#besides Spider-Man this may be my favorite superhero stuff yet

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

(Img: Nolan saying "I think I miss my wife" across two images, inbetween which are pictures of him and Debbie)

Yeah.

[marvelofcontent]

May the Fourth Be With You (Peter Parker x Stark!Reader)

Summary  You and Peter are huge Star Wars Fans. Always have been, always will be. After Thanos and Mysterio had their fun, you finally get to enjoy your senior year of high school, but things have changed between you and Peter. What plans are in store for the pair of you now that senior year is coming to a close? Word Count 2677 Warnings This is a nerdy fluffy piece to celebrate Star Wars Day, so some Star Wars references are included, but nothing too obscure. This story was posted after May Fourth because I thought of this late and I suck at updating. To all of my Star Wars fans, May the Fourth Be With You!

Peter Benjamin Parker loves Star Wars. When the boy your father had recruited boarded the jet and sat by Happy, you made a metal note to talk to him once you finished reading your book, only a few chapters from the end. Mid-flight, you made your way over and took the empty seat in front of him nonchalantly.

“You’re Peter, right? I’m y/n,” you said gently, offering him a small smile. He returned it and nodded. The two of you struck some conversation before quieting down to a comfortable silence. You busied yourselves with your phones, your eyes only peeking up when Peter started to fidget in his seat, a wide smile on his face. 

“You look happy,” you commented, looking him over for a moment. He reacted by stiffening and ducking his eyes awkwardly, reluctantly turning his screen off.

“Oh no, it’s stupid,” he tried to brush off, but your curiosity had already taken root.

“Couldn’t have been stupid to bring on a smile like that. Come on, what is it?” You inched closer, on the edge of your seat. When he glanced up and saw your poised determination, he let out a nervous huff and reopened his phone.

“Oh nothing, just…there are new pictures from the set of The Last Jedi. Just some nerdy-”

“Wait, really? Can I see?” His eyes widened as you got up and sat beside him, excitement in your eyes.

“Wait, you like Star Wars?”

“Like Star Wars? Are you kidding? I love Star Wars. My dad helped me build a pencil sharpener R2D2 a few years ago.” To your surprise, he let out a warm laugh and turned his body in your direction.

“I can’t imagine the Tony Stark fiddling over a pencil sharpener.”

“The man can’t follow a set of instructions for his life. Iron Man insisted he was right and the little motor almost blew because he put the gears in the wrong places and the blades upside down,” you giggled, remembering the way you hid behind a pillow when it started to screech. In that moment, Peter took a better look at you and smiled wider, suddenly feeling inexplicably comfortable with you. The rest of the flight, you passed the time by talking about Star Wars and other interests you shared going beyond the sci-fi galaxy, and you became inseparable even after the events in Berlin.

-8 Years Later-

A lot had changed since that jet ride. Since the fight in Berlin, the Avengers disbanded and went their separate ways, you enrolled as a junior at Midtown School of Science and Technology, Spiderman became New York’s favorite local crime fighter, and Thanos came and wiped out half of the universe. You and Peter died in space, your true feelings and goodbyes lost with you as you dusted away. You both returned five years later only to lose Tony Stark, father and mentor. The year that followed was difficult, the loss of your father weighing down on both of you. You stopped talking about the things that made you happy, like Star Wars and sketching, and focused on the somber aspects of life. The world fell on both your shoulders and the most support you had was each other. When you went on the class trip to Europe, all you wanted was a chance to enjoy life experiences as a teenager again.

Quentin Beck almost stole that opportunity away from you when he brought the Elementals to life as pieces in his revenge plot. He would have killed you and ruined your trip if it hadn’t been for your best friend in the spider suit. By the end of the trip, Peter had saved you, and he made the trip worth it when he gave you a bracelet with a glass shooting star charm and confessed his feelings for you, sharing a gentle kiss on the bridge.

Life went on when you came home, but things became manageable. Stark Industries was rising again, you were finding your place in your family, and senior year finally came, much to everyone’s relief. To top it all off, Peter was with you through it all, not only as your best friend and fellow crime fighting superhero, but as your loving and supportive boyfriend. As the year started coming to a close, you noticed that MJ and Betty had been adamant about keeping you busy everyday afterschool. Between decathlon leadership meetings, student council sessions, and emergency study groups, you stopped walking home with Peter and the guilt started eating at you. 

One afternoon with the girls, you let out a frustrated huff and threw Betty a wide eyed glance of disbelief.

“Betty, we went over this concept yesterday! I thought you were feeling better about it?” 

“I was, but then Dr. Gammon did a few problems in class and I got lost again,” your friend justified, twirling her hair with her fingers as she focused on the book before you. Quickly glancing at your phone, you let out a sigh. You had been studying for hours and the sun would be going down soon, a late night patrol waiting for you. 

“MJ, can you give this a shot? Maybe you can explain it better,” you asked as you checked your phone notifications. Nothing.

“Sure. Let me see-”  she was cut off by a chime coming from her phone. Lightening fast, she pulled her phone out and proceeded to stand in the middle of the room, typing furiously. You found it odd that she paused so suddenly, but brushed it off as you started to pack your bag.

“I should get going, so I’ll see you guys-”

“Wait!” MJ shouted, her head snapping up suddenly. You were taken aback by her volume and gave her a worried look. You could see her look at Betty from the corner of her eye. “There’s something I want to talk to you about before you go.”

“Oh…okay,” you replied, setting your bag back down on the floor. “What is it?” She came over and sat beside you on the bed.

“Has everything been alright?” You tilted your head, mildly confused by the question.

“I…guess. Why?”

“You just seem on edge all the time. Stressed almost,” she pressed a bit. You shrugged.

“Well, there’s been a lot going on. We keep having decathlon leadership stuff-”

“We have to train the new kids before we go,” MJ pointed out gently.

“Right, but I think they’re ready. They seem tired of us nagging them. One of these days, Daisy’s going to actually stab herself instead of looking like she wants to. And student council keeps having pointless meetings-”

“We have to finalize all of the end of the year activities and their details,” Betty defended herself, her attention on the two of you.

“We did not need to spend an hour on choosing the balloon colors for the senior banquet. We ended up with blue and gold like we’d originally planned anyways!”

“I guess I was asking more if everything is alright outside of school,” MJ redirected, shooting Betty a tiny glare.

“…I feel like I’m so busy with school that I’ve barely gotten any one-on-one time with Peter.” You missed the glance they gave one another. “I just feel like such a bad girlfriend, ya know? And I think he’s mad at me over it. He’s been avoiding me in between classes and he hasn’t texted me in days-” MJ’s chime interrupted you again. As you continued, she was fixated on the message, typing back immediately and you felt so betrayed. “MJ, this is serious!” She seemed to have sent her message because she snapped her head back up and looked at you with sorry eyes.

“Sorry. But I’m sure everything’s okay. Has he asked you to prom yet?” At the mention of the dance, you let out a pained groan and threw yourself back in the bed, your heart aching a bit from disappointment

“No, he hasn’t. He’s been avoiding me, remember?”

“Maybe he’s waiting for the right moment,” Betty reassured. Before you could respond, your phone started to ring, Peter’s contact picture popping up. “Take it as a sign of good luck,” she winked before returning to her work. You reluctantly picked up the call, putting the speaker to your ear.

“Peter?”

“Hey! What are you up to right now?” You let out a small sigh of relief. He sounded excited rather than upset or on edge.

“Studying with Betty and MJ. I was actually about to head out,” you replied, grabbing your bag again and packing the last of your things as he spoke.

“Listen, I know you have patrol tonight, but would you like to come over for dinner?” You looked at the time and sighed, knowing it would be late when you left the Parker household.

“I don’t know, Pete-”

“May’s making your favorite.” He was trying to be convincing and to your dismay, it was working. You bit your lip, thinking the offer over. “Please, y/n? I miss you.” His words tugged at your guilty heart and you caved, practically hearing his pout.

“Okay. I’ll head over now.”

“Great! See you soon!” He was quick to hang up much to your surprise. Glancing back at the girls, you shrugged at their expectant stares.

