Loving You Black & Blue | Miguel O'Hara x Felicia Hardy

Ch. 4: Still Waters Run Deep

[New York City – Earth-1610]

Every year that one special day came along, that first occurrence where the morning air carried a chill and the breeze blew cool even in the bright sunlight. These were the first signs that summer was ending and, in Felicia's opinion, it was the very best time of year to be a New Yorker.

She had found herself with a free morning and time to kill before an afternoon of board meetings at the foundation, and treated herself to a visit to the Guggenheim and a little hot girl walk through the park. Felicia staked her claim on an especially cozy bench and settled in for the long haul with a novel (she did her best to keep up with all the bestsellers).

Felicia hadn't made it farther than a couple of chapters when her phone began to insistently buzz in her pocket. Her mother, ever punctual, had already arrived at the foundation offices and was happy to have a car fetch Felicia if she needed. Felicia had enough experience with her mother to know that was code for, "If I'm already here before you, it means you're slacking."

And they wondered why she had been such a volatile child.

Felicia quickly packed up and slid her fashionably enormous sunglasses back into place, firing off an entirely fabricated ETA to get her mother off her back. Her apartment in Central Park West was about ten minutes away. Plenty of time to stop for coffee on the way.

The line at her favorite café stand moved quickly, but Felicia still had time to idly peruse the menu. A branded sticker slapped on the tip jar advertised their new Guatemalan blend and Felicia permitted herself a wry smile as she ordered a cup (black, of course). "I was just thinking about you," she murmured into her coffee before taking her first swig.

It had been weeks since her little adventure with Miguel O'Hara. The entire episode had left her exhausted and emotionally raw. Peter's death still came as a shock and Miguel O'Hara was a looming presence in her subconscious. It ate at her that there was so much she still didn't understand and the playback loop of his voice, scratching the surface on "the multiverse," irritated her to no end. Most of all, she wondered whether or not she should have jumped his bones when she had the chance.

Her fantasies had gotten so out of control that she'd contemplated cleansing her own genitals with smoking sage to banish the haunting specter that was the memory of Miguel O'Hara's massive dick rubbing her through her clothes. It was a pleasure knowing you, big guy, Felicia held her drained coffee cup to her temple in a mock toast before chucking it into recycling. She supposed in the face of cosmic entanglement, one of them had to be sensible and it seemed that it was going to be Mr. All-Work-And-No-Play.

********************

"This is sooo not the best use of your talents, Miguel." LYLA had clearly grown bored.

"Quiet." Miguel returned in grumpy monotone.

He didn't necessarily disagree. There were absolutely better – less problematic – uses of his enhanced vision abilities than watching the comings and goings of Felicia Hardy. He could admit to himself that this was a problem, but Miguel dared anyone else to question him.

"I thought we cleared her already!" LYLA was insistent.

"LYLA," Miguel said tersely, "no one is forcing you to stay."

And with that, the AI was gone.

From his lookout on the side of a skyscraper, Miguel's eyes fixed on Felicia as she disposed of her morning coffee and turned down the broad sidewalk. It hadn't been his intention to memorize her movements and infiltrate her routine, she'd revealed herself to be a creature of habit all on her own. Most days on her way to or from the Hardy Foundation, she'd find time to stop into one of the many art museums that surrounded Central Park. The Guggenheim was the clear favorite. Miguel had only visited a version of it once, himself.