#i wanted to feel happy for Peter and MJ but. what the hell | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

florencemtrash · 1 year ago

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Hummingbird: Chapter Seven

Miguel O'Hara x Reader

What if the Earth-1610 (Miles’s universe) version of Miguel’s wife was actually Miles’s AP Art teacher?

Masterlist

Warnings: angst and some suggestive content

Peter plugged Mayday’s ears with his fingers before saying, “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”

He stared daggers into Miguel’s back as he typed away at the computer, the sunglasses you’d given him resting on his broad nose.

Miguel ignored him, but Peter was anything if not persistent - Mayday got all her charm from him… sorta.

He flicked out a web, launching him and May up onto the platform that Miguel had isolated himself on for the last three days, only leaving when he absolutely needed to or when a multiversal problem came to light.

“Did you hear me, Miguel?”

Peter went to jab Miguel’s side, but the grouchy Spider-Man wasn’t in the mood, catching Peter's wiry wrists with ease and chucking him over and off the edge of the platform.

Peter rebounded quickly.

“That was rude.” He said, first dusting off his sweater and then Mayday’s. She giggled in her carrier.

“Again! Again!” She cooed.

“Go away, Peter.” Miguel’s voice was rougher than sandpaper.

“Bet you wouldn’t use that tone of voice with Y/n.”

Miguel practically growled, shooting Peter a warning glance. He looked like he was going to say something, but one glance into Mayday’s pure blue eyes and he hesitated.

“I’m not in the mood, Pete.”

“I know you’re not. You’re never in the mood to talk about your feelings.”

That wasn’t the whole truth. He had wanted to talk about his feelings with you the night he fired you from Spider Society. He had wanted to explain so many things - what his life had been like before he met you and before Gabriella; how sorry he was for letting you get hurt; how he just couldn’t seem to get past the wall of voices in his head that told him something terrible would happen if he let himself be happy.

The words hadn’t come out that night. He’d just stood there like an idiot until you finally gave up on an answer and left.

Maybe it was better this way.

“Miguel, do you remember what I was like when you first met me?”

The question surprised him and Miguel snorted without thinking.

Peter had just started to pull himself together when Miguel popped into his universe and asked him to join Spider Society. Miguel had helped him get his act together - helped him lose the bags under his eyes and the five o’clock shadow and the beer belly. Hell, he even helped Peter pick out the flowers to bring to MJ’s house. Granted, Peter had gained all that back - the eye bags, the facial hair, and the extra weight - but for a good reason this time. Mayday was living proof of that.

Peter smiled at the memory. Miguel had been a happier person then. Still sarcastic and dry, but with a lightness that hadn’t been seen in years… at least not until you’d showed up.

“Yeah... I remember.” Miguel said quietly.

“Would you believe me if I said we’ve switched places since then?”

Miguel frowned, disliking the comparison.

It wasn’t that he thought less of his friend - on the contrary, Miguel had always been jealous of how easily Peter could step into his role as a father and husband - but he just hadn’t seen it like that.

He looked forward, bits and pieces of his face staring back from the dark corners of the screen. His hair was disheveled, eyes bloodshot and burning after hours of looking at screens, and dark bags dragged down the skin beneath his eyes.

“Fuck.” Miguel groaned, dropping his face into his hands.

When was the last time he’d slept? Actually sat down to eat a meal? He missed you more than anything. He wanted to see you again, to make you smile, and to have you in his arms. Maybe it was selfish - it was definitely selfish - to want to have you around him, but…

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Language!” Peter once again covered Mayday’s curious ears, “There’s a child here, you son of a bitch.” He whispered aggressively.

“What do I do, Peter?” Miguel murmured softly, “I don’t know what to do.”

Peter sighed, pulling out headphones and plopping them on Mayday’s head of bright red curls. This was a conversation for the adults and she seemed to understand, settling down against her father's chest and widening her eyes to comical proportions.

“I think you know exactly what to do.”

“I literally just said I don’t know.”

“Aggghh,” Peter shook his hands in frustration, “How can you be so smart and so dumb! Do what I did! Win her back! Go to her apartment. Apologize. Tell her how you feel. Be better.”

“It’s not that simple!” Miguel threw his hands up in the air, “I don’t belong in her world and she doesn’t belong in mine. To even be around her - to love her - is to risk everything I've built. Everything we protect. I can’t-I can’t make that mistake again. I can’t…” Miguel swallowed thickly, “It was my fault Peter. It was all my fault. I lost my daughter. I can’t lose Y/n too.” He finished, eyes angled to the floor and shoulders shaking with each shuddering breath.

Peter's shadow fell over his feet, but what he wasn’t expecting was for a pair of small, chubby hands to grip his cheeks and smear away the tears that had fallen there.

Little Mayday Parker, as wild and mischievous as her father, crawled out of her carrier and hugged him with a strength no normal two year old should be capable of.

“Don’t cry. No crying.” She commanded, rubbing her hands against his face again.

He couldn’t help it. He smiled.

“I told you she makes everyone feel better.” Peter said. A proud smile warmed his cheeks.

“She does.” Miguel said.

The precocious toddler leaned back to inspect her work and nodded in approval.

Peter clapped a hand on Miguel’s shoulder. “Y/n is different from the rest of us, Miguel. And I think she just about breaks all the rules you know about the multiverse. If things are going to work out with anyone, they’ll work out with her.”

Miguel felt that inextinguishable bit of hope inside him grow a little stronger. Then he flinched, thinking back on how he’d ended things with you.

“I messed up, Peter.”

“I know.”

“No, I majorly messed up.”

“Oh trust me, I know.” He said, picking Mayday up and twirling her around, “But! I have an idea about how you can fix things.” He winked, “I learned from the best.”

>>>

Washed, clothed, and feeling worse than ever - that was the tagline of the evening as you sank into your couch, turned on the TV, and started drawing circles on a notepad. You pushed through the cramping in the palms of your hands, willing the feeling to extend up to the tips of your fingers which had remained numb and stiff ever since being electrocuted.

Someone knocked at the door and your heart gave a little leap as you blinked over to the front hallway and peered through the peephole.

“Y/n?” Mrs. Fleming’s muffled voice asked. “It’s Mrs. Fleming. Are you in there?”

You tried to mask your disappointment before flinging open the door.

Mrs. Fleming folded her fingers together, laying them on her plump stomach as she calmed herself. “Good heavens, dear!”

You flinched, “Sorry for scaring you, Mrs. Fleming.” You said apologetically.

“I hardly heard you make your way to the door. Might be time for me to get those hearing aids." She made a noise of disapproval with her tongue, diving into the folds of her thick sweater that emphasized her plump figure and pulling out a small container of lasagna. She gave it a light shake.

“I made extra and thought I’d check in. Didn't know if you had time for a proper grocery run since coming home. It’s funny though. I could have sworn I heard someone moving around up here two weeks ago before you got back.”

“It was probably Miguel.” You said, and almost winced as the name left your lips, “He took care of some things while I was away.”

“Hmmmph.” The old woman hummed in thought before nodding, handing you the tupperware, and bustling back down the hallway.

Well at least now I have dinner. You thought to yourself, shutting the door and shuffling over to the kitchen. You watched the plate turn and turn in the microwave as thoughts turned in your mind.

Maybe you should have told someone you were officially leaving (or rather that you’d been officially kicked off the team) and said your goodbyes, but it hadn’t been your intention to teleport back to your dimension. Now that you were here, you knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park trying to get back to Earth-928 on your own. You’d seen what kinds of worlds the multiverse held and didn’t want to risk ending up stuck somewhere strange if things went awry. You’d stick to this world with its quirky landlords and quality cooking shows - a world without Miguel.

Damn it. You frowned, setting the plate down on the coffee table with a clatter. You were thinking about him again. You were missing him again.

There came another knock at the door, and you were convinced you heard the click of the silly knitting needles Mrs. Fleming always carried around with her. It was why you didn’t bother to look through the peephole before swinging the door wide open again.

“Hey Mrs. Fle-”

You froze. Mrs. Fleming was nearing 80 years old and barely came up to your shoulder. You were eye level with this person's chest.

You already knew whose russet-colored eyes you were going to see before you looked into them.

Miguel was almost unrecognizable in civilian clothes, a bouquet of white and yellow daisies clutched in his hand - your favorite.

“Hey,” He breathed out, lips lifted in a nervous, half-smile. “Y/n, I-”

You slammed the door shut in his face. It was more out of surprise than anything else. Yes, you’d hoped that he would seek you out. Yes, you had imagined what you’d say if he decided to find you in your universe with flowers and an apology. But it was very different seeing him stand in front of you like a lost puppy with those beautiful red-brown eyes and tousled head of curls.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. ¿Qué hago?

You paced in front of the door, gnawing on a fingernail as you tried to think of what to do.

What you wanted to do was drag him inside by the font of his shirt and slam your lips against his, but your pride wouldn’t let you do that with reckless abandon.

“Y/n… I can hear you pacing.” Miguel said from the other side. He was sweating bullets and gripping the daisy stems so hard in his hand he worried they might snap. “Listen, I know you probably don’t want to see me right now. Maybe you don’t want to ever see me again, but… I just want to apologize. For everything. I never should have said those things to you. I was wrong and I'm sorry.”

Your heart clenched painfully. You pressed your ear up against the door to hear him better, not caring that he could probably tell exactly what you were doing.

“I never should have kicked you off the team. You are cut out for this and you’re one of the most talented, most competent people I know.”

You watched as Miguel waited seriously, holding onto the bouquet of daisies like they were in danger of being ripped away from him.

You opened with some hesitation, but you were already a goner. His eyes lit up even while the rest of him remained silent and serious.

“You brought flowers.” You said dumbly, pointing to them. He thrust them out towards you, cellophane crinkling.

“I know it’s not much but-”

“I like them.” You said quietly, rubbing one of the velvet petals between your fingers. The anger you'd held towards him before was all gone. Now, you just missed him. “Come on.”

You led him inside your apartment. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen your space. He knew to take off his shoes and to watch out for the coat hook that jutted out in the narrow hallway.

You moved around the kitchen with ease, Miguel standing close by and watching as you made some tea for the both of you. Neither of you had spoken since he’d stepped through the doorway.

“Y/n.” Miguel said, one hand brushing against your waist as you turned around and leaned against the counter.

Miguel filled up the tiny space of your kitchen, literally and figuratively, enveloping you in his presence.

“I’m sorry.” He dipped his head down towards yours, looking into your eyes.

“I know.”

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. “No, you don’t.”

“Then explain it to me. Talk to me.” You begged, reaching up to take his face in between your hands.

He leaned into your palms, sighing and planting two quick kisses on your wrists before he could stop himself.

“Tell me.” You whispered again, leaning forward and pressing your forehead against his. You wanted to know. You wanted him to trust you enough with the stories he hadn’t told anyone else.

His hands floated down, squeezing your waist gently like he needed a reminder that you were truly in front of him.

“When I first met the other version of you - when I took my variant’s place - she knew something was different. She never said it to my face but I could tell I was hurting her. She was confused and upset because I wouldn’t remember dates or memories from the past. Because I was different. Because I was wrong.”

You winced when you heard the pain in his words.

“And Gabriella… She was too young to know. She was just happy to have her father but…” He swallowed thickly, tears beginning to collect in his eyes, “I wasn’t him. I was never him. I never knew them like I should have. I was holding onto things that weren’t mine. I was... I was just this poison that came into their lives and destroyed their universe and I lost them both.”

You shushed him, pulling him against your chest as he began to cry. He buried his face in the crook of your neck, engulfing you in a hug that brought the both of you to your knees. He never let go, holding you against him as he shook with sobs.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. I’m here.” You whispered into his hair, feeling his breath coming out in short bursts against your skin. You blinked back tears, feeling your throat tighten. “I’m here.”

“I put them in danger and I can’t-” He shuddered, “I can’t lose someone else like that. I can’t. I can’t.” He repeated over and over and over again. “I thought I lost you that day when Miles and Gwen brought you back covered in burns. Your heart-” He stilled, “Your heart stopped for three minutes before you came back to us. And I realized that this time... this time I had something that was actually mine to lose.”

You held him there on the cold kitchen tiles until the bubbling kettle finally gave up and shut itself off and Miguel stopped trembling.

“I love you, Y/n.” He whispered the secret he’d been keeping for months on end.

He loved you. He loved you. He loved you.

Your heart nearly burst from the feeling.

“I thought I could ignore it - that it would just be some passing feeling - but I can’t.”

You laughed. It was a quiet, desperate sound, more like a sharp and wet exhale that made him pull back, worried that you didn’t believe him. It was his turn to hold your face in his hands. His hands slid up your sides, caressing your jaw as he tilted your chin up to look him in the eyes. Even with his tear-stained cheeks and mussed up hair he was the most beautiful person you’d seen in your entire life.

“I love you and I know you and it’s been the most terrifying thing in the world.”

“...but?” You said, trying to tease him. You wanted to hear him say that he wanted you. Fuck the world. Fuck the multiverse. You wanted to hear him say that you’d give yourselves a chance to be happy.

“But I want you. I want to be with you if you’ll have me. I want the first dates and the fights and to come home to you everyday and know that you’re mine.” He said, rushing. He was a man of few words, always serious, always to the point, but if given the opportunity he would have written all the love letters in the world for you, “I want you to stay with me in Nueva York. I want you to judge my cooking and to tease me and-”

You couldn’t stop yourself. You lips crashed into his, sending the both of you toppling back onto the kitchen floor. His arms immediately wound their way around your back, molding you to him as your hands disappeared into the strands of his hair and your breath became his.

“I love you too, Miguel. I love you,” You kissed him on the lips, “I love you.” You kissed him on the temples, “I love you,” the cheeks, “I love you,” the neck, “I love you,” You whispered against his lips.

Miguel shuddered under your touch. He was all warmth and longing and heat as you grabbed at one another with eager hands. Clothes crumpled on the floor to the tune of breathless sighs.

The tiles were soothing and cool against your burning skin as you laid with Miguel, chests heaving as he peppered the area around your heart with soft kisses.

You rolled over onto your side to face him, fingers tracing the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones as you imagined what it might be like to draw him when he was at peace like this.

“Come back to Nueva York with me.” He murmured.

“Like this?” You gestured to your bare skin, wiggling your eyebrows. He grinned and kissed your fingertips.

“Depends on if you can blink us directly into my bedroom.”

“I thought you slept upside down from the ceiling rafters. Or in a coffin.”

He squeezed your hips, fingers fluttering dangerously at your sensitive sides as he captured your lips in a kiss. You squealed and squirmed away from his hands as he continued to tickle your sides until you were breathless and crying from laughter.

He loved to see you like this - smiling and laughing and happy. He wanted to see you like this everyday.

Your heart quieted in your chest and you finally allowed yourself to melt back into his protective arms.

“I mean it, Y/n."

I will stay here - with you - if you just fucking ask me to.

The pain of the argument you’d both had was still tender and sore to the touch, but a heavy weight had fallen off his shoulders after tonight. You wanted to be with him and he wanted to be with you.

"I want you to stay with me. I don’t mean you have to come this instant but…”

“I’d like that.” You finished for him, smiling against his lips as you continued stealing lazy kisses from one another.

But then you paused for a moment, looking at him carefully, “And I’d like to be put back on the team.”

Miguel’s lips flattened, his hands tightening around you.

“With great power comes great responsibility - that’s what you Spider-People always say, isn’t it?”

“Something like that, yes.” Miguel said after a pause.

“I can do this, Migs. I’m going to do this.”

“I know,” He murmured and then said hesitantly, “I still want you to take time off and heal. I don’t want you putting yourself in unnecessary danger. I-”

You pressed your fingers against his lips, shushing him, “I came back to you didn’t I? I won’t leave you here alone. I promise you that. It’s you and me, Miguel.”

He let out a shaky breath, holding you closer than you thought possible.

“Me and you.” He murmured reverently.

You spent the next few hours tangled up in each other on the kitchen floor, whispering sweet nothings and basking in the heat that naturally radiated off of Miguel’s skin. But when you finally fell asleep against his chest to the steady beat of his heart, he took the cue and gently carried you to the bedroom.

He couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face when your hands slid up and down the sheets, seeking out his warmth before he had had the chance to slip under the covers next to you. So when he took his rightful place in the bed, you unconsciously tangled yourself up in his arms again, humming with satisfaction when his fingers brushed through your hair.

“I love you.” Miguel whispered once more, feeling your sleepy arms tighten around him, before he finally closed his eyes and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

<- Previous chapter Next chapter ->

_________

Author's note:

I just want Miguel to be happy, you know?

Also (hot take), I think we all deserve more gentle and loving interpretations of Miguel. I know in the movie he comes across as very stern and aggressive - which is why I think a lot of fics write him as being a very dominating romantic partner - but I think if he were to find someone he loved and was in a place where he felt comfortable starting a romantic relationship, he would be a lot kinder and gentler with them. But those are just my thoughts.

There's still a little more to come in this fic as I wrap things up so let me know if you'd like to be tagged!

Love,

Florence B.

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#miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel x reader #atsv x reader #miguel o'hara x wife reader #miles morales #gwen stacy #peter parker #peter b parker #miguel x y/n #miguel x you

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ironspiderfics · 11 months ago

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this is supposed to be a vacation

for @meilz

by @iron--spider

Tony loves this kid.

It’s a montage at the beginning of a movie—Tony was crazy about Peter almost immediately, couldn’t accept it, his own damn daddy issues courtesy of Howard Stark, then he had to accept it because the kid kept trying to die, then things settled, they worked together, then they unsettled and the kid dissolved in Tony’s hands, and a year of heavy-drinking and nearly exploding himself in the lab wound up with all the dissolved people undissolved and the kid back and Tony in a hospital bed. Three-week coma. Whole screaming celebration when he woke up loud enough to bust his eardrums and restart his heart.

But Peter was there. Peter was there.

Time slowed to a crawl, sped up and slowed down again, and Tony tried to recover. He knew Peter and his friends went on that European trip—he encouraged it even though Peter was worried about leaving after everything. May and Happy chaperoned, and then everyone nearly died because Quentin fucking Beck decided to roll out of Tony’s past to try and kill off someone he loves. He failed, because Peter is Peter, and Fury and Happy shut down the false allegations Beck tried to put out there before he was arrested, and everybody came home.

It’s been about two months, since then. And Tony had just gotten back on his feet a week or so before Peter left, and he’s even steadier now. Getting steadier by the day.

But he loves this kid. More now, than ever. The son he never had. He loves May, he loves the kids that come along with his kid, he loves everything Peter has to say and everything he doesn’t, he loves keeping an eye on his missions, he loves the way he fits so snug into Tony’s little family.

And he loves him enough to know when he’s crashing. When his eyes are tired and his patrols aren’t as succinct and punchy as they usually are. When he needs a vacation from his recent vacation. As if nearly being killed by some asshole in London is the vacation any of them need.

So, Tony makes a couple decisions.

After all the shit they’ve gone through, what the hell could go wrong with a break?

Peter knew Tony was planning something, because he isn’t secretive when he’s excited, and he found out what he was planning when Tony asked if Ned and MJ’s families would mind if he took them out of the city for a few days.

And about a week later, they were heading upstate to Mohonk Mountain House.

And Peter hasn’t been complaining, at least not to Tony, but his tiredness has been bone-deep since he got back from London. Since before that, really. Coming back from the dead can do that to someone, and he doesn’t even like to call it dead, and apparently they were all tiny particle souls inside that infinity stone but it doesn’t matter because that’s a whole other can of worms and he gets more tired and more weary every time he even thinks about any of that.

