Chapter 2: Careful Consideration

A/N: Alright, I'm back on my bullshit. So the overwhelming majority really liked the story and want it to continue so who am I to say nay? I'll be honest, this chapter was hard as hell for me to write and I don't know why. I guess I'm still trying to come up with an engaging plot for y'all to get into but I'm open to any suggestions too. Parker's really going through it right now but I tried to bring her a little happiness in this chapter. I want to thank everyone who showed love to the story. So without further adieu...Enjoy!

Parker stared blankly at the ceiling for a long period of time, sifting through her jumbled thoughts before she could move. Not for a lack of trying but because she didn't want to be reminded of the night's events. The chill of the room had yet to phase her enough to want to seek out warmth. The familiar sound of tree branches strapping her bedroom window shouldn't have unnerved her as much as it did but paranoia continued washing over her in waves. It took a cold-hearted, callous person to do what he'd done and leave without an explanation. He was like a dark mass that hung over her thoughts and dreams, lying in wait to prey on her vulnerability.

She couldn't possibly accept things as they were. Who was powerful enough to have Black Noir at their every beck and call? In a way, the call interrupted the plans he had laying in wait for her next. And she was grateful for it. Though he'd be back. He always came back.

She has no knowledge of his true name. No conceptualization of his actual face. He didn't speak a single word to communicate. Still it changes nothing - nothing about the fact that her flesh still ached for him at times. No amount of trying to suppress the feeling in favor of hatred would offer any assurance. It's revolting and Parker's horrified at what they could possibly mean. The last thing she wants to do is give rise to such unwarranted feelings.

There's explosive pain in her pelvis, legs, vagina and she moves as carefully as she can, grimacing against the pain. Aside from the fact that her body was tired and sore all over, Parker was determined to leave the bed and make it to the bathroom. At least the light from the bathroom allowed her to see and make the journey easier. If she ended up tripping and falling, there was a huge chance she'd be there all night.

A positive takeout from this was that she wasn't burdened by the uncomfortable feeling of wetness between her thighs. The silent enforcer was fond of cleaning her after committing his deeds. What a right asshole he was.

"At least he has a shred of decency not to finish inside." She irritatingly thought.

The thought served to lend credence to the plateau of frustration associated with the situation. She never hated anyone before she came in contact with the supe.

Parker limped into the bathroom having to quickly grab unto the counter for stability and balance. The awkward walk felt as though it had lasted an eternity - a normal walk didn't even take her ten seconds. That's how she knew she was truly hurting. The woman overlooked her rattled appearance in the mirror. Her hair was all over the place and her throat was riddled with small finger-shaped bruises. It was moments like these that were really telling about her situation.

She was trapped in a vicious cycle of assault and terror. There wasn't any way to stifle the anxiety that rose in her chest every time she thought of him. Rape. She'd avoided the word altogether. She didn't consider herself a victim and she refused to let him make her out to be something she wasn't. She had way too much pride for that. Finding a way to avert him permanently couldn't be impossible. She rejected the premise that there was no way out of this. She had to think of something. Parker wondered if he had any moral qualms about what he was doing. Hardly not. Especially if there weren't any consequences and no one other than them knew about it. At some point, she has to ask herself...when will it be enough?

With the semblance of a turtle, Parker went about retrieving a new pair of underwear and pants from the drawers. Both were loose enough to keep pressure off the tender skin of her lower half. She then crawled back into her bed unable to fight sleep any longer than she had to.

A slight ping catches her attention and Parker notices a text notification from Cassidy on the bright screen.

Hey, I'm coming over tomorrow. And I'm not asking your permission.

Parker groaned.

Could she really tolerate company so soon? By the looks of it, she might not have a choice. She made the decision to text her supervisor and let her know what she wouldn't be at work tomorrow. It was understandable given the circumstances of her current predicament. The pain was not something she could work through. Having been through the song and dance many times before, she knew that the feeling would intensify by morning.

Admitted, she felt a little paranoid now. She worried he would be back before she awoke to wreak havoc upon her once again. Parker stayed up for as long as she could before falling into a fitful sleep.

"I take it the mission was successful?" Stan Edgar questioned behind his desk, hands folded nested on the hard, polished surface. Like always, the question sounded rhetorical in nature. The Vought CEO knew that the job he assigned to his most loyal employee was completed per his direct order.

