, but what you hadn’t expected was for you to grow a massive, school-like crush on one of your best mates. It was a cliche and you hated it! You hated how long it had taken for you to fall for him, for you to realize how much you liked him, especially since you would now have to watch him pursue one of your work-friends Dylan.
You always tried to tell yourself that it was just a stupid work-crush, someone that you found cute, someone you could easily learn to love. But you knew you already loved all the parts you knew and saw now, but you didn’t want to face that fact yet because then it became real. You didn’t want to face the truth that you were more than likely hopelessly in love with Steven Grant because you knew he didn’t feel the same. How did you know this exactly? Well, you saw him ask the beautiful and smart tour guide on a date to a steakhouse of all places.
‘Why would a vegan ask to go to a steakhouse?’ It didn’t make sense when he did ask, but as you were standing there listening to him ask, you couldn’t help but be shocked at the way he sounded much more confident than he ever had with you.
“Best steak in town, yeah?” Why the hell would he mention steak? He doesn’t even eat meat!
But even though you were quite confused, your heart sunk to your stomach, a feeling of jealousy washed over you. Even though you were jealous, you could see why he had asked Dylan, she was beautiful, smart, a tour-guide actually, and she was funny. A real catch.
“Y/N, I need you to help me take these boxes to the gift shop.” You let out an exasperated sigh while closing your eyes. “It’s not like you’re doing anything useful, just standin’ there all ditsy. Let’s go.” She had already placed the three boxes down on the counter, walking with a few of her own.
You quickly grabbed the boxes she left and followed after her, trying not to trip on your own feet. As you got closer to the gift shop you could see Steven slowly placing out the baskets of jelly candies and the Taweret plushies, looking down and shaking his head at the merchandise. A small smile graced your face as you watched as he mumbled to himself about the items not making much sense, and you had to agree with him.
“Stevie, you were late, again.” At the sound of Donna’s nasally voice, Steven whipped towards the two of you and let out a grimace. “I know, I’m sorry. The bus came in early ag-” He grumbled out, clearly frustrated with Donna mentioning his tardiness again, but she had cut him off. “Why’re you just standing there? Help grab the box from Y/N.” At the mention of your name Steven quickly turned his attention onto you, noticing how the boxes were nearly to your eye level. A panicked look took over his face as he rushed over to you, taking the boxes out of your hands.
“Oh god, so sorry, I didn’t see you, I’m sorry.” Steven was frantically apologizing as you were shaking your head at him. “It’s fine, no trouble.” As he turned back to look at you, you had been making your way over to the other side of the counter, slowly helping Donna unpack some of the boxes while also being unaware of the way Steven was looking at you, keeping his eyes trained on you as you walked.
Donna kept her eye on him though, watching as his eyes followed your every move. If he had known, he would have quickly glanced away and started working to help with unpacking. As he was finally able to tear his eyes away from you, he saw Donna looking at him with her eyebrows raised, glancing between him and your silhouette. His eyes widened in shock and rapidly shook his head, which caused a smirk to fall on her face. “Start stocking Stevie.”
As Donna had made her way out and Steven had taken place behind the counter, he glanced at you and saw you were still helping him. “Oh no, you don’t- don’t have to do that. I can take over, yeah?” He was clearly flustered at your close proximity, his cheeks having a small pink tint to them and a shy smile on his face.
“Oh please, it’s fine, I don’t have any tours until 1, Dylan has the morning ones today…” You had trailed off on your sentence after mentioning Dylan. ‘Would he say anything about the date?’ “Oh yeah? Well, that’s great. I mean it’s great that you have some downtime, not that you could stay and help me. You don’t have to actually; you know I could um I could handle it all… by myself.”
A small laugh slipped past your lips as you quickly stopped his worrying. “I don’t mind helping. It gives me something to do and someone to talk to. Might sound surprising but J.B isn’t that good of a conversationalist.” It was obvious you were trying to make him feel better and the sight of your small smile that was pointed towards himmade his heart start racing.