He swung right into a wall the other day. Slap right into it. He almost broke his nose again. He feels like that might have been the moment Tony decided on this vacation—Peter could tell by the look on his face when he told him that he’d crossed some kind of line.

They walk inside the main lobby of Mohonk and Peter keeps hearing Ben’s voice in his head. You’re gonna catch flies, Pete. But he can’t stop gaping at everything. Like…he’s been in a Hilton and this is so much better than a Hilton.

“This place looks straight out of a Hitchcock movie,” May says, and she knocks Tony on the arm.

Tony laughs, and Pepper turns around, raising her eyebrows at May. “Let’s just hope we don’t have any Hitchcock-type events happen while we’re here.”

“What would that mean?” Ned asks, catching up to the group and trying to whisper in Peter’s ear. “You’ve seen Hitchcock movies. I remember you watched that weird apartment one a hundred times.”

“I love that movie,” Peter says. Rear Window. He never wants his leg to be broken. He knows he’d go insane just like that.

“You haven’t seen Psycho?” MJ asks Ned, hoisting her backpack higher on her shoulder.

Ned hums a little bit. “No. I know about it though. No crazy Grandmas for me.”

“That’s not what happens.”

Leather couches and tall ceilings and intricate carpeting and columns and everything somehow looks really rich but really comfortable at the same time—

“No,” Tony says, turning around and pointing at them. “No, no, and no.” He points at May too. “No. No Rear Window, no Psycho, no Vertigo—maybe a little bit North by Northwest—no, you know what, no. Not that either. This is going to be the lamest movie you’ve ever—this isn’t even gonna be a movie, there’s no—there’s no plot, this is just—a family video. A home movie. That’s it.”

Family video feels warm, and Peter grins.

“Of course, Mr. Stark—”

“It’s gonna be fine—”

“Absolutely nothing—”

“Listen, I’m hitting that buffet—”

“I’m just gonna sleep,” Peter says, as they approach the huge front desk. “Just the entire time.”

Tony smiles softly at him, and he winks. “You deserve it,” he says, and Peter can tell that he means it.

They hear crashing, something that sounds expensive hitting the ground somewhere behind them, and they all turn around and see a bunch of employees running around to try and take care of it. A whole big production and two guys trying to hold up a big bear statue that’s trying to fall over.

“Okay, step to,” Happy’s voice says, and Peter hears him before he sees him, and then he breezes by, striding out in front of them. “Let’s go, come on, follow me, let’s get this in the books—”

“Oh, there he is,” Tony says, patting him on the shoulders. “There he is.”

Peter and May could never afford a vacation like this. They could never even afford to imagine something like this. Peter feels like they would have charged him if he’d even looked at photos of this place. A big, historic, mountain resort in upstate New York, on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake?

But now they’re here. They’re here with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Peter was able to bring two friends. Happy drove them all in a big plush rental van. They’ve got a line of suites on the sixth floor and they had steak and lobster for dinner on their first night.

It feels unreal. But things feel unreal a lot. Especially things involving Tony, involving Spider-Man. Any of it. Like he’s having a long, prolonged dream before Ben wakes him up for school.

Peter stands on one of the terrace balconies with Tony while the others are arranging activities for tomorrow, and he stares off at the lake and the way the moon hits it. Light rippling on the water.

“You really think you’re gonna sleep the whole time?” Tony asks, leaning on the railing. “Because nobody would judge you for it. Kayaks can wait. Ballroom dancing can absolutely wait, as can all of May’s Dirty Dancing comparisons, because I can feel them building up, like an aura around her—”

Peter snorts. “No,” he says. “But I probably will mostly just…relax. Take it easy. Just sleeping, no alarms—”

“You deserve it, like I said,” Tony says. “It’s thrilling to me that you’re even giving yourself a break.”

“Look who’s talking,” Peter says, giving him a look. “You were trying to get down to the workshop when your arm was still holding on by one string of muscle.”

Tony’s entire face contorts. “That is a terrible, disgusting image, Mr. Parker—”

Peter snorts again, choking on his laughter.

Tony knocks him on the arm. “You’re awful, a menace, making fun of an injured old man—”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Peter says, swatting him back, and still laughing. “You’re the one who needs—needs this. Like Happy always says, I’m a ‘spring chicken’, I—I can bounce back.”

“I had enough bedrest for the next ten years,” Tony says, and he’s giving Peter that look again. Concern. Like he’s trying to read his mind. “You—I know you like to act like it all doesn’t affect you, but you were going through hell on the daily before that purple asshole snapped his fingers. Then there was all that, and the right after that, and the coming back from that, and me wasting away in front of you—and then Quentin Beck flaunting his dickheaded tendencies on your school trip—that was supposed to be your relaxing time and it got away from you too and I just—like I said, you deserve your time. You need it. Don’t—you’re not selling yourself short if you say you need some rest. You put everybody first all the time, yourself last—you deserve to relax, that’s all.”

Peter blows out a breath. He doesn’t even really try to deny it in his head anymore. He doesn’t try to compare himself to other people who have it worse. He’s tired. He’s beat. He feels older than he is.

Tony clicks his tongue and looks out at the lake. “I know this place is kind of old, kind of dated, rooms kind of look a little bit like grandma was head decorator, but—I, uh—I’ve got fond memories here. Mom used to bring me, when Howard was, uh…in some of his dicier moments. And sometimes we’d just relax, too. Recover from…knowing him.”

Peter is just kind of staring at him, because it always takes him off guard when Tony starts talking about Howard. They’re close enough now that he hears stories about his personal life all the time—his growing up, his insane college years with Rhodey, meeting Pepper meeting Happy and everything in between, but Howard is still…something they don’t really talk about, past flippant comments about Tony striving to be a better father figure than he ever was.

“Then I’m glad you brought us here,” Peter says, his voice cracking a little bit. “I’m glad you brought me here.” And in his head he hears I’m glad you brought me back. Because he thinks about that all the time.

Everyone’s back because of you, Peter. He never gave up on bringing you back. It was about saving you.

Tony looks like he’s about to say something else when there’s a bunch of rustling in the trees below them, and a loud thump, and more rustling. They both peer over the railing, and Peter can see the trees moving, but not anything else.

They share a wary look.

“Probably just a skunk,” Tony says.

“Oh, great.”

“Or maybe a band of feral cats.”

“Okay that’s better. Hopefully not too feral. Like, I hope they’re receptive to petting.”

They keep staring down at the trees, but it all seems quiet again.

Tony and Pepper have one room, Peter, MJ and Ned have the one in the middle, and May and Happy are on the end in a single room together even though Peter is refusing to acknowledge what that means or what might be going on in there. Tony mentioned that the rooms were dated, but they feel more like what a royal castle might look like inside, and for the longest time Peter is worried about wrinkling up the sheets. And then eventually it’s Ned’s snoring keeping him awake.

And then, when he’s finally mostly asleep—

“Peter.”

MJ’s voice. Peter’s in the bed with Ned and she got the other huge bed all to herself, but she sounds like she’s right next to him. He turns over onto his side, towards her voice, and then she’s—

On the ground right next to his face—

He startles a little bit, and she grabs his hand.

“MJ what—”

“There’s someone in the room.”

She’s whispering, and his heart speeds up a little bit. What the hell? There’s no way.

“Are you sure it’s not Happy?” Peter asks, as Ned lets out a rip of a snore. “Sometimes he likes to do perimeter checks—”

“It’s not Happy!” she whisper-yells.

Peter blinks, and she’s already pulling the sheets off him and yanking him out of bed, and he feels like he’d be more paranoid if something was actually happening, like he’d feel it pulsing and burning in his head, and she’s tugging on him and they’re stumbling over to the wall and—

“MJ—MJ—”

She flips on the light—

And Peter only sees him briefly—a man, standing over by the bathroom, and Peter barely gets to see what he looks like before the lights go out again.

But he wasn’t Happy he wasn’t Tony he wasn’t supposed to be here, and Peter’s heart rockets into his throat and he hears MJ gasp and he hears feet moving and Ned is still snoring, and Peter rushes towards where the man was and tries to catch him tries to fight, but he only meets open air.

MJ yanks the door open and she’s already running out into the hallway, yelling Tony’s name, yelling for Peter to follow her. And the hall light is streaming into their room now, and Peter looks around, breathing hard, trying to find the guy—

Nothing. Nothing.

Nobody’s here.

Ned is still snoring.

Tony stands next to Peter while the manager shows them the video footage. He watches their doors, completely still and closed from the hallway cameras, and then he watches MJ race out, and Tony and Happy run in a few minutes later. Followed by Pepper and May a few minutes after that. And then Ned finally looming out into the hallway, still half asleep.

“As you can see,” the manager says. “No one entered the room.”

Peter can feel Tony’s anger simmering beside him, and he takes it as a compliment that Tony is all-in on believing that they saw someone, even though he didn’t see him himself.

“Can I get the outside view again?” Tony asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Of course, Mr. Stark.”

They switch to the outside view again, which they’ve already seen about three times. The cameras aren’t great out there, and Happy found out they’re in the process of an upgrade. Peter can see their floor from a distance, he sees a little flash of light that they can’t identify, and then nothing else. No one scaling the building. Not in a way they can see, anyway.

“When will the upgrade be complete?” Tony asks, his tone clipped.

“After your stay, sir, unfortunately.”

Tony huffs, and doesn’t say anything else, and he turns and takes Peter’s arm and leads him to the door. They walk out into the hallway, where MJ and Ned quickly back up.

“Don’t need to listen through the wall,” Tony says.

“Uh, we weren’t,” MJ says. “We were just—”

“Looking at the wallpaper,” Ned says. “It’s—so cool.”

“Uh huh,” Tony says. He moves so they’re in a little circle, and he grips Peter’s shoulder. “Do you want to leave?” he asks, looking around at the three of them. “Because we can leave. We can go somewhere else, figure something else out. Or we can move rooms, we can go down to the Grove Lodge so we can all be closer together—we can do whatever we want.”

Ned’s eyes go wide. “I mean, I didn’t see anything, I was sleeping—”

“It’s fine,” MJ says, fast, glancing at Peter. “I feel like we—Peter and I must have been—I mean, we’re—everything that happened, we’re always thinking about it, and Mysterio was about like—making us think we were seeing things that weren’t there or were there but different—it’s fine. Joint hallucination. Or maybe I made him think he saw something because I was saying I saw something.”

That would normally be a Tony joke cue, but he just looks at her intently. “You don’t have to make excuses,” he says. “I don’t want you guys feeling…unsafe. Despite the presence of, uh—enhanced individuals. Unnamed.”

“It’s okay,” MJ says, and she looks at Peter and nods.

Tony looks at him too. And Peter knows that if he said anything about being worried, Tony would move them in an instant.

What the hell did he see?

Were they really just tired?

Did he think he saw something because MJ thought she saw something?

“It’s okay,” he says, slowly, because…he isn’t entirely sure. But MJ seems sure and Peter doesn’t want to blow up the trip if they were just in a PTSD-addled nightmare. It is their first real vacation since that shit with Beck happened, it still feels like a knife in his gut sometimes.

“You sure?” Tony asks, and he shakes Peter’s shoulder a little bit.

Peter looks at MJ, and she nods at him.

“Yeah,” Peter says. “I’m sure.”

They go back to bed after that without any more incidents, but Peter mostly stays awake, staring off into the darkness. MJ is awake too, through a lot of the night, and they text because Ned is sleeping and snoring like there’s nothing wrong and there’s never been anything wrong, ever.

I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.

I wouldn’t let anything happen to you either. Nerd :)

Over breakfast, Tony lets them know that Happy is setting up Friday to do sweeps and is doing his own personal perimeter checks.

“I want him to enjoy his break too though,” Peter says, pushing his waffle around on the plate.

“He’s enjoying it,” May says, through a mouthful of eggs.

Peter frowns at her. “I don’t like that. I don’t—I don’t need—”

She shrugs. “Well.”

“Okay, Miss Kiss and Tell,” Tony says, laughing as Pepper sits down next to him. “But it’s good. He’s on it, and I’m on it too.”

“Here,” MJ says, coming back from the buffet and sitting down next to Peter. She puts a cinnamon bun on his plate, smiling at him. “They just brought them out. Ned is trying to barter for more.”

“They can’t deny him,” Pepper says. “It’s all inclusive.”

“Exactly,” Tony says. “And after last night, we should be getting extra—I still think they sent someone in to check on something and didn’t want to admit it. I’m not gonna go all I’d like to speak to the manager on them, even though I did—do that—but either way—”

Peter hasn’t landed anywhere on it yet. He keeps trying to think back on it, trying to remember exactly what he saw. His spider sense, newly minted, is usually pretty bang on if something isn’t right, if he feels like he’s in danger, but he’d just woken up, he’s foggy in the mornings sometimes—

He figures his mind was just playing tricks on him. But MJ too?

She rubs his leg, like she knows he's agonizing over it, and he reaches down and holds her hand.

“Okay,” Ned says, walking back over holding a plate. “They let me take five of them. They’re all really warm and gooey, I feel like this is a promising start to the day.”

Peter isn’t exactly a spa guy, so he doesn’t join May and Pepper when they decide to go there, even though he feels like it might help him if he ever figured out how to relax. But going there is supposed to help him relax, so how can he ever relax enough to get to the point of going there—either way, he goes out onto the lake with Tony and Ned and MJ.

MJ and Peter both get their own kayaks, and Ned and Tony are in a canoe.

“He wouldn’t get into one of these,” Tony yells. “Honestly, if Happy’s not still doing security shit, he’s probably golfing. He’s terrible at it and he never likes to do it when anybody he knows is around. I’ll message him in a little bit and make sure but that’s probably where he is. Ned. You have to keep that thing on just in case we turn over.”

Peter snorts, looking back at them, and he sees Tony adjusting Ned’s lifejacket on his shoulders.

“Happy’s just afraid of racing,” Peter yells, cutting his oar through the water. “MJ remember when—”

“Yes,” she says, a little out ahead of him, and she’s already laughing. “I don’t even know why he was trying to chase you in New York traffic. While you were swinging in the air above him. You didn’t have any cars in your way, nothing was stopping you—”

Peter snorts again, bending over and laughing a little bit. “He was so mad. He didn’t talk to me for a week. He made me talk to Friday specifically.”

“I gave him shit for that!” Tony yells. “He shouldn’t have been trying to chase you. The gas leak had nothing to do with you. He’s always tossing blame around willy nilly.”

“Yeah he still blames me for the time those columns collapsed on that old garbage building,” Ned says. “A line of code can’t do that, that building was old I didn’t do anything there was no way he should have yelled at me at all let alone for twenty minutes—”

“He’s just dramatic,” Tony says.

“He just gets worried,” Peter says, glancing over his shoulder at their boat. And Ned makes big eyes at him, because yeah, uh, they’ve seen why he gets worried. They’ve dealt with why he gets worried. And now, after last night, Peter feels like he’s making himself worried. He needs to stop, they’ve already moved past it, they’re still here, it’s all fine.

“Yeah, I imbued him with a worrying virus that will never be cured,” Tony says. “And now the next generation has to deal with it. Here we are.”

Peter shakes his head, smiling. He’s gotta relax. The sun is shining on the lake bright and beautiful, and May is actually getting a massage for the first time in years and everything is fine. It’s fine.

He hears Tony chastising Ned again about his life jacket, gently, and Peter starts rowing out and around the outside of the lake. They’re the only ones out here right now, and he wonders how long that’s gonna last. He wonders if that’s something the resort set up, because it’s Tony, because of what happened last night, because Happy’s been intimidating people, and Peter simultaneously appreciates it and balks against the special treatment. But he’s with Tony, he should know it’s gonna happen.

He feels like he’s going a little faster than he should be going based on the way he’s rowing, like he’s really moving along. He glances over at MJ and she’s even further away from him, moving in the direction of the hotel.

“We’re not racing yet!” he yells, and he feels like Happy—constantly worried. But he’s worried about her in a different way and actually starting things with her in Europe made the whole thing worth it in a way, and now they’re together and it’s amazing but he’s just so worried all the time.

And now he’s stopped rowing all together, and he should be slowing down, but he’s still moving. Moving….fast. Maybe even getting faster.

Should that be happening? He doesn’t really kayak. He shifts around a little bit and looks down, and feels a little bit tucked in here.

“Hey!” Tony yells. “You’re moving like you have a motor on you!”

Peter’s brows furrow, because he is, and he’s not rowing, and he should have lost any propulsion at this point, and he looks up and he sees MJ looking back at him, and she’s not moving anymore, and he glances back and both Tony and Ned look concerned—

And he gets the worst feeling in his chest, like an alarm, like his spidey sense but more warped and panicked, and he tries to get up without toppling over, because the kayak is still moving for no reason, speeding along and it’s going faster and faster. He drops his oar, and balances precariously for a few seconds before he leaps into the water.

Bubbles all around him, and muffled calls of his name—

And he’s only submerged for a couple seconds, because of the life jacket pulling him back to the surface, and he comes up just in time to watch the empty kayak lift up into the air, careening into the forest and disappearing into the trees.

And he floats there, treading water, staring.

“What the fuck?” Ned yells. “Peter? Peter?”

“Peter!” MJ yells.

“Pete, we’re coming!” Tony yells. “Hold on!”

But Peter is just sort of. Staring. Staring off, at where the kayak disappeared. He stares over there. He stares.

No thoughts, just. Insane.

“Was that supposed to happen?” Peter asks, his voice squeaking. “Is that—MJ you should probably—you shouldn’t be in there if you’re not, uh, prepared to go—flying—did anybody see it explode? Did it explode? Or did it just shatter, uh, well, wooden—wooden kayak, was it wooden? Or plastic? Either way I bet it’s not a full kayak anymore—”

He feels himself being lifted out of the water, and it’s Tony pulling him into the boat. He doesn’t know how they got here so fast but to be honest a kayak just went full fighter jet on him so he can’t be that confused.

His shock has him gripped and he just sort of lays there like a rag doll as Tony and Ned pull him up, and he sees MJ rowing over to them. Thankfully, she’s still in her kayak, and it’s not—flying through the air.

“Hey, hey,” Tony says, once Peter isn’t in the water anymore. He’s got both arms around him, and Peter is laying against his chest, and Tony is patting his cheek and trying to peer around and meet his eyes. Ned has his hands on Peter’s knees and he’s just staring at him.

“I just got a defective one,” Peter says, pointing over at the forest. “It’s okay. It was just—a flying one, we didn’t make sure we didn’t get a flying one. I hope MJ doesn’t have a flying one and it’s just not like. On a time delay I don’t know. MJ, just—hurry over here—” He waves her over. He wants her to hurry up.

“Peter,” Tony says, and he pats Peter’s chest. “Are you alright? Did you twist anything when you jumped out, can you breathe—”

“Are kayaks supposed to do that?” Peter asks, feeling like he can hear his own voice echoing everywhere. “I didn’t think that was, uh, the case—”

“It’s not the case,” Ned says. “No. It’s not. It’s not the case.”

“Peter.”

MJ finally rolls up alongside them—

“I think you should get out of there,” Peter says, pointing at her. “It’s unsafe—”

“Something is going on,” MJ says, and she’s not looking at Peter. She’s looking at Tony.