Black Noir surprisingly inclined his head.

"Good. This is just what the public needs. To know that Vought is taking the Supe Terrorist threat seriously. There will be a press briefing tomorrow informing the public of the mission. For the meantime, be on standby for any orders. Due to Homelander's incredibly reckless actions, we might have to clean up a few unexpected loose ends. A problem could arise from anywhere. We must stay vigilant." The man calmly emphasizes.

The company was still working heavily on rebranding itself following Homelander's not so very well thought out actions. They had to please the shareholders as well. The process wasn't easy - especially since they were still focused on lobbying efforts to allow supes into the military. Now with the Compound-V fiasco, that made it all the more difficult. The public's reaction was as expected. Cleaning up the collateral damage itself was excessive and hastily made contingency plans had to be enacted. Truthfully, Edgar didn't appreciate having to step directly into the limelight and become more involved in Vought's affairs so soon following Madalyn's death.

Stan had faith that everything would fall into place - in fact, he was sure of it.

For Black Noir, none of it mattered. It wasn't his place to question orders, merely follow them.

As usual, the grunts if the company were scurrying around like rats, focused entirely on getting to their allotted jobs done. Even at night. Ranging from things like getting one of the Seven a beverage to getting paperwork to a designated location. Rounding the corner, the man caught sight of The Deep insistently arguing with Ashley about something trivial he presumed. Better not to make himself known to the other man. Though, it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway. Black Noir was known to wordlessly stare the Deep down until the man is visibly uncomfortable.

In all, the masked man departed to another corridor. To an onlooker, it might appear that Black Noir hastened in his efforts to avoid The Deep's attempts at light conversation often irritated him to no end.

He ultimately retired to his own personalized quarters within the tower. There weren't many people that were allowed into his room for obvious reasons. He liked his privacy and didn't like other's intruding on it. It was within the safety of his room and he allowed his shoulders to drop with an exhale. The mission had taken longer than originally thought, not because of his actions but because of Vought's need to handle any loose ends of affairs associated. And there were always those. Frankly, he expected more of a challenge from his conquest. If a target could be neutralized so effortlessly then it wasn't much of a threat to begin with.

Some fighting group of Supe Terrorists they must be.

It didn't matter. He'd gotten the job done. Undoubtedly, the best part about it all was coming back to see her. There's a saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder and was that ever true in this case. Of all the things, he'd done in his life, nothing could compare to the feelings she induced in him. He'd purposely slipped away from his babysitter entourage tonight to seek her out. No one suspected a thing at the moment.

He'd actually watched her for quite some time. He likened his pursuit of her to a fulfilling, non-threatening hunt. Any sort of hunt got his blood pumping enough to crash violently through his enhanced veins. But hunting/pursuing her brought the biggest thrill he ever felt.

His plans for her were a mystery at this point, even to himself. There was no definite reasoning he could ascertain as to why he was inexplicably drawn to her. She wanted to know why he was doing the things he did to her - why he could provide no answer. From his view, his actions always spoke louder than words ever could. It was a matter of him showing her how he felt about her.

She made it difficult sometimes. She expressed her loathing for him on every occasion and was never shy about it either. Their encounters always ended the same - he arrived, they would fight, and he would be forced to subdue her. Then he would leave. It was not at all how he wanted their interactions to play out. She fought harder knowing who and what he was. He couldn't see that fighting spirit leaving in the foreseeable future. The fire in her eyes burned feverishly when she angrily hissed for him to leave. He didn't necessarily want to choke her as hard as he did but she couldn't have her screaming and catching the attention of the nearby residents. For as small as she was, she did possess an impressive set of lungs. He would know.

Accepting him would make things easier for them both but she only made things harder on herself. He'd tried to convey that many times before but she was too stubborn to acknowledge it. Giving in was practically unheard of when it came down to her. Fighting was second nature to them both apparently. Truthfully, he wished for her to be herself and not turn into a defensive animal the moment he made himself known. A hands-on approach was not working as well as he thought it would. He just had to find a way to deal with that flaming temper of hers.

He's learned her well enough after every experience to know that she would never willingly accept his touch if something did not change. There was a better alternative and he didn't know what that might be. Her trust, respect, and affection couldn't be that precise for him to obtain. There were lines he'd already crossed that couldn't be forgiven so easily.