Before he could make a quip back about J.B’s lack of communication skills, he watched as you glanced up towards the entrance way, the smile quickly dropping as you averted your eyes back to the merchandise. At the sight of a crestfallen look on your face, Steven grew confused and worried. Did he do something wrong? Just as he was about to ask if you were alright he heard someone clear their throat, causing Steven to whip his head around. It was Dylan and Steven had figured she had come to grab you, a schedule mix up. At the thought of your time being cut short a small frown fell on his face.
“Hello” Steven had continued to keep his eyes on the jellies he was restocking until he heard Dylan call his name, then realizing that both you and Dylan were looking at him, One confused and one worried.
“Oh sorry, hello” Steven had murmured out, glancing between the two of you. At the realization that Dylan was looking towards you expectantly, you widened your eyes and grabbed a box and muttered out a small excuse to be further from the two. As you were walking away Steven had kept his eyes on you, confused why you would leave so abruptly.
“How’s the sugar trade going?” It was an innocent question really, but you felt your hands get tighter on one of the small statues of Osiris, clenching your jaw tight. You liked Dylan, the two of you have even gone out for lunch quite a few times! But the fact that you did like her is why the anger from such a stupid simple question frustrated you.
“I don’t know what this has to do with Egypt really. They didn’t have that back then, did they? No, they liked figs and dates and..” Dylan had cut him off as she let him know her tour was about to start and simply was over to say;
“Just checking, we still on for 7:00 tomorrow?” As she had asked, you slowly made it look like you were stocking the statues as you made a quick glance towards Steven to see his reaction. He looked downright shocked, speechless.
“‘7:00 tomorrow?’” It was a question, he seemed to have forgotten about the date, which was odd considering he made it yesterday.
“‘Best steak in town’?” Dylan was trying to jog his memory, but he seemed to have grown more confused.Steak?
“Oh right, yeah yeah yeah.” He had let out a small chuckle with it, trying to keep himself composed. And as Dylan had started to walk away he quickly looked between you and her and called out, “Sorry, but.. are you asking me on a date?”
At that, you seemed to get confused. What is he talking about?
Dylan seemed to have the same confusion as she let out a small laugh and simply told him he was funny as she walked towards the people in line for her tour. Steven seemed to have realized that you were still there as he glanced towards the direction where you were supposed to be to find the spot empty. As he looked around, where he saw you had taken the empty box, set it in the back of the shop and was making your way out of the gift shop.
“Y/N? Hey.. where you goin’?” At his urgent call of your name you let out a small sigh, one he took notice of and glanced back at him with a small, almost sad smile on your face. “Sorry, forgot I had to help Donna.. But enjoy your date, you seemed excited about it.” And just like that, you turned on your heels and walked away leaving Steven feeling like he had done something wrong.
You were stupid for ever thinking he would like you, or even notice you in the same way he did Dylan. She had absolutely everything a guy could possibly want and you were just you, plain and boring you. You hated that this one guy, one stupid cute and shy guy could make you feel this pitiful about yourself but alas here you were, making your way down the steps of the museum leaving to head towards your flat where you had planned on wallowing in your own self-pity with a half eaten pint of ice cream.
Just as you were making it about halfway you noticed Steven talking to a yellow-painted man, seeming to look like a statue. At the sight of him you let out a pathetic sigh, could you not escape this man? And just as you were about to turn your body fully, walking the complete opposite way in order to steer clear of him, you heard him say your name.
“Yeah and you know I have that date, one I can’t believe I have, I mean I don’t even remember asking her, it’s mental really. But.. it’s weird, my friend Y/N she seemed upset and I’m supposed to be excited about the date but I’m not, more worried about her actually.” At his words you felt guilty for how you reacted earlier. You hadn’t meant to be brash and rude or cause him to worry but if you had stayed there any longer the tears that bubbled in your throat would have escaped. And to be fair, you’d rather give some stupid excuse for needing to leave than why you had started crying. As the guilt continued to eat away at your stomach and heart, you continued to walk in your normal direction, praying he wouldn’t call out to you but knowing Steven, it was unlikely.
“Y/N?, oh hey! I was just tellin’ my mate here how I was worried about you. You left quite promptly today, right?” You gave him a small smile and nodded and tried to come up with a quick lie. “Oh hey Steven.. Yeah no, I forgot Donna had asked me for some help with hanging one of the banners.” It sounded believable, okay great now wish him luck on his date and get to your couch and ice cream.