Tony loves this kid, and this is supposed to be a fucking vacation. Tony loves this kid, and he believed him when he thought someone was in his room, even if the hotel was trying to sway them away from the idea. Tony loves this kid, and he just had to watch him abandon his kayak because said kayak was lifting off and destroying itself somewhere on the property. And kayaks don’t just fucking do that.

Tony stands close to Happy, well into his personal space. He’s got his hands on his hips, like a stern stance is gonna bring him any closer to an answer, and Happy sighs.

“I’ve done ten sweeps,” he says. “There’s nothing going on. There’s nobody here that isn’t supposed to be here. We even looked at the remains of the goddamn kayak and I didn’t find anything wrong with it.”

“There was something wrong with it,” Tony says. “It was flying. It was flying, speed wise, without Pete even rowing, and then it was flying, literally, after he had to abandon ship.”

“I know. It was in a million pieces.”

Tony sighs. They moved down to the Grove Lodge after it happened. Nobody told Pepper and May why, because Peter was insisting on not telling May, and he was also insisting on not leaving even though Tony wanted to leave, because if they left then they were leaving danger behind for the poor unassuming Mohonk guests. And if they leave, danger will probably follow them anyway, and Tony doesn’t know what move to make.

He’s upset, because this was supposed to be a relaxing break for all of them, but especially for Peter, after everything he’s goddamn gone through. He’s upset because this place felt like his place, his haven, a place where he could get away and be secluded and safe, and now something is pursuing them here. Something is trying to hurt them.

“You haven’t found anything?” Tony presses. “Nothing?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Happy says, and he glances back at the front door of the lodge again. “I’m still looking, I’m not giving up, and I think we should be better located down here because we rented out the whole house and I told them not to come in for room service or cleaning or anything. I know we lose the nice high-up view—”

“It’s fine,” Tony says, crossing his arms over his chest. He’s afraid to even be discussing this in public. Anybody could be anywhere listening.

He doesn’t like feeling like he can’t protect these kids.

“It looks like they’re targeting Peter,” Tony says, as quietly as he can. “And I can’t tell if that’s because of me, that they think—I mean the whole goddamn world thinks he’s my love child at this point, thinks May is my secret mistress or the sister of his secret mother, God knows, I don’t know what the most recent story is. But I can’t tell if they’re targeting him because of me or because of the other thing—”

“And the other thing is worse—the spider thing—”

“I didn’t specify on purpose, Hap,” Tony says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Right, right—the innocuous other thing—”

“We’re lucky we got out of Europe with the other thing intact—”

“Yeah,” Happy says, shaking his head, and Tony wishes he had been there with him, had been there period. He would have torn Beck in half had he laid eyes on him.

Why do they always target people he loves? Why not him? Blow him up. Kidnap him. But he guesses he’s been there already. He guesses they’ve done all that and it’s old hat to these assholes to go to him directly.

But this could be about Spider-Man too. There could be people that know who he is. People always find out, no matter how hard Tony tries, and Peter has made plenty of his own enemies. His own gallery of rogues looking to take him down.

“Just don’t tell May, if she asks,” Tony says.

“Oh, and don’t tell Pepper either?” Happy asks, in that stupid voice he uses to make fun of Tony. Tony glares, and Happy glares back. “They know by now something’s going on. They’re not dumb. They’re just not saying anything. But May will beat someone to death with anything she can get her hands on and so will Pepper, so maybe we should be sticking close to them.”

Tony sighs. “I just wanted—”

“I know—”

“And now—”

“I know,” Happy says. “We’re on it. We know it’s real, now, even if these people won’t cop to anything. I’m in their walls. Literally. Maybe I’m doing some things I shouldn’t be.”

Tony steps up onto the porch. “Don’t even tell me.”

“I won’t. But maybe I am.”

“Ned, why are you in here while I’m in the bathtub?”

“She’s in here!”

“I’m dating her.”

“Wow, that’s great,” Ned says, not making any move to get up from his spot on the gold lounge chair. “That’s great, I see how things are going. I see what direction we’re heading in.”

Peter scoffs. He warmed up a long time ago, and he’s getting really pruny, but he doesn’t want to get out just yet. He feels like something is gonna happen if he gets out. Like it’s all gonna start up again and maybe the house is gonna explode or their fridge is gonna grow arms and start trying to fight them or something.

And he isn’t lazy. He’s always ready to fight.

Maybe he’s a little lazy. But not usually. He thought Europe was gonna be a Spider-Man free trip and look how that turned out. And he thought this was going to be calm and relaxing but now it’s become suspicious. And worrying. And he’s torn between leaving and staying and telling May and not telling May and he doesn’t know if she’s in danger too and sometimes he feels like everybody would be safer if he lived out in Alaska somewhere and nobody knew him.

Peter sighs, and MJ rubs his shoulder. Ned is still giving him that look and Peter ignores that look. He’s never been in a little claw-foot tub like this before. Tony doesn’t even have these in the compound. And a bubble bath? He hasn’t had a bubble bath since he was a kid and Ben was still alive. It almost distracts him from… whatever the hell is going on here.

“We’ve got two more days,” MJ says. “And we’re sticking it out.”

“We’re sticking it out,” Peter says. “I got my webshooters, I guess I’ll wear them if we go hiking tomorrow.”

“Someone is gonna push you off a cliff,” Ned says, raising his eyebrows.

“We’re all going together, so nobody is gonna push anybody,” MJ says. She leans down and presses a kiss to the corner of Peter’s mouth. “Okay let’s leave so he can—get out.”

They both get up, and Peter watches as they argue.

“Oh, you’re not gonna help him?” Ned asks.

“Oh, you’re not?” MJ replies, nudging him as they move towards the door. “I thought that was your job, guy in the chair—”

They have dinner in the main building, and Peter watches his back. He only jumps once, when someone drops a tray full of plates, and he winces at the shattering and runs over there to help clean it up before they usher him away. They visit the horses in the stables, and Peter checks every nook and cranny to make sure somebody isn’t hiding in there. They watch May and Happy bust into the late jazz class that’s going on in the ballroom and Peter forgets to do anything because he feels like his face is going to catch on fire from all the blushing.

And he remembers to be paranoid when they get back to the Grove Lodge, and he can tell May is suspicious and they’re all watching him like hawks and he gets worried that Tony is the real target of whatever is happening here and he’s just a distraction.

He can’t let anything happen to Tony. He can’t let anything happen to any of them.

Or maybe nothing is happening. And nobody was in their room. And the kayak was just—Parker luck. Too much strength, or something.

He wakes up around three in the morning because he can’t stay asleep, and he sits down in the ‘great room’ and stares out into the darkness of the night.

“Don’t jump,” Tony’s voice says, but Peter jumps anyway, twisting around and seeing him on the stairs. “You jumped! I said don’t jump! You heard me, I said it—”

Peter snorts, shaking his head. “You can’t just tell me not to jump and expect me not to jump—especially if you’re stepping out of the shadows—”

“There’s no shadows,” Tony says, stepping off the landing. “No shadows. I’m fully illuminated—”

Peter sighs. “You can’t sleep either?”

“Nah,” Tony says, walking over quietly. “Sleep and I, we have a very contemptuous relationship.” He shakes his head. “I just feel like shit because you can’t have a normal vacation. Whatever the hell is or isn’t going on here. You just deserve—Jesus, a full day, at the least, without something happening you have to question.” He sits down next to Peter and lets out a sigh.

“It’s not your fault. At all.”

“I mean—it might be. We’ve seen Europe as an example of very much my fault.”

Peter narrows his eyes at him. “That wasn’t your fault either. You know it wasn’t your fault, idiots blaming you for their own stupidity is not your fault—”

A huge crash outside. It sounds like one of those big weird planters falling over and knocking into the other planters and then it sounds like a bunch of feet shuffling and this isn’t Parker luck, this isn’t a hallucination, this isn’t a kayak doing non-kayak like things—

They both leap out of their chairs. The noises don’t stop and Tony is immediately stepping in front of Peter and holding his arm out, as if to shield him.

“Kid, go back upstairs—”

“No,” Peter whisper-shouts, grabbing his arm as the two of them move forward very, very slowly towards the back porch doors. “You almost died recently—you’re wearing pajamas and a house coat—”

“You don’t even know what a house coat is—”

Another crash, more skittering feet, and Peter focuses—he can hear separate heartbeats from the hearts he loves in this house. Two of them.

“Tony I’ve got my webshooters on—”

“That doesn’t matter you’re wearing pajamas too you’re not prepared—”

And when they’re just close enough to open the door, there’s a flash of bright white light. And Peter closes his eyes against it, and he can feel Tony turning around, trying to block him from it, and it must be more than just light because he hears a loud bang and the windows are shattering and it feels like a cataclysmic boom is pushing them through the air. The two of them fly backwards, and hit the far wall, and the last thing Peter hears before his head snaps back too far is

GOD DAMMIT ALFIE YOU’RE TWO SECONDS TOO EARLY WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS JUMPING THE—

Peter gasps awake. His gasp echoes, and he sits up, and looks around, and he’s…nowhere.

He scrambles to his feet. He’s alone, and he’s nowhere, there’s nothing but blackness and his ears are popping like he’s high up and he sees—

He sees—

A kayak? Flying through the darkness?

He watches it, cascading like a majestic bird, and he stares at it, and then it just—blinks out of existence. Like it was never even there.

Maybe he’s just dreaming. Maybe he never even woke up and went downstairs and talked to Tony. Maybe none of that happened at all. Maybe he’s still asleep and Ned is snoring somewhere and MJ is saying not beets in the salad in her sleep again and maybe—

God dammit, Alfie, I swear. I swear I’m gonna whack you in the head.

Peter spins around, in the complete darkness. He can see himself, his own body and his hands and his pajamas and his webshooters, like he’s got a spotlight on him. “Hello?” he calls. “What the hell is—whoever that is—”

And then the London Bridge appears huge and massive above his head and he starts to duck, nearly collapsing in on himself, and there’s no way this is actually happening this isn’t real and he shoots a web at it and it goes right through it and it hits—somewhere—somewhere in the darkness, it sticks, it—

ALFIE I THINK THEY’RE BOTH—

I KNOW IT I CAN TELL OKAY I’M NOT MORONIC—

It clicks in Peter’s head. This is someone using Beck’s tech. It’s someone using Beck’s tech. That’s what this is. This is some idiots using his tech and not knowing how to use it properly and—

Peter starts yelling. “Whoever you are, you’re—you’re not good at this—this isn’t gonna work out for you—”

The bridge disappears, and Peter starts running. His spidey sense is going berserk, and he can’t tell where the danger is, what direction, how far. He can’t tell what’s underneath his feet, it feels—crunchy, and a little old, maybe? All he knows is he needs to get the hell out of this illusion. It feels unstable.

He starts shooting his webs everywhere, and most of them fly away without hitting anything, and that makes him wonder where the hell he could be with so much space—

STARK IS DOING SOMETHING WITH HIS AI—

Peter’s heart lurches.

“Tony!” Peter yells, still running, and he holds his hands out and tries to find something, anything, and he shoots webs fucking everywhere, and then—

SHIT—

He runs right into someone. And they push him off, and then he gets a brass-knuckled fist to the face before he can get a hit off of his own. He stumbles backwards through the sharp pain, wrestling with the instinct to just fight even though it’s only darkness all around him and he can’t see who the hell he’s fighting with.

Instead, he spits out a line of blood and keeps running.

Pulsing, face pulsing, beating with ripped skin and metal—

A massive kayak blips into the air briefly, and then it disappears.

Peter narrows his eyes, shaking his head, and what the hell is with the kayak—

He runs smack into something, like a train going accordion against a wall, and he stumbles backwards again, clutching at his crushed nose and trying to stay on his feet. The punch and the goddamn running into whatever that was has him dizzy, has him mangled and seeing stars in this manufactured darkness and then he hears Tony hollering his name at the top of his lungs—

“Peter! Peter!”

He sounds like he’s behind him—

“Tony!” Peter yells, all nasally. “Tony! Hey I’m over here—”

He turns around, changing his trajectory. And the darkness blips, breaking in large pixels, and Peter keeps running towards Tony’s voice and the darkness blips again, turns bright white, and then—

The illusion, or lack of one, breaks all at once, and Peter can see—

He’s on the roof of the main Mohonk building—he can see the lake, and the forest, and the mountains, settled in the calm of the night that feels decidedly not calm for him in particular, and he skids to a halt because he’s nearly running off the roof—

And he feels someone grab his arm and tug him back, and he spins around and it’s Tony, thank God it’s Tony—

“Hey!” Tony yells, and Peter looks at him and grabs his arm and they both look up and—

There are just two guys standing there. Two guys, both on the shorter side, definitely unkempt, and they’re holding a little gray box and they’re both just hitting it and hitting it and hitting it—

Peter aims his webs and just starts shooting. He feels like he shoots the most amount of webs he’s ever shot. The two guys fly backwards and get stuck to one of the upraised red parts of the roof, and they’re both gritting their teeth and trying to get out like they’re Scooby Doo villains.

“They must be associated with Beck,” Peter says, trying to catch his breath. His entire mouth tastes like blood. “They’ve gotta be.”

“I figured, with their shitty illusion attempts,” Tony says, and he sounds angrier than Peter’s ever heard him. He glances at Peter, starts to glance away, but then he looks at him again, fast, his brows furrowing severely. “Jesus Christ, you’re—bleeding everywhere—”

“Yeah, it feels—it doesn’t feel good—they didn’t hit you?” Peter asks.

Tony takes Peter’s chin gently, tilting his head and wincing. “No,” he says. “They didn’t goddamn hit me—”

“Well, the nose was from—running into something—I think that, uh, I think that’s a chimney over there, I think I ran into it—you didn’t run into anything—”

“No, I didn’t—”

“Oh, that’s great—”

Tony looks like he’s about to breathe fire, and he lets go of Peter and starts stomping towards the webbed bad guys.

“Why the hell would you be loyal to a moron like him?” Tony asks. “Beck? He couldn’t even keep a job at Stark Industries—”

“Yeah, buddy, because you stole his idea,” one of them hollers. They’re both still wiggling around, trying to get out.

Tony sneers. “He worked for my company executing an idea I designed and commissioned and decided to weaponize it when it was created to help deal with trauma and mental health—have you never had a job, an occupation—you know what, I don’t care, I don’t care—”

“Well he didn’t say that, he didn’t say any of that exactly,” the other guy says, the one with the longer hair. “He just said—”

“Nothing he says is true,” Peter yells, wincing when he touches his nose. “That guy is a liar, and a freak, and you believed him enough to follow us on vacation and—screw up every attempt you made to kill us—it was one of you guys in my room—”

“No, that was just testin’, that was just—we was just testin’, it was—you guys acted really dramatic—”

Peter scoffs. “Dramatic?”

And the two guys start giving each other nasty looks, even though they’re webbed shoulder to shoulder. “Maybe if you hadn’t dropped that dart gun in the lobby when they first got here—”

“Maybe if you hadn’t fallen out of the tree—”

“Maybe if you had made the goddamn kayak explode instead of fly—”

“Stop!” Tony yells, cutting his hands through the air like an angry teacher. “Stop. Stop. I’ve never wanted to hear Boston accents less. Stop. You’re arrested. We’ve arrested you.”

“You can’t do that, the Avengers aren’t cops,” the shorter one says. He’s got a tattoo on his neck that says GOLDBARES with a Haribo bear icon and Peter squints at it and he feels like his entire face hurts worse just from seeing it.

“You’ve committed several crimes,” Tony says, still pointing at them. “It’s—my personal security already—”

There’s a click. A very loud click. And both guys clam up real quick.

“What was that?” Tony asks.

Peter’s spidey sense is—ratcheting up, clear into his teeth—

“Tony!” he yells, because it feels like something is coming, and, just like in the Grove Lodge, there’s a big boom and they’re blown backwards by a seismic wave—

And they’re launched off the roof, and it feels like they’re moving in slow motion, through the dead dark of the night and the reflection of the lake, and Peter screams like a moron. He just screams, and then he shoots a web right at Tony and pulls him in with it, and then he shoots a web at the building and swings back around with him.

They don’t land well, because Peter’s brain is on the backburner and there’s nothing on the front, and they roll in a heap, Peter tucking his face into Tony’s shoulder. When they come to a halt Tony pulls back, sitting up and touching Peter’s cheek.

“You in there?”

“I’m in there. Here,” Peter says, and he feels like he’s bleeding worse, somehow. “Did they blow up? Did those guys blow up? It sounded like they blew up.”

“We didn’t blew up we’re still over here but maybe I wish we woulda blew up because—”

And they start shouting at each other, but Peter tries to tune them out.

“Thank God you brought those things,” Tony says, tapping Peter’s wrist. “Thanks, bud.”

Peter blows out a breath, shaking his head and still just. Laying there. “Oh yeah, no problem. All good, just—completely normal.”

Tony sighs, and his eyes cut to the side. “Any other late traps ready to explode?” he yells, over his shoulder.

They stop arguing with each other. There’s a brief silence.

“Uh. I honestly got no idea. We just brought the whole bag of tricks, I don’t know. There’s shit everywhere.”

Tony looks at Peter, slowly shaking his head.

“Fantastic,” Peter says. “Wonderful.”

“So, you weren’t in there watching us when we were getting our nails done in the spa?” Pepper asks. “I thought it was weird. I told May it was weird. That was these guys—”

Tony scoffs, and he feels like he instantly gets a headache, a migraine—

“Of course I wasn’t—of course—you thought I was just standing there? Staring at you in the spa? You didn’t think that was out of the ordinary—”

Pepper gives him a look, and Peter laughs from the hammock behind them.

“Yeah, when I went to get my nails done later you kept walking in and out,” Happy says. “But I thought you were just—I don’t know what I thought. But then you told me about the kayak thing later and I thought—well—I attributed it to that.”

“Happy went and got his nails done,” Ned whispers, somewhere behind Tony, too. “We could do that?”

“Who’s stopping you?” MJ says, quiet.

“Well, the whole—the whole situation stopped me, I guess, but I didn’t really think about it—”

“I’m glad it wasn’t you staring at us,” May says, standing near the railing and peering out into her binoculars. “Pepper said it was normal, but it was concerning me.”

Tony glares at Pepper, but she just bats her eyes at him like the picture of innocence.

“Sometimes Peter does that to me,” May says. “Just stares at me from behind a Lucky Charms box in the kitchen. That’s how I know something’s wrong.”

Tony snorts, and he turns around as soon as Peter starts protesting.

“I do not!” Peter says, shifting around in the hammock. “I do not do that.”

“It sounds like something you’d do,” Ned says.

“You’ve done that to me,” MJ says, clearing her throat.

Peter huffs, and everyone laughs at him, and Tony tries not to laugh too hard, because this started with his own wife acting like she thinks he’s capable of acting like some weirdo who stands around staring at people.

Tony sighs. He turns around, walking over and peering down at Peter. He braces his hand on the tree his hammock is attached to. “How’s the nose?” Tony asks.

“Broken.”

“It’s not broken anymore, we reset it.”

“It knows it was broken. I know too.”

He’s still got the butterfly bandages on the bridge of his nose, and it’s bruised and angry looking. He’s got a burst blood vessel in his eye, and the white part is dipped with red. Tony feels like shit because he got out of the whole ordeal relatively unscathed. Just a few bumps and bruises. Some whiplash. But Peter broke his nose again.