“He seems to be in a good mood, so maybe it’s not so bad,” you said gently, trying not to let yourself get too excited.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving? He’s expecting you,” Betty encouraged, waving you off.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“We’ll manage. Get out of here, y/n. Before Peter comes to grab you,” MJ teased, giving you a friendly nudge as you finally shouldered your bag. Giving them one last goodbye, you headed out, a bit of pep in your step as you thought of spending some time with Peter. Quickly climbing up the apartment stairwell, you paused in front of their door and gently took the note that was left taped up. Y/n, it read. I had to run out to grab some things for dinner tonight. Let yourself in. Peter should be in his room. You saw May’s signature at the bottom and gently opened the door, quickly closing the door behind you. The living room would have been pitch black if not for the tea lights creating a path on the floor. Confused by the detail, you slowly followed them down the hall, your footsteps creaking on the wood. The lights stopped in front of Peter’s closed door, so you instinctively knocked and winced at the harshness of the sound. When you opened the door, your eyes went wide, simply standing in the frame as the door opened wider. In front of his windows, you saw a sheet with swirling galaxy projections on it, the stars shining all over the walls and ceiling. They lit the room enough for you to see Peter standing in the middle of the empty room with a rose in his hands. Before you could say anything though, he sidestepped and got down on one knee to reveal a life size legos replica of R2D2 holding a sign with your name on it. Stepping closer, you gasped and covered your mouth with your hands.

“Out of all the girls in the Galaxy, Yoda Obi-Wan for me,”  Peter said out loud. “It’s been a rough few years for us, but you didn’t leave me Solo and you saved me from the Dark Side. I may not be a Skywalker, but y/n?”

“Yes?” you answered giddily, anticipation rising as he turned the sign over.

“Will you BB my d8 to prom?” he asked, word for word vocalizing the sign’s message. Unable to keep the smile off your face, you nodded quickly and waited for him to rise to his feet before launching yourself into his arms and hugging him tightly.

“Of course I will, Peter!” you whispered excitedly, your face pressing into his neck. Your eyes were prickling slightly with tears from the sheer joy as you felt him press kisses to the top of your head. You pulled back just enough to gently raise your hands to his cheeks and look him in the eyes. “I would love to go to prom with you.” His hand rose to rest against the nape of your neck, gently twirling your hair and drawing circles on your skin. He leaned in and sweetly pressed his lips to yours. When you pulled apart a few moments later, he leaned back slightly, arms wrapping around your waist.

“Did you get all of this, Karen?”

“Video saved.” Realizing he had recorded your moment, you jokingly hit his shoulder and shot him an incredulous look. “Sorry, but MJ and Betty would kill me if they didn’t get to see this.” At the mention of their names, your jaw dropped.

“Wait a minute, they were in on this?”

“And Ned. Once R2D2 got too big to hide easily, I asked for his help to assemble it and begged them to keep you busy.” The cheeky tone in his voice made you scrunch your nose and you tried to process his words, but shook your head.

“Too big to...how long have you been planning this?” Pulling the rose out from behind you, he pulled you in closer and offered it to you.

“Since that day in London. When we survived the whole Beck thing and kissed on the bridge, I promised you that I would ask you to prom and it would be out of this world.”

“But you never promised me anything. Up until your call earlier, I thought you were upset with me and I didn’t think you were going to ask.”

“It was still a promise to you, whether you knew it or not,” he whispered. You took the rose from him and smiled shyly, carefully dipping your nose into the petals to smell the flower.

“That was an awful lot of work for a promposal,” you teased quietly, your eyes gazing up at him through your eyelashes.

“You’re worth it.” Pressing a quick kiss to your lips one more time, he pulled you into a hug. Your heart swelled as you nuzzled into him, only for your happy thoughts to be interrupted by Karen.

“Peter, what should I do with the video?”

“Save it and send it to MJ, Betty, Ned, and May.”

“Okay. Video sent.”

“Speaking of May, where is she?” you asked, not bothering to pull away from the embrace.

“She went to grab some carryout from that Thai place you love. She should be back-” Suddenly, you heard the front door open and the lights turned on in the living room, glowing down the hall.

“I’m so happy she said yes!” May squealed as you heard her struggling with the bags of food.

“Right about now,” Peter chuckled. He pulled away and went to walk around you, but a thought occurred to you and you reached for his arm.

“Hey Pete?” He looked back at you. “Where’s all your furniture? The room’s empty.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

“It’s a funny story actually. Scott helped me shrink it all for the promposal, so everything’s in a basket in my closet. Don’t worry though; I have until midnight before everything grows back to normal size.” Shaking your head in disbelief, you simply slid your hand into his and followed him into the living room.

Dinner with the Parkers that night was great. May made a few embarrassing comments and flustered both of you, but it was just her way of showing her excitement. As you would find out the next day when the video played on a loop during Betty’s school news coverage, your friends loved to show their support through embarrassment too. Did you still love them though? Of course. You had so many people who loved you and you were grateful for them, even when they were at their weirdest. As Peter dorkily pointed out, you were Wookie to have them.

[scrawnydutchman]

Why ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Animation is So Amazing

So those followers of my blog may know that I posted a full film review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rather recently. You’re welcome to go check it out if you haven’t yet, but the short version of it is that it’s my favorite movie of 2018 and is, in my opinion, the best comic book film ever made. But I wanted to address something about the film that I keep seeing coming up. I’ve been watching a handful of reviews for the film online and in a great deal of them I hear people bring up how they were skeptical of the animation style when they first saw the trailers because it “looked choppy”. One film critic in particular by the name of Roger Moore actually still held that critique against the film even after seeing it when he posted his review of it. Most people have come around to enjoying the films animation and have put the idea of it being choppy at the backs of their heads. But what did they mean initially?  The problem with a lot of film critics when it comes to judging an animated feature is that sadly they can come from a misinformed place about the medium and create this negative stigma around a film that isn’t justified. Animation is already fighting a number of prejudices (people saying it’s only for kids, saying it’s a genre and not a medium and any other amount of reasons why they may think they are above it) so this added one does not help what is easily the most spectacular animated film of 2018. But I myself am an animator, so I feel I can come from a place of explaining the visuals in a way that may make the still skeptical viewers more appreciative of what the film is trying to accomplish. With that in mind, here’s why the films animation works so well.

Animating on 2s, not on 1s

When it comes to animation, whether it be 2D or 3D, audiences are typically used to a consistent and fluid motion where there is virtually no break in the motion of a character or object. Simply put; it’s as fluid as fluid animation can be. In these cases, this is because the animation was done on “1s”. But what does that mean?

With a few exceptions, it’s a universal rule that animation runs at 24 frames per second. That means every second of footage you see of an animated film can have as many as 24 unique drawings or adjusted poses in them. That’s a lot of work, but animation legends like Richard Williams (director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) are famous for having classical animation of this stature. However, just because you CAN fill each second with that many drawings doesn’t mean everybody does. Alternatively you could have 12 drawings in each frame and just double the amount of time you see them go by. When you do this, it’s called animating on “2s”. It’s half the work for a result that may not be quite as fluid as animating on 1s but still looks convincing enough to deceive the human eye. You could even go as far as animating on 3s and animating on 4s, but the higher you go the more you increase the risk of your animation looking “choppy”. Spider-Verse in particular has most of their frames on 2s, with a few exceptions being when the characters have to keep up with complex camera work and so they go back to 1s. So that would explain why a lot of people initially thought the animation was “choppy” . . . .but are there any advantages to doing animation this way aside from having less frames to fill? Indeed there is. When you increase the exposure of any frame, the layout and composition of said frame as well as any small details has a greater chance of sticking out in the viewers mind. Spider-Verse takes exceptional advantage of this fact because every little action in this film is like a beautiful work of pop art. There can be other ways you can inject great appeal in your animation besides making it “fluid” like making every drawing crisp and full of detail and if you’re a skilled enough animator you can make your animation deceive the eye through a number of other tricks which we will go into in a bit. I can’t think of a finer example of this point than Legendary indie animator Bill Plympton.

