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

Ch. 6: Crime and Punishment

[New York City – Earth-1610]

Felicia's apartment was dark and empty when Miguel spilled out of the portal he'd created in her hallway.

No, no, no, no... Where is she?

Miguel swatted a large mosquito from Earth-66 that had made the journey with him, "Felicia!" he called into the darkness. Something is wrong.

"FELICIA!" He called more loudly, more urgently. Miguel kept his mask up and extended his claws, scanning the room and looking for any sign of a struggle. He rushed to her bedroom. Empty. No trace of her. Her handbag was still in the foyer. Miguel's heart started to pound and the chill of panic set in.

Then he heard it... the slide of the window. Miguel released his gauntlet blades and crouched, body tensed and ready.

Felicia stepped through the window with cup of coffee in hand, pajamas on, and chilly dismissal in her eyes. "Put those away, you fucking idiot, you're going to end up slashing my couch."

Miguel didn't know what upset him more, her cavalier attitude or the fact that she'd caught him panicking over nothing. He caged his anger behind clenched teeth, "What were you doing out the window?!"

"I was sitting on the ledge." Felicia breezed by him on her way to top off her cup.

"There's no railing on the ledge!" Miguel followed close behind her, he still hadn't withdrawn his blades.

Felicia blew on her steaming mug softly, facing away from him, "Hanging out on rooftops isn't exclusive to you, Spider. In fact, if memory serves, I took you on a wild goose chase across several rooftops when we first met."

Felicia spun on her heel, almost bumping into him as she stormed out of the kitchen, "Goddammit, I said put them away!" She tapped her nail on the shorter blade at his wrist.

Miguel watched her sway into the living room, plopping into her favorite chair and making a large production out of ignoring him. And in case there was any doubt that she was miffed, she shouted at him from the other room, "Unless of course, you're still working. In which case, kindly fuck back off into your portal!"

Miguel stepped into the room, arms crossed and staring directly at her as Felicia continued to pretend to disregard him. "I know I'm late. I'm gonna take a shower and change," Miguel let his words settle comfortably over the silence before he turned to leave. He paused at her bedroom door, calling out loudly enough that she could hear, "If I made you worry, I apologize."

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

If he thinks I'm following him in there, he's dead wrong.

Felicia shook her head to erase the image of a wet Miguel from her brain and sipped her coffee angrily. Today had been a shit show. She'd been passed over on a big job; the smugglers she'd been partnering with had hired some jackass in a bear suit instead. A fucking bear suit. Then her mom had been absolutely impossible – some family friend has some son with some hedge fund, and that son would like a date. Felicia had no idea how long she was going to be able to put that off.

The light at the end of the tunnel had been that Miguel was going to come over and she was going to pick up dinner from Via Carote... and then he didn't show.

At first, Felicia was benevolent about it. Interdimensional crime fighting and whatever it was he was doing with the timelines and the canon events, that was an unpredictable job. She could be flexible. Gradually, as the hours ticked by, her understanding gave way to frustration, jealousy, and all-out rage. She'd never tell him this, but she hated that he got to live that life of thrills and danger every single day, where she had to spend most of her days moving other rich people's money around. The best parts of her life were fleeting snippets that she tried to snatch out of the air... before some dude in a bear suit came along.