They hiked up to the Sky Top Tower, and the kids wanted to hang out once they got up here. They all thought Peter had earned the hammock. Happy refused to come, and he’s in charge of the security situation, anyway, so he couldn’t exactly abandon it to do a hike he didn’t want to do.

They had to clear the whole damn resort out to get rid of any remaining traps and illusions. Tony had to bring in a whole team. Rhodey made fun of him on the phone when Tony told him, laughing for a good five minutes.

And sure, it’s stupid. Those guys are stupid and they had no idea what the hell they were doing, they couldn’t even attack properly. But that’s what happens when stupid people follow more powerful stupid people. They hold grudges. They make up shit in their heads. They cause problems.

And it’s never really funny when Peter is bloody at the end of it.

“I feel like I’m sinking,” Peter says, his brows furrowing.

He reaches out his hand, and Tony takes it, and he pulls him out of the hammock as MJ and Ned push on his shoulders. Peter groans like he’s a hundred years old, and Tony claps him on the shoulder.

May looks away from her binoculars. “How you doing, honeybunch?”

“Fine,” Peter says, letting go of Tony’s hand. “Incredible. Amazing.”

“Just a normal day for a hero,” Pepper says. “MJ, you’ll get used to it, May, you’ll never get used to it—”

“And Ned,” Ned says to himself. “You will be there every step of the way.”

Tony looks at Peter, and he wants to apologize. For all of it, for being a hero at all, for the goddamn radioactive spider at Oscorp and everything that came after. For stupid morons like Quentin Beck, who know the quickest way to hurt Tony is to attack this kid he’s nearly adopted as his own.

He doesn’t know what the hell to say, because Peter wouldn’t accept his apologies anyway. He never would. Peter is just appreciative of every moment. Even if the moments aren’t ideal.

“We’ve got the whole place to ourselves,” Tony says. “How about we have a pie bar when we head back down there? I can tip the kitchen staff two hundred percent when I ask. I don’t think anybody would be pissed off.”

He sees May smiling softly at him over Peter’s shoulder. Trust in her eyes, even after all this bullshit.

“Can there be…at least four key limes?” Peter asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Four or five,” Tony says, ruffling his hair. “Or six or seven. Depending on the number of ovens in the joint.”

Peter grins at him, still bright and lively, despite everything.

Maybe they can salvage this vacation yet.

#iron dad #iron man #irondad #irondad fic #marvel fic #peter parker #spider-man #tony stark #iron dad fic #works by iron_spider

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writeroutoftime · 1 year ago

Text

speak now

pairing: peter parker x reader

summary: when peter is getting married, you just want to go and make sure he's happy. but what happens when the officiant asks a very pertinent question?

warnings: none

words: 1.8k

a/n: this is an idea I've had forever, but in honor of taylor's version of the 'speak now' album, I finally finished it! please enjoy!

oOoOo

Leaning against Michelle’s kitchen counter, you glanced down at her pile of mail and noticed a thick, glossy card sticking out. “What’s this?” you asked curiously, moving forward to pull the card out from the pile.

Before you could, Michelle’s hand reached out and snatched the card. “It’s nothing.” she told you, rather unconvincingly.

“Alright.” you conceded, looking the other way before darting your hand out to grab the card from MJ’s unsuspecting hands. “Let go!” you shouted, wrestling the paper into your grasp, letting out a triumphant shout when you won the struggle.

Looking down at the card, your eyes scanned the cursive lettering, quickly noticing it was an invitation, suddenly freezing in your spot. The longer you stared at the invitation, the more you thought your heart was going to break out of your chest with how erratically it was beating. Tears welled in your eyes, yet you did nothing to keep them at bay.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Peter Benjamin Parker and Regina Ann Thompson on August 15, 2023

“y/n.” MJ began, approaching you cautiously, arms open and eyes cast down in pity.

“He’s getting married.” you whispered, more so to yourself than anyone else. “When did you get this?” you asked, spinning around to face your friend. “When did you get this?” you repeated, waving the invitation franticly.

“Three weeks ago.”

Three weeks ago. Definitely too long to blame the postal office for a late invitation. “So, he doesn’t want me there.” you spoke aloud, falling down into a nearby chair.

It wasn’t that you felt you deserved to be at Peter’s wedding or that it was the greatest sin of all times you weren’t invited; but you thought that after everything the two of you had been through he would have at least had the decency to call you – hell even a text would be great – to let you know he was engaged. Once upon a time, the two of you were a couple, and there was a time in your life you imagined that you would be the one to marry Peter. You were so young and in love, oblivious to the world around you and the challenges that threatened your relationship.

As one of Peter’s oldest friends, of course, you knew that he was Spider-Man. In fact, you supported him through it all, never letting it get in the way of your friendship or the feelings you had for him. Eventually, Peter wised up and asked you out, and the rest was supposed to be history. While everything was fine at first, down the road you learned how difficult it was being the significant other of a superhero.

The sweet nothings and soft gazes eventually morphed into harsh words thrown at each other in the middle of the night after long patrols for Peter and constant worrying for you. Secrets built up like skyscrapers and the trust that once existed between the two of you for so long dissolved. Eventually, you figured it was better to stop now before either of you said things you would regret, no matter how much it hurt.

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you, y/n. You were just starting to live again, and I don’t want you to hole yourself back up.” MJ explained, wrapping her arms around your frame.

You let her hug you, keeping your own arms limp against your side, the gears in your mind turning and turning. “Take me as your plus one.” you finally said, pulling away to look MJ in the eyes.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Please MJ.” you begged. “Let me have, let this be my closure.” you continued, your mouth seemingly working faster than your mind. “I won’t even talk to him or let him know that I’m there. Please, I just want to see that he’s happy.” you cried, voice breaking at the end.

At the end of the day, even if Peter had left you with a broken heart, you just wanted to know that everything worked out for him. Even if you couldn’t be the one to give it to him, Peter deserved his happily ever after. Silently, you pleaded with MJ, your eyes glassy and desperate as she mulled the thought over.

“Fine.” she yielded. “But then that’s it, you have to get back out there and live your life.” she compromised.

“Promise.” you agreed. “He won’t even know that I’m there.”

oOoOo

Weeks later, you found yourself outside a church watching as friends and families eagerly filed in. Your eyes watched as MJ continued inside to her seat up front. She had offered to sit in the back with you, but you urged her to be there to support Peter. Besides, she would find you after the whole ceremony was over and you could make your escape.

As you waited, your leg bounced, nerves continually rolling through your body. All you wanted was a glance of Peter before the ceremony. Looking both ways with determination, you snuck into the back rooms of the church, searching for where Peter would be waiting. Before you could find him, however, you heard voices coming your way, so you slipped into the nearest empty room, pressing yourself against the wall. Sucking in a breath, you willed yourself to become invisible. But what you heard had you slowly poking your head around the corner.

“What the hell?” a voice shrieked out. “Are you able to do this, or do I need to get someone else to do your job?”

Once glance and you saw the shouts came from Peter’s bride to be – Regina- who stood in front of a trembling bridesmaid, pointing fingers widely. The dress she wore looked as though it came straight out of a bakery, and you had to hold in your laugh. The bridal party walked by the room you were hidden in, and you pushed yourself further against the wall.

A breath of relief escaped your lips, but your heart clenched immediately after. Was this who Peter was marrying? Was this who was going to make him happy for the rest of his life?

Knowing you didn’t have much time left, you hurried into the church and slipped into a pew in the very last row. It wasn’t long before the officiant came out, shortly followed by Peter.

It was like time stopped the moment your eyes landed on his figure, His dark hair gelled back for the occasion, fiddling with his sleeves as he waited. You tried to gauge his emotion – was it a happy-nervous tick or a ‘dear god someone get me out of this’ nervous tick. Before you could think on it anymore, the organ music changed and the bridal procession began as the bridesmaids walked down the aisle before everyone stood as Regina walked out.

While all heads turned towards her, yours stayed on Peter the whole time, analyzing the way he reacted to his almost wife walking towards him. A smile graced his features, but even from far away you could tell the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Was all of this a joke? Was he settling? Looking for a way out?

Your mind raced with all these thoughts as officiant droned on. But something in your heart kept calling to you. Telling you that this wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. Telling you that you had to do something. Even if it was a mistake, you couldn’t live with the ‘what ifs’ that would plague your mind if you stayed quiet. And so, when the officiant called out “…speak out or forever hold your peace” you knew it was your moment.

As if possessed by some unknown force, you peeled yourself off the cold pew and stood among the sea of viewers. A collective gasp rang out through the church at your action, MJ being one of the first to look at you with a ‘are you kidding me’ look on her face. But, more importantly, you caught Peter’s gaze for the first time in months.

His jaw went slack as he stared at you. It had been months since Peter allowed himself to look at you. He had tried to shove everything that happened between you both into the furthest corners of his mind, but it seemed like fate had other plans.

“What is going on?” Regina demanded, recognition in her eyes as she started you down.

Sweaty palms rested against your thighs, and you knew this was your last chance. With a deep breath, you let it all pour out. “Look, Peter, I am not the type of person who should be interrupting a wedding of all events. But I also know you. And I know that you are not the type of guy who should be marrying the wrong girl.

“This is selfish of me, I’ll admit that. And if I am completelywrong then say the word and I will walk out of those doors with a smile on my face knowing that you’re happy. Because that’s all I want for you. But if there is even a small part of you that doesn’t want to go through with this marriage, then don’t.” you practically begged, not yet finished.

“You deserve all the happiness in the world, Peter. I know we had our challenges, but we were also something amazing together. So, please, don’t be noble Peter Parker always wanting to do the right thing. Do what you want to do.” you told him, fighting back the tears. “And, again, I know this was awful time, but I was told to speak now, right?” you asked through a watery giggle, staring down the man you loved as if your life depended on it.

There was a heavy silence that blanketed the church over the next few moments. With each second that passed, your heart grew heavier and heavier fearing you made a terrible mistake. Finally, you accepted defeat and began to walk out of the hall. You held yourself tightly, trying not to cry until you made it outside. However, before you could reach the doors, you felt a hand grasp your wrist, spinning you around.

You let out a breathy gasp as you stood face to face with Peter, his lips only inches from yours. It was as if time stood still in that moment, and you had to bite your lip to convince yourself it wasn’t all a dream. Any words you wanted to speak got stuck in your throat, but Peter leaned close to you, his warm breath against your ear caused you to shiver.

“I'll meet you when I'm out of my tux at the back door.” he whispered, nodding ever so slightly in confirmation.

Stumbling back, you left the church and found your way to the backdoor outside, waiting nervously. Nearly 10 minutes passed when the door floor opened, and Peter stood, his tie undone, and his tuxedo jacket abandoned. His hair looked mussed as though he had been anxiously running his fingers through just as you knew he had the habit of.

“Peter.” you breathed out, reaching towards him, nervous he might disappear.

“Did you mean it?” he questioned, grasping you against him tightly.

“What?”

“Did you mean everything you said in there? Are we going to make this work? Tell me I didn’t just walk out of my wedding for nothing.” he begged, also just as scared and vulnerable as you felt.

When words were lost on you, you instead closed the distance between the two of you until your lips met his for the first time in months. Though, it was like no time had passed as you and Peter fell into a familiar rhythm, saying all the apologies and confessions you couldn’t speak aloud. Yes, there was still a lot to work through, but you were together again and that’s all that mattered.

Thank god you were around when they said speak now.

#peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #rita writes

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hyperfixationhobo · 11 months ago

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Ok another scenario based on my last Hobie and Mayday post.

Ever since the whole “Parker” incident, the group has been jokingly calling Peter Hobie’s father.

“You should listen to your pops, Hobie.”

“You heard your dad, got to be more careful next time.”

“Are you sure your dad will be okay with this?”

They make these jokes so much that it’s just natural at this point. Its so natural that Hobie himself even calls Peter dad. (They both act like it’s no big deal but they’re both low key crying inside).

It’s all well until Hobie gets annoyed with Peter fussing over him that’s he screams. “You’re not my bloody dad so get off it yeah?!”

It’s silent for a while as they both process just what was said before Peter apologizes and says that Hobie’s right and then leaves. They’re both hurt by what was just said cause they both do see each other as father and son.

Cut to a few months later, with a bit of akward tension between Hobie and Peter, it’s Hobie’s birthday and Mj insists to hold the party at her house.

(Mj is the only true person that Hobie is respectfully scared of.)

The party is quite small but Hobie wouldn’t have it any other way. After the party, when everyone leaves, Mj and Peter ask Hobie to stay for a bit cause they had one more gift for him.

It’s adoption papers.

They explain that they gave it some thought with a ton of talks and that they wanted Hobie to be their son, legally. They reassure him that he absolutely doesn’t have to say yes, and that they don’t expect him to move in with them. They just didn’t want to give this to him in front of everyone and make him feel pressured into saying yes.

Meanwhile Hobie is just staring at the papers with teary eyes and only one thought bounces in his mind.

“You guys want me?”

This leads to tears and reassurance that yes they do want Hobie as their son and that no it’s not some horrible prank. They know that Hobie is a good kid and that he’s an amazing person who would fight for what’s right and will protect his friends and family with everything in him. That they know that he’ll make an amazing big brother for Mayday.

Hobie is full blown crying happy tears as he signs the papers and gets a group hug from his now mom and dad. He spends the night at his new second home in a room that his mom and dad had prepared for him.

(It was stereotypically “punk” but hey he can’t and wouldn’t complain when they obviously put their hearts into it.)

The next few days are full of telling his friends and boyfriend (Pav of course) the news to which he gets ton of congratulations.

Now he gets to be a part of family photo shoots, family vacations, father-son and mother-son days, eat Mj’s amazing cooking, and has a baby sister who’ll he’ll burn down heaven and hell for.

“Yeah, I got the best family.”

#hobie brown #hobie spiderverse #hobie brown atsv #hobie my beloved #hobie headcanons #atsv headcanons #chaipunk #headcanon #hobie x pavitr #mayday atsv #atsv peter b parker #Mj atsv #mary jane parker #this made me tear up a bit #atsv hobie #spider man atsv #atsv #atsv head cannon

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parkerpeter24 · 2 years ago

Text

bloody love . part 3

pairing ➳ peter parker x reader

warnings ➳ hanahaki!au, unrequited love, slightly happy ending, mentions of blood, read at your own discretion.

w.c. ➳ 2.4k

summary ➳ who said love couldn’t kill?

i mean who saw this coming. but i hope you enjoy because writing hanahaki!au has been my oldest wish and here we are 🥰

part 1 | part 2 | part 4

you were there everyday.

peter saw you every day, sitting on your fire escape, your face in the palms of your hands, looking up at the starts. even though you could barely see any with the amount of pollution in the city during winters.

two months had passed since peter talked to you. really talked to you. he saw you every day in the hallways of the hell everyone called school and every night on your fire escape.

you were so close to him, yet so far as he watched you, sure to stay out of your line of sight. the superhero assured himself that it wasn’t stalking if he was on his patrol and happened to stop by a building that happened to be near your apartment building.

peter remembered the day he landed on the same place your elbows rested now, and looked for you in the dark room and he wished, every night, that he could undo whatever it was that led to this situation. or maybe he’d convince you to talk to him about your feelings as soon as he found out about the disease. or he could express his own feeling which he’d kept dismissing as a ‘silly schoolboy crush’ everytime.

he would just about do anything to get you back.

but he couldn’t think of a way. not for the past two months. not since the day you walked out on him. and as he watched you recede to your room at 09:45, just the same time as every day, he thought maybe he deserved this after all and a feeling of familiar pain took over the brunette’s lungs as he took off.

it was a good thing that ned was talking to him. because gwen wasn’t. he didn’t really expect her to after he’d ghosted her for about as long as he’d known you had feelings for him.

but ned was there. he kept trying to stay in touch even after five weeks of his friend ignoring him like the plague. peter was just grieving and forever grateful that ned understood that.

“the empire strikes back? or return of the jedi? i’m in a star wars mood today.” ned stated as he picked up the two tapes in each of his hands. saturday night was a movie night. ned had invited peter and another girl from his art class, michelle, over. peter didn’t really know her well and she didn’t seem too interested in conversation.

“when are you not in a star wars mood?” mj rolled her eyes, however a little smile played over her lips, as she skimmed through the pages of her book.

“maybe you should decide then.” ned suggested.

“fractured.” mj said within a second, shrugging her shoulders, “it’s a good one. quite underrated.”

ned seemed to think for a moment before he looked at peter, “what do you say, man?”

“i don’t mind.” peter said, giving his friend a pursed smile.

ned nodded and started the movie. as the opening credits rolled in, mj looked at ned and mouthed, “what’s his deal?”

“it’s complicated.” ned mouthed back.

peter rolled his eyes, hearing the two of them whisper around behind his back. however, he couldn’t fight what ned had said. it was complicated. and he didn’t want it to be.

and so peter decided that it was enough.

that night, on his daily patrol, he stopped by the same old building facing your apartment but this time instead of waiting for you to walk out of your window, he swung over and before he knew his fist was against your window, knocking at the glass gently until he saw a figure behind the curtains.

your figure.

you pulled the curtains apart, revealing your face and for a moment peter felt all air knocked out of his lungs. he hasn’t seen you this close since… *that* day.

“peter?” hearing your voice pulled him out of the trance he’d suddenly entered, “um, what are you doing here?”

peter remained silent as the mechanical eyes on his suit grew wider by a fraction. he had decided that he needed to fix this mess. but how; he didn’t bother to think about that. peter didn’t usually feel this nervous when he was covered top to bottom in his spandex suit but now he could feel his ragged breath against his mask.

“okay…” you stood there awkwardly, knowing peter was struggling to say something. you didn’t know why he was here but you weren’t gonna help him right now, “i don’t know what to say if you’re not gonna talk.” you gave him a pursed smile.

“i- uh. i-i want to talk.” peter laid out.

“oh, about what?”

“how’s school?” peter asked as if the past two months didn’t exist at all.

“it’s fine…” you trailed off, “boring.”

“right. i-i didn’t see you in ages.”

“i’m right here.” you nodded at him.

“nice.” peter was trying to stall the conversation but he’d run out of things to say, “listen, can we talk about…” he racked his brain to find something. *anything*

“about?”

“about you? i miss you.” peter sighed, watching your eyebrows furrow at his claim. did you not want him to miss me? did he just make a mess of the earlier mess that he was trying to solve?

he watched your fingers grip the curtains tighter, just about ready to shut it on his face, “pete, i think you should-”

“n-no, no, no. no. please. i didn’t mean that!” peter said, instantly realizing how it might have sounded, “wait, i do mean that. um, do you want me to? mean that?”

you found his nervousness adorable. it was probably easy for peter to think that it meant nothing to you but he didn’t know how easy it would be for him to crawl right back into your heart.

and that’s why you needed to stop this.

“don’t come to my balcony.” peter’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach hearing you say those words next. you weren’t even meeting his eyes as you added, “please.”

may could tell her nephew was going through a hard time. she saw him sulk around the apartment every weekend and this time around wasn’t any different. she watched him swirl around the last bits of his cereal, deep in thought, “got any plans for the weekend?”

“not really.” her nephew replied.

“what about gwen, maybe you can invite her over for dinner!” may smiled, hoping to lighten the mood.

“that was months ago.” peter stated simply, “i don’t think she’d be interested.”

“then how about we go out for dinner?”

“i appreciate you doing this for me, may, i really do but i-” he sighed, not knowing how to refuse the offer, “i’m sorry, i can’t.”

may hated to see her nephew like this. she’d always tried for him to be comfortable around her. enough to share something that was bothering him this much “just tell me what’s wrong, son.”