“Oh okay yeah I was worried I had done something, you know? You let out one of those sighs you do when something bothers you and I was scared it was cause’ I had let you unbox one of my boxes, thank.. Thank you for that by the way.” He picked up on the sigh? Great, now you felt even worse about your actions.
“Oh no, just the thought of having to deal with Donna ya know? But um, good luck with Dylan I better start heading home.” At the thought of the date you had accidentally clenched your fist tighter around the handle of your tote bag, which Steven quickly picked up on. “You., you sure? I mean you can talk to me if you need. Not that you don’t have someone, yeah no like I’ll listen to you, not that I don’t always listen but you know…” At his quick rambling you had let out a small giggle, Steven’s eyes focusing in on your bright smile, a dopey smile appearing on his own.
“I’m fine, thank you for asking but if I’m ever not I know who to go to.” It was a reassurance to Steven; he wasn’t the cause of the small disappointed, almost sad sighs and the clenched fist, you knew to go to him if you ever needed him. “Right.. Yeah always available for you, yeah” You directed a small appreciative smile his way, slowly walking backwards towards the street. “I’ll see you later Steven, good luck for tomorrow.”
“Laters, gators.” A small giggle was heard as you turned fully, walking away as Steven stared after you.
“Yeah, mate that was Y/N, bit of luck I ran into her huh? Alright, well cheers, oh oh can’t forget the tip!”
It had been over a long day and all you had wanted was to get home, change into your sweats and watch the shitty romcom reruns that play until the early hours of the morning. You knew if you did do that, your brain would still find ways to go back to Steven, it’d always go back to Steven. You knew he would be sneaking into your dreams and the fake reality you’d conjure up to lure yourself to sleep, imagining yourself on the date Dylan had the honor of going on.
As you had finally walked up to your apartment door, you felt the tense muscles in your shoulders slowly start to slack as you felt the heat of your apartment quickly warm your hands and the red tip of your nose. You knew you weren’t going to eat anything besides the ice cream, so you quickly changed and pulled the pint out, grabbing the remote on the console table.
It had been a little under two days since you had last seen Steven and you were more than concerned. When you had Dylan coming to you talking about how Steven had stood her up you were confused. Even if he was nervous or didn’t quite like Dylan he would have shot a text, or shown up regardless. You had tried to explain to Dylan about how Steven had gotten the days mixed up before but she wasn’t hearing it, quickly telling you that he was a knob and didn’t deserve her time. You couldn’t even be mad at her, she was stood up by the person who had originally asked her out, after she got dressed and did her hair and makeup just to leave the restaurant with a bruised ego and an anger in her chest for Steven Grant.
At the sight of the scowl on Dylan’s face, you grabbed your phone and made your way to the inventory room in order to have some form of privacy. As you had made your way into the room, you were scrolling through all your contacts to reach ‘Steven!’ that had a picture of the two of you under the tower bridge. Clicking ‘dial’ as you raised the phone to your ear as you felt your heart hammering against your chest. You knew you had told Dylan that he had gotten his days mixed sometimes and you knew he sometimes had trouble sleeping but you also knew that anytime you had called him, he answered. It didn’t matter what time or day it was, Steven would answer and he would immediately ask if you were alright, so when you heard it go straight to voicemail you didn’t know what to think.
“Hey Steven, it’s Y/N, you probably already knew that, but I was just checking in, give me a call back.” It was awkward, her voice sounding extremely confused and worried. But even if he had answered, what would she have said? ‘Hey Steven, why’d you stand up Dylan?’ As she continued to worry about the missing shop-ist, Donna had walked into the room, backpedaling as she came to see you in the room. “What’re you doin’ in here?”
“Sorry, I had to make a phone call and it’s pretty loud out there.” She gave a nod and hum of agreement, “Right you are, seems like the tours have multiplied this past month alone!” You gave a fake smile and nod of your head as she continued her tangent about the banners having affected the number of visitors, which you hardly doubted was the reason. But as she continued, you still couldn’t seem to get your mind off of Steven and whether or not he was alright. Donna seemed to pick up on you spacing out as she questioned; “What’s goin’ on in that thick head of yours?”