Black Noir calmly walked over near his large, black bed. He pulled a small photo from a secure, protected place in his suit. In the photo, she was looking away from the camera, her side profile on full display. She was wearing a yellow pastel dress and wedges. He didn't know why he took the photo, he just felt like he needed to. The entire three day mission was plagued with intrusive thoughts of her and he just stared at the picture whenever she crossed his mind. She calmed his killer instinct. For him, it was all about reinforcing his thoughts and feelings unto her.

"I heard you were back."

Queen Maeve asserts, leaning against the wall in the corridor of his designed room. Of all the Seven, she was probably the most familiar with him. Though he would not go so far as to say they were friends - they were certainly something. Their dynamic was weird and sort of unexpected. Being that Black Noir was Black Noir.

"It's a good thing you were gone. Homelander's been ready to blow a gasket and Deep's been trying to weasel his slimy way back into the Seven. He's been here everyday demanding to talk to Edgar."

The photo laying on the grand piano caught her attention and she moved to get a closer look. "Who's the girl? She's cute."

Although he wanted no one to know of Parker, Black Noir made no attempt to conceal the photo from view. So his response was just to keep his back turned to his colleague while he prepared the items to make his tea.

Black Noir was still shrouded in total mystery. He was definitely more socially withdrawn from the others and he seemed to like it that way. And technically, he was the only member whose life wasn't falling apart at the seams. Aside from accompanying Homelander on missions and public appearances, there wasn't much for her to do besides drink - and she'd had enough of that for a while.

Maeve knew she wasn't going to receive an actual response but it was still amusing to try and maintain a conversation with the mute assassin. "A relative? A girlfriend? Nod once for yes."

Most of the time, Maeve had to pay attention to the physical cues of his body. Silent and physical actions were the only things people could use to understand what he was about. So far his body language enunciated that he didn't much want to 'discuss' the woman in the photo. She thought that maybe she was a potential target - the assumption made a lot of sense.

The Seven did not need to know about Parker's existence and he planned to keep it that way. Without having to be burdened with having to leave for extended periods of time because of missions. Now with no forthcoming covert missions for a while, he would be fighting a battle with temptation on whether or not he should go see her again.

Parker jolted awake at the sound of her ringing phone, momentarily disoriented before she was able to fully regain her bearings. Her mind is slow in processing everything. Not only was someone beating on her front door like the police, her phone was going crazy. She quickly snatched the device up, "What?" she croaked out.

"Don't what me...come open the fucking door." Cassidy shot back, hanging up right after.

Parker rolled her eyes, throwing the phone back unto the nightstand. As she tried to put her body in motion, a hot, white surge of pain spread throughout her lower half immediately. Her body felt heavier. She clenched her jaw tightly, trying desperately to push through the pain. She stumbled down the hallway, pained and aching. The door opens and a smile crosses Cassidy's features then drops as she takes in Parker's haggard appearance. Cassidy's hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, wearing a light jacket, with grey leggings.

"Whoa...you look like shit."

The groggy woman sneered. "Thanks. That's really sweet of you."

Without waiting for the woman to come in, Parker trudged lethargically back to the bedroom, silently hoping she didn't resemble the likeness of a reanimated corpse.

Cassidy follows and is more than a little concerned when she notices Parker borderline limping. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Period pains." The lie was so easy and believable. Period pains were the worst of the worst. Any woman would tell you that. The pain would have you withering in bed for days if they were bad enough. She'd rather not be bothered today at all. Still...she appreciated the visit regardless. Parker was going to use whatever energy she had today to stream a gameplay but this was okay.

As usual, Cassidy makes it her business to ramble through her things. Parker expected this behavior from her friend as being intrusive was kind of her thing. It used to aggravate her but she'd since gotten used to it over the years. Parker makes herself comfortable in bed and Cassidy lays down right beside her.

Cassidy turned teasing eyes on her. "Rough night?"

"You don't know the half of it."

Parker is just about to doze off again when Cass begins to talk about a planned game night that she's absolutely not allowed to miss under any circumstances.

"We'll have old board games to play. It'll be fun." She explained excitedly.

"Yeah, I bet." Parker groaned, obviously not moved.