“well, i-it’s a long story.”

she gave him an assuring smile, “i’ve got nowhere to be.”

so he told her. he told her everything from the day he found you in your room, to the day you ran away to hide in the bathroom, to the day you left him ‘for the better’.

he just left out the detail where he was going through the same problem now.

however, he did feel lighter after sharing everything with his aunt. she tried to help by suggesting him ideas to sort the situation out between the two of you. the situation was a little too complicated. peter hated that word

the next day, as you were pulling out your physics book from your locker, you saw him approaching you again, “hey.” peter said, waving at you.

you raised your eyebrows at him, “hi?”

“walk to class with me?” he asked, hoping you’d say yes. the two of you shared ap physics so what could be the loss in walking together.

you nodded and started walking so suddenly that peter had to take a quick run to catch up to you, “look, i know we left some things unfigured and-”

“i don’t think this is the right time to talk about that.” you stated, looking straight ahead of you.

“okay. then tell me when will be the right time?” he persisted.

you sighed, finally looking at him, “peter, i told you to-”

“you told me to not come to your balcony. i’m not on your balcony.” your eyes met for a second and peter held them with so much intensity you had to look away.

you hesitated for a moment, “the fire escape. same time as yesterday.”

peter blinked, not believing you were actually ready to talk to him, “are you sure?”

“do not push it.” you shook your head at him and he knew better. so he stood there, watching you leave for a class you two shared.

he hoped tonight would make things better between the two of you.

it had become a habit for peter to land on the building in front of yours instead of directly swinging to your fire escape. he made a mental note to stop doing that.

he knocked at your window, second night in a row. you were pulling apart the curtains again and this time, you got out to the fire escape. peter jumped down from the railing and beside you.

“so?” you initiated, “what is it that you wanna talk about?”

“about you. how have you been?”

“better.” you stated, giving him a little smile, “you?”

“i’m okay.”

“for the record, i missed you too.”

“o-oh.” peter felt his cheeks warm against the material of his mask. the air was gradually turning chilly. the city was on the brink of december but it was somehow still warm. or maybe that was just peter because the next moment he found you shivering as a gust of wind passed by, rubbing your hands together, “you okay?”

you nodded, “a little cold.”

you watched as he shifted a little closer to you, your faces inches apart. you could see all the intricate designs that held his suit together, resisting yourself to reach up and trace along the web-like design, “i-it’s got an in-built heater.”

the two of you stayed in silence, you staring up at the sky like you did every day and peter couldn’t resist but say because he finally had the chance to, “you can’t even see anything up there.”

“you can actually! you just need to focus more.” you turned to face him, catching him already looking at you. you averted your gaze back to the stars quickly.

“look, there’s ursa major.” he pointed out.

“yeah! cool, right?”

“it’s actually pretty hot.” peter said, realizing you didn’t get his joke when you gave him a confused look, “well, because it’s a star and stars are… hot.” he chuckled awkwardly.

“that was a terrible joke.” you deadpanned before letting out a laugh.

“come on, you know you liked it.” peter grinned.

“absolutely not!” you laughed, further proving his point, “however it did remind me, do you want some hot chocolate?”

the two of you made your way inside through the window. peter pulled off his mask finally and you took in his appearance. his cheeks were slightly red, probably due to the cold, hair ruffled as he shook his head to let a few strands out of his face. he’d really let his hair grow out. you avoided eye contact once he caught you staring, “i’ll go get it.”

peter looked around the room. you had done some redecorating. a few of your pictures with him were missing– in fact only one picture of you two together remained on your wall and it wasn’t even the two of you it was a group photo from back when your class went on a field trip– which was a little unsettling to peter but right now, talking to you was a big enough step so he pushed all the other worries to the back of his head.

the sound of two voices arguing pulled peter out of his thoughts. the voices belonged to you and your mother, he figured, and found you two talking about him?

he heard your mom’s voice loud and clear, “then why the two mugs?”

“because i was craving two hot chocolates.” you reasoned.

“y/n. come on! the past month has been so much progress. there were no flowers, not even once!”

before peter could register whatever was happening, you rushed inside the room, slamming the door with the help of your foot as you placed the aforementioned mugs on your study table.

“you need to hide in the closet.” you hurried, pushing peter a bit towards the closet door.

“what? y/n, i’m not in the closet anymore, you know i’m bi-”

“this is not the time to make jokes, please! just hide!” you whisper yelled.

peter placed his palms on either side of your face, sensing your heart palpitating. he caressed your cheeks, way too calm as your mom knocked at your door, “hey, hey, calm down.” he took a deep breath, compelling you to do the same, “i’ll leave now, don’t worry. see you tomorrow.”

he gave you a smile, quickly making his way over to your window and stepped outside before closing the curtains just the way you kept it, while you opened the door to your room, letting your very frustrated mom inside, “where is he?”

“where is what?” you tried to act casually, “i told you i just can’t have enough of hot chocolate.”

“y/n y/l/n. where is he?” she demanded yet again.

you sighed in defeat, finding a sudden interest in the wooden floor, “he left.”

it was her turn to let out a sigh. you could tell she was disappointed because any time she wanted to express that, she addressed you by your whole name, “miss y/n y/l/n, do you know why i’d let you opt out of surgery?”

“because i wanted to?” you offered, giving her a meek smile.

“no. because you were starting to get better. you were maintaining your distance from him and you were healing.” your mother said.

if peter was anything akin to confused before, he was perplexed now. unbeknownst to the two of you, he’d listened to everything that was going on inside. the dots were connecting themselves but peter seemed to be refusing the possibility that it was all true.

you never got a surgery?

peter felt something in his chest but this feeling was different than what he’d experienced for the past two months. he felt an unprecedented warmth spread throughout his lungs.

like hope. like everything would eventually be okay.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

taglist | masterlist ✨

taglist : @the-girl-in-the-chair @annathesillyfriend @uwiuwi @spideyspeaches @prancerrparkerr @usergarfields @theglitterymess @quaksonhehe @lowkey-holland @starlight-starks @piscesparker @incorrectsourwolf @wildxwidow @annab-nana @blankspaceblankday @kelieah @arvinsvintage @faultlinegracie @icarusafety @raajali3 @tommyfroggie @saturnpeter @ellabellabus07 @comfort-reads @holland-styles @1-800-starkindustrie @feariteriu @wittlewowa @20forty9 @skepticalleo

#peter parker imagine #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker #peter parker angst #tasm!peter x you #tasm!peter fluff #tasm!peter fic #tasm!peter parker fanfiction #tasm!peter imagine #peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker fluff #peter parker series #spider man #andrew garfield!peter parker x reader #andrew garfield!peter parker imagine #andrew garfield!peter parker x you

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6rookie-writer0110 · 6 months ago

Text

Sandhill Thrill

MJ x Male Reader

Request - Being MJ’s (MCU) brother who is a superhero she doesn’t know about, and MJ realising when he comes home really injured and she patches him up and tries to help him with the superhero gig?

You are in your bedroom on your laptop. You searched on YouTube for how to fight like Bruce Lee. You start to watch his techniques then you search for how to box. You stand up and you start to copy their moves, you keep repeating the same moves. Then you started to do shadowboxing, you messed up a few times but you kept trying to get it right. Now, you search for another fighting style on YouTube. You stand up again you try to do a punching combo then your sister MJ opens the door.

“What are you doing?” MJ asked.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” You asked.

“You don't knock when you come into my room, Y/n” MJ said.

She doesn't know that you are a hero and that's why you are learning how to fight.

“Well, what do you want?” You asked.

“Mom said breakfast is ready. You are acting strange” MJ said.

“You are strange, get out,” You said.

“Whatever,” MJ said.

She left the door open and went downstairs. You turned off your computer, grabbed your stuff, and went downstairs. MJ’s boyfriend Peter came to walk her to school. You don't hardly talk to Peter but you know that she is happy with him. MJ left with Peter then you headed to the bus stop. While on the bus, you start to think of hero names but you find out it's hard to come up with a name.

“Why it's hard to come up with a name” You sighed.

While in school, you didn't focus in math class. You start to draw what kind of suit you want to wear then you label each part and what color it will have.

——-

After school, you went to the thrift shop. You are looking for items to make your hero suit, but so far you haven't found anything good to use. You did find a cool hoodie for the suit and you bought it. You go home and start to think about what you need for your suit. Then you search online for different materials to design the suit, but you are having a hard time what to pick.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

You keep training in your bedroom on how to box. But you would go to the park and time yourself running and you are not doing good, but you don't give up. You searched online on how to run faster and you found a few tips. You are in your room and you can't stop smiling. You are looking in the mirror and you are feeling hyped. You have on your homemade superhero suit, now you want to fight bad guys. You open the window and you sneak out of your bedroom.

It's getting dark and you didn't take long to find a bad guy. A thug was trying to steal a woman’s purse but she won't let go.

“I’m ready,” You said in your mind.

You ran up to the thief and punched him in the face. Then he punched you in the stomach and that felt like you got hit by a rock, the first time getting punched in the stomach. Then he punched you in the face then you kicked him in the nuts then he fell down.

“Lady, are you okay!?” You yelled.

“Get away from me!” She yelled.

She thought that you were a thief and she hit you with her purse. Then she ran away, the guy up and he started to fight you again. But you start to fight back, you kicked him in the stomach and pushed him against the car. You hear a cop car approaching then you start to run away fast.

“Fuck” You mumbled.

You are feeling sore and your body is in pain. You managed to stop a bad guy and you are happy about that. You start to limp your way back home.

MJ goes to your bedroom and she opens the door. You are injured and you are trying to clean the wound on your bottom lip.

“What the hell happened to you!?” MJ yelled.

“You need to learn how to knock, Michelle Jones!” You said.

“I’m serious Y/n, what happened to you,” MJ said.

“I was out fighting bad guys and I got into my first fight,” You said.

She laughed and you have a serious face.

“Oh… you are serious about that. Why would you do something like that!? You could have got yourself killed!” MJ yelled.

“You can stop yelling now. And i know what I'm doing. I want to be a hero and help people” You said.

“But you don't have a suit, you don't know how to fight and I don't want you to die. Don't be stupid” MJ said.

“I’m not stupid. I’m learning how to fight and I run fast. I know what I'm doing. It's not like we know a hero personally that I can go ask for a suit” You said.

She knows that Peter is Spiderman but you don't know. She grabbed the rubbing alcohol and started to clean the wounds on your knuckles.

“Y/n, you are my brother and I know you want to do the right thing. But I don't want to lose you. You are stubborn and I know you won't stop” MJ said.

MJ cleans the cut on your left eyebrow.

“Are you going to tell mom and dad?” You asked.

“No, I won't tell them. But I would help you” MJ said.

“Help me how?” You asked.

“Design a better suit” MJ teased

“Shut up” You laughed.

———

MJ did tell Peter what you are doing, but she didn't tell you that she told him. You bought a punching bag, and MJ encourages you to fight better. You still don't have a hero name, it's still hard to come up with one. MJ did tell you who to call when you get caught by the cops.

“Why Matt and how do you know him?” You asked.

“Don’t worry about that, just trust me. Next, you need a quick way to run away from the cops. If you don't see an exit or it's blocked distract them then escape” MJ said.

“Good idea,” You said.

Your sister did tag along to help you fight bad guys. You didn't want her to go because she would get hurt, but she did tag along. This time there were two bad guys to fight against while fighting, MJ grabbed a pole and started to hit the bad guys. Then you started to win the fight and cops arrived then you and MJ started to run away.

“Next time…”

You didn't finish your sentence, because you are breathing too hard.

“Good talk,” MJ said.

“Shut up,” You said.

You and MJ went home. She starts to tell you what you did wrong from the start to end.

#marvel imagine #Michelle Jones imagine #x male reader #male!reader #male reader #male reader imagine #MJ x male reader #mj x reader #marvel x reader

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waitimcomingtoo · 1 year ago

Text

hoax ~ p.p

chapter eight: the story of us

series masterlist

“Who the hell is that?”

Everyone turned their heads to see who Peter was staring at. Like always, it was you. But this time, it was you and a tall blonde boy that was making you throw your head back laughing.

“That’s Sebastian.” Kate replied.

“Sebastian? Psht. What? I’ve literally never heard of that name. What is he, a crab? Psht.” Peter scoffed and continued to stare daggers at Harry, who was leaning against your locker to be closer to you.

“Don’t “psht” him.” Gwen laughed. “He’s a nice guy.”

“Says who?” Peter scoffed again.

“Says Y/n. Because she’s totally in love with him.” Kate said in a sing-songy voice.

“Huh?” Peter asked as his eyes went wide.

“They’re a thing.” Gwen shrugged. “You didn’t know that?”

“Huh?” Peter asked again, louder this time.

“Can you stop doing that?” MJ asked him.

“What do you mean they’re a thing?” He asked the girls.

“They’re talking.” Kate shrugged.

“About what?” Peter wondered and looked over his shoulder at you again.

“No, dingus. They’re talking. As in in a talking stage.” Kate explained. Peter looked at you again before leaning in closer to the girls.

“But what are they talking about?” He whispered.

“Oh my God.” Gwen groaned. “They’re in the stage before dating. It’s commonly known as the talking stage. Haven’t you ever been in a situationship before?”

“Are these real words?” Peter asked genuinely and looked to MJ for help.

“I don’t even know what to say at this point.” MJ held up her hands in defense.

“A situationship means they have feelings for each other but aren’t in a committed relationship. At least, not yet anyway.” Kate explained.

“Exactly. They text and go on dates. That’s a situationship. And as we’ve said, the stage before dating.” Gwen continued.

“There’s a stage before dating?” Peter asked. “Isn’t that just friendship?”

“How have you never heard these words? What do boys learn in school?” Kate asked.

“Where did she even find that guy? Under the sea? He’s way too old to be blonde. Men should not be blonde past age 10. He seriously needs to grow up.” Peter scoffed as his jealousy got the better of him. He turned around to look at you again and you were doing your fake laugh as Sebastian told you a story in an obnoxiously loud voice.

“They met in her sociology class.” Kate replied. “He asked for her snap and then walked her to her next class. Isn’t that so cute?”

“So she likes that guy? And goes on dates with him?” Peter asked without taking his eyes off you. All he could think of was how some other guy was filling his space beside you on walks and taking you on dates that Peter never took you on.

“That’s what being in a situationship means, yes.” Gwen answered.

“But she just broke up with me- uh, Spiderman two months ago. She’s already moved on?” Peter asked sadly and looked back at the girls.

“Duh. Spiderman was so last semester.” Kate chuckled.

“And she’s happy with that guy?” Peter asked in a quiet voice.

“She’s over the moon.” Gwen insisted. “He’s all she talks about.”

Peters face crumbled when he heard this and he turned to look at you again. You were telling Sebastian something while he texted on his phone. You looked up when you felt eyes on you and made eye contact with Peter. He quickly looked away and felt tears come to his eyes. He blinked them back and pretended to fiddle with his shirt buttons. MJ noticed how upset he looked and as the only one present who knew why this upset him, she felt obligated to cheer him up.

“I think she’s just trying to cleanse her pallet of Spiderman. She doesn’t really like this guy. She just wants to start the process of moving on.” MJ said as she looked at Peter. Peter relaxed when he heard this and wiped his face.

“You’re sure?” He asked her.

“Trust me. She’s never getting over Spiderman. In fact-“

“Hey guys.” You said as you approached the group, accidentally cutting off MJ. She was about to tell Peter that you were very much still in love with him, but now he’d never know.

“Hey girl.” Kate smiled and wrapped an arm around you. You smiled at her and then looked at Peter, who looked like he had just seen a ghost.

“Hi Peter.” You smiled at him, making him look at you in surprise.

“Me hi?” He asked and pointed to himself.

“Yeah. Hey you.” You nudged him playfully, making him blush.

“Hi. You look really nice today.” He told you, reminding you both of old times.

“Thanks.” You smiled sadly and fixed your shirt.

“You do look nice.” Kate noticed. “All dolled up for your man?”

“Yeah, like I’d dress for a man.” You snorted. “In fact, lately I’ve been dressing for revenge.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” MJ chuckled. You laughed as well and then noticed the pained look on Peters face.

“He’s not actually my man.” You told him, though you weren’t really sure why you said it.

“I know. They were just filling me in on your situationship.” He said with a tight smile. Your smile dropped and you gave your friends a look.

“Guys. You told Peter?” You whispered in annoyance.

“Why would Peter care? Just because he had that crush on you two months ago?” Kate asked. You and Peter exchanged a look and quickly looked away from each other.

“Yeah. I don’t mind hearing about it. We’re friends now and friends talk about these things.” Peter shrugged but you both knew he was lying. The bell then rang and Kate and Gwen groaned.

“I gotta go.” Kate said and squeezed your arm before walking away.

“Same. See you later.” Gwen waved and headed towards her next class. MJ gave you a knowing look before leaving as well. She didn’t have a class now, but she wanted you to talk to Peter alone. Once it was just the two of you, you stepped in front of Peter so you could face each other.

“Look, I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“It’s okay. We broke up. You can date whoever you want.” He said with a tight smile.

“I’m not really dating him. I’m not even sure I like him. He takes five hours to text back and we’ve only hung out twice. I kinda played it up to my friends so they don’t think I’m pathetic for still being totally in love with….” You trailed off when you realized how much information you were spilling. Peters eyebrows went up and all the hope in the world filled his eyes.

“Sorry. This whole conversation was way too much exposition.” You laughed awkwardly.

“A little bit, yeah.” He laughed as well and desperately hoped you’d finish that sentence.

“All I wanted to say is, I’m not moving on. It’s important to me that you know that.”

“Why?” Peter wondered. “Why do you want me to know that?”

“Because I don’t want you to move on, okay?” You admitted without looking at him.

“You don’t?” Peter asked as a smile broke through on his lips. You were about to say more when the second bell rang, meaning you were already late.

“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later?” You asked genuinely. Peter nodded and felt his heart piece itself back together. He went to his next class with a huge smile on his face and for the first time in months, allowed himself to be hopeful about getting back together.

A few days later, you were on your third date with Sebastian. He invited you to watch his lacrosse game and met up with him afterwards. As he approached you, his entire team followed him and clapped him on the shoulders while hyping him up. He pulled you into a hug that you didn’t want because he was sweaty and people were watching.

“Oh, hi.” You laughed awkwardly and stepped out of the hug.

“So you liked watching me play?” He asked you like he already knew the answer was yes.

“Yeah! Yeah, it was so….fun.” You kept your smile as you struggled to think of an acceptable adjective. You didn’t actually enjoy watching a bunch of sweaty guys jump on top of each other, but you wanted to be polite.

“Cool, cool. So while my boys are all with me, I wanted to ask you something.” Sebastian said while running his fingers through his hair. His hair wasn’t actually in his eyes, but he liked to do that when he wanted it look cool. His teammates started barking and clapping him on the back again, which made you step back uncomfortably.

“What did you want to ask me?”

“I want to make this official.” He said and rubbed his hands together. His teammates started barking again and shouting some crude remarks while you smiled nervously.

“Make what official?”

“Us, dummy. You and me. Aha.” He laughed and gestured between the two of you. Every single one of his teammates was staring at you and expecting you to say yes. You gulped and forced a laugh to ease the tension.

“Are you saying you want to be my boyfriend?”