“What? Sorry Donna, I’m just worried about someone.” You didn’t really have any reason to lie, especially when your brain couldn’t seem to think anything quick enough to seem believable.
“It’s Stevie, isn’t it? I caught onto the looks he was throwin’ you the other day and figured somethin’ was happenin’ between you two, well until I heard he asked Dylan out for steak, a bloody vegan asking about steak! Ha!” You hadn’t focused on the last part of the sentence, simply how she had caught the ‘looks’ he was throwing at you.
“I’m sorry? Pardon? What looks?” You had interjected before she could continue going on about how ‘worthless’ the vegan was.
“What, like you don’t know the bloody fool’s been eyeing you for months now? Every day comes in lookin’ like a right knob until he sees you at that desk of yours.” As she had said this, your heart had sped up, palms growing sweaty as you listened to her list the instances she had noticed the looks Steven sent your way. “What, you think he noticed how you took your coffee just for the hell of it? Or how about the body language he picks up on? The loon has asked me so many times what was wrong with you when you seemed perfectly fine to everyone else. A bit weird if you ask me.” Body language. That night by the ‘statue’ he had noted the way you clenched your first and how you had previously let out a small sigh, days prior to this asked why you seemed tense when you had finished a tour that had a man that would not stop making suggestive comments, he always noticed when it came to you.
“Hey Donna, can I get a sick pass for the rest of the day? I only have one tour left and Dylan still owes me one for last month.” For a tense moment you thought she’d say no, and then you’d have to wait until tonight to try and find some answers about the whereabouts of Steven, until she let out a deep sigh and gave you a nod of her head. A small smile graced your lips, a real one this time, as you threw a cheerful ‘thank you!’ back to her and rushed past all the smaller groups looking at the encased Egyptian artifacts and out the door, grabbing your phone to try Steven again.
Still no answer. God, this was going to be much harder than you had thought it would have been. As you had tried to think of a plan, you remembered how he had told you to stop by his flat if you needed anything and well, you needed answers and a weight lifted off your chest.
As you started to make way to the bus you couldn’t help but grow nervous, so what he noticed smaller details than most. Maybe he did it to everyone, maybe he did it as an absentminded thing, maybe this wasn’t the reason you should seek answers about his feelings. But as each thought passed through your brain, it had a response for everyone.
As the bus had started making its way, you had thought back to the small things you had noticed about him. How Steven liked when someone gave him a smaller, encouraging smile, rather than an actual vocal praise, how he had seemed to clench his jaw in anger every time Donna or J.B got his name wrong, how anytime he was rejected to being a tour guide his shoulders would fall, and his voice would stay low for the rest of the day. These small things you would notice is what kept you from getting off the bus and running home, locking yourself in your apartment hiding away from your own feelings. Your thoughts were abruptly stopped as you realized Steven’s usual stop was about to be passed as you quickly pulled the lever to show you needed to be let off.
“Sorry.. Minds not focused..” You gave out a pitiful excuse as the driver gave a roll of his eye and closed the doors again, speeding away from the street and leaving you standing there staring down at where his door sat.
As you had finally gathered enough willpower to move your feet, you slowly made it to the buzzer, quickly hitting ‘502’ as the door opened up and you made your way to the elevator shaft. ‘Okay breathe, it’ll be fine.’ It was all you could tell yourself in hopes of calming down, keeping your heart from beating out of your chest and your lunch being spewed out everywhere.
As the door came to a stop on floor 5, you walked hastily toward the door with the gold ‘502’ staring you down in the face, waiting for you to raise your fist and knock on the door. ‘Just knock, dumbass!’ With a dramatic deep breath, you banged your hand on the door four times before stopping, waiting to hear if you heard any movement. ‘Was he home?’
“Steven… Hey it’s Y/N, I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doin’ after the date… Dylan told me you flaked.” You were nervous, what if he didn’t want to see you, or anyone for that matter. As you waited to hear for any sign of movement in the loft, your hopes started to lessen as you realized he was probably out. And just as you had turned around, you were face to face with Steven walking out of the elevator, bloody and a bag tossed over his shoulder.