"Thank you for the enthusiasm, it's really heartwarming so early in the morning." The sarcasm worked naturally well for her.

"First off, when have I ever struck you as a morning person?" Truth be told, her intentions were to sleep in at least until two and let the rest of the day pass her by. She didn't want to get out today.

"Pj come on. You can't just stay cooped up in bed like this, it's depressing as hell. You have to be active."

"I am active." She contested.

"We've been planning this for like a month. You're going."

"No, I'm not."

"I'm not asking, I'm telling. You haven't been out with us for a while and you need to leave the house and go someplace other than work." Cassidy was willing to drag her out of the house kicking and screaming if she had to. Parker had already passed up too many opportunities before.

"Look you're hurting. I get that. I totally sympathize with you okay? I really do. So be sure to pop some pills for tonight cause you're still going."

Parker's response was to pull the blankets over her head. Some fun could take the edge off for a while - help her forget her worries. Though, it was hard to pretend that she wasn't being terrorized by a guy who wore a mask and suit 24/7.

Parker refused to let it be a defining highlight in her life.

In a way, she was downplaying her own suffering - possibly as a coping mechanism. She couldn't let the fucker continue to get one over on her. To her, his actions were seen as a means to repress her entirely and no one had that kind of power whether they were a supe or not. He was imprinting himself in her mind as a form or psychological abuse. Reaching out to a counselor or a person in the field had crossed her mind plenty of times. After all, it wasn't healthy to just continue on with life as if nothing has happened.

Parker always thinks she's gotten over it until it happens all over again. She only took one bad experience in life to slip into a state of mind that was impossible to come back from. Just one. Whether it was a breakup, death, failure etc. It took a lot to overcome sadness. She knew that personally. Now, she was too busy trying to breath life back into herself. She would only put focus into putting herself before everything now and she didn't necessarily feel sorry for that either. And that took a tremendous effort on her part.

Cassidy's head popped her head under the covers to examine her with expectant eyes. "Well?"

"I'll go. Only because I'm tired of staring at these four walls."

It wasn't as cold as she thought it would be today. And to top it off, temperatures were expected to rise later in the day. Parker was patiently waiting for winter so she could wear that matching coat and hat from shein that she'd gotten on sale. Parker had showered and gotten dressed to brave the day for whatever it held. Both women choose to go eat breakfast at a nice little restaurant called 'The Pancake Factory' across town. It wouldn't be their first time eating at this place, in fact, they frequented it quite often. It was still eleven o'clock so they had time. She was starving.

Parker looked over the colorful menu, briefly considering other meal options but already internally set on getting her usual order of three pancakes, two sausages, and bacon. Unbeknownst to her, Cassidy made eye contact with the approaching waiter.

"Hello ladies. Can I start you off with a few drinks this morning?"

"I'll have a glass of orange juice." Parker apathetically answered.

"Excellent choice." He turned to Cassidy. "And for you?"

"I'll have some water. Thank you."

By this time, Parker had received a few no so subtle looks from the waiter which she remained obvious to. The waiter, Mark, was a total sweetheart and seemed like he could wind up being a lovely match for her recluse of a best friend. His attempts at breaking the ice with conversation weren't working as well as she'd hoped it would. Parker, as observant as she was, was not picking up on any of it and that was troubling for a number of reasons. Her recent plan to try and hook them up was genius but Parker could be incredibly stubborn sometimes. The pieces were all there, everything just had to fall in place. Cassidy wasn't giving up so easily.

If at first you don't succeed, try again.

"Alright, I'll be right back with those drinks."

"You know he has a crush on you."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because I asked and he told me."

Cassidy could tell by the look on Parker's face that she was not impressed.

"Cass you know I don't have the time nor the patience for a boyfriend."

"That remains a point of debate."

"Please don't make things awkward. I happen to like this place and I don't wanna have to start avoiding him like a DM from a fake sugar daddy on Twitter."

Cassidy's eyes widened. "You get those too?"

"Can you stop trying to hook me up with dudes I don't know." Cass was fond of meddling in her non-existent romantic life. The prying woman had even installed multiple dating apps on her phone without her knowledge with the intent to entice her into dating. All of the people in the world, Parker doubted she'd find her soulmate on or eHarmony. She could seriously do without the weird ass men and scary encounters altogether. In fact, there was a pretty good chance of her getting murdered.

