#mcu x reader

He watches you bare your teeth at the men as one grabs your arm and immediately regrets it. He watches you drive your forehead into his nose, take another by the throat and drag him beneath the surface until the bubbles stop.

Dex has spent his entire life learning how to recognise dangerous creatures, but he has never wanted one this badly.

Instead of doing what he was told to do, he helps you and kills the remaining men.

Afterward, you stand in the surf staring at him, soaked beneath the moonlight. Dex keeps his eyes on your face for several disciplined seconds before his eyes drop anyway.

Your body is covered in marks from the nets, red lines circling your wrists and thighs. There is a bruise spreading beneath your ribs where one of these men struck you.

He retrieves your sealskin from the cage and carries it towards you. He knows what it means to hold it; every hunter does. A selkie without her skin cannot return to the sea, and whoever possesses it possesses her.

He could keep it, and you would have to follow him, you would have to remain wherever he kept you.

It’s an intrusive thought, sure, but he can’t help but picture you inside his house, your body curled beneath his blankets every night. He fantasizes about this beautifully vicious selkie waiting for him to return from a hunt, unable to vanish beneath the waves because you belonged to him now.

Dex’s fingers tighten around the fur.

He notices fear flickering across your face, because you know this one could actually kill you. You know he is actually equipped to deal with your kind.

That look alone is enough to make him hate himself.

So he places the sealskin around your shoulders and closes it carefully over your body, though every selfish part of him wants to keep it. You clutch it to your chest, watching him as though you cannot understand why he has returned the only thing that could make you helpless.

Dex cannot explain that he wants you to choose him. 

Eventually, you do.

You spend three days and three nights thinking about the hunter sent to kill you who spilled blood of his own kind for you instead. 

By the fourth night, curiosity has consumed you whole.

So you climb through his window smelling of seawater, your hair dripping onto the floorboards. Dex wakes immediately, one hand grabbing around the knife beneath his pillow. He pushes the blade against your throat before his eyes have fully focused, while your bare thigh is already sliding across his waist.

He should throw you out. He knows better than to fuck a monster, right?

Instead, he knots one hand in your wet hair and kisses you until the knife falls forgotten into the sheets.

You bite when he grips you too hard, clawing ferally at his shoulders when he tries to slow down. Every rough touch only seems to draw you closer, hungry and impatient, as though tenderness is a luxury you can have later and right now you need him to prove that he is strong enough, worthy enough, to keep you.

Dex does.

He holds you down until you stop pretending you might escape. He leaves bruises shaped like his hands across your hips and teeth marks along your shoulder. He makes you feel possessed without ever once touching the magic that could actually possess you.

You start appearing in his room whenever you come ashore. Sometimes Dex returns from a hunt and finds you stretched naked across his bed, sleeping on your stomach with salt drying against your skin. Sometimes you are wearing his shirt, his knives arranged around you because you like the smell of iron and leather on his clothes.

He becomes territorial when you pretend to be human at his side. When you go for a walk on the beach, there is always a knife within reach in case a fisherman looks too long. Dex doesn’t care that you could kill most men without him present, because knowing you are dangerous does nothing to lessen the urge to stand between you and everyone who might want you.

Still, at the end of the day, you belong to the sea.

Every time you disappear beneath the waves, he tells himself you are not his prisoner. He returns your skin every time because he refuses to become another man who locked a selkie away because he was selfish.

Then night falls, his bed remains empty, and he lies awake imagining every creature beneath the surface touching what belongs to him.

When you return, he often meets you on the rocks and drags you against him before the water stops running from your body, and kisses you with one hand locked around your throat and the other on the sealskin at your waist. He needs to hear you gasp against his mouth, he needs proof that the sea has given you back exactly as he left you.

You love him like this, especially when his composure collapses only for you. He presses his face into your wet hair afterward, breathing you in while his hands continue moving over your body as though recounting every part by memory.

Sometimes, when you decide you want to pretend to be human and explore land all by yourself, you leave your sealskin with him.

The first time, Dex finds it folded on his bed after you have gone.

He stares at it before the door, closes every shutter and builds enough wards around the room to turn anyone who enters without permission into ash.

He sleeps with the skin beneath him that night, simply placing it on the mattress and resting one hand over the place where it lies.

You have given him the power to keep you.

Dex has never been more satisfied or more terrified in his life.

He becomes more violent whenever the skin is in his possession. He checks the wards constantly, and anyone asking why he has stopped taking contracts near the coast receives a terrifying enough threat to end the conversation.

You return three nights later and find him sitting beside the window, your sealskin folded across his lap.