At the sight of the deep-red color seeping through his shirt and the pink tint on his hands, your mouth dropped as you rushed towards him. “Oh my god, Steven! What the hell happened to you!” At the sound of the name, his head whipped up, your eyes connecting as you watched as he gave a deep aggravated sigh and a roll of his eyes. Your chest constricted at that, he clearly did not want you here but you couldn’t just shrug off the fact that he shows up after 2 days, bloody and having a sketchy duffle bag.
You had come for answers about his feelings, but it seemed as if you’d have to stay for something you didn’t bargain for, but if it was Steven, you’d stay for however long it’d take.
summary: the reader is surprised when she finds her boyfriend, the person’s calls she’s been ignoring in order to decide whether or not she should discuss her discovery of Marc, waiting at her door one day after work. Commence the Stressful Discussions. (This is Part Two of ‘Time at The Museum’) Which you can find here!
pairing: Steven Grant x reader, slight hint of Mac x reader
tags: steven is panicking quite a bit in this one! There’s a panic attack and reader helps him calm down, but it is also pretty soft but also angsty?? I don’t really know how to describe it.
word count:3.3.k
notes: the last part of this got a lot more attention than I was expecting so wow! thank you all for the love, as always; please let me know if I ever write anything incorrect or harmful about DID and remember I am not an expert! Other than that, please enjoy
You were tired, eyes drooping closed every few seconds tired. And yes, it’s normal to be tired at work but this, this was something different.
You hadn’t gotten any sleep last night due to your mind racing, wondering what to do about the ‘Marc Situation’ as you had labeled it inside your own head. You pondered over what to do and say when you finally managed to grow up and just face it. You had been ignoring all of Steven’s calls, letting each one of them ring out to get your voicemail, which Steven was sure to leave every time he called.
Which was a lot.
While you were tired at work, thoughts still being plagued by the conversation from last night, Steven was standing outside your apartment door, having called out sick, pacing as he continued to dial the memorized number. Now, he didn’t have a need to memorize it, but he had done so due to the past few times he had woken up, stranded somewhere with no recollection of where he was, and no phone on him. Steven had only your number memorized and after quickly asking to borrow a kind older man’s phone, was quick to insert the familiar digits.
“Hello?” You had sounded deeply confused, who would be calling you at 7 A.M?
“Hello lovely, uh I see- wait did I wake you up? Oh no I’m sorry, I can figure something ou-”
“Steven, where are you? Are you alright?” What shocked Steven was how there was not a single ounce of annoyance or anger in your tone. There was only the reminisce of sleep and worry, something he wasn’t quite used to feeling just yet.
Steven was bought out of the small memory as he heard your cheery voice begin your voicemail. A soft sigh was let out from Steven, running a shaky hand through his tousled hair. Why weren’t you picking up? Yeah, you were at work, but you always managed to pick up since you had your own office and only did smaller data entry things for the company you worked at.
‘Did I do something yesterday? I know I blacked out but what happened? What did I do wrong?’
Steven continued to let his mind continue running wild with these types of thoughts as he lowered himself down onto the floor in front of your door, his hands fiddling with the large woven yarn placemat you had. Steven would wait for you to come home, he neededto wait for you to come home or else he wouldn’t be able to calm down, not knowing what happened to or with you was worrying the absolute hell out of him.
As you finally managed to finish imputing the stupid amount of money some hot-shot CEO was willing to spend on a singular project for another up-and-coming directive manager and their new building plans. At the thought of the project’s budget, your eyes involuntarily rolled and your mouth parted as a scoff made its way out.
As you got on the bus you pulled out your phone, seeing the missed calls from Steven. The sight made your chest tighten, your heart starting to pound harder than it has before. You hated it, you hated that you were a coward that couldn’t just call him, ask him to meet you and talk about it, assure him that it didn’t change how you felt and how they would get through this. As the bus continued its bumpy ride your thoughts continued to think about how you would approach the topic, how does one go about this? You didn’t want him to end up having a panic attack, or him to dissociate and be left with Marc again, who you knew would wear a smug grin, finding that he was right.