Bill Plympton is famous for having his drawing exposures in the 3s and 4s, having every drawing have vivid detail with complex shading and sketchy lines, but he still manages to create believably moving and behaving characters and set pieces in spite of this limitation.

So how is it done? How does an animator make convincing and appealing movement with a decisively limited amount of drawings? Let’s start with good posing.

Posing

I’m of the opinion that Spider-Man lends himself to good animation more than any other superhero. Because of all superheroes, nobody has as many interesting poses, weight shifting and as much natural progression between actions as the web slinger. His main mode of transportation is swinging around, using his weight distribution and kicks and lunges to propel himself in any direction he wants and as he tries to make a turn he has to push himself into another direction, fighting the force that pushed him the other way to begin with. Contrast this with Superman who can just fly right over to where he needs to be without much movement of his arms and legs and without much struggle with incoming obstacles (fun fact, the whole reason Superman can even fly in the first place is because it’s easier to animate than have him leap everywhere). But anyway, back to Spidey. In most animation you develop key poses. Key poses are the main storytelling positions a character may have just to communicate the idea that they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing. So for example if you were to animate a jump, you would start by drawing the position of your character bending their legs to launch themselves up, then you would have them in mid air, then you would have them land again.

Once you create poses that tell the story well enough, you would fill in the rest between. But the key poses are VERY important to get right. To make sure there couldn’t possibly be any confusion as to what the characters are doing or even who they are, animators often ask themselves “would I know what’s happening here even if I put it in silhouette”? To add to the fluidity of the animation in a way that doesn’t compromise the chosen amount of frame exposure, poses also tend to follow a “line of action”. Basically the whole body follows the direction of a drawn line and maintains it’s course in order to really sell the action. It helps for exaggeration and for developing after aspects like arcs.

Now as I said before, Spider-Man is a particularly advantageous character when it comes to this stuff. Because he’s acrobatic. He’s shifts his weight a lot. His most iconic poses as a character lend themselves greatly to silhouette. Also, he happens to be very easy to draw. Even if all you did was draw a red stickman with spider eyes we could instantly tell who it is.

The animators for Spider-Verse knew exactly what kind of beast they were dealing with and MAN OH MAN did they have fun with it. Not only did they perfectly capture the way the classic Spidey moves, but they also gave every different Spider-Person their own take on it. Spider-Gwen moves with the grace and elegance of a ballet dancer, Noir Spidey has a less ambitious and more straight forward way of moving around (kind of “old school) if you will. Then of course you have Peni Parker recreating the anime aesthetic and Spider-Ham with all the elasticity of a cartoon.

*here’s a little Spidey animation I did a while ago.

Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Overlapping Action, Follow Through

If anybody takes an animation class or tries to learn animation on their own, chances are Squash and Stretch will be the first animation principle listed. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Animators will often contort the model of their character to give whatever is happening more elasticity and to fill the gaps of an arc if drawings are a considerable distance away from each other. It helps the human eye track where an object is going and it can also help with principles like anticipation and follow through. Anticipation is the build up to an action. Think bending your knees before you lunge yourself upward for a jump. Because that momentum has to come from somewhere. Then there’s overlapping action, which is when dragging items on a character’s design such as clothes, capes, long ears, tails or what have you, are trailing along and need to catch up to the rest of the body. Spider-Verse does great with both these principles, especially with Spider-Ham and Noir Spidey. Spider-Ham is obviously influenced by Looney Tunes and other cartoony inspirations so he’ll be prone to doing a lot of squishing and stretching, where as Noir Spidey has the long trenchcoat and hat and you can bet that they’ll always be the last part of him to reach his destination (as well as be the most susceptible to wind). And of course, every character in Spider-Verse has great anticipation  . . . as well as what I think of as anticipation’s opposite, follow through. When an action stops, the body needs a moment to adjust itself into the resting position. Think catching yourself with your legs after a jump, crouching down and then standing back up again. Just like how momentum has to come from somewhere, it has to go somewhere when the action is over.

Appeal

So everything I covered thus far is stuff that’s universal across all forms of animation. But What does Spider-Verse do that makes it special? What separates it from other animated films in the theater? The answer is appeal. Appeal is just having a style and aesthetic that’s pleasing to look at . . . and man does Spider-Verse ever cover that. The film goes so far out of it’s way to look like a comic book that every texture has ben-day-dots so it literally looks like a comic print. Every Spider-Person has their own way of moving, their own way of behaving, their own sets of priorities when it comes to the 12 principles of animation. But the film also has a lot of really clever cheats. One of my favorite examples of this is how the film cheats forced perspective. There are many shots in the film where Miles is falling through the city as the buildings rush past him. The animators actually skewed the models of the buildings for these shots to imitate depth, as when they tried it without the skewing it didn’t looks like they were falling fast enough. They also implemented more classical cheats like smears, basically an animators method of imitating motion blur.

I could go on and on with the animation lecture, but honestly, I covered what I wanted to cover. I just wanted to showcase to anybody who may not be aware that animation is more than just “fluidity” and a seamless framerate and that there’s more ways to create appealing visuals than just that. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see Spider-Verse. It is a masterpiece.

[gt-fluffy-vore]

SandersSides: Into the Spiderverse — Chapter one: Greetings

Hey everyone! New SandersSides fanfic and this one’s a crossover(I’m pretty sure all you marvel fans out there can tell exactly with what)! For those of you who don’t know about or haven’t watched the movie this is a crossover with Marvel’s animated movie Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Which is one of my absolute favorites! I rewatched said movie recently and this is what came out of the new rush of inspiration! Hope you all enjoy, and please let me know if you’d like to see more of this one in the future!

Sandersides au crossover fanfiction

2476 words

“Okay, let’s do this one last time. My name is Virgil Sanders. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for the past week, I have been struggling to keep the pieces left of my life together. I guess I should tell you the rest. I… lost my family three years ago. Started living on the streets. Finally had it all figured out when I applied for some one-in-a-million chance for a free scholarship to some boarding school and… actually won. So I moved into my new room, which thank-goodness they let me have to myself for now, and failed miserably at half the classes. But I had a good enough grade they let me stay. And eight days ago this… thing found it’s way onto my desk. It looked like a spider, but it was covered in this smokey, shadowy, black stuff I couldn’t make sense of. And it bit me. And since then I haven’t been able to control… anything. So to avoid causing any more trouble than I already do I’ve been spending all my free time on the roof. Alone. Trying to figure out what the hell any of this means... Man, sometimes I hate being me. Of all the people to get stuck as… why do I have to be me?”

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Virgil sighed, turning to the stairs to head back inside. It was starting to get too cold at night to stay on the roof too long. He was halfway to his dorm when he was stopped by one of his teachers, Mr. Everling. “Ah, Virgil! Er, Mr. Sanders. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“My grades?”

“Sort of. Come with me to my office and I can explain to you what I mean.” So Virgil followed him to his office and sat down in front of his desk. “I’m sure you are aware that your grades are beginning to present quite an issue. If you can’t improve them soon, I’m afraid to say you may be expelled from school.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m working on it.”

“And that’s exactly what I want to talk about. I’ve noticed you’ve been acting… very tired lately, and I can tell the extra work you’re putting into this is not doing you well. You’ve been acting more stressed than usual. So I wanted to propose a way for you to get your grades up without having to push yourself so much. Would you consider doing a personal essay for me? I have been talking to the other teachers about this and to the principle and we have agreed that if you get full grades on this essay it will count towards twenty-percent of your grades. But that means if you don’t do very well… it will almost definitely lower your grades enough to have to be expelled… so there is a huge risk…”

“And if I don’t do the essay at all?”

“Then you can simply move on as you are now. Which is a very slow decline in your grades, likely caused by physical inability due to how you’ve been pushing yourself so hard. It’s completely your choice, but I just want you to know if you decide not to do this essay you will have to work even harder if you want to continue attending this school…”

Virgil hung his head. If he got kicked out, he’d be back on the streets again. He knew this fix would be temporary, but… he wasn’t ready for it to end yet. So he couldn’t not take the essay, because if he didn’t take it at all then his grades would just keep going down faster the worse he got. But with all these new powers to figure out, to learn to control, there was no way he could do the essay and be able to concentrate enough to even remotely get a good grade on it. So if he didn’t do the essay, he’d be too stressed and get kicked out, but if he did do the essay, he’d be too distracted and still get kicked out! “Uh, what’s the essay about?”

