𝚜𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚍𝚎
(𝚗.) 𝚊 𝚗𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚐𝚒𝚌 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝; 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝; "𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜"

Eliza was gone. She'd left for Tony's cabin one month and three weeks ago—then apparently flown to Wakanda with Steve and Bucky to go see Shuri. 

That was until everyone back at the Avengers building was informed of her whereabouts. In Europe, with Peter. Fighting Mysterio. But quite frankly, Tom didn't care about Mysterio. Or Eliza. It had been two months stuck on this earth, and he wanted to get back to his god damned wife.

But nonetheless, to fill the time, and with Steve and Bucky back, everyone was gathered around the living room, listening to Tom talk.

He told them stories of what their actors and actresses were like—most were disappointed because they're all dumbasses—very unlike the super brains that they themselves occupied.

He told Wanda the story of when he found Elizabeth in a bathtub full of bubbles, surrounded by chocolate covered strawberries, wine, and cheese—when no body else was even there with her. He told Bucky the story of when he caught Sebastian trying to stuff six eggos into one toaster, Steve the story of when Chris actually attempted to throw his nephew off of a roof and into the pool below, Sam the story of when Anthony was trying to pull a prank on him, but Tom just ended up getting a concussion, and Lilah had to somehow hold his head up and drive to the hospital at the same time. Sam laughed at that.

But Natasha asked, "Who's Lilah?"

Tom's eyes grew wide. He braced his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. The room suddenly became a little too small for all these people watching him.

"Are they your partner?" Steve asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah," Tom cleared his throat, "yeah sh-she's my . . . partner."

"Friendgirl?" Steve questioned, but Bucky slapped him on the chest and whispered something in his ear. "Oh, girlfriend?"

"No."

"Best friend but you both have feelings for each other and are just too stubborn to admit it?" Bucky said. "Eliza told me about this. Friends to lovers. Unless you guys didn't like each other at first, then that's a whole different story—"

Tom laughed, "I actually don't think Lilah liked me at first. She probably just found me annoying. Still does, actually." Everyone was quiet as they listened to him. "But I'm positive I loved her first. From like the first time I ever heard her voice. Then her laugh—oh my god her laugh."

He was smiling, smiling down at his lap, but inside he was only thinking one thing. Please don't let me forget her laugh.

"Um, guys?" Sam whispered. "Literally all of us are either trained spies, assassins, super soldiers, or just generally observant—so how did we not notice that?"

Everyone followed the gaze of where Sam's finger pointed. Where he pointed to the ring on Tom's left hand.

It was already on when he fell through the portal, and the entire two months he'd been here, the only tie back to Lilah was that ring. Twisting it around his finger, fiddling with it, tossing it up in the air when he couldn't sleep at night.

"You married to her?" Bucky asked, his tone soft and quiet.

Tom clenched and unclenched his fist. "Yeah but I can't tell anyone," he ground his teeth together. "Which really sucks because I just want to scream it off the rooftops and be able to tell my friends. I should be able to tell my friends I got married, shouldn't I?"

They all glanced at each other, their brows lifted.

"Sorry—that was a little aggressive. And dangerous, considering this crowd." Tom ran a hand through his hair, but his fingers stilled when he heard the noise again.

A small orange circle appeared on the coffee table, and a small piece of paper slipped out. Slowly, he reached over to pick it up. Written in stark black ink, it said:

177A Bleecker Street

---

Standing in a circle with everyone else from the other worlds, waiting for Peter and Eliza to arrive, Tom crossed his arms and surveyed the room. Artifacts, glass cases, swords and capes. Just like in the movie.

Then the couple of teenagers came jogging into the room, their hands connected, and looking like they were both fighting a smile. Eliza ran up and stood next to him. She leaned over and whispered, "Hi."

"Hi back," he said, flashing her a smile.

"Alright, this is only going to happen once, so listen carefully," Doctor Strange said. They all leaned in a little closer. "I made a mistake."

Eliza gasped dramatically. "No way."

He rolled his eyes. "We were flipping through the books, discussing different dimensions, a possible multiverse, and . . . I don't want to talk about it," he muttered. Wong let out a snort as his colleague used his magic and sling ring combined to create another portal, in the middle of the circle. "Whenever you're ready."