As you thought back to Marc and all the times Steven was confused on where he was, lost days at a time, the guilt that would eat away at him for not being there for you when you wanted him, all of it. All of it was enough to make the decision that had been weighing over you since you left the comfort of Stevens apartment last night. You had to tell Steven, he deserved to know that he’s not crazy, that the guilt he always has when he misses the date isn’t needed, that he has no control over it, that you weren’t upset at him.
As the bus pulled to your stop, you made your way out, slowly making your way to your apartment. You were going to go in there, call Steven back asking him to come over to talk, change and then await his arrival. You knew it would be something hard to discuss, something he would need time to fully process but he needed to know that it was okay, that you were there for him. Just as you were pulling the keys out to your key, you heard a deep, relieved sigh being released from down the hall.
You whipped your head up, watching as Steven raised himself to his feet, quickly making his way over to you, a smile on his face. Your face held one of shock as Steven came barreling into you, feeling him wrap his arms around your waist, one hand on the back of your head, holding you close to him. You didn’t realize how much you missed him until this moment. A sigh was let out of your chest as you quickly wrapped your own arms around him, nuzzling your head further into him.
“Darlin’, thank god,” He sounded so relieved, the feeling of your hands wrapping around him making him feel as if nothing was wrong, that you hadn’t decided to ignore all his calls. “I was so worried, you weren’t answering and I don’t know what happened last night but I don’t remember the museum and you weren’t there when I woke up and I tried calling an-” You could feel his chest moving rapidly up and down, you knew if he continued he’d end up having a panic attack. Which is why you quickly put your hands to his face, shushing him and shaking your head, leaning your head up and forcing your foreheads together.
“No no no, shh Steven, you did nothing wrong. I promise you sweetheart.” You were speaking so softly, eyes filled with love and concern. Steven let out a breath of relief, his eyes staying connected with your own as he gave you a soft smile. God, he was so relieved to know that you hadn’t left, that he hadn’t scared you away. And as much as you’d like to stay there, wrapped up in his arms, you were in the hall of your apartment, so you slowly pulled away dropping your hands from his face and interlocking your hand with his own, leading him towards your door. “You didn’t do anything wrong but we do have to talk about something from yesterday.”
The worry and anxiety that had dwindled had slowly raised back up in his chest, what did you need to talk about? Were you finally done with him? Had you finally realized you deserved a man who didn’t forget dates, who didn’t have to chained up at night, who could love you without being fearful of when he’d lose you to whatever was pulling at his body and mind? All these thoughts caused Steven to tighten his hold on your hand even tighter than before, trying to force his mind to always remember the way your skin felt intertwined with his own, how it felt to be softly touched, to be loved by you.
You could feel how tense he was getting; you knew from the way he was glancing around the room that he was nervous, that he was slowly beginning to panic inside his own head. At this, you quickly tighten your hold on his hand and quickly bring the two of you to sit on the couch in the middle of your flat. “Steven I promise you, nothing is going to change between u-” Steven seemed to have been too far in his own head to hear this as he started panicking.
“No, no no please, I don’t know what happened but I can fix it. Don’t leave me, I know I can be a handful and I flake out on dates and I’m not the most handsome bloke you could have but pl-” Steven hadn’t taken notice of the way you were frantically shaking your head, loosening your grip on his hands to raise them to his face, forcing his eyes to meet your own. “Steven no, I’m not leaving you, no one is leaving. I promise lovely, I promise.”
As you said this, maintaining eye contact, Steven seemed to have calmed a small bit, slowly feeling the worry and heartbreak vanish as you continued to look him in the eyes, rubbing small circles onto his cheeks. You weren’t leaving him.
“We’re just gonna talk about yesterday, why you don’t remember what happened during and after the museum.” At that, Steven seemed to grow confused. What the hell is going on?
“You know how you have all those blank spaces in between your days and how you miss appointments or work or even our dates? Well it’s not you, it’s not you Steven. It’s someone inside of you, Marc,” As you were talking, Steven seemed to have grown more confused, slowly leaning away from you shaking his head in denial. “He takes control and he does who knows what and sometimes he’ll be gone for days at a time- Steven? Hey, are you alright?” Steven had started speaking in an almost whisper, “No.. no that doesn’t make sense. What are you talking about Y/N?”