“Well, I noticed you’ve never written anything about fiction in any of your creative writing essays, so… I wanted to challenge you to write a short story about the everyday life of a superhero.”

“A… a superhero?”

“Yes. A superhero. I chose this particular theme because I’m pretty sure it’s not something you’ve ever written about before.”

“It’s not.”

“Good! Then it’s perfect. It’s perfect because that means it will be a concept entirely new to you. It will be a challenge. Something you have to learn from scratch.”

“Oh.” Virgil didn’t know what else to say to that. The very idea of writing in a style he’s completely unfamiliar with made him feel sick.

“So, Mr. Sanders. Will you do the essay?”

“Um…”

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Virgil looked up at the clock. Eleven-twenty-six. It had been an hour and a half since he’d started brainstorming and he had gotten nowhere. Maybe he should take a break. He stood up from his chair and tried to pull back from it, but found it dragging along with him. He looked down to see his hand stuck to it. Of course. Great. He balanced his foot against it and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. Crash! He picked himself up off the floor and stormed straight up to the roof. This was useless! He was getting nowhere whatsoever with this story, and he wasn’t getting anywhere in the way of controlling these powers, or whatever they are. He was halfway to the edge when he noticed a figure staring blankly over the city. Before he could backtrack the figure heard him and turned around. He froze. They locked eyes. And they both shuddered at once. He was frozen silent, but the other man spoke. “Ah. You are genetically altered as well.”

“Uh, genetically altered?” He shook his head and blinked out of his daze. “Is that what this is? A genetic alteration?”

“I believe so, yes.”

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“Let me begin for the last time. My name is Logan Sanders. Exactly eight days, nineteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes ago I was bitten by a radioactive bio-technological arachnid. I am from the year twenty-four-sixty-seven. Bio-technological humanoids are heavily discriminated against. Because of this, I was excused from my relatives, or family if you prefer a looser term, when the arachnid’s bite changed my species from entirely human to a bio-technological humanoid. As I had no other place of residence I was forced to move into a Homeless Shelter. On the morning of my eighth day in the aforementioned shelter, I awoke to a dimensional rift presenting itself in place of the wall beside my bed. Of course, it was stupid of me to attempt to touch it… Ridiculously stupid of me. But there is no way to change the past, so it is useless to dwell on the matter. After touching the dimension rift I found myself deposited onto a rooftop in an alternate dimension.”

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He blinked at the young man standing before him. Oh. He didn’t know there were any others like him. Of course, the chance of him being the only one in all of existence that had experienced such a phenomenon was microscopic. Still, somehow he was surprised to meet another going through a similar dilemma. He wasn’t sure he hadn’t expected to find any others, but he simply… hadn’t. “Ah. You are genetically altered as well.”

“Uh, genetically altered?” The boy shook his head and blinked a few times, then finally seemed to process the information. “Is that what this is? A genetic alteration?”

He had thought it was obvious. “Yes, I believe so.” Unless… “Have you not experienced alterations in your body’s abilities?”

“Uh, yeah, I have, but... “ The boy shrugged. “Just hadn’t thought of like, genetic modifications. Are you saying someone did this to us on purpose?”

“Of course not. I am stating simply that our bodies have experienced genetic alterations.”

“So you’re just saying we were both bitten by freaky spiders and now we’re different and you don’t actually know why.”

“Precisely, yes.”

The boy groaned. “Ooookay, great. Just great. Well then if you can’t actually help me I’m going back to my room and I suggest you do the same if you don’t wanna sleep through classes tomorrow.”

“Ah, no, you misunderstand. I do not attend this school. I am from an alternate dimension.”

The boy glared. “Sure you are. Goodnight.”

“Sir, wait!” The boy stopped and turned to look back at him. “What year are we currently in?”

“Seriously? Wait year are you in?” He muttered something about crazy people under his breath.

“If you are inquiring as to my home dimension I had been residing in the year twenty-four-sixty-seven. What year are we currently in, in this dimension?”

The boy sighed. “Twenty-nineteen. Now if you’re done playing games with me, can I go back to bed?”

“I was not indulging in any sort of entertainment, I was simply conversing with you. But if you wish so, then consider the conversation finished.”

“Finally.” The boy left immediately.

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Virgil was heading back to his room after his day’s classes the next day when he was once again stopped by the same teacher as the day before. “Mr. Sanders! I have good news for you!”

“Oh?”

“We’ve found you a roommate!”

“A… a roommate?”

“Yes, isn’t that exciting?! Funny thing is the two of you have the same surname. Weird, huh? I actually just directed him to your dorm a minute ago.”

“Okay. Uh, thanks I guess? I-I gotta go.” He raced back to his dorm and threw the door open. Just like he had said, there was a teenage boy standing in the middle of the room, who turned around to look at him. He was wearing a long-sleeved jacket with a large hood that hid his face from view.

“Roman Sanders. Nice to meet you.”

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“Listen up everyone, I’m gonna do this one more time from the beginning. My name is Roman Sanders, and last week my parents sold me off to government testing, where they infused a tarantula with radiation and tried to mash my DNA with that spider’s. I’m sure you know the rest. The experiment went wrong, so they locked me up. I broke out of the facility. Couldn’t bring myself to go back home… So I tried to find other ways to survive on my own. And then this… portal-ish thing showed up, and before I knew it, I’d been dropped into an entirely different world! I’m not sure how to describe it, but I had a really strong feeling I should be going to this school, so now here we are.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil froze as he stared at the boy in front of him. That same feeling as last night overwhelmed him. “You’re like me.”

“And you’re like me. Ha! This is incredible! You look entirely normal!”

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I look normal?”

He flipped off his hood and pulled off his jacket and the pair of gloves he had been wearing, revealing skin covered entirely in thick brown fur. Then he took off the beanie hat he’d been wearing under his jacket hood and revealed a second pair of eyes right above the first. “Because you’re like me, and I’m…” He threw his arms up. “I’m this. So what’d the testing do to you?”

“Testing?”

“Yeah? The testing? That made you… like what you are?”

“I didn’t go through any testing! I was just bitten by some freaky smoke-spider!”

“Oh. Well… that’s awkward. Uh, did I introduce myself yet? My name is Roman.”

“Yeah. You did.”

“Aaaaalright. I didn’t catch what your name was, actually.”

“Good. I didn’t throw it.”

Roman held back a groan. “Okay, fine! Which bed is yours?”

“Bottom. You get the top bunk.” Virgil took a deep breath and sat at the desk, directing his gaze back to his essay.

“So…” He glared at Roman, who was perched on the top bunk swinging his legs off the front. “What would I have to do to get that name?”

Virgil sighed. “If I tell you, will you shut up?” He nodded. “Fine. It’s Virgil. Ya happy?” Roman grinned and nodded, and Virgil sighed in response and looked back at his work. 

Ten minutes later Virgil heard a voice. “What are you workin’ on?” He spun around and glared. “Oh, right, sorry. Shutting up…” The next time Virgil looked back his new roommate was asleep.

Virgil woke to a pair of hands roughly shaking him. “Hey, you’re gonna be late. Virgil, right? Virgil?”

Virgil groaned and smacked his hands away. “Leave me alone, I’m going.”

“Alright, alright. Next time I’ll let you miss class.”

“Whatever.” His new roommate grumbled something under his breath and left, and he finally pulled himself off his desk and trudged over to his dresser.