Dex doesn’t ask where you have been.

He grabs your wrist, pulls you between his knees and buries his face against your stomach. His arms close around you so tightly you can barely breathe. Then his mouth presses against the skin beneath your ribs kissing you because you came back.

Also: Dex initially carries silver, iron, salt, and knives meant for every kind of creature. Once you’re together, his monster-hunting coat fills with things specifically for you instead: shells you might like, smoked fish, cloth for drying your hair, and a little vial of seawater for times when you hate being too far inland.

Everyone thinks the selkie bewitched the hunter, but the truth is much more embarrassing: Dex saw you bare your teeth at six armed men, watched you drag one screaming into the surf, and fell in love immediately.

-

With the soft clicking of the door handle being turned, a roll of steam left the small bathroom you and Peter shared. After a long day of fighting the crime in the streets of New York, all he wanted now was to relax and spend the rest of his evening in your arms.

When he exited the bathroom, a small pile of dirty clothes in his hands, you were quick to glance and take note of an anomaly in this normally mundane scene. Your downstairs neighbors sweat pants.

Without even acknowledging your curious stare, Peter walked over to your laundry basket to drop his clothes in. However, as he came upon the basket, you caught a perfect view of the word bedazzled in silver crystals on his ass. A soft snort left your lips, a cheeky grin now on your face.

“You’re still wearing the neighbors sweats?” Your question caused your boyfriend to tense up, slowly turning around to face you and the nest of blankets on the twin mattress. Was the bed entirely too small for the both of you? Yes. Could you not afford a larger mattress? Yes. Was it also very comforting to have an excuse to hold you very close each night? Of course, yes.

“I was going to return them, but…” You raised an eyebrow in his direction, ceasing the seemingly endless typing you had to do to complete this paper to take in his next words. A part of him looked conflicted. Then, “They’re insanely comfortable.”

You squinted skeptically at him, then returned to your work. “Mhmm…”

“I’m not kidding, they are!” He argued, coming closer, climbing on the side of the bed closest to the wall. He basically shoved himself there with how many papers you had laid out before you. “You sure it’s not just cause they make your ass look good?”

It was a simple question, yet another one that threw him off his game. He didn’t respond immediately, breaking eye contact to look off into the distance. “… I’m sure.”

You were not going to let him live this down. “You hesitated.”

“I’m sure.”

“I still don’t believe you.”

“Okay, it’s both!”

“You finally admit it.” A triumphant smile etched its way onto your face, “It seriously does make your ass look good though.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

After a few tics went by, you finally broke the silence. “Y’know what?”

Peter looked up from your computer, awaiting your next compliment or playful jab at him. But, instead of either of those, you simply said; “Keep em’.”

“What happened to morals?” He scoffed, nudging your arm.

“Gone since you first put on those sweats, bug boy.”

“At least I know what to wear before I beg for another Star Wars Lego set.”

The tabloids and fans ate your relationship up. The entire family adored you. But the question still stands: why hasn’t Johnny Storm proposed to you?

You, the love of his life. His better half, the woman who made him settle down.

You had talked about it, of course you had. You both wanted to get married, wanted at least three kids some day, a dog and maybe even a cat.

But there was still no ring.

You had made your peace with it. So much has changed in the last few years. And here you found yourself on yet another super hero quest.

Not as a super hero yourself, but as support for the team. You didn’t typically tag along on missions, you stayed at home with Franklin in your arms and managed comms and damage control. But this was different.

As you entered earth-616’s atmosphere, your eyes wandered to your left hand, feeling the weightlessness of it still after all these years.

Your mind wandered next… did he truly want to marry you? Was he too comfortable? Were you too much?

“Approaching,” Ben’s deep voice nearly startled you out of your thoughts.

“You okay?” Johnny’s face was etched with concern as you turned to face him.

He sat in the chair beside you, buckled in with a flight suit matching yours.

“As good as any of us can be,” you gave him a tight lipped smile.

He reached over, placing his gloved hand over yours and squeezing.

“Yeah,” he said softly, “I get it.”

This was not the time for the thoughts of your empty ring finger. You were going to a different universe, to save Franklin nonetheless, so you had to focus.

The aircraft settled onto the landing pad with a hiss of hydraulics and the creek of landing gear.

Before the ramp had even fully lowered, voices filtered in from outside.

“The craft finally landed!”

“About time!”

Johnny stood, stretching his shoulders before offering you a hand, “ready?”

You took his hand, “as I’ll ever be.”