The other woman sloughed in her seat across from her. "Fine. I won't do it again."

Conversation was halted until food came out and Cassidy wasn't surprised when Parker went straight in. If there was one thing Parker could do, it was eat. The woman could consume a whole large pizza by herself if she was hungry enough. And she had seen it happen. If Cassidy had to guess, the woman's metabolism hadn't slowed down yet. Truthfully, she herself couldn't get past three slices without feeling like she'd had enough. Although, Cassidy had long suspected Parker was using food as a comfort to escape stress and suppress negative emotions. In spite of that, it was still remarkable how her friend was gaining no weight whatsoever.

"I'm planning to take Apple to the vet later this week. There's a rash near her tail that she won't leave alone."

Speaking of the vet, Parker really needed to check her schedule for the rest of the week. She might just use some of her sick days to go visit her grandmother. Lord knows she was well overdue for one.

"Cat people are weird as hell."

"It's staring at us like it wants to kill us. How is that okay?"

"There might be some resentment over the cone of shame. It's his punishment for knocking over my plants."

Cassidy regarded Parker with a keen, concerned eye. Sure Parker could be a little moody and temperamental at times but there was another side to her. She was easy-going, passionate, and obviously the most mature of the bunch where everyone else was concerned. Cassidy could sense that she was fighting hard not to give in and become a cynical shell of what she once was. The game night was orchestrated for the sole purpose of proving her some emotional support.

Honestly, Parker hated when people looked at her like that. Her friends thought she was miserable. She was but not to the intolerable degree they were thinking. It didn't help that they often misidentified her moods - times like this showed just how misunderstood she felt. She appreciated all the concern but she needed them to cut her some slack.

Honestly, if she could just live in another plane of existence that occasionally interacted with reality when she wanted to it would be perfect. There were too many adult problems that she wasn't prepared for.

Game night started off on a hitch and everyone was in good spirits. Camron wasted absolutely no time breaking out the alcohol beverages for the occasion. Parker had already decided that she would not be consuming any alcohol tonight. She was more interested in the snacks and candy laid out in party bowls. The woman was surprised at the cleanliness of the two-bedroom apartment shared by the two cousins. To her knowledge, guys were usually subpar at cleaning and tended not to have that much furniture either. This an amount of responsibility she hadn't expected from them and she silently commended them for it.

The loud music would no doubt serve to irritate the neighbors enough to put in a complaint but Camron and Qua didn't seem too concerned about it so no one bothered to mention it. Similarly, Parker really liked the apartment complex where they lived and she didn't want them to get kicked out for something so trivial as a noise complaint. Although, it was amusing to watch them attempt to do the Tootsie Slide across the living room floor. Parker laughed breathlessly. The hilarity it elicited was sometimes too much but that was why she loved it. She was looking forward to busting everyone's ass in Uno. She was forever a beast when it came to the card game and they all knew it.

"We're breaking out classics tonight." Qua announced with his signature big goofy grin.

The group would be playing Monopoly, Candyland, and Uno. It would certainly be an interesting night since practically every person save for the placid Devin, was highly competitive and somewhat of a sore loser. The games were pretty tame until it was time for Uno. All hell broke loose after that. Technically, it wasn't a good game of Uno unless people fight and argue about the rules. It had been awhile since she'd socialized like this. She couldn't deny just how much she needed this; to be in a comfortable atmosphere with loved ones. Best of all...she doesn't feel too overwhelmed by everything.

Camron was like that playful, energized friend the teacher constantly had to send out of the room for disrupting the classroom. He was funny just by being himself in the most normal of situations. And on top of providing comedy without much effort, his personality was really authentic and sincere.

Qua was basically a tether of Camron if the dial was turned down to six. Unlike Camron, Qua was a bit of a playboy, nobody dibbled and dabbled in meaningless relationships more than him. Commitment was not his forte. In his own words, "He wasn't shit." He'd brought more temporary women into their circle countless times.

Jordan was like that nerdy black friend that often intermingled with boujee white people. Like the one 'sophisticated' black person prejudiced white people felt like they could feel safe around and was too well-put together to actually acknowledge his blackness. Oh how wrong they were.