On his way to his first class, he thought he saw a dog out of the corner of his eye running through the hallway. Well, actually it was a puppy — it looked really young. But when he looked back again it was gone. Funny, he’d felt really weird for a second. The same kinda twisting,. He’d thought he’d been seeing things. But then he could have sworn he saw it again during his second class, curled up in the corner behind the door. And he knew he saw it in the cafeteria because it was under his own table sniffing for scraps and had bumped into his leg. Had no one else noticed it? It was still young, but it looked like a golden retriever, so it wasn’t exactly a toy breed. It was a fairly big dog. And he was sure pets weren’t allowed in the building… He had slipped the dog a scrap from his tray then, and it turned out to be a terrible decision because the puppy followed him like a shadow the entire rest of the day. Once his last class was over he and the dog went back to his dorm room, where he he flopped down in his desk chair and looked down at the fluffy creature angrily. “Why are you still here?! Go away!”

The puppy cocked its head to one side and suddenly it was covered in a small cloud of light blue glitter. Next thing he knew, standing before him was a teenage boy with curly, golden-brown hair, freckles spotting only his cheeks, and a pair of rectangle frames. “I can leave if ya want, but I’m here because… I’m from another dimension, and when I saw you… I got this weird kinda feeling that… maybe you’re… like me?”

“Y-You just… you were… and then… oh, forget it. So you’re from another dimension too?”

“Too? There’re others?”

Virgil sighed dramatically. “Yeah, there are others…”

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff’s Best of 2018

WARNING: I just want to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Dedicated to Stan Lee, Stefán Karl and Stephen Hillenburg, the number ones of children entertainment

Bow Whacka Wow, playas and players. 2018 gave us quite a lot to consume while society continues to fumble like a Tumblr update. While hopefully the chaos has died down for the final weeks of the year, I’m counting down the best cartoons/animations I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order. Only two rules, no sneak previews of future projects (sorry 101 Dalmatian Street and MP100) and no potential entries from last year’s list (sorry True). With that said, roll it....

10. UNIKITTY!

I love the Lego Movie. I’ll potentially like the sequel. I like Unikitty. She got a show, and it was a great show to start off the year. Upbeat, colorful, off the walls sometimes, perfectly capturing the spirit of the eponymous character. I’m glad the other characters are just as enjoyable, I never get tired of the theme song, every episode had me smilin’ one way or another, it’s just a quality bottle of positivity juice. Don’t know how else to explain it, Unikitty, the show and character, just makes and continues to make me smile.

9. POP TEA-- SIKE!

This anime ain’t nothing but unfunny randomness and skits with a forgetful arc in the first and final episode. I don’t get it, never gonna get it, so I don’t want to get it! MORE LIKE POOP TEAM EPIC, ‘nuff said. Which is why the actual number nine is....

9. BOB EPIC TEAM

Honestly, there is something endearing about the way Bob Epic Team presents itself. The simplicity and variety of its animation is remarkably good and makes it feel timeless sometimes. The comedy works in a way that gives you a clear grasp on the two characters while letting them do whatever they want. The surrealism of this is fun to think about, showcasing a hedonistic philosophy that rivals that of Epicurus. The duo’s chemistry is what especially got me, as they felt like the best of friends, potentially love birds *wink wink*. This anime was just creative in every sense of the word and, like Unikitty, it was a great anime to start of the year.

8. CRAIG OF THE CREEK

The ska is RAH. I honestly find this to be the loose spiritual successor to Hey Arnold and Recess. Like the playground, the creek is a well fleshed out setting with the many characters that hang there, from the TAZ trio to the loving witches of the creek. Though I will say the best episodes are when we get insight on the main three’s personal lives with their families and when the characters themselves go through a personal trial to understand themselves a little better. The shows thrives in the theme that the creek is a place where you can enjoy getting your hands dirty and work towards something you want, even if it doesn’t add to any concrete long term benefit beyond learning a thing or two about yourself and others. And I say for somebody that relates to Craig as a character, that’s a welcoming thought that the show has yet to perish. And the ska is a welcome choice of music, IMO.

7. THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS

It’s funny in how a little over a year of getting a movie, Captain Underpants gets an animated series with not only original stories in lieu of just animating the already printed stories, but puts it all in a format similar to reading a book with a sardonic narrator and separating the plot of the episode into chapters with subtitle cards; one of the first I’ve seen do this. But really, a “Captain Underpants cartoon” is something I can’t say would turn out bad, and I’m right as this is a show that revels in what made CU great in the first place. George, Harold, Melvin, and Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants are all great characters with the additional supporting cast providing welcome life to the world. Every Incredible Violence Chapter is brilliant in their own right, and while I wasn’t a fan of the ending they had for the season, it’s great that almost every episode is self-contained, boosting its replay value. Honestly, any compliment I have for this was already said in my review of this and the movie, so I’ll just say this too was faithful to its source material and benefited heavily for it.

6. GARY AND HIS DEMONS

Rick and Morty done better. BOOM, send tweet! It is safe to say that this was quite the sleeper hit and I can’t help but say it’s lowkey one of the best adult cartoons this year next to Ballmastrz and Final Space. And while I certainly appreciate the other two *hint hint* this one got a step above on the grounds that it works as a comedy and a solemn tale of a chosen hero that stumbles through years in the office life. It’s improv humor feels natural and it can be as melancholic as Bojack Horseman without making it all too deep like so; has a great balance of both. Main man Gary, unlike Rick for the most part, is a guy that’s both reasonably reprehensible yet pretty relatable. Not to mention, while it was bittersweet, it had a very satisfying finale to where I feel like this was a complete series all together. With a rough art style that compliments it’s tone, this was a series that surprised me in its sharp quality.

5. APPLE & ONION

I’ll admit. Initially wasn’t a fan of it as it felt like a knock-off to Regular Show (may it rest). Just had a duo of bros living together, doing mundane labor while coming up with impromptu tunes along the way. Then again, I was gladly proven wrong because the charm of it generally being a simple show, even with every person being food, somehow more regular than Regular Show. Every song they make is upbeat and catchy, all of the characters are endearing, and with only 10 episodes, each one was well paced and had quality writing to the point where I teared up a couple times. It stinks that this and Summer Camp Island have generally been receiving the shaft this year after their premieres, but I'm just glad that they haven’t been truly forgotten by CN and are getting more episodes next year. Plus, I love food and this show is about food. Debate over.

4. LEGEND OF THE THREE CABALLEROS

I was familiar yet never saw The Three Caballeros, ironic since Donald is one of my favorite Disney characters. But then, out of the blue, I found this and I was stunned, amazed, confused, nonetheless invested. It has a bumpy start, but it’s a joyous adventure from that start to end. The look of it is something I’ve rarely seen in animation since... freakin’ Wakfu. I love Xandra and I was glad to see her be an active player on the team. The villains are such a hammy delight. And Jose and Panchito were very lively and entertaining foils to Donald’s cynic nature while all three work as well together like the 3 stooges. Donald himself gets a great arc of his own throughout the season. And the theme, HO MY GOD I LOVE THIS THEME! It’s a damn shame Disney hasn’t released this already (since it’s all online already) because this series is much better than it has any right to be.

3. GOLDEN WIND/VENTO AUREO

I say, the beauty of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is that regardless of what part you start from, you’re enthralled into its world and ya feel compelled to dig into it more. Parts 3 was what got me into Jojo, like most I bet, but it was part 5 that got me “Oh yeah, this series [just] works on more than level”. The characters are what keep me hooked, regardless of Crunchyroll refusing to give their stands proper English names [Zipper Man, CR?], Fighting Gold and Freak ‘n You will never get old, and David Productions putting great effort into the small details and giving life and style to the original manga. I’ll just say, as one who’s read and loved the manga, this anime has not ceased to keep me impressed and guessing for more.

2. INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Funking superb, you afro having web-slinger. I hate to say it, but 2018 didn’t have the most impressive line-up of western animated features. Most were average, entertaining sure, but nothing felt like 110% was given. Until Spidah-Man came on the scene and I was like “WIG...