Everyone jumped inside, going to their separate universes, separate homes. All that was left was Tom.

"Um, mister doctor sir? Will I be going back to where I fell, or my home, in London?" he asked.

"Home."

Tom nodded and got ready to jump, but Eliza stopped him. She slipped a little metal device into his pocket. He lifted a brow in question, and she clarified, "I-um, I made it while I was in Wakanda. I-It's a communication device, so we can still talk to each other."

"Really? You made it?" She nodded. "That's awesome. Thank you—now I can call you if I need any tea making ideas."

"Please don't."

He laughed and reached his arms out for a hug. She gladly accepted, and said to him quietly, "Hey Tom? You should tell everyone. Shout it from the rooftops, if you can."

"How did you—"

"All of those dumbasses were clueless as hell," Eliza said. "And you aren't very subtle."

He pulled away from the embrace and smiled down at her, nodding. Then he turned to Peter. "It was really nice to meet you," he said, trying his best not to fanboy a little.

"Yeahyeahyeah, you too," Peter said, smiling a little.

Tom turned to the portal, hesitating to jump inside, but did. He fell right into his home. In his kitchen, the apartment in London.

He was smiling, expecting to see Lilah somewhere, but she wasn't. The apartment was dark, save for the lamp right by the couch. Then he heard someone let out a sob, and break down into tears.

"Lilah?"

⋆·˚ ༘ *🗡* ༘˚·⋆

"I think I might like you even more now," Tom murmured onto the skin under Lilah's ear. The sun awoke both of them with its rising, the warm light stopping just below her hips. The soft white sheets were lazily draped over the two of them, a certain ease flowing throughout the room.

The arm that he had laid across Lilah's abdomen shifted as she connected their hands, her small calluses scraping lightly against his. "After last night I would've thought you hated me," she mused.

"Teasing, Lilah darling, is not a reason to hate you," he chuckled. "There is nothing you could ever do to make me hate you."

She hummed, "Good to know."

Tom examined Lilah's left hand, resting his chin on her shoulder. He twisted the ring that laid there, and she caught a glimpse of the light shining through the light gray and white stones that rested in a branch of leaves across the ring. The band was a light rose gold. Absolutely gorgeous.

"Are you sure you like it?" he asked her. "I can always get a new one."

Lilah rolled her eyes and shifted in the bed, turning so she was nose-to-nose with him. "I—love—it," she said in between kisses. "So please don't take it back, because I've already gotten married in it. That's kind of a deal breaker."

He gave her that stupid grin and kissed her once more, deeper this time. His tongue slid into her mouth, brushing against her own. But Lilah withdrew from him begrudgingly, and he pouted his lips from the loss of her warmth.

"We have a few things to discuss," she said.

"Yes, like what we're having for breakfast."

"I was thinking more: what we're going to do when people ask if we're together or not—but breakfast works too."

He smiled at her. "Your plan is good too. But I think I might need a shower before breakfast," he said, sitting up on the bed, the sheets slipping down to only cover his waist.

"Oh," she muttered, burying her head back into the pillow.

Lilah heard some shuffling around, then her hand was being pulled up, and she was met face-to-face with Tom again. He laughed, "I was hoping you'd join me."

She nodded. "Y-yeah, that's a good plan too."

His laugh followed her throughout the rest of the day.

---

When Lilah's heavy eyes opened slowly, she sighed. Knew it was too good to be true. And that quickly, a sob escaped her mouth.

For too long she'd held in those tears, not letting them fall, even in the dark when she was alone the past two months.

Last week Lilah came to the conclusion that she couldn't take up any more space in Anabel's apartment, especially when she shared it with all her friends. It explained why the apartment was so large. Because the world is a small place.

She found out the morning after Tom's disappearance, when Benjamin came walking into Anabel's apartment without knocking. He walked right passed her and into the kitchen, saying, "Oh hi Lilah." Then he seemed to realize that she was in his apartment and did a double take.

Then Connor came through the door. Connor—from her interview. Who said he was dating Benjamin. Then Freya came through the door. Because she lived across the hall from Anabel.

It was too much for Lilah to handle at that moment, but she thought it was kind of cool that they all knew each other.

The tears flooded down her face, unstopping. She was on the couch, because she couldn't handle sleeping on her bed without Tom. Another sob at that thought.