You stepped down into a crowd that somehow felt familiar despite belonging to an entirely different universe. You took in the scenery of New York that looked vastly different than yours.

You seemed to be in Midtown, but the air was heavier here. And the buildings were too high and unforgiving.

Captain America was the first to greet Reed, shaking his hand firmly, “we're glad you made it. I’m Sam.”

Introductions blurred together after that.

Bruce Banner.

Shuri.

Yelena Belova.

Bucky Barnes.

And a young man with goggled pushed up into his dark hair suddenly appeared in front of you with the kind of grin that could only belong to someone who had absolutely no sense of personal space.

“Joaquin,” he extended his hand to you, and only you, “the falcon.” He tilted his chin up, as if he had just told you he was the dictator of this world.

You took his hand tentatively, saying your name shyly.

Johnny all but groaned somewhere behind.

“Its nice to meet you,” you added, trying to seem more friendly.

“No,” Joaquin corrected quickly, “it’s nice to meet you.”

Ben coughed loudly into his fist, you could practically feel the sideways glances him and Johnny were giving each other.

Sam looked at Joaquin with the exhausted expression of a parent watching their kid do something embarrassing.

“You took care of all the cross-dimensional logistics?” Joaquin asked.

You shrugged, “I mean, yeah with Reed, I sent you the message once we entered this earth’s atmosphere though. Along with the—”

“Comm reports from your mission with Doom? Read them,” he said with a smirk.

“You read… my comm reports?” You asked, slightly confused, “I didn’t think anyone but Reed read them.”

“I read her comm reports,” Johnny said under his breath.

“No you don’t,” Ben added just as quietly.

Johnny rolled his eyes as they both continued to watch the scene unfold.

“Yeah, you’re like a genius or something,” Joaquin added with a flashy grin.

Johnny leaned toward Ben, “am I being crazy?”

“You’ll need to be more specific,” Ben whispered back.

Johnny scoffed, “is he flirting?”

“Kid's laying it on thicker than gravy,” Ben answered quickly, still in a low whisper.

“I’m gonna do something,” Johnny went to move forward, but Ben put his arm out.

“It’s harmless and it’s kind of funny. Don’t make things weird for us just yet hot head, we just got here,” Ben lectured, earning another eye roll from Johnny.

You pretended not to hear them, politely smiling at the man in front of you.

The introductions continued as everyone walked toward the tower.

Joaquin somehow ended up beside you, even pushing Johnny out of the way at one point. You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation unfolding.

Johnny's eye was twitching as he stood on the other side of you.

Inside Avengers Tower, everyone split off to discuss strategy.

You carried one of the equipment cases toward the briefing room.

Before you could reach for the door Joaquin had already opened it and took the case from your arms with ease.

“Oh wow, thank you,” you said kindly.

“After you,” he nodded to the room as he balanced the case in one hand and held the door open with the other.

You walked through into the conference room, people were filtering in as Reed set up his presentation besides Dr. Banner and Thor.

You were still wrapping your head around how the Norse God of Thunder plays into all of this.

“You hungry? Kitchen's this way,” Joaquin pointed out the door.

“I think we're okay,” Johnny answered from behind you.

His arm slid over your shoulders casually, not in an affectionate way, but a possessive one. Much to his dismay, Joaquin didn’t bat an eye.

“If you need coffee, I know where the good machine is,” he threw you a wink.

“We can figure it out,” Johnny added, pulling you some how closer into his side with a force that nearly knocked you into him.

“Okay,” Joaquin smiled, completely unbothered, “cool.”

He wandered off and Johnny stared daggers after him.

You looked up innocently, turning your head to face him, “what?”

His gaze shifted to you, “he is absolutely flirting with you.”

You laughed, “no he is not.”

“Yes he is.”

“No he’s not.”

“He held the door open for you,” Johnny said, like that was all the answer you needed.

You raised your eyebrows, “okay?”

“He complimented literally everything you've ever done, and he doesn’t even know you,” he added.

You shrugged, “I think he’s just friendly, we don’t know their customs on this earth.”

You bumped his shoulder with yours, “Johnny.”

He held your gaze, still with a fire in his eyes, “what?”

“He’s just being nice,” you said softly.

Johnny sighed dramatically, holding you a little tighter against his side, more affectionate than possessive this time.

“If he keeps carrying your bags, I'm setting him on fire,” he deadpanned.

“Well, carry my bags for me, and it shouldn’t be a problem,” you quipped.

He softened, “done deal, my love.”

He kissed the side of your head, which you happily leaned in to.

The weeks that followed blurred together. Strategy meetings, training sessions, all centered around one goal- getting Franklin back.