The only major problem I have with this film, besides a bit of slow pacing, is more of a missed opportunity where the stakes of getting the Spidermen back to their dimensions before dying felt like an afterthought. Then again, that’s ALL I have for problems. It looks fantastic. The action is smooth, coherent, and satisfying to see. The tiny details and comic book aesthetic of it was a blessed touch. I loved almost every character here. Nick Cage and John Mulaney. The fact that it has so much yet was able to juggle it all blew my mind. Even the post credits scene made this such a love letter to the wall-crawler. This film was refreshing to say the least and the central theme behind the idea of Spider-Man made this as great of a superhero movie as Infinity War and Lego Batman. Just saying, this better make its budget back and THEN SOME. It deserves it.

1. HILDA

Netflix, we’re not on good terms mind you, but ya done did it again. This is honestly one of the few shows that I genuinely took my time with as opposed to binging it, because binge watching is a devil in itself. Like the Spider-verse movie, it got the style of its source material down to cozy colored T with its autumn color palette and etched lining in the characters. Like the Captain Underpants series, while having a grounded arc of Hilda journeying through the city life and her colliding wildlife, each episode can be generally be enjoyed on their own. Like Gary and His Demons, it felt like a complete season and the fact it’s getting a season two made things all the better. But above all, it was a generally peaceful yet captivating fantasy cartoon to watch with incredible animation, an endearing main character, amazing looking folk creatures of all sizes and powers, and a cuddly deerfox for a pet. I say this is to the fall what Harvey Beaks was to the spring, and if I can compare a show to Harvey Beaks you know you’ve achieved greatness. Like True and the Rainbow Kingdom, gives you a moment of honest bliss and happiness that can influence your outlook on looking forward to better things because like Hilda herself, you push forward and have some fun exploring.

Just saying, I cannot stress this enough this is NOT my number one favorite show of the year, hell of all time. THAT goes to....

1. 👏TEEN 👏TITANS 👏GO, BABEEEEEEY!!

ONCE AGAIN, Teen Titans GO reigns supre-- Huh, what’s that? Oh my god, you’re serious?! The Number One is

TOTAL DRAMARAMA OUT OF NOWHERE! IT IS NOW CARTOON NETWORK’S ‘NEW FAVORITE SHOW’.

THE STREAK *DING DING DING* IS OVER

[gotov-otvechat-blog]

Murder (part 2)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word count: 1,834

Warnings:  angst, fluff at the end, a little bit of swearing

Summary: Peter killed a criminal and now is having trouble dealing with it himself, and does not want to trouble you with it.

(not my gif)

(part 1)  masterlist

A couple of weeks have passed since that night, when Peter stumbled into your bedroom window. You would check up on him every day, to make sure he was dealing all right. And everyday he would smile at you, tell you that he is grateful to have you in his life, and reassure you that he was okay. That didn’t stop you from noticing him get distracted in class, not paying attention to when Ned was rambling about all of their favorite things to cheer peter up; the circles under his eyes were darker than ever, he hasn’t been doing his homework. He was fading away like a footprint being washed away from the sad, not a sign of the person who left them. Michelle was even disturbed by Peter, after drawing him about 5 times.

The media wasn’t helping at all, headlines such as ‘The Friendly Neighborhood Hero Gone Dark’ or ‘Spider-Man has had enough of saving worthless criminals. NEW MISSION: To KILL.’ You tried to avoid this as much as it was possible, the more you saw of them, the more they hurt you.

One day Peter just didn’t show up to school. He was getting you worried sick, making you call him but only getting voicemail instead.

After school you headed over to Peters house, walking into May as she was going out to work.

��Hey May, is Peter alright?” you asked, careful not show just how much you were concerned.

“Hi Y/N, he’s fine, he’s just sick today but he is in his bedroom. Nice of you to stop by today. Sorry I can’t chat with you now, I’m kind of late for my shift, but if you want anything there is some left over take out in the fridge or you can just make something you know where everything is. Anyway try to see if you can get him out of bed, ill see you later!” May grabbed her keys and smiled at you as she opened the door again.

“Bye May!” you chuckled at her ability to ramble on just like Peter does. Maybe that’s where he gets it.

You made a cup of tea before heading over to his bedroom. There you saw the outline of his body on his bed, facing the wall. Only now he was shaking like that night. Settling down the tea on his desk, worry knotting deep in your stomach and clawing up your throat as you quietly padded over to his bed and sat beside him.

“Hey Peter, sweetheart,” you whispered, as you took his shoulders carefully not to startle him.

As you looked over him you gave out a little gasp, one of his eyes was swollen purple and there were dried tears on his cheeks. He was muttering something and his eyes were frantically moving all about.

“No, no, stop. I know that I killed him. YES I AM A MURDERER, but please, please don’t touch her.  Let her go. NO!” Peter was now sobbing, his face scrunched up in pain. Your heart shattered right there, your own eyes had tears streaming down. You knew he was dreaming about you.

All of the sudden Peter shot up from the bed, grasping for breath, his chest heaving.

“Hey, hey, hey, hush now, I’m here, Peter,” you embraced him tightly; desperate to help him with the guilt that was tearing him apart from the inside.

Peter grabbed at you, burying his head in your neck, soaking your shirt just as you did his.

“Y/N, wha-what are you doing here? You’re not supposed to see me like this,” he pulled back to look into your eyes, they were full of anguish and bloodshot, but they were beautiful, beguiling with different flecks of brown; the eyes that could practically make you do anything.

“You seem to forget, Peter, that I love you and would go to moon and back without a spacesuit just to be with you. I know that you don’t want burden anyone else with this, but I can’t watch you tear yourself apart without doing anything about it. I need you to listen to me and understand what I am saying to you. I would go through hell for you, love,” you pleaded with him with your y/e/c eyes, begging him to let go.

“You shouldn’t be here, I don’t deserve you. I can’t make you listen to my mistakes-“

“PETER.  You are not listening to me. You are not making me do anything. I am here for you, you understand? You can let go. Let go peter. Tell me what is bothering you.”

His eyes tear up again and he tugged you back to him.  He starts to mutter into your neck, not wanting to look into your eyes as he tells you one of his deepest fears.

“I felt so much guilt for what I had done to him, that I tried to throw myself into being Spider-Man. But as I try to help people fathers steer their children away from me and mother screech at me to leave them and their kids alone. People in danger try to run away into the danger, because they are more terrified of than a freaking burning building. I don’t know what to do, because before whenever something happened to me as Peter I could always rely on being Spider-Man to save my day, but now the worst thing happened, people are now afraid of Spider-Man and I have no idea how to fix it.”

You were running you hands through his hair, soothing him, so that his sobs were becoming more of hiccups.

“But then I thought maybe sleeping would help, but all I see during my dreams is people screaming murderer at me, and some of them they take you, or May, or Ned and they kill you for revenge of that man,” Peter now pulled back to look at you, and now you could see the unshed tears and the pain that it would bring to him.

“I don’t know what I would do without you. I need you.”

His words melted you inside, but his russet eyes completely destroyed you. You leaned in to give a soft kiss on the lips.

“Thank you, for telling me. Ill tell you what I think but can I please take care of you? No offense, love, but you look like crap,” you smiled ruefully at him, knowing what he has been through for the last couple of weeks.

“I bare my soul to you and you tell me I look like crap,” peter teased you, smiling, but even barely a second later he winces.

“Dammit Peter you tell me all of this and don’t tell me you’re hurt? I made you tea, so drink it while I gather the supplies,” you command him, now slightly relieved that he has confided in you but still quite worried about his physical wellbeing.

While gathering an icepack and some Advil and other stuff, you received a message from Ned:

Ned: we r here with the food and the movies, u ready yet?

Y/N: gimme 10 min

Ned: ok

Y/N: do not eat all the food

Ned: WTH are u psychic

Y/N: no. i met u and have known u 4 years.

You went back to Peter, and while cleaning him up you started speaking:

“First of all Pete, do not ever worry me like that. Please. You have to let go of the fact that you made a mistake. If you don’t it will eat away at you. I also checked your guy, and he was not a good person. He was a rapist and the only good deed he ever did was stop breathing, and I know that this is not the way you do things but you still have to let it go. He didn’t have any relatives and has spent relatively twenty years in prison prior: I know that this wasn’t the only thing that was bothering you, but maybe this information would help you let go. Now the people are not your number one fans right now, but you have to win them over.”