“Yeah. I do. Lucky you.” He said with a suave smile. You folded your lips in and looked to the side to see if anyone was hearing this.

“But, uh, don’t you think it’s a little soon?” You laughed nervously.

“No. I think it’s the exact right time. Right, boys?” Sebastian turned to ask his team and they all hyped him up.

“But you barely even know me.” You pointed out. “We’ve only been on two dates. And one of them was a movie so we didn’t really talk.”

“I know you. And that’s why I want to give you this.” He said and stepped forward. He cupped your face and pulled you into the most lifeless, stiff kiss of your life. You kept your eyes open and didn’t move a muscle until he pulled away.

“It was horrible, MJ. Horrible. It felt like kissing a concrete wall. Only colder and a lot less fun. No passion whatsoever. I gotta get out of this.” You told MJ once you were back in your room that night. You were both sitting on your bed and you were hugging a pillow for comfort after being traumatized by the worst kiss of your life.

“Is he at least nice?” MJ asked you.

“I don’t know. I guess so. He doesn’t excite me though. Not the way…” You trailed off and looked to the side.

“Peter did?” She finished your sentence.

“It’s just, I would get all these butterflies when Peter texted me. I was checking my phone all day to see if he sent anything. I’d hear love songs on the radio and think of him and I. He made me laugh, he asked me questions, and took his time getting to know me. But with Sebastian, I feel like we’re just in an endless cycle of “hey, what’s up?” , “not much, you?”, “Yeah not much”. And then five hours later, we’re having that same conversation all over again. I don’t know if he has siblings. I don’t know what he likes to do for fun. I his favorite songs. I couldn’t even tell you what color his eyes are even though I’ve see him three days a week in class. Because you know what? I don’t care. He’s not Peter.”

“And you want Peter.” MJ said as more of a statement than a question.

“I do.” You admitted. “Ugh. Am I totally lame and pathetic for wanting someone who lied to me?”

“No. You are totally lame for those socks though.” MJ said and looked down at the Spiderman socks you had on.

“I bought them from a guy on the street.” You mumbled as you moved to sit on your feet.

“I could tell.” MJ mumbled back.

“It’s been two months. I’m done torturing Peter.” You decided. “I’m gonna end things with Sebastian and tell Peter I still love him.”

“Tonight? Please say yes. My wifi is buffering and I’m so bored.” MJ whined and shook your arm.

“Tomorrow.” You told him. “I don’t want to ruin Sebastians night.”

“Fine.” MJ huffed. “But you better tell him tomorrow. He almost died when Gwen and Kate told him about Sebastian. I thought he was gonna throw up.”

“I’ll tell him, okay?” You promised her.

“Good.” She nodded in satisfaction. “Get your boyfriend back.”

“You know what?” You smiled. “I will.”

The next day, you didn’t have any classes with Peter so you had to wait until lunch to see him. You unblocked his number and texted him that you had to talk to him about something but that it had to be in person. Peter was ecstatic to see that text and couldn’t wait until lunchtime when he got to see you. You were already sitting at the lunch table when he got there, making his heart pound. He quickly fixed his hair and shirt before approaching the table.

“Hey, Y/n.” He smiled at you as he sat across from you.

“Hey, Peter. Do you think we could-“

“Hey, little lady.” Sebastian cut you off as he slung his arm around you. Your smile fell almost as quickly as Peters did with Sebastian’s unexpected presence.

“Sebastian. What are you doing here?” You laughed nervously and took his arm off of you. Peter gulped and balled his hand into a fist as he tried to stay calm at the sight of some other guy with his arm around you.

“What? I can’t sit with my girlfriend and her friends at lunch?” Sebastian asked you as he put his arm back around you. Everyone froze and exchanged a look before looking at you and Sebastian.

“His what?” Kate asked and raised an eyebrow.

“His what?” Peter asked as his face crumbled.

“Uhhhh…” You forced another laugh and took his arm off of you. You had never actually agreed to being Sebastian’s girlfriend after the kiss incident. You had just excused yourself and ran back to your dorm as fast as you could.

“Y/n didn’t tell you? We’re official. I’m not like other guys. Labels don’t scare me. I’m crazy about this woman and I don’t care who knows it.” Sebastian said with a smug smile. You turned your face and gagged a little at every single word choice he made while Kate and Gwen tried not to laugh.

“Do you even know her last name?” MJ asked him. You felt grateful she had come to the rescue because you yourself had no idea what to say.

“Doesn’t matter. Because one day, it’ll be the same as mine.” Sebastian smirked before leaning in to kiss you. You quickly turned your face so the kiss landed on your cheek instead. You made eye contact with Peter when you turned your face and he looked like he was near tears.

“Wow.” MJ mouthed and looked at the girls to signal that they needed to help you.

“Sebastian, I’ve never seen where the lacrosse players practice. Would you mind showing me?” Kate asked when she picked up on MJs hint.

“You know what? Neither have I. I would love to see it.” Gwen agreed and stood up.

“Oh, sure. I could take you.” Sebastian agreed. “Let’s go, Y/n.”

“Actually, I’m gonna stay here with Peter.” You told him.

“No, you should go with him.” Peter said and stood up as well.

“I don’t want to go with him. I wanted to talk to you.” You kept your eyes solely on Peter as you got up from the table.

“It’s okay. You should go with your boyfriend.” Peter said as his eyes brimmed with tears. You stared him in the eyes for a long time before he wiped his face and ran out of the lunchroom. You let out a sigh as you watched him disappear but decided that you were done playing games. You turned to Sebastian to tell him the truth.

“Sebastian, I didn’t like how you asked me to be your girlfriend in front of all your teammates. It made me feel like I had no choice but to say yes. And honestly, I didn’t want to say yes. I don’t know you well enough. And right now, I don’t see a future between us. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” You said simply before running out of the lunchroom after Peter.

“I don’t really give a fuck where the lacrosse team practices.” MJ admitted as she sat back down at the table. The other girls were silent for a minute before nodding in agreement and sitting down as well.

“Peter, wait.” You called after him as you chased him down the hallway. Peter kept walking but you eventually caught up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. He was crying and looking down while wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.

“Peter, please talk to me. I need to explain.” You said as you pulled your sleeve over your hand to wipe his tears.

“You said you weren’t moving on. You said you didn’t want me to move on. When you asked me to talk today, I thought…” Peter trailed off when he felt too embarrassed to admit he thought you wanted to get back together.

“You thought what?”

“I thought you were ready to forgive me. And not just as pretend for our friends. You’ve been so nice to me lately and I felt like we were getting back to the way we used to be. But I’m such an idiot. I actually thought there was gonna be another chance for us.” He laughed sadly at Hoe dumb he felt for thinking that.

“Peter-“

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. I blew it with you and I know that. I don’t know why I was stupid enough to let myself think you wanted to get back together. You obviously don’t and moved on and I don’t have any right to be upset about that since it’s my fault for fucking things up between us. I should’ve just told you who I was right away. We could’ve been happy and in love if I had. I’m sorry I ruined everything between us. I’m sorry I lied to you. And I’m sorry for being a baby about it now. I know I shouldn’t be upset. I just can’t believe you have a boyfriend and it isn’t me.” Peter said and broke into tears again. He tried to walk away but you pulled him into a hug and let him cry for minute.

“Peter?” You said and pulled away a little.

“What?” He sniffled.

“I don’t have a boyfriend. I never did. He asked me to be his girlfriend last night and I never gave him an answer. But it doesn’t matter now because I just ended things with him. I never moved on. And I was never gonna date that guy. I had no idea he was gonna sit with us at lunch and do that whole thing. I really wanted to talk to you, not rub some guy in your face. I never meant for that to happen. I would never purposefully try to make you upset. Please, believe me.”

“I believe you.” Peter nodded as he stared into your eyes. You stared back into his and smiled a little at how easily he accepted that you were telling the truth. He knew you, more than anyone else could say.

“Can we talk? About everything?” You laughed at how fucked up it all was now.

“I would like that.” Peter smiled softly.

“Maybe tonight? We could go for a walk like old times.” You offered as you took a pack of tissues out of your bag. Peters smile grew as he took the tissues.

“That would mean a lot to me. I can pick you up outside your dorm at 6.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.” You squeezed his arm and walked away.

That night, Peter was outside your dorm but 5:45. He had showered, dosed himself in aftershave, and put on his least wrinkled shirt. He checked the time every minute or so in anticipation of your arrival. His nervous hands fiddled with his shirt, his hair, his watch, and anything else he could play with as he waited for you. 6:02 came and there was no sight of you. Peter grew hopeful every time someone came out of your dorm but it was never you.

6:11 came and went and you still hadn’t shown up. Peter sent you a few texts to make sure everything was all right but hadn’t gotten a response.

By 6:34, he assumed you had forgotten about your agreement to meet up but also wondered if he had gotten the day wrong. Maybe you hadn’t actually said tonight and said “tomorrow” instead.

At 7:06, Peter called it a night. He stood up from the stair he was sitting on and walked back to his apartment in tears. He didn’t care about the people staring at him because he was too heartbroken over you standing him up. He cursed himself for not realizing it was too good to be true. He wished he never let himself believe that he could get a second chance with you and just accepted that things were over for good. If he had, he would’ve saved himself grieving this relationship a second time.

Peter plopped his bag down at the library table the next day and immediately put his head down. He was anxious to see you and hear what you had to say about why you stood him up. Ned came to the table first, followed by Kate, MJ and Gwen.

“Hey, dude. How did things go with Y/n last night?” Ned asked and excitedly shook Peters arm. Peter sat up a little and rested his chin on his hand.

“I don’t know. She never showed up.” He said quietly. MJ immediately perked up when she heard this and looked at Peter.

“Oh, I’m sorry man.” Ned frowned. “That really sucks. I thought things were starting to change between you.”

“So did I. But I guess not.” Peter sighed and put his head back down.

“She never showed up?” MJ asked and lifted Peters head up by grabbing his hair.

“Ow.” He said and pulled away. “No, she didn’t. Did she tell you why she changed her mind?”

“She didn’t change her mind. She went downstairs to wait for you at like 5:30 because she was so exited. It was all she talked about all day. She even put on the perfume she was wearing the day you guys “met”. What do you mean she never showed up?” MJ whispered to him. Peters eyes went wide and he looked at Ned to see if he was hearing this too.

“I waited outside the dorm for an hour. She was never there.” Peter told her.

“Well what time did you arrive?” MJ asked.

“5:45. We agreed to meet at 6.” Peter told her. MJ’s face twisted in panic, making Peters do the same.

“MJ, what are you not saying?” Ned asked. Peter got a sick feeling in his stomach as he turned to MJ for answers.

“Y/n never come home last night. I assumed it was because she was fornicating with you.” MJ said, making Peters stomach drop.

“Gross. Fornicating?” Ned grimaced.

“She never came home?” Peter asked slowly. The energy at the table was filled with collective dread as everyone tried to think of the last time they spoke to you.

“If she wasn’t with you and she wasn’t with me, where the hell is she?” MJ asked angrily. Peter shrugged helplessly as Ned turned to Kate and Gwen.

“Is everything okay, guys?” Kate asked when she noticed the three of them looking like they had just seen a ghost.

“Have you guys seen Y/n today?” Ned asked them.

“No. She wasn’t in our first class together. I was just gonna ask you if she was sick?” Kate asked MJ.

“She’s not sick. She left our room last night and was supposed to meet Peter outside but he says she never showed up.“

“And she never came home?” Kate asked while Gwen covered her mouth in fear. MJ shook her head, making everyone fall silent. No one knew what to do next until Gwen spoke.

“Call her. Everyone call and text her.” Gwen said to break the silence. Everyone whipped their phones out to text and call you but no one was able to reach you.

“No answer.” Gwen sighed after the fifth missed call.

“Me either.” Kate shook her head. “My texts aren’t being delivered.”

Everyone was quiet as the gravity of the situation became more apparent. Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, something that only happened to him when danger was near.

“Guys.” Peter began. “I think something really bad happened to her. And I think it’s because of me.”

🖤🕸️🖤

Tag list 🏷️

@miwagila @gidgett11037 @hoetel-manager @deffnotnia @uncle-eggy

@freakofmusic25 @loveleesthings @katerinaval

@tom-hollands-wifey @helen-on-earth @amberpanda99 @freyaxx

@xorderedkaosx @riordanness @crxmxnzl-c0rpzes

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hawkogurl · 3 months ago

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As a staunch defender and lover of all female spider man characters, if you all won’t like them that’s just more for me, I do wanna briefly ramble about one specific thing that’s mostly a raimiverse fanfiction thing as far as I’ve seen.

I’m not gonna say you gotta like Harry with Peter or MJ, I myself pretty much only read Harry and MJ platonically and I have written many things where Peter is more useful to me platonically, but I feel like I’ve developed some weird sense of sort of resigned dread whenever Raimi Harry gets shoved with Gwen or a version of Liz.

For those two specifically, I think a lot of it is rooted in the fact that people are rarely writing Raimiverse Harryliz or Harrygwen because they really like it—a lot of people in this fandom are only tangentially familiar with Liz to begin with—and Harry only gets written with them because a lot of the time, there’s an assumption in the cultural consciousness that singleness is unhappiness or even if not that, that being with someone is completing or more happy than being single. As a result, it becomes some sort of thing that even when a character isn’t being focused on in a romantic capacity, a romantic relationship is part of the checklist for a happy ending. It’s something that should happen for a person to be Happy.

Most of the time that it happens, people are writing these things for the sake of Harry ending up in a relationship. It’s a relationship for the sake of a relationship. And even then, I don’t know if I would find it to be that big of a deal even if it would still sort of annoy me.

However, the fact that essentially means using these female characters only for the happy ending of a male character can raise some concerns for me. There’s rarely any attention given to these women—one of whom has an established personality and character in these movies and one that has decades establishing who she is as a person in the comics. Half the time, they barely appear on the page and they do very little and have very little personality when they do. If he needs to be in a relationship for how people perceive happiness in the long term, I can live with it, but it always puts a bad taste in my mouth when they don’t have personalities or active characters. They don’t really matter, they literally are just the check mark on that part of the checklist. What the hell is the point of this when nothing would actually change if he wasn’t with someone? And I mean that, I don’t want to see kids or things like that as an excuse, adoption exists. What actually changes about this if you just make him single? And that’s not just a matter of necessity, it’s also a matter of how damn misogynistic it can feel to use a female character solely for this purpose, especially one’s that historically have their own identities, their own conflicts, their own stakes.

If nothing else, I want to see some effort put into it. At least try and sell me on it, at least give these women some semblance of their actual personalities and try and tell me why it would work with his. Don’t make Gwen Stacy or Liz Allen of all characters into sexy lamps. At least try and make it make sense as a relationship.

And even putting the semi misogynistic treatment of women in this context aside, I’m still not done here. What is actually the point of putting him in a relationship here? If you’re not writing a relationship between two characters with personalities that can be used for development, if it’s not for the sake of liking them together, if it’s just to check that box, does that box actually even really make sense for him? I’m not talking about sexuality, and this can be rather variable, but being in a relationship isn’t gonna automatically fix someone with this many issues. It’s not going to be a convincing patch to use this as a substitute for working out the problems in this dude’s life that would—and in 616 canonically have—make it so hard for him to be happy in the long term. This guy is canonically divorced in 616.

This version of Harry, if he survives the third movie, is implied to be schizophrenic, historically poorly coping with trauma from Norman existing, recently traumatized in a half dozen new ways, struggles to maintain the connections he already has, has very little independent identity outside of wanting his father to love him and an even worse sense of self, and recently endured multiple severe and disfiguring injuries. Under what circumstances is any relationship he enters actually going to end well, even with a person that would be absolutely perfect under any under circumstances. Because whatever person you shove him with, they can’t fix him, and if you’re using Gwen and Liz it’s gonna feel a little misogynistic to try because they still only exist for him in these cases. It’s already pretty generally true that someone shouldn’t be in a relationship if they can’t be happy and complete alone, but this is more true for him than for everyone. Does Harry need another person to project his massive need for validation from onto like he did for Norman? Does he need to substitute finding his own identity with molding what little he has for another person to like him? Will he really benefit at all from another connection when he’d be trying to figure out how to rebuild the ones he already has? Realistically, him getting into a relationship without at least trying to deal with all that is just going to stunt him in trying to fix all that, because he’ll have something to fill all the holes with instead of dealing with it. And if you try and avoid that, it’s still going to risk being rather unsatisfying because there’s the hazard of just making him Suddenly All Better Now for the sake of a relationship that might be misguided in its very existence.

And on top of that, Harry has, in these movies, dated all of one time. And it didn’t necessarily seem like it was for someone he liked, more so to impress his father. Generally, though it is a matter of opinion, he doesn’t seem to want a relationship as much as he wants to be in a relationship. In a way ironically similar to how this is written much of the time, he’s fixated on the concept of dating for the sake of dating someone rather than actually really wanting that sort of connection with someone. A lot of the toxic masculinity he’s written with sort of manifests in this regard. He wants to be dating someone, but does he actually want to date someone? Should he? In many cases, especially ones where it’s not with a more tangible character that can be used for development independently, I don’t know of the answer should really be yes. It seems more satisfying for his character to be comfortable alone. Additionally, there’s little reason to me that platonic connections should be less valuable for him when they’re the most important ones he’s written with. He doesn’t need to be dating someone. In most cases it’s worse for his character if he is. The people who say he’s a playboy are lying to him and his casting has deceived you.

But also god if you’re gonna make him date someone at least sell me on it and make it mean anything at all.

#this is literally just rambling ignore it.#it’s my tumblr I post whatever the hell I want.#harryposting #harry osborn #raimiverse #raimi trilogy #spider man #spiderman #totally unrelated #aroace Harry real

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thelittlestspider · 6 months ago

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sorry these excerpts are all over the place and random because i don't have a mouse and it wouldn't let me just scan one small part. this is from the guardian devil part of it.

taglist: @fortunatetragedy, @hiitspath

“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with Peter lately,” Karen says. There’s an insinuation in her voice. Something that puts him on the back foot, makes him feel like she’s accusing him of cheating. Which is ludicrous.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“He’s your type,” Karen says, matter of factly. “Sharp, funny, nice voice. He laughs at your jokes. Very your type.”

“Peter?” Matt laughs. “He’s just a friend. I’ve known him since he was a kid.”

“But he’s a young man now,” Karen points out. “He might want things from you.”

The idea of Peter wanting things from him makes a part of him squirm. A part he squashes down ruthlessly, refusing to contemplate it.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I know what it’s like to have a crush on someone older who disappoints you.”

“Are you saying I’m leading him on?” Matt raises his brows in disbelief. “What the fuck, Karen?”

“I’m not saying you’re doing it on purpose.” Karen takes a bite of her food, followed by a sip of wine. “But the way he looks at you...it’s like you hung the moon.”

That feeling comes over him again. Matt blushes. He’s...flattered that someone like Peter can want him. Someone who always tries to do the right thing no matter the cost. A truly good man.

It’s a hell of a thing being wanted by a man made of gold.

“He’s just a friend,” Matt says again.

He expects Karen to push again, but she just says, “Okay,” softly, and reaches for his hand. Matt curls his fingers around hers, content with her touch.

“You’re everything, Karen,” he says, voice barely above a whisper.

….

Matt bounces the baby, lips against the crown of her soft head. She smells like soap, milk, and baby powder. He wonders if his mom ever sang to him or watched him in his crib with a smile.

….

Matt: I can’t have kids.