The day finally came where you were all watching Sue and Reed hold their son again after thinking they’d lost him forever.

You watched as the world stitched itself back together and universes unfolded from the destruction Doom was causing.

And somewhere between it all, you and Joaquin became friends.

It was easy to fall into, he kept you company while you solved equations, made everyone laugh when it felt like nothing was funny, and it was completely platonic… for you.

He'd stop by while you worked in the lab just to bring coffee or complain dramatically about Sam's training exercises.

But the thing is… Johnny never warmed up to him.

Neither did Ben and neither did Reed. Sue barely tolerated him.

“He's too smooth,” Ben muttered one afternoon.

Reed nodded thoughtfully, “there is,” he paused, as if thinking about his language, “statistically an unusual amount of smiling directed specifically toward her.”

Johnny crossed his arms, sighing. “THANK YOU.”

A few nights after Doom's defeat, the Avengers insisted on celebrating. The bar was exactly what you all needed. Sue held Franklin tightly beside Reed and Bucky at the bar.

Ben laughed with Sam and Alexei loud enough to overpower the music.

The low, unfamiliar, music filled the room while heroes from two different universes laughed like normal people for the first time in weeks.

You stood near the dart board, nursing a drink and talking with Yelena when Joaquin wandered over.

“Can I steal her?” He asked quietly, it was the calmest you had ever seen him.

Yelena looked between the two of you, “you're brave.”

He laughed, still somehow being the only one who hasn’t picked up on the fact that you’re in a committed relationship with the human torch.

You followed him toward the quieter end of the bar without a second thought.

He turned and faced you and rubbed the back of his neck, “I know you’re leaving soon…”

Uh oh. Suddenly you could feel the eyes on the both of you. Had Johnny been right this whole time?

“...if maybe you'd want to grab dinner sometime before then,” he finished.

You smiled apologetically, “oh.”

His face fell immediately, “oh?”

“No, no,” you said quickly, “It's just,” you laughed awkwardly, “I’ve actually been with Johnny for... almost seven years.”

Silence. Then Joaquin blinked, “seven?”

“Yeah.” You said calmly.

He looked genuinely horrified, “seven years?"

You nodded, “everyone picked up on it, I just kind of thought you did too.”

He looked across the room toward Johnny, who was already staring at him with a straight face. Then back to you.Then he laughed.

He shook his head, “well, I’m sorry. I didn’t see a ring and if I were with you for seven years, I definitely would've married you by now.”

Across the room, you swore you could see the steam coming from Johnny’s ears out of the corner of your eye.

Joaquin grinned, “I’m just saying.”

Johnny was already walking over, “I am working on it!”

The entire room went quiet. Even Bucky looked amused and Ben was biting back laughter.

Joaquin held both hands up in surrender, a smirk still plastered on his face, “easy, hot shot.”

“I am working on it,” Johnny’s arm found your waist, pulling you into him defensively.

“I didn't say you weren't,” Joaquin said calmly.

“You implied it,” Johnny said, pointing a finger in Joaquin’s direction.

Joaquin shrugged, trying not to laugh at the frustration simmering in Johnny’s tone.

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, “baby bird!”

Joaquin threw both hands up again, “I'm done.”

He laughed, clapped Johnny on the shoulder, and wandered away.

Johnny did not laugh.

The walk back to Avengers Tower was unusually quiet.

Everyone else had drifted ahead.

Ben and Reed were discussing the sports teams in this universe with Bucky and Sam.

Sue walked with Franklin, holding his tiny hand in hers and listening to him babble about the stars in the sky.

Leaving you and Johnny several paces behind.

He hadn't said more than three words.

You glanced sideways at him, his hand tightly holding yours, “you okay?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Johnny,” you said softly, “you've been mad ever since the bar.”

“I'm not mad,” he said too defensively.

“You've answered every question with one word, if that,” you pointed out.

He didn’t justify you with a response or even a glance.

You released his hand and stopped walking, “so you are mad.”

He took three more steps before realizing you weren't beside him.

He turned quickly, watching you stand behind him with your arms crossed.

The New York streetlights reflected in his eyes, he walked back a few steps to stand inches from you, “you wanna know why I'm upset?”

You unfolded your arms, “I would love nothing more.”

“Not that it’s about this but,” he exhaled, “I hate to say I told you so… but I told you he was hitting on you. No earth has the custom of holding a ladies things in a friendly way.”

You simply rolled your eyes at him, “yeah. I’m sure you really hate to say I told you so.”

He exhaled and ran both hands through his already messy hair, “I’m not just working on it, okay? I have a ring.”