"Lilah?"

It was his voice. From the kitchen.

She shot up to her feet, holding up a random book that was on the coffee table for defence. But it was actually him, in the flesh. At first, the only emotion she felt was happiness. Tears clouded her vision, and she dropped the book, but that might've been just because she wasn't wearing her glasses.

Slowly, she walked up to him, to where he stood in the kitchen, a bright smile on his face. She smiled back at him and treaded closer, her hands going up to hold his face.

When he didn't disappear, when he didn't fade away and she concluded that he wasn't a figure of her imagination, she dropped her hands. Then started smacking him on the arm.

"Where the hell were you," she demanded. "It's been two months, Tom. Two months. I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not dead."

"Obviously." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, waiting. He just stared at her, almost mesmerized. "You didn't answer my question."

"oH, right. Um . . ." Tom took a deep breath in. "Doctor Strange and his friend Wong messed up a spell while they were going through ancient books and accidentally created eight different portals in eight different universes with all the spider people—some were from the comics, and some were from the movies. Then we all landed on Earth 616 and had to go see Tony Stark because apparently we got it wrong, and Thanos was never a thing, so he never died. But Tony and Doctor Strange came to the conclusion that he inevitably made the multiverse and we all had to be separated while he put it back together, which took two months. And I met Eliza and Peter and all the Avengers, they're super nice. Eliza is a lot more nerdy than you, so I think you'd like her—but anyways, that's where I was for two months."

Lilah blinked, taking in the information bit by bit.

"That's it," he said, to clarify. Then he must've realized this had to have been crazy for her to hear, because he sighed and walked away, muttering something about her not believing him.

But he also must've forgotten who he was talking to.

"Tom I believe you," she said, raising a brow at him as he whirled around.

"You do?"

"Yes, mostly because it is impossible for you to lie to me."

"Pfffttt, I've lied to you before," Tom said, waving a hand.

"Like four months ago I asked who spilt dirt all over the counter, and I was fully expecting you to say Tess, but you just blurted everything out in two seconds."

"I was trying to get you flowers," he murmured.

"I was going to get you flowers," Lilah said. "A shame, you would've liked them."

Tom crossed his arms. "I don't think that's a good reason to believe me."

"Dude most of my dreams are about this happening, of course I believe you." That's when she started jumping up and down. "Holy shit that's so cool—how did he know to bring you onto Earth 616? What if he accidentally picked me? That would've been even cooler. Then I could fall in love with Peter. Because if I'm being honest, I would definitely leave you for him."

He shrugged, "So would I. Although it'd be kind of weird dating myself—maybe Andrew Garfield Peter Parker."

"For sure, for sure," she said. "And what about—"

He stopped her before she could continue. "Lilah, I think it's really great that you believe me and everything, but I need two things before we discuss the whole thing. One, a drink. Only because I really kind of want to forget about the falling and swirly stuff that happened when I went through that portal, but also because Tony took all the alcohol with him when he moved out—"

"Oh my god, yes! I forgot about that part," Lilah squealed, pacing around in the kitchen, wiping off the still wet tears that stained her flushed cheeks.

"—and second," Tom said, "I need a hug from you."

She halted her pacing, then opened her arms wide for him. He grinned at her and wrapped his arms around her middle to pick her up, nestled his face in her warm chest. She laughed in his ear, and he almost fell to his knees at the sound.

---

"So then I told them about the time Chris tried to hurl his nephew off the roof," Tom said, sighing.

"Then what?"

"Then we all fell asleep and died. The end," he said, leaning his head back against the couch and fake snoring.

For two hours he'd been telling her all that'd happened while he was gone. Every little detail, because she insisted.

"No because you told me you weren't dead," she reasoned, tapping him on the chest, telling him to continue.

Actually, now that he thought about, there was a something Eliza said to him that Tom needed to pass on to Lilah. "Then they found out about us being married. And told me we should tell everyone." Her mouth went dry. She sat up in the bed, taking her head off of his chest. He sat up with her.

"Lilah I don't want to hide the one part of my life that's worth living for." The meaning and pure emotion that held in those words and his voice made her hands tremble.

There were minutes of silence while she thought.

Then Tom and Lilah said fuck it, and told the world.