Peter: MJ and I wanted to have kids, but with me being radioactive...

Peter: Hey, can I hold her?

Matt hands the baby over and Peter plays with the baby.

….

[Matt is in a diner with the baby, waiting for Karen. He hears Bullseye walk in and head straight for him. Bullseye sits across from him.]

Bullseye: Hey gorgeous.

Matt: What the hell do you want?

Bullseye: This is a courtesy call on account of our...time together.

Matt pictures his sleazy grin and wants to punch his face in.

Matt: What do you want?

Bullseye: A guy hired me to kill you and snatch the baby. I don’t know why. I didn’t ask. Not that it really matters. A job’s a job. So get your people out of town, because I’m gonna mow every single one of ‘em down to get to you.

Matt: How dare you? I just got my life back together and I am not letting you ruin it just because you have some sick obsession with me.

Bullseye scoffs.

Bullseye: You gotta be shitting me. Like you literally cannot be fucking serious right now. What are you gonna do? Retire? Adopt the baby and be Mr. Karen fucking Page?

Matt: What’s wrong with that?

Doesn’t he deserve to be happy? To be normal?

Bullseye: Guy like you retires, he might as well put a gun in his mouth. [He mimes shooting himself in the face with a ‘pow.’] It’s a fucking waste.

Matt covers the baby’s ears.

Matt: I hate you. I wish you would die.

Bullseye: Then kill me. Pussy.

Matt whispers furiously, “I should’ve dropped you off a higher building. Let you get crushed by that train. Shot you in your fucking face when I had the chance.”

Bullseye: Baby, we’re in public.

Matt wishes he was like Elektra. She would’ve taken one of the forks off the table and stabbed it through his eye, deep into his brain. Then cut his throat with her sai. Bullseye would choke on the blood gushing from his throat, gurgling as he clutched the wound in his last moments.

But he isn’t Elektra. (Unfortunately. He misses her.)

“I’m going to pull your spine through your mouth,” she would say. “You pathetic waste of human life.”

(He likes her voice better than Stick and his father’s.)

#every me and every you tag

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glouris · 1 year ago

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About insomniac Peter’s possible retirement [Spider-Man 2 spoilers]

Wouldn't Peter passing the torch to Miles be kind of messed up? Peter thinks that Miles is doing much better than him, says things like “why would the city need me when it has you”, all that jazz. But it’s not like Miles is a better spider-man, better man, or anything like that - isn’t he managing better than Peter did because he has his support, his help? Isn’t doing what they do is miles (ha) and miles easier when someone has your back, when there’s someone that can pick you back up? Isn’t this why the slogan is ‘Greater Together’?

How does a game with such a slogan end with one of the spiders going off to fly solo, because he ‘can handle it’, make it make sense. Even if it’s for a while, it still irks me, because the implication of Peter hanging up the webs is still there. I didn’t like that he went on a ‘vacation’ in the end, it really wasn’t satisfying, and it didn’t make sense to me. It was cute, but this sure didn’t console me in the slightest.

The fact that Miles can handle everything on his own doesn’t mean that he has to, no? I know that we all want Peter to be happy, but is it in character for him to leave Miles to struggle in his place?

Like, remember 1610 Peter Parker from Into The Spider-Verse, how relieved he was when he met Miles and realized that he isn’t alone anymore. Spiders’ work is always taking everything they have, it’s just really, REALLY hard to manage on their own, mentally. But then, poof - there is someone that understands what it feels like, imagine how much easier to just BE it becomes. Look at the ATSV Miles, how alone he feels. He might not struggle with doing spider-man things, but is he okay mentally? Would insomniac Peter really let that happen to his Miles, if he could help it? Even when there is someone else to support and help Miles, would he really be okay with not bearing the burden together with him anymore?

And speaking of insomniac Peter again - didn’t he have severe issues with guilt and protectiveness, and didn’t want to drag Miles into all that in the first place? But THEN he has his ‘character development’ I guess, and now Miles is apparently ready to go be New York’s only spider-man? It’s just WEIRD to me - the last time Peter left Miles alone (immediately after his first real mission too), his best friend died, he himself almost died several times, tanked a nuke, probably got really depressed. It’s all the more reason for Peter to keep playing his old protective tune, not to decide ‘oh yeah, Miles is managing okay without me’ - NO HE DOESN’T, WHAT THE HELL. He’s strong, he can do everything on his own, but he DOESN’T HAVE TO. Imagine how much better MM events would have turned out if Peter was there! Either they would have prevented all the grief, OR Miles would have someone that understands him right there, and it would have been easier.

Peter is still very much terrified to lose his loved ones, and now with Harry in the coma, MJ and Miles is all he has left. If anything happens to Miles if Peter really does retire, someone will have to talk him off the ledge I fear. Even now, while Pete’s on his vacation, there’s damn Carnage running loose. Does anyone want to list everything he did to Miles in the comics? (it would be kinda cool if he turns him into a symbiote like he did there tho, I’d love to hear Miles’ suppressed thoughts on everything).

What’s with the need to separate them, I do not understand it. Give them time to shine on their own, sure, but don’t make a choice to lower the importance of Peter in Miles’ story, it’s dumb. Trying to show that Miles is strong because he can do things without Peter only continues to define him by Peter. And it’s pointless anyway, we all know that Miles is amazing (dudes that still disagree will just have to stay in their sad little corner).

So yeah, I really don’t enjoy the narrative seemingly building up Peter’s eventual retirement - this little ‘vacation’ of his in the end of the game, Cindy’s introduction. Maybe it’s all excuses and I just don’t want Parker to go, I don’t really care. I hate it, don’t let him go. It might be cruel, but shit, ‘great power - great responsibility’. He lets Miles do everything on his own today - tomorrow some villain arranges a canon event for him or (god forbid) kills him, and Peter sobs ‘it’s all my fault’ for the 1000th time. Even if they do introduce Silk, more help and support is better than less. They all really are greater together, it’s just how it is.

To quote Rio Morales, with a shoe ready this time - Go. Help. Him.

That was really long, phew, I didn't think that I had this many feelings about this. Anyway, what do you guys think about Peter possibly retiring? Do you think he would retire at all?

#peter parker #miles morales #spider man 2 #insomniac spider man #spider man #spider man ps4 #spider man ps5 #sm2 #spoilers #spider man spoilers #spider man 2 spoilders

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letsunity · 1 year ago

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With Thunder Comes Lightning

Summery: Peter and MJ tried again, but the spark wasn't there; they stay as friends to raise their soon-to-be daughter. Everything was going great until evil goop and a spooky vampire guy fall out of an orange portal. Little does Peter know that the biggest pain in his ass and future mutant best friend has landed right at his feet.

art by @Cyberdoods

Chapter 5 - Mutatis Mutandis

1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Centre, Westchester County, New York. He's never been on the property, but Peter knew where it was.

It's safer than their home.

He wouldn't be surprised if Professor X already knew they were coming.

Although Peter would've preferred grabbing what they needed and swinging to the mansion, it wasn't safe for MJ. He needed to protect her. He couldn't carry her and everything else at once. They agreed to use her car.

They also added car sickness to Miguel's lengthy list of medical inconveniences. The tablets MJ gave to keep him from throwing up had knocked the guy out completely.

"Don't blame yourself," MJ tried, but it didn't change the turmoil boiling inside of Peter. "What could you have done? Realistically?"

"More than what I did."

"You wouldn't kill someone, even if it's Manic Mike. He knew that."

Quite the nickname for the possessed vampire.

Peter should've tried, though. He could've done more. If he had killed Morbius, then Klyntarus wouldn't have a body.

In that scenario, however, since taking Miguel failed, he would've naturally gone for Peter. He would've deprived MJ of a co-parent and his child of their father. He didn't even know their name and almost lost the chance to see them.

All this happened because Peter didn't listen and wouldn't burn that sadistic bastard when he had the chance.

People were dying. Innocent civilians, his friends, and even his enemies were suffering.

"He said something down there. Klyntarus."

"What?" MJ inquired, worried.

Peter glanced at the rearview mirror. He felt a weight grow in his chest, recalling those harsh words, adding it to what he already knew.

It kept getting worse.

"Eugenics. He bred Miguel to be a compatible body."

"Fucking hell," MJ cringed, covering her eyes with disgust.

"I presume that's where the medical problems come from and why he was in a basement for so long. Thinking about it more, it was probably an underground lab."

"He's not going to stop, is he? Until he gets what he wants."

"Which is either asleep in our backseat or is in our trunk. Either way, it's bad."

"We're not letting him get either. That ugly bowling ball or Miguel. He's our friend. We don't leave people behind."

"No, we don't."

Peter looked at the rearview mirror again, taking a brief moment to analyse his passenger. It was difficult not to.

He couldn't understand why he couldn't sense Miguel but detected that feral version of him. It didn't make sense. How was he invisible but also not?

Even now, Peter couldn't detect he was there, even though Peter could see him. It was baffling.

MJ chuckled, but he didn't know why.

"What's funny? I got something on my face again?"

"You like each other."

"Of course, I like Miguel. And if he didn't like me, we wouldn't be buddies!"

"He's pretty, and you know it."

What did she mean by that?

Peter had to look again to see what she was talking about.

Miguel had cheekbones that could cut glass, eyes that smouldered like a raging fireplace and an impeccable body, but he didn't understand what she meant.

He's a nice-looking guy, but something about how she said it was so weird. Was it his voice? How those growls rumbled deep from his chest like oncoming thunder and the Spanish becoming little flashes of lightning?

The guy could read the menu from Taco Bell and make it alluring.

"Do you fancy him?" Peter inquired, confused but curious. "I can't tell you who not to like, of course. It's just... he's not from this universe. He'll have to go eventually."

Why did that fact feel sad? He should be happy that Miguel could go home.

Home. Where he was alone.

Wasn't being made by that abomination terrible enough? Nobody should endure such solitude. At least Peter had MJ; that's better than nothing at all.

Those scars, the ones that were far too clinical to be mere battle wounds. They originated from him, too, didn't they? More games by the evil sludge.

To know that you were bred solely to be the vehicle of a monstrous parasite must be horrifying. That parasite then killed your family, even your daughter, and won't stop tormenting you.

It honestly felt like Peter was continuing that torture. Thanks to him, his friend's abuser was still out there, wreaking havoc on other lives.

Why can't Peter do what's necessary? He felt so weak and helpless.

"No, Peter, I don't," MJ answered, though his confusion wasn't satisfied. "Be open is all I want to say. You've got a lot you want to talk about."

"I'm getting tired of talking."

"I know, babes. We'll figure something out."

She didn't sound so confident this time.

And Peter did want to talk, as much as it annoyed him. He wanted to hear it from Miguel, to understand his friend more and try to keep him from risking himself so much. While he didn't value his life, Peter did.

Was there anything for him to live for besides revenge? It didn't seem so.

When Uncle Ben died, Peter didn't rise as a hero without hiccups. He went after the man that took his father figure's life, and was responsible for his death, even if indirectly. It wouldn't be the first time he was tempted to break the rule of no killing.

So, so many times, Peter had wanted to end the problem. He was so scared of becoming like them, though, a villain that only hurt others.

Without Miles, Peter wasn't sure he would've kept going.

Could he do the same for Miguel? Try and start him on a journey of finding value in himself. It's unlikely, but he had to try. What Spiderman would he be if he didn't try?

Even if all of his trying appeared to end in catastrophic failure.

The mansion was magnificent and a little pretentious.

As it tended to explode once a year, Peter's very unconfident that it would last long. However, if MJ could rest easy, it could work.

And having superpowered people around your pregnant best friend made him feel a little better.

Peter felt like an idiot and knew seeing Logan after losing Matt and Luke would hurt. He couldn't imagine how he was feeling.

It would be fair to blame him, too.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," MJ said, but it didn't change how he felt inside.

"Yeah, Logan will do that for me."

"He might not."

"You know how close he was with Cage. I know he'll start a fight with Miguel, too. I'm secretly interested to see how that'd play out."

"I'd pay for tickets to see that. There's a two-foot height difference, too. It's like a chihuahua biting at a Great Dane."

"Chihuahua is the most accurate descriptor for Logan. For Miguel? I'd go more for Rottweiler. Capable of doing damage but a big softie inside."

"I know there's a Mexican version of a pit bull, but I forgot what it's called. Oh, Logan's Canadian; is there a tiny Canadian dog?"

"There is no dog more suitable for Logan than a Chihuahua. Only a Chihuahua with adamantium bones and lightsabres for knuckledusters."

That created a hilarious image in Peter's head.

He pulled the car into a visitors' parking space - heh, Parker the parker, that's funny.

MJ got out first, stretching her legs. Having a literal human growing inside of you must be so freaky.

After Peter got out, he went to the back, knocking on the roof.

An annoyed reddish brown eye peeked at Peter. He didn't know why he was so fixated on the colour or why Miguel's eye being only half open excited him.

She's not wrong. He's got a pretty face.

Rationally, Peter knew it was to protect his eyes from the sunlight. Sadly, those brilliant red eyes disappeared behind sunglasses.

"Wake up, big guy. We're here."

"I don't like cars."

MJ chuckled as she got the evil orb from their trunk.

"I know, pal."

"You've got leather seats."

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Miguel lifted his arm, showing a rash. "You're allergic to leather? Seriously?"

"That's not even the dumbest one."

"I'm almost scared to ask."

"Dermographia."

"No idea what that means."

"When most people touch me with their bare skin, I get a reaction - you can write on my skin."

"Cool and depressing. I'm glad I don't trigger that, bud."

"You don't trigger a lot of things for some reason."

He didn't know why he was pleased to hear that. Perhaps it's because Peter keeps fucking things up? That's probably why.

Peter took several steps back for the taller man to get out of the car, cracking his neck.

Seeing how in shape Miguel was made Peter feel terrible about his flabby body. If he worked out, he could look like that. What example would he be to his child if he was overweight?

How can Peter date somebody if his tummy passes the door before him?

He looks terrible, too. It's horrible that MJ had to deal with him for so long. Why did she even take him back? She's heavily pregnant and incredible.

"Mi primera universidad parece pretenciosa."

"I think I recognise university in that sentence - hey, I'm learning!"

"It looks like one of those creepy castles full of spooky shit."

"I can see it, actually," Peter agreed, pushing the gates open.

He didn't even realise there was a lock until it clattered on the pavement.

MJ sighed, picking it up. It wasn't rotten and rusted, thankfully.

She sneezed. Like always, it was loud, like a car horn. It always made Peter giggle, no matter the situation.

"Salud," Miguel stated. It's possibly the Spanish form of "bless you". "I'm only reminding you now that I was completely against this."

"It won't be that bad," MJ said, a little too optimistic. "Logan's nice!"

"There are undeniable laws in the multiverse. Lobezno siempre es una zorrita enfadada."

"You just insulted Logan, didn't you?"

"You are learning. There's hope for us yet."

Although Peter should feel insulted, it felt more playful than aggressive.

Slowly but surely, Peter is infecting this man with a sense of humour.

Several people stared at them as though they were out of place. He could feel them judging him, which was weird. There was a literal kid that looked like a bipedal ocelot, but somehow a pregnant redhead, overweight guy and giant Latino were odd.

Sure, because they're the weird ones.

He saw Storm and Cyclops outside of the main building, the obnoxious mansion.

Honestly, it's begging to get blown up.

Although Cyclops' eyes were obscured by his visor, Peter could feel the hostility radiating off the man. It was directed solely at Miguel, and Peter wouldn't allow that.

"Been a while," Peter said, trying to keep things peaceful. "We've got a lot to talk about. Is Xavier in?"

Of course, he was. Where else would he be? Smooching Magneto?

"A lot," Storm concurred, shaking her head. "Logan's not doing well. I don't think it was a good idea for you to come here now."

"Oh, right - I'll just call your receptionist. Stacy's lovely. I heard she's back from her honeymoon. She can schedule a visit after the universe has been eaten by evil snot," Peter huffed, annoyed. "Does that sound good to you?"

"Son tan útiles como un cactus en una tormenta de nieve. No malgastes tu aliento."

"You want to repeat that, hotshot?" Cyclops sneered, understanding Spanish.

Peter was a little jealous.

Sensing a rising tension, Peter put himself between Cyclops and Miguel, but the taller man only needed to lean over him.

"Eres un pony de un solo truco. Estaré encantado de enseñarte a hacerte el muerto."

"Big talk from an invader!"

"Muérdeme, colonizador."

"That's enough, both of you," came the deep English voice of Professor X, even balder than before. How was that possible? "There's been enough deaths these past few days. We don't need bloodshed on these grounds."

"No puedo prometer nada."

"You can and you will," Storm added.

Great, all of them can understand Spanish but him and MJ.

Miguel growled, irritated by the man's presence. Interestingly, Professor X realised something he wouldn't share. How rude.

With a wave, Xavier requested that they all follow him.

Of course, Cyclops had to sneer at Miguel, who only grinned back, showing his fangs.

The halls were fancy and a little over the top. It's dramatic for a barely legal school.

There were kids of all ages, from tweens to young adults.

A small quad of girls with a single boy was eating Taco Bell. It wasn't Peter's favourite, but it got him through some tough nights before meeting Miles.

Miguel made a slight growl, disgusted by it.

"What's the matter now, tough guy?" MJ questioned, slightly confused.

"Taco Bell isn't real Mexican food."

"And bacon sure ain't kosher, but it's so good," Peter shrugged, though he vaguely understood the point.

"Kosher is a beverage in my universe."

MJ passed the metal ball to Peter, shaking her hands off the evil device. He didn't blame her for not wanting to touch it.

"If Aunt May were alive, she'd be thrilled to hear that," he chuckled, thinking back to her.

Peter wasn't overly religious but was raised in a Jewish house. The traditions meant a lot to his aunt, uncle and father; it was important to them, and it felt like he got to be with them during Hanukkah and the other Jewish holidays.

It's sad knowing his child won't be able to meet them. They were great people. And unlike his egg donor, the baby will have a great mother.

Was that woman even alive? He wasn't sure, nor did he care. It wasn't like she ever cared about him, so why would he waste any precious time on her?

Mary was an awful person. How she got close enough to anybody, let alone his father, to make a child? He'll never know.

Hopefully, she was sad and alone, unable to harm other people.

As if detecting their leaders' seriousness, Rogue, Beast, and Logan quickly joined them. While Peter wanted to say something to his pal, he struggled to find the words.

How could he apologise for Luke and Matt's death?

It felt strange how they were too close, almost escorting them.

Professor X wheeled into a secure part of the building. It was like a freaky laboratory, and Peter didn't like being in there.

He didn't want Miguel in there, either. He'd spent too long in labs.

"There's a lot to discuss," Professor X said, facing them. "Storm, please take Miss Watson and get her comfortable. I'm sure she's tired."

"If anything happens to my boys, I'll find you," MJ promised, letting Storm place a hand on her back.

Peter didn't like the lab. It was too clean, too sterile. It had gadgets, gizmos and goobers everywhere.

He believed her, too. Even though she was pregnant, she was the last person to mess with.

"I take it you guys already know about the new villain," Peter said, hoping they'll help.

Miguel didn't feel the same way.

"The thing killed Matt and Cage!" Logan roared, tossing a metal table into a wall. "The fucking monster has been slaughtering people left and right, and we can barely keep up with it!"

"Cerebro detected him when he arrived. He's far worse than a mere "villain", and you know that," Professor X said sorrowfully. "I presume your compatriot is of the same origin?"