Your eyes widened as you stared up at him, “wha— what?”

“I have a ring, I bought it months ago, god. Almost a year at this point,” he shoved both his hands in his pockets nervously.

Your heart stopped.

Everything began to spill out, “I’ve just wanted everything to be perfect. It took me a whole year just to find the right diamond for the actual ring itself. Then I had it made.”

His words tumbled over one another so quickly he barely breathed, “I had this whole plan. I was gonna take you back to where we had our first date, then Ben kept telling me nobody cares where it happens and I kept telling him you deserve more than that because you deserve everything and then Galactus showed up.”

You blinked.

“And then I made a whole new plan and then Franklin got kidnapped,” he added, but he wasnt done.

“And then we had the multiverse collapse and Doom and aliens and every single time I thought, 'Okay, after this.' Then something else happened,” his voice cracked with frustrated laughter, “I wanted it to be perfect because you’re perfect.”

He looked at you like he was terrified, “I wanted one day where the universe wasn't ending. And where everything was perfect for you.”

Your eyes were already stinging, “Johnny.”

“But then tonight,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “really since we got here. I’ve just been watching him try to— try to hijack you. Like you were something up for grabs and it has been making me sick. But I trust you and I know you love me, but it just— you aren’t for him!”

You smiled sadly at him, “I know.”

“And when the goddamn bird boy said that,” he shook his head, “I know it was stupid. For one second...maybe you were getting tired of waiting… maybe I was too late.”

Your heart broke.

“I thought maybe you were starting to think he had a point,” his voice became quieter, “and that scared the hell out of me. Hence why I am pouring my heart out to you in the middle of a street on an earth that isn’t even ours!”

He laughed once, “I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. You are… everything to me. You have been for seven years.”

He looked helpless, “I just wanted you to have the proposal you deserved.”

You closed the distance between you, pressing your chest against his and tilting your head so that you were still looking at him.

He was still rambling thought, “and Ben keeps saying you'll say yes no matter what but that's not the point because I wanted—”

You pulled his face to yours and kissed him. His body went completely ridged in surprise before relaxing against you. His hands found your hips as he kissed you back.

When you finally pulled back, his forehead rested against yours, you moved your hands to his chest to steady yourself.

“You done yet?” You asked playfully.

He smiled, “I can keep going.”

You smiled through tears, “oh honey I know you can.”

You both laughed.

Your own voice shook now, “I thought maybe you didn't want to marry me anymore.”

His eyes widened, “what?”

“It's been seven years,” you laughed softly, “we’ve had a lot going on, I know. But I thought maybe through all of that you'd changed your mind.”

He looked absolutely devastated, “no.” He cupped your face immediately, “not for one second, have I ever thought anything like that.”

“You’re an idiot Johnny Storm,” you both laughed.

He rested his forehead against yours again, sniffling as the tears fell, “I can’t believe this is what it took to completely ruin the surprise.”

You laughed so hard you had to hide your face against his chest.

He wrapped both arms around you, “but I still have the ring and I'm still going to ask.

“Well I would hope so,” you said, against him.

He smiled, “I guess I’ll stop waiting for the universe to cooperate this time.”

“I think that's the better plan,” you wrapped your arms around his waist and hugged him even tighter.

The next morning, everyone gathered beside the ship that would return you home to your own earth.

Franklin held Sue's hand while Reed finished saying goodbye to Bruce. You hugged Yelena as you had grown fond of her company the past few weeks.

Ben nudged Johnny with one enormous elbow, “so.”

Johnny looked over.

“Let me guess here… you told her?” Ben asked.

Johnny smiled, “I did.”

“And?” Ben wondered.

Johnny glanced toward you where you were laughing with Yelena before looking at Ben, “I guess this whole crazy trip was worth it.”

Ben smirked, “can’t believe it took her getting hit on by a superhero in another dimension for you to finally convince yourself to ask the freaking question.”

“He’s hardly a superhero,” Johnny said seriously, “he can’t fly without his toy.”

Ben barked out a laugh, “you finally get your head outta your ass?”

Johnny groaned, but smiled, “yes.”

Johnny watched you walk toward him, extending his hand for you to take as you got closer to him.

For months he'd been chasing the perfect proposal.

But somewhere between collapsing universes and impossible odds, he'd finally realized something Ben had been trying to tell him all along.

The perfect moment wasn't a location.

It was simply the moment he decided to stop waiting.

As your hand slipped naturally into his, he intertwined your fingers with his.

Soon, he promised himself. Very, very soon.

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