“How?” Peter croaked, his voice still scratching from crying, while wincing, as you wiped a cut with antiseptic.

“Do the little things. Walk an old lady across the street. Help someone with their groceries. Then go back to what you used to do. You’ll show the public that you’re still who you where and that that was just a mistake you made.  Everyone makes mistakes. They will get over it, and you will be the people’s favorite superhero once again,” you told him as you kissed his forehead.

“You are so much wiser than me. I still think that you should be Spider-Man. I-I mean Spider-Woman.” His stuttering just makes you smiles again.

“Same mistake Parker? I thought you learned from you’re mistakes. Besides I think there is a reason why Yoda is not the hero of the story,” you knew you were head over heels with this boy, but that wasn’t a bad thing, not at all.

“My Yoda you are,” peter imitated one of your favorite characters and you laughed at him, melting once again as he pecked your lips.

“Okay, come on lover boy, lets go downstairs, I’ll make you something to eat,” you told him as you got up from the bed and hoped that Ned already had everything set up.

Peter hoped off the bed, following you close behind, and you laughed as he let out a slight yelp when there was a loud BANG as confetti poured down on both of you.

“WHAT THE HELL NED I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! Why are you giving me a heart attack?!” Peter half said half screeched at Ned.

“Well it was payback for not being in school today and not paying attention to me for the last two weeks,” Ned said, while still smiling at Peter.

The TV was turned on to The Empire Strikes Back, which as yours and Peters favorite Star Wars Episode; there was food all over the MJ was sitting on the couch shoving popcorn into her mouth while watching with amused eyes.

“What are you guys doing here tonight?” Peter looked at all of us with wide eyes.

“Well we all knew you needed a night off so we thought movie night with all of us would get your mind off things,” Ned explained to peter while sitting down on the couch, ”it was actually Y/N’s idea so.”

“Really?” Peter turned to look at you, drawing you in closer to him.

“I told you, moon and back for you,” you whispered, your eyes sparkling.

“Are you asshats done yet? I’m here for the movie,” MJ groaned,” and you, Peter,” she added after being glared at by Ned,” but mostly the movie and free food.”

Peter chuckled, and sat down pulling you into his lap as your favorite movie started.

“Thank you. I love you.”

[tonydadisbestdad]

"Will you be my date?"

Peter ParkerxReader 

Dad!Tony 

Warnings: cursing 

Word count: 2879

Graduating High School was supposed to be exciting.

Yet, the only thing it had caused you to feel lately is anxious. Being the daughter of the famous Tony Stark didn’t help. Neither did it help that the man was throwing a ginormous party for you and your classmates.

You had asked him for a nice dinner with your makeshift family of superheroes. But he said you should celebrate and he wanted to, too.

So now you had that to worry about on top of plenty of other things. Such as your class being in your home, most of them you disliked for being fake or mean, with the Avenger’s. As well as a valedictorian speech to write. Your growing anxiety topped with having to speak in front of your whole class, their families, the faculty, and the local news channels that just couldn’t miss Tony Stark’s daughter speaking.

And then there was Sean. You absolutely favorite person. Correction. The shitty guy that insisted on asking you out even though you’d turned him down multiple times a day. With him came your biggest problem. In a moment of rage you told him you had a boyfriend and that said boyfriend would be at the party. And this wouldn’t be a problem, if you actually had a boyfriend.

You were currently pacing around your father’s lab. It was your favorite place to think, whether he was there or not. Your brain had trained itself to work best there, just like your father’s had. It also gave you time with your dad when he was around, which you both enjoyed.

Of course though, when you needed him most to bounce ideas off of he was off on a mission.

When you heard footsteps getting louder behind you, you spun on your heels. A smile spread across your face. “Peter!”

Peter Parker smiled warmly at you. “Hey, Y/N.”

The day your dad offered Peter the chance to work under hum as an inter, was a great day.

“What are you doing here?” You asked. “Dad’s off on a mission.”

Peter placed his backpack down on the table next to your things. “Yeah I know, he wanted me to get a jump on this project we’re starting.”

You would have asked him what it was, but you had too much you needed to focus on. “Oh cool, I’ll get out of here so you can work.”

“That’s okay, I like when you keep me company.” Peter said.

You blushed and sat down next to him. “I do too,” you explained and look back down at your papers. “Do you think you could spare a few minutes to listen to what I have for my speech? I just can’t seem to get passed this one part…”

“You know I’m not good with that stuff, my speech last year was a total disaster!” He whined.

You chuckled at the thought, lucky for you Aunt May recorded it for you. “I thought it was great.”

Peter shook his head. “Besides writing the thing, how are you feeling about it?”

“I hate public speaking. Not only is it going to be in front of my class and the families but today I was told it’s going to be shown live on the news. Because ‘oh my God, Tony Stark’s daughter is top of her class!’” You mocked a voice you found annoying, making Peter laugh.

The way his eyes sparkled when he smiled at you made you melt inside.

That’s when the idea struck you.

You grabbed his arm and looked at him as seriously as you could. “Wait can I ask you a huge favor?”

Peter looked more worried now than anything. “Yeah, always.”

“You’re coming to the party right?” You asked, just making sure.

“Yeah, wouldn’t miss it. I’m still a little worried people are going to link me as Spider-Man… yeah I’m your dad’s inter but I’m not going to know anybody but the team and that might look weird especially since ya know Spider-Man won’t be there.”

“Than what I’m going to ask you might help keep people off that subject. Will you be my date?” You asked, eagerly.

Peter’s cheeks turned red. “Uh well- um I-”

Quickly you realized your blunder. “I-I meant like, pretend. There’s this guy that keeps asking me out and I accidently told him I have a boyfriend and that he’d be at the party. And since you’re afraid of people linking you as Spider-Man it might be better to just play it off like we’re together. I mean yeah sure you can just say your my dad’s intern but-”

“Y-yeah. Yeah I don’t have a problem with that,” Peter stuttered.

You let out a breath in relief. “Thank you,” you said, wrapping his arms around his neck.

Peter gently hugged you back, trying to suppress his blush before you pulled away and saw just how flustered the idea made him.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The rest of the time flew by and soon enough you were getting ready for the party you’d been dreading for weeks.

You had just finished doing your makeup when there was a knock on your bedroom door. “It’s open,” you called, giving yourself a once over.

The door opened, you expected it to be your dad, but there stood a flustered Peter Parker. He looked great in the light blue button up shirt he wore.

“Hi Peter,” you greeted, snapping him out of his gaze. You finally turned to actually look at him and noticed something in his eyes you’d never seen before. However you brushed it away just as quickly as it left his eyes.

“Uh h-hey, um, I just I thought maybe we could um like come up with-with a plan or something. Ya know, just so I don’t say anything stupid,” he stuttered.

You thought for a moment. “Well, I guess really we just need to look like we enjoy each other. If anybody asks any questions we’ll stick to a basic story. How’s we’ve been dating for 6 months sound? That way it’s not long enough to be too serious but nobody will really question it if it’s that long already.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, sounds good.”

You smiled and walked over to him. “Perfect. Now let’s go tell my dad, so he can tell the rest of the family in case anyone asks them about it.”

“Good idea,” Peter agreed, following you out of the room. “We wouldn’t want any of them to ask questions anyway.”

“Oh God,” you laughed. “Can you imagine Barton if nobody told him we were faking, he’d have a field day.” Clint loved to tease the two of you, and your dad, about ‘the romance between you’. You played it off like you didn’t wish it was true and Peter just blushed like a fool.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

“Absolutely not,” your dad said after you told him your plan. “If you need to throw a guy off that bad I can get him to leave you alone. There’s no need to have Peter’s hands on you all night.”

You both blushed.

“Dad.” You said, sternly. He might have a hard head, but yours was harder. “No. This is what’s happening. We’re just faking it anyway. Plus wouldn’t you rather have it floating around that I’m dating your intern than ‘Iron-Man threatens teen for liking his daughter’?”

Your father sputtered.