At the look on his face you knew the discussion was only going to get more stressful, tense even. You didn’t want him to panic or feel like he was crazy but you could tell that’s exactly what he felt right now. “I know it sounds insane okay, but trust me this is why! And it’s fine, we can work with it and it won’t have to change anything. I just wanted you to realize that none of it was your fault, you deserve to kno-” Stevens’ demeanor had changed, he was shaking as he had slowly crumbled into himself, his breathing became erratic as he continued to mutter small no’s. At the sight you felt your heart break and fall deep into your stomach, this wasn’t what you wanted. Thankfully, you had been to therapy before, something that you usually hated thinking about but now you had a technique that had been taught to you on how to stop things like this, how to ground someone.
“No, no hey it’s okay Steven. Look, can you hear me? Can I get behind you and hold you?” At your soft voice, Steven quickly nodded his head, making you quickly maneuver yourself to having him lean back into your chest, your arms making quick work to wrap your arms around him and draw small shapes on the exposed skin of his lower stomach while the other seemed to have found his hands that were held tightly to his chest, intertwining them as you spoke small soft coos.
“It’s okay, can you tell me the first five things you can see right now? Take your time and breath Steven, it’s okay.” The sound of your soft whisper made him breath shakily, gripping your hand tighter. And through shaky breaths and small pauses between every few words he listed the five things; “Your purse on the table.. The bookshelf you bought for the books I left here.. The plants in the window.. Your easel on the counter.. And the magnet I got from the gift shop.” After each item you gave a small hug and a nod of your head, the remnant of the scuff he recently shaved scratching at your cheek, even though you knew it was beginning to irritate your skin, you refused to lean away from him.
“Okay now tell me the four things you can hear? Can you do that?” Steven gave a small nod and tried to control his breathing and match it with the rise and fall of your chest on his back. He wasn’t used to this, to the soft touches, to the tender and patient way you had loved him. “Your heart beats.. The cars outside.. The washer hitting the wall.. Your breathing.” As you continued throughout the rest of the senses you felt Steven fall deeper into your hold, moving his head deeper into your chest as you let him turn against you, putting himself deep into your hold, his arms wrapping around your waist.
“You’ve done so good, just tell me what’s one thing you can touch?” It was so quiet you were surprised when Steven had made a quick response, “You.’
As he fully closed his eyes, basking in your warmth and softness, your hands had found their way tangled into his hair, lightly scratching his scalp, a serene and peaceful atmosphere surrounding you. This wasn’t where you wanted it to head, but you always knew it was a possibility, that Steven would have trouble wrapping his head around himself having a second person in his body. One who would sometimes leave for days on end, coming back and leaving Steven more confused and tired then the day before. You knew he needed to just be held, to be showered in love, that he was used to being brushed aside, his own name being messed up by his boss and coworkers. That’s why you continued to hold him, softly scratching his head even as your wrist started hurting from the weird angle they were bending at, even as your legs started to burn as his weight had been fully placed on it and during this, you didn’t see how the reflection of the window Steven was facing was looking at the two of you.
Marc had been shocked, you had calmed Steven down, gotten him to listen to you. You hadn’t gotten mad or frustrated at the denial and how quick Steven had broken down. Marc marveled at the patience and kindness you had shown for someone you had only been dating for a few months. Without realizing, and meaning to, Marc had slowly started taking control.
You felt the way Steven had gotten tense. Scared that he had started to panic again, you quickly lifted your head to look him in the eye. “Stev-” You were cut off as you realized his neck was strained out, the veins bulging out of it as his eyes started rolling in the back of his head. As soon as you realized what was happening, you had let your hands fall down by your side, your wrist finally resting normally on your stomach. “Marc..?” Your voice was hesitant, still soft and kind, but hesitant.
“How did you calm him down? Get him to listen?” It was definitely Marc, his shoulders grew larger, his eyes darker than the soft ones Steven always had and you couldn’t forget about that damn accent. “A therapist taught me a while ago.. Why are you here? Can I have Steven back? Please?” You just wanted your sweet Steven to come back and have him shower so you could lay in your bed for the rest of the night.