Jordan has had the biggest crush on Cass for the longest time and the fact that Cass was so oblivious made it somewhat awkward. In fact, Cass seemed to be the only one out of the group who didn't know. Even now, Jordan's eyes often drifted toward Cass, observing her to make sure she was generally having a good time like everyone else. It was cute. As a matter of a fact, Jordan had confided in her about his prolonged feelings for Cass a while ago. There was no need to pressure him into confessing. The rest of group resigned to wait until he felt comfortable to spill the beans himself.

Devin was the most laid back and open of the group. Most of his personality consisted of being nonchalant and free-thinking usually because he was too high to comprehend most things.

Lastly, Cassidy was the only non-black person among the group of friends being Asian-American. An extremely sweet and loyal friend to all, her traditional father expressed displeasure about her befriending 'those kinds of people', like the racist prick he was. She'd long since pulled from under his controlling clutches years ago. With support from her mother who wouldn't allow him to disown her. Albeit still, their relationship was still strained because of this but Cassidy wouldn't back down no matter what.

This group of individuals played an important role in Parker's life - they breathed life into her when she felt like she had none left. Every round led to a debate of epic proportions. Before long, they were all acting a complete ass.

"It really doesn't matter how we play. I'll whoop everybody in Uno, Dos, Tres. It's up to y'all how y'all wanna take the loss." Parker taunted.

Qua was immediately offended. "How much do you wanna bet?"

"How much are you willing to put up?"

"None. I'm broke as hell."

"Then why would you...nevermind." Jordan shook his head.

They were now deep into about six or seven rounds and quite frankly, she was getting tired of saying Uno out. She'd won every round except one since Cassidy was able to play a good hand in the last round.

Camron threw his deck of cards unto the pile. "You know...I'm getting real tired of being dusted in my own house. I feel disrespected right now."

Parker was not surprised when Qua slurred, "Bro, how the fuck do you keep winning?"

"It's all about playing your cards right. Literally. Develop a good strategy." She shrugged.

"What strategy? You just use the same color or number to get rid of your hand of cards!" Camron laughed, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening and why he kept losing.

"Get rid of your cards strategically." She added.

"Maybe this can be a practice round."

Cassidy quickly shot that down. "Hell no! This ain't no practice round, you're just losing."

"No can everyone just stop constantly stacking these draw four's, this shit has to be some type of crime." Jordan asserted.

Uno and Among Us were the elite duos of friendship betrayal. With countless friendships being tested.

"You don't have to say shit else to me because you been moving funny too!." Now reverse back to me."

"How? I'm the only one that hasn't used a draw card! Are you dumb or are you retarded?"

Camron's face of annoyance was literally the funniest shit ever. The game literally lasted for about two hours. For Parker, it was definitely the highlight of the night.

"Camron, he does have a point.." Devin laughs, taking a swig of his drink. It wouldn't be long before he was heading back into the kitchen for a refill.

"Stop the cap."

Jordan humorously quipped. "So my thing is...y'all have all these draw twos and fours and yet nobody can conveniently use them to keep her in the game? For real, like y'all going out sad."

"That's your problem right there - worrying about everybody but yourself."

"You're only supposed to talk like that when you've won some games. So far you won nothing."

"And?! You haven't either."

"Are you two gonna argue all night like a married couple? Damn just play the cards goofy asses. It's four other people playing." Cass chides.

Conversation and laughter swirled in the space of the room. She had reason to fear busting a gut being around them. She'd been experiencing a lot of secondhand loneliness. It brought some much-needed levity to her. Strange how a group of people's presence can affect how an individual feels. Everything was more fun with friends. She felt relaxed - safe even.

After the guys had had enough of losing, everyone just shifted into chill mode and lounged around watching television. Nevertheless, Parker felt like she was the only one playing it any attention. It was a rerun of Translucent's funeral. Who knew supes could be killed. It almost gave her an idea. Almost. Homelander, in all his American glory, was talking to the audience while he stood next to the grass coffin.

"Today I can report to the American people that Black Noir has conducted an operation - killing the super-terrorist known as Naqib. But that doesn't mean sacrifices won't be made."