“Mr. Stark, it’s me we’re talking about,” Peter defended. “I’m not going to do anything disrespectful. Besides even if it was real, I’m not much for PDA…”

“Can you just warn everyone else, please,” you begged.

“Fine,” your dad answered, giving in.

You kissed his cheek just as the elevator dinged, signalling the start of a very long saturday night.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

“Maybe he decided he’s not coming,” you said hopefully, the party was just about in full swing and you were about to move along from greeting people.

“That’d be great,” Peter stated. He was right with you, smiling at guests as you greeted them. Luckily not many asked about him. Only the curious few that liked to cling to you. “That way you can enjoy some of the party.”

You nodded.

“Hey, I’m going to go grab a drink, what do you want?” He asked.

You took note that he refused to let you go without one, he knew you too well, you would have said no thank you even though you did want one. It was a big problem you had. “Surprise me,” you smiled.

Peter smiled back before going off towards the bar, that was specifically void of all it’s typical alcohol.

The elevator dinged for the nth time that night, recapturing your attention.

Just to your luck. The one person you were dreading seeing most stepped into your home.

Sean Jennings smiled seeing you. “Waiting for me sweetheart?” He asked.

You scowled at him, of course Peter had to leave your side. “I’m greeting, Sean. Hello, move along.”

“Oh, what’s with the sour face?” He asked, throwing an arm around your shoulders.

You knew how to take him down in a countless number of ways, but you restrained yourself. After tonight you’d never have to see his face again.

“Boyfriend a no show? Oh, I’m sorry, you don’t have one.”

You rolled your eyes. “He went to get me a drink.”

Sean laughed, mockingly.

You were going to hurt him, you would have had Peter not come to your rescue.

“Hey baby, this one of your friends?” Peter asked sweetly. His confidence seemed to have boosted in the time he was gone, or maybe he was just that good at acting. You weren’t sure.

“No,” you stated.

Sean rolled his eyes. “Sean Jennings,” he stated, removing his arm from your shoulders and extending his hand to Peter.

“Oh,” Peter said, shaking Sean hand. “Peter Parker.”

When Sean took his hand back you could tell by the way he flexed his hand Peter had used his strength to intimidate the guy.

You smirked in satisfaction.

“So how much is she paying you,” Sean asked, blantly.

Peter handed you your drink and slid his arm across your back, his hand possessively gripping your hip.

You blushed slightly, this was definitely a side of Peter you hadn’t expected to see. You figured he would just pull you away from Sean and be done with it. But Peter seemed extra protective and assertive in the moment.

“Why would my girlfriend be paying me?” Peter asked.

“Dude she’s so not your girlfriend.” Sean stated, as if he knew you so well.

“Whatever you want to think,” Peter said. “If we’re done here, you can run along. Whether you believe it or not, she isn’t interested in you.”

Sean laughed obnoxiously. “Yeah, sure. I’ll play your little game for now, Y/N.”

“Whatever Sean, enjoy the party,” you said, before pulling Peter into the sea of people.

“That wasn’t too much was it?” Peter asked once you made it to the bar.

“That was great,” you reassured, smiling up at him.

Peter smiled back. “By the way, you look beautiful. I mean you always do but-”

Back to his rambling, you chuckled. “Thank you, Peter. You clean up nice too.”

Peter blushed, “th-thanks.”

You sat down and drank your drink in peace, until Peter wound his arms around your waist.

His chest pressed into your back and his chin landed on your shoulder. “He’s watching us,” Peter whispered into your ear.

You repressed a shudder at the sensation and pushed aside that you wished he was whispering other things in your ear.

“Hey, /lovebirds/,” Clint’s voice came from the right, making both of you jump.

Peter unraveled himself from you and felt his cheeks burn for the hundredth time.

Clint chuckled and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “So I hear some creepy kid is stalking you, Y/N?”

“He’s not stalking me, Uncle Clint,” you told him. “He just keeps asking me out. He’s not a great guy.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to step in?” He asked, a serious tone coming out of him. “Because you know we can get him to stop.”

“I will never see him again after this. All I need you guys to do is enjoy the party and if anyone asks about me and Peter-”

“I’d tell them you guys are madly in love,” Clint finished for you, sending a wink your way. “Because you are madly in love with each other.”

You exchanged a look with Peter before laughing. Clint was constantly teasing both of you about your love for the other. If only you both knew.

He gave you a big smile before going off and finding Nat.

“I’m sorry he always teases us,” you offered to Peter.

Peter chuckled. “Me too. Hey you um, you wanna dance? Creeper’s still watching and I’m getting the feeling he’s about to come bother us again.”

You smiled and hopped off the stool. “Yes,” you answered, grabbing Peter’s hand and pulling him into the crowd to dance with him.

Soon enough some of the other Avenger’s joined you and you were forgetting all about Sean.

That was until Peter pulled you close to him.

You all but fell into his chest.

He smiled down at you, his hands falling to your lower back. “He’s heading this way.”

You frowned. “Just when I was having fun.”

Peter lowered to your ear. “Can I kiss you?”

As much as you loved when Peter was flustered, seeing him confident, without a mask, was a whole new thing.

He grazed your ear with his nose.

You nodded hesitantly.

He gently tilted your chin up as he pulled away from your ear. His nose bumped your own before his lips were on yours.

You knew the second his lips touched yours you were in too deep. You had were too caught up trying to convince yourself that it was just a fake kiss. But boy were you drowning. The way Peter kissed you made you want to believe it was real. You had to grab onto Peter’s collar when his tongue grazed your lip.

Sadly, this made him jolt away from you, just enough to break the kiss. He stayed close though, not wanting to look suspicious. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Nice show,” Sean said behind you.

You jumped, startled. Enough people were already staring, rich people always loved their gossip. You turned away from Peter, ready tell the guy to fuck off but your words didn’t make it out of your mouth.

“Can you leave us alone?” Peter stated more than asked. He tugged you close to him by the hip again. “You’re really fucking annoying dude. Get over yourself. My girlfriend’s not interested in you. She’s taken. And even if she wasn’t what makes you think she’d want you? You’re a class 1 asshole. I’ve seen you all night get turned a bunch of times. Nobody likes you. Y/N most of all. This amazing girl deserves the best and I’m certainly not it but at least I’ve got a lot more going for me than you do.”

“Everything okay over here?” Your dad asked,now behind you.

“I’m taking care of it Mr. Stark.”  Peter answered.

“I noticed, Parker. Thank you. But I think you’re done here. Mr. Jennings, you’ll be escorted off the premises. Expect a restraining order in the mail.”

Out of nowhere two security guards were grabbing a resisting Sean and hauling him away.

“Dad,” you whined, as plenty of your classmates cheered.

“What?” He asked, shrugging. “This party is for you and I wanted him to stop ruining it for you. Have some fun. And Parker keep the touching to a minimum.”

You both blushed as your father left you.

You looked back at Peter. “Well I guess that means we don’t have to keep up the act.”

Something in Peter’s eyes darkened. “Would you wanna get some air with me?”

You nodded, now worried. You grabbed his hand and pulled him out onto the patio. “You okay?”  You asked, not releasing his hand. It was somewhat cool out, summer still just out of grasp. The music thumped behind the glass doors inside and the sounds of the city below carried.

“Yeah,” Peter answered, gently squeezing your hand. “I just… um…” he seemed unsure of what he wanted to say.

“What’s wrong, Peter?”

He released your hand and looked over your face. You smiled gently at him as he took a step closer. His hand found your waist. His fingers played with the hem of your shirt nervously. “W-what would you say if… if I told you I didn’t want to pretend…?”

You blushed, understanding what he meant. You never thought this would happen. Every thought you’d had since meeting Peter whirled through your head.

He shifted awkwardly on his feet.

You smiled at him. “I’d tell you that what you said to Sean earlier isn’t true. That you’re too good for me.”

Peter blushed. “I-I’m really not and I’m taking a big chance asking b-but would you wanna go out with me?”

You chuckled and pulled him down to you. You latched your lips onto his and kissed him this time.

Peter didn’t hesitate to pull you closer.

“Yes Peter, I’d love to.”