“I need you to trust me, I appreciate you taking care of him but I’ll handle the rest of it from here. There’s a lot more that you don’t know about.” Marc had chosen to ignore your request for your boyfriend back which made you scrunch your eyes at him. “Trust you? How the hell am I supposed to trust you if I don’t even know your full name and you are continuously making Steven feel crazy!” You had tried to keep your voice leveled, you knew that there were things about this situation you didn’t have a single clue about but you were mad. Who the hell did he think he was to ask you to trust you when he couldn’t even trust Steven with the secret of himself?
There was a long, tense silence after you had spoken, you were waiting for him to say something, hell even do something! You were just tired of the way he had stared at you, you felt like his eyes were judging every aspect of who you were and you loathed it.
“Spector. My name is Marc Spector.” Was probably the last thing you expected him to say after the long moment of silence. “I know you can’t trust me right now but I need you to try. I would never hurt Steven, I promise you I will explain everything.” You hated the way he had stepped closer, how he bore his eyes into your eyes, making the promise you for some reason knew he would keep.
“Let me see Steven, give him control for the rest of tonight and I promise I will try to trust you. Just give me tonight to be with him.” You had taken a step closer to him, keeping your eyes connected with us, feeling them slightly water at the thought of him leaving with Steven trapped in his own mind. “Please.” You knew you sounded desperate but you didn’t care, you just wanted Steven to wake up and know that he had some control of his life, that he didn’t have to chain himself up and solve puzzles to keep himself awake.
You watched as Marc glanced between your eyes and your lips, and before you could let another plea fall from your lips you watched as his eyes softened, his shoulders hunching back into himself, his smile, small as he felt the wave of exhaustion fall on him, brightened as he stood face to face with you.
“Can we take a bath and lay down for a bit? That sounds nice, yeah? Ooh, and maybe tomorrow we can have a redo on the brunch?” You smiled back at him, nodding your head, quickly making your way next to him, and grabbing his face and making him lean down towards you. You rested your forehead on his before reaching up and connecting your lips together. It wasn’t fast and needy, it was slow and passionate, something you knew Steven loved. As you pulled apart you rub your thumbs in small circles on his cheeks as you saw he was looking down, clearly having something on his mind. “What? What is it lovely?”
“I’m sorry I freaked out, that you had to do that all today. I know you can do better, that you don’t have to be with someone who needs help like I do.” His voice had cracked, clearly growing emotional over the thoughts running in his head. But you were there to quiet them, lifting his head up to meet your gaze, you told him one thing he’d always remind himself of when he needed your help.
“Who do you think I go to when I feel like everything’s too much? It’s not my mom, or my boss. No Steven, it’s you. You could smile at me, and I would feel better, some days I might need more but I know you’ll be there like I was there today.” You were smiling so wide at him while he was listening to every word, his eyes tracing every aspect of your face, his eyes wide.
“It’s okay to need help Steven. Now, what’s that I hear about a bath?” You watched as his eyes got glossy as he nodded his head and pressed another lasting kiss to your lips, and you led him to the bath.
You knew today was filled with nothing but stressful discussions and a bit of crying, but you would have to finish the day off with your boyfriend in your bed and a growing trust to Marc Spector to keep his promise.
And to the two who asked to be tagged, here you are! I’m sorry if it did not live up to expectations.
Mohamed Diab basically explains that Oscar did the whole scene of Marc and Steven conversing in a take with the camera just panning between himself and the mirror as a transition between Marc and Steven. Like??? Oh my GOD
Oscar literally manages to change his whole demeanor, his facial expressions, accent, and his posture in SECONDS while the camera pans from Steven’s reflection on the mirror to Marc. I honestly thought that this scene was filmed separately, and they had VFX for Steven’s reflection but nope. It was filmed in a shot with the camera panning back and forth between Oscar and his actual reflection and gODDAMN.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Oscar Isaac is so damn talented and if he doesn’t win an award for this—if MOON KNIGHT doesn’t win any awards for the production as a whole, I will riot. I swear.