Parker's heart skipped a few beats as heard the name before quickly pulling her eyes from it to focus solely on devouring the gaggle of chocolate she'd gotten from the bowl of depleting candy. The woman had to remind herself that her friends didn't know. They had no idea what she'd been through at the hands of one of the supes they loved so much. Still, she couldn't help but wonder what they would think if they found out that he was in her house last night. Having to hide something so debilitating from them was exhausting and remarkably sad. Almost like she had no one to turn to, and in a sense - she didn't. The Seven are a corporate-backed Superhero team, her friends offered no solace when it came to going up against that fact.

Tragically, simple human rationalization came into play - she didn't want to be responsible for shattering their perfect image of supes. Parker didn't want to think about how she attracted the wrong person's attention. It was difficult not to feel somewhat jaded. As far as she could tell, there wasn't anything about her that could make him want to gravitate towards her. Parker herself did not want to be plagued by thoughts of him if she could help it. From this point forward, if it was out of sight then it was out of mind. She knew that it carried a near impossibility but at least she could comfort that she put her best effort forward.

The gathering moved into its fifth hour and Parker was beginning to feel exhaustion pulling at her. She'd settled into a state of reserved, quietness since there wasn't any more energy to utilize. Qua and Camron had completely passed out while Jordan and Devin had already gone home. Her and Cass made the drive back to her apartment just after twelve in the morning. The ride seemed like it took infinitely longer in view of the fact the both of the women were exhausted. Instead of letting Cassidy make the forty-five minute drive back home, Parker suggested that she spend the night and go home in the morning. Not bothering to reject that sound logic, Cassidy gladly obliged her and jumped into bed with her. This was a problem, they'd been sharing a bed since they were little kids and Parker craved the comfort. The security of being safe.

Cassidy's eyes slid open in the darkness. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Parker contemplated the question carefully. For her, it was difficult to fake enjoyment, so she opted not to. Tonight was the most fun she'd had in ages because of that choice. "Yeah, I did actually." She hadn't had to zone out and was actually aware of everything going on around her. That was considered a win in her book.

The room lapsed into silence once more, neither woman wanting to disturb it if it meant finally slipping into dreamland.

Despite that, an internal issue still loomed over Parker's heart. "Hey can I tell you something?"

Air left the other woman's nose in a rush. "Duh. You can tell me anything."

Parker chewed her lips in deep thought. Could she tell her? The question hung uncomfortably in the air. With her confession, she would potentially open a Pandora's box of trouble all around and she wasn't ready for that. The attention, public skepticism, the anxiety. All of it would be too much for her to handle especially since Vought had their hands in everything. No one was coming to save her. She had to save herself. Black Noir had her severely fucked up if he thought he was going to get away with everything. To know he would be publicly applauded as a hero and celebrity planted a seed of resentment in her. He couldn't be her savior and oppressor simultaneously.

"Nevermind." she whispered.

From his concealed place outside of her bedroom window, Black Noir watched Parker nod off. Shortly before their first actual encounter, he sought out the annoying little security analyst to find and compile a data profile on the little woman. He wanted to be able to read about her life as if it were an open book. Two months of shadowing her before an opportunity finally presented itself in the form of three idiot vagrants cornering her in an alley. In his research of her life, he'd discovered her YouTube channel and watched nearly every video to learn more about her. She held a near obsessive love for Beyoncé, animals, and cooking. Things he'd expected. He just needed to figure out how to go about things in the way that she'd prefer.

In terms of examples, there really wasn't much for him to go on. Translucent's normal conduct with women was highly questionable and he felt any tactics from the late vanishing supe would make the situation much worse than it already was. He remembered a conversation he overheard The Deep having with A-Train about women. Frankly he was mildly surprised that the former was capable of offering advice and that the latter was even listening to it.

"Chicks dig gifts, romance, all of that jazz. Gotta show em that you care about their existence or whatever. Make them feel safe and cared for."

He had some understanding of women, certainly enough not to categorize them all as the same with the same interests. Intimacy and affection were unfamiliar to him in any capacity. He's somewhat experienced when it comes to sexual proclivities. There's still uncharted territory he wanted to experiment when it came to her. Anticipation roared through his body like electricity.

Would she like gifts? There was only one way to find out. Only time would tell.

I don't know how I feel about this chapter, it turned out much differently than I thought it would. Please tell me what you think in the reviews, they're a big help to me when writing these stories.