"Half right," Miguel stated. "He took over my universe some time ago. I made him run and have been tracking him for nearly three years. I got close to killing him this time."

Until Peter fucked it up.

"That's my fault," Peter said, a weight growing in his heart. "Miguel told me to burn what was left of him, but I didn't listen, and he recovered. So far, all we've been able to do is take this from him," Peter continued, placing the metal ball on a non-destroyed table.

"Without a compatible body, that is how he survives. He feeds off universes by destabilising them. He's so parasitic that he rots everything he interacts with, so he's not hard to follow," Miguel added, sounding angry. "He calls himself Klyntarus. Son of a bitch is so obsessed with his "species' superiority" that he named himself after his home world."

"Can't be that superior if the dang sludge needs some ping-pong ball to stay alive," Rogue commented, which was a fair observation.

"That's great, but how do we catch the fucker?" Cyclops asked, glaring at Miguel. "Sure, we can destroy this ball, but that won't stop him from taking bodies."

"If I repair this - we use it to travel between universes - I can call for backup. We've got technology designed to handle anomalies like him," Miguel stated, showing off his funky watch. "It'll be a pain, but I can make another - albeit smaller and weaker - Venom Burst bomb to harm him. It'll be easier to contain and eliminate him after that."

"How hard could that be? You're making a bomb. You already made a dimension hopper," Rogue questioned, confused.

"Because it's my venom. Do you know anything about venom milking? I can only make so much. I had to collect for months to get enough."

"I can make something to boost production," Beast said, but Peter didn't like hearing that. "An important question needs asking - how does Klyntarus destabilise a universe enough for him to consume it?"

"Currently, it's only a hypothesis, but it's the Canon Theory. For every Spiderman I've encountered, some criteria are met - if they're disturbed, the universe becomes unstable. Cause enough disturbance, and it breaks apart. He'll deliberately interfere with "canon events" to make it easier for him to flee or feed."

"Fantastic. How many times has he fought us?" Logan grumbled, irritated by Miguel's very existence.

"Every time he entered a universe with you in it. He's familiar with your abilities, even if you use them differently. You're not to engage him directly. You'll die or, worse, become a puppet, and he'll use your powers. It was bad enough when he got Professor X once. He killed every mutant on this planet with a thought."

Everything was stacked against them. That sludge was a threat they had never encountered before. He knew all of their abilities and then some. What could they do against such power?

They do everything that they can.

While Miguel continued elaborating on the situation, Peter felt like a piece of furniture, watching it all unfold.

In the pit of his stomach, something told Peter that he made a mistake.

Deadpool had a point when he said that Xavier looked like Mister Clean.

Peter wasn't sure what the wheelchair superbrain wanted and didn't want to know. He knew that it involved Klyntarus in one way or another.

If he wanted details about the monster, he would've spoken to Miguel. The Professor had been weird with his friend, which was unusual, even for the X-Men's head honcho.

"Do you know why I asked you to speak with me alone, Peter?" Charles asked, his accent thick and English. It sounded so fancy compared to Peter.

A funny thing about Spidey's sense is that it interfered with telepathy. Instead of a clear picture, mind readers received static and grainy images. It made Peter quite irritating to those attempting to read him.

Is why Klyntarus hasn't tried taking Peter over? Or it's to hurt him until he's satisfied. Either way, he wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

Whatever Klyntarus wanted, he couldn't get. No matter the cost.

"My amazing improv."

"It's certainly a bonus, but I'm afraid not. I want to speak with you about your "friend"."

"I don't like how you put that in quotes."

"My apologies. I wasn't certain how close you were, despite him not even being here a week."

It didn't feel that short.

"Haven't you read him?" Peter questioned, awkwardly sitting on the chair across from the Professor. "You're super talented with that stuff."

"In a peculiar way, your friend is telepathic. He has an intriguing mental ability that negates detection or being accessed entirely. He is invisible to Cerebro, me and Jean. I suspect your "Spidey sense" cannot detect him, either."

An invisibility cloak, but mentally. That's a fascinating concept. It's why Magneto and Juggernaut wear those stupid helmets.

It explains why Peter couldn't feel his friend. It is also why Klyntarus can't track him down so easily.

Unfortunately, this felt like a deliberate ability. Why would Klyntarus have a host when a telepath such as Xavier can free them from the mental shackles of Symbiote possession?

It's like everything was deliberate, and even still, Miguel used those powers against the one that gave them to him.

What was the purpose of his venom? The claws? The heightened senses? Why did he have so many medical problems?

Using his brain - horrifying - there was a possible reason.

Klyntarus made it so that Miguel was in pain without him. A horrific and disgusting possibility, but given how the Symbiote operated, it was likely. If Peter was a mega-evil pile of sentient snot, he might've done something similar.

Peter already respected his fellow spider, but to still refuse the Symbiote despite that only engorged that respect. It swelled like the feeling in his chest whenever he saw those eyes.

That posed another issue, however.

"I can't feel him at all - like a weird black spot - but the other day, Klyntarus triggered something. It was angry and feral, and he wasn't in control. I felt that. How can I feel that but not him?"

"Though I cannot read Miguel, I have felt what you're speaking of," Xavier said, confusing him. "It's quite evident that Klyntarus used his DNA in creating his "perfect host". That would make him part Symbiote."

Fuck. That made too much sense.

"And even the smallest part of a Symbiote is sentient," Peter sighed, pinching the bridge of his wonky nose. "It didn't behave like a Symbiote, though. It was so wild and, well, not in control."

"The piece within Miguel isn't conscious - it isn't alive, strictly speaking. It doesn't comprehend friend or foe, only threats to Miguel, which it doesn't distinguish itself from. You have been deemed not a threat."

When Miguel questioned how he didn't hurt Peter, that's what he meant. This freaky mode attacked everybody, following only instinct and the need to survive. In a way, that was the most terrifying of foes.

For whatever reason, it decided that Peter wasn't a threat.

Weirdly, it felt like a compliment.

"Why're you talking to me about this? Why not talk to Miguel about it?"

"There is a lot at stake, Peter. Many lives will be lost if we don't defeat this enemy. To trap this thing, we need... bait."

"No," Peter stated firmly, scowling. "You're not going to use Miguel as bait for that thing. Nobody is going to be bait."

"We use Miguel or the unnamed sphere. At least Miguel is capable of refusing Klyntarus."

"That's a shit plan. You don't trap something like that. You've got to burn him until there's nothing left."

"Peter, I understand that you've lost your friends to this entity-"

"He wants to hurt my best friend and my unborn baby! Now you want to take the primary victim of an abusive monster and dangle him like a carrot for a donkey! Doesn't that sound fucked up?"

"So does the death and destruction of an entire universe. Not only ours but many more afterwards. It's better than Logan's suggestion."

Peter didn't need to hear it. He already knew what Logan would've suggested.

"I'm not allowing that."

"I won't lie to you, Peter; it's not something I take lightly. You're a smart man. You've thought of it."

"No, actually, I haven't. I'm not a damn lunatic!" Peter shouted, standing in anger, the chair falling behind him. "You don't kill somebody for being the victim!"

"What suggestions do you have, then, Peter? We're empty of ideas. We've never faced something like this - it's a graver threat than anything ever known."

"That doesn't give you a get-out-of-jail-free card. I'm not surprised by Logan, but you, the smart one? I'm disappointed. You're supposed to help, not make things worse!"

"Worse for who, Peter? Because I know you aren't referring to us or even your unborn child," Xavier sighed, looking sorrowful.

"We'll make a different plan without using Miguel as bait or fucking killing him like damn cowards. It doesn't even make sense to think of that!"

"People can only take so much. If we don't defeat him, it's only a matter of time before Klyntarus succeeds."

"If there's one absolute certainty about spiders, we never give up, even when we're at our breaking point and desperately want to," Peter growled, hitting his hand on the desk, reducing it to splinters. "We're making a different plan, Professor, and that's the end, understand?"

Peter left the room, refusing to say more.

He went to the X-Men for help. They're supposed to help. He's not surprised by Logan, but Xavier? He's disappointed and disgusted.

They weren't helping. At best, they can keep MJ safe.

Peter won't sit idly by as someone tries to abuse somebody else. He keeps messing stuff up, but he's still going to try. He knew Miles would be heartbroken if Peter ever gave up, no matter how badly he wanted to.

He and Miguel can figure something out alone.

The man paused and glared at an open hallway, and Logan merely shrugged.

"I know you've got problems with it, Pete, but I doubt Taco Bell hater does."

"And you don't see an issue with that?"

"Of course. Look, I get that you like the guy - fuck knows why, he's an asshole - but we make sacrifices to save others. This isn't a loser with nothing better to do, Peter. That thing wants to down us like I do beer, and I'm a damn alcoholic."

"There are sacrifices, and then there's just plain wrong."

"You're feeling guilty. Personally? I believe you should, but logically? Not as much. How could you know the snot was an interdimensional super dickhead?"

He couldn't, and Peter knew that. It didn't matter, though. His Spidey senses were explicit and had never failed him before.

He didn't listen, and everyone was paying the price for it.

Peter still wasn't listening; Miguel didn't want them to go to the X-Men, and he was right not to.

Did he know what Logan suggested?

Did he know what Xavier wanted to do?

The worst part was that Miguel would go through with it.

Anything if it meant destroying the damned creature that created him in the first place.

Peter's not going to allow that.

Why didn't he listen?

Special thanks to spider-the-bat for the borders!

#ao3 refugee #ao3fic #across the spider verse #miguel o'hara #peter b parker #peter b parker x miguel o'hara #spiderdads #mj watson #bestie goals mj #x-men #marvel #with thunder comes lightning #plague of the spiderverse series

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winterironrox · 2 years ago

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️SPOILERS BELOW ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

This is not a simple review. It will contain specifics and loud opinions.

———-

I just need to start this off by saying that I fucking love Hobie. He is definitely one of the best parts of the movie. I am so happy that the rumor I heard about Hobie liking Gwen and creating a “love triangle” was not true. I very much dislike “love triangles.” I was screaming the entire time Hobie was on screen. He’s an anarchy genius.

Pavitr is the sweetest lil bean. It was such a relief seeing a happy Spider-Man. I really loved seeing Indian culture represented in a simple everyday way.

The Morales family is amazing and I only want the best for them. Mr. and Mrs. Morales are trying hard to be good parents and it shows.

Peter B. Parker what the hell are you thinking bringing a child into a violent fight?? I can sort of forgive the first one but then lying to MJ about it. You were literally carrying MayDay in a bjorn on a bullet train going skyward. I understand that you want Miles to see MayDay and see the good he brought you but a violent environment is not the time or place.

Speaking of bad parenting, Gwen’s father is an immature ass. When Gwen said, “You’re a good cop, Dad.” I wanted her to follow it up with, “but not a good father.” Why can’t superheroes condemn their parents?

Superhero movies don’t allow characters to hold their parents accountable because they’re objectively made for children to enjoy and children aren’t meant to question or judge their parents. When a parent missteps the child is required to meet the parent where they stand by accepting that everything was done out of love. How the child feels and how the slight effected them isn’t discussed. Marvel did this with Howard and Tony as well as Odin, Loki, and Thor. It’s insane that Sony and Marvel deny children seeing their heroes protect themselves and set boundaries with the people who are supposed to care for them above all others.

Miles is truly a King. He’s better than all those other spider-people and right now I don’t think they deserve the good he’s gonna bring them.

I’m not the biggest fan of Gwen’s actions or the romance between her and Miles. I would have preferred to see Tiana Toomes with Miles but Miles does go the furthest with Gwen out of all his girlfriends, opinions can be made as to why that is, so Gwen and Miles makes sense. I feel that their relationship is still in the crush stages and after her betrayal it could be the end of it. Maybe we could see Tiana, Kate, or someone else in the future.

I’m sure Miles is going to forgive Peter and Gwen but I at least want him to make them sweat more or for them to admit in full why they betrayed him. In order for Sony and Marvel to stop showing their audiences that unconditional forgiveness is required characters need to communicate and reach an understanding that isn’t one person deciding to be the bigger person, especially the child.

It’s fascinating to me that spider-people are so willing to rationalize their losses that they will all follow Miguel when he is clearly wrong.

Miguel that world fell apart because you were in it not because a canon event didn’t happen. Canon events, termed by Miguel, are just common themes that have/will lead to similar events because of course they will. Someone not dying in one instance is not the same as someone making roots in a universe that is not their own. The universe is resilient and it will correct itself. If a person’s death is more important than their survival then don’t worry the universe will make sure that they die.

Unlike the spider-heroes who are rationalizing their loss via acceptance, Spot is resorting to anger. He’s just focusing on the brightest string, like the Maximoffs did with Tony.

I found Miguel’s theory of Miles being an anomaly to be interesting. As I previously stated the universe will only go along with things it agrees with, Miguel learned this lesson pretty traumatically, so I believe that 1610 Peter was going to die that night. And if spider-42 hadn’t been brought to universe-1610 then there wouldn’t be a Spider-Man in 1610. So I think that the universe agreed that 1610 Miles is meant to be Spider-Man. I mean as we have seen multiple times in Across alone, Miles is a good force in every universe. I’m wondering if in 42 Prowler Miles is considered an anti-hero instead of a villain. I mean it’s more likely that they will go with the storyline of Miles meeting the evil him to strengthen his own morals, reminiscent of Billy. But I think I’d prefer the first storyline. It fits the narrative of “fuck canon/the box you want me in.” Also does Miguel just not care about universes without Spider-Man because he could have figured out a way to save 42 if he wanted? I’m so excited to see what happens with 42 Prowler and the final fight.

Absolutely loved all the cameos. All the spiders were perfectly done. Someone correct me if I’m wrong (pls pls send me screen grabs) but I didn’t see 199999 Peter in the holograms. Miguel mentions him in a derogatory way but that’s it. I might be reaching since 199999 Peter is my favorite but I think this is because Miguel groups Miles and Peter together. Miguel is okay with not saving everyone which is something Miles and 199999 Peter refuse to do. 199999 Peter’s main motto is “If you have the power to stop the bad things from happening and they happen anyway then they happened because of you.” Honestly, Peter holds himself to this way to tightly but Miguel does the exact opposite. He doesn’t even try to help people and then absolves himself from guilt. Peter literally almost destroyed the multiverse trying to help people and then lost everything fixing it, again Miguel did the opposite.

My final thoughts about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are fuck Miguel, I’m disappointed that so many spider-heroes would want to rationalize their trauma so bad that they would intentionally hurt one of their own, and of course the animation is breathtaking. Can’t wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse!

ps. I saw a tweet where someone said they want RiRi to get the Miles treatment and I totally agree. I would die to see RiRi Williams in 2D animation! She’s phenomenal with a great story, plus we’d get a young Tony Stark in 2D. RDJ would voice him no question. We’d be winning winning.

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lokisivy · 6 months ago

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The Prophecy - Peter Parker (TASM) Part one

summary: A girl Lucy Osborn loses her Peter Parker in her universe when a strange chaos makes her meet his boyfriend's doppelganger.

It was one of the rare times when my abilities were at their peak and these weren't any crimes to tend to I've done my search through the city I was about to call it a night till a portal opened.

"Peter!" A tall brunette with stunning features called for you. I'm not Peter he died 8 years ago. I went through it only to be met by disappointment coming from the brunette and her friend.

"You're not Peter Parker" The boy said.

"No, I'm not. how do you know Peter?" I said. I was confused. Another man was wearing a Spiderman-like suit, and it looked real. "This is what i said. I am Peter Parker," the man in the suit said. "No, you don't look like him," i said

"We are searching for our friend Peter Parker," he said "But your not him your a woman?" he hesitantly said. I took off my mask "I'm Lucy Osborn Spider-woman" Their faces were in shock "Let's go a woman spider!" The brunette said excitedly I took a look around.

"Osborn as in Harry Osborn" the imposter Parker said. "Yes he is my brother"

"but you don't look anything like him he doesn't even have a sister" he said just as confused as me.

"Im Ned this is MJ my friend we are looking for Peter Parker.' he said "Peter Parker died 8 years ago" I state my heart sinking at the thought. No this isn't the time. she said MJ I only knew one MJ she was a redhead, not a brunette.

"Our universes got intertwined your villains came to our world and now you're here" she explained. I am in a parallel universe hell yeah. I wish Peter was here to tell him it was real we always share theories but it was never legitmised.

"MJ as in Mary Jane Watson?" I asked

"No, Michelle Jones-Watson," she corrected

"Well, at least the last name is the same," I shrugged. "Crawl around, I want to see if you are really Spider Woman," MJ said. "I can't. I wasn't bitten by the spider," I explained. "How-" Imposter Peter said before being interrupted by Ned

"Guys, we need to focus. we have to find Peter." Another portal opened, and coming through, it was Peter my Peter. Tears creep up my eyes. I don't know how to feel; sad, happy, mad. All I know is that the love of my life is standing in front of me 8 years older. He went through the portal. "Peter!" I squealed, going to him and hugging him he was hesitant but hugged me back."I thought you died. " I almost broke into a sob

Shit, he might not be my Peter but he looked, smelled acted like him. I pull back "I'm sorry it's just you look exactly like my Peter Parker" he wasn't weirded out he was surprised "It is okay " he said genuinely. Was Fait pushing us together?

"That's not Peter Ned" MJ yelled "I don't know how to work this thing!" Ned yelled back. After the squabbles, we went to search for their Peter. Their Peter Lost his Aunt May and he was probably sad and angry and those aren't good combos for someone with super senses.

"You are not Spider-woman crawl around" MJ said looking like I'm carrying explosives "Woman I told you I wasn't bitten by the spider I can't"

"Guys we have to go we need to find Peter." Ned said rushing us

...

we were trying to consult Peter from this universe we are in he lost his aunt may I know for a fact he is mad and angry. He probably wants to kill whoever killed her. I'm not the best person to consult him I killed my own brother for what he did I am a hypocrite.

"I lost Gwen- my MJ" he clarified trying not to break into tears.

It is still all weird to me to see Peter a part of me is happy and also a part of me is sad knowing that he is not the same person. They all looked at me waiting for me to speak,

Oh boy.

I sat next to him " I lost my Peter Parker, I might not be the best person to tell you this but trust me this anger you feel will go away." I told him sincerely that anger would fade and become pain instead.

After we convinced him, we went to the lab in the high school to create our cures. none of the people I went against came here. we dodged a built. I helped Peter to create the cures since 2 of his vilians had biological changes. Peter and MJ were talking to each other they looked so happy i was envious of them but happy that Peter had someone to take of him and love him while his aunt was gone.

"Can I ask you something?" Peter said mixing chemicals he looked so pleasing wearing the lab coat his safety goggles, and pushing back his hair, he was trying to distract me from the way I was looking at Peter and MJ, I always had a thing for nerdy guys.

"Yes of course." I smile at him working on the cure for Dr Curtis.

"How are you Spider-Woman you weren't bitten by a spider" he looked at me briefly searching for any signs of being uncomfortable.

"A couple years before Peter Died I got Retroviral Hypodysplasia when I told him we searched for a cure everywhere until he had this idea of him trying to extra healing DNA from his blood which I frankly thought it was ridiculous but you --sorry he never really gave up," I said shuddering a shaky breath I forgot myself for a second.

"anyways after months of working on it he finally made it to work but it worked only for me it was super risky after it worked he destroyed the notes and the work he couldn't risk anyone finding it and trying to use it wouldn't work. So my brother came back a year after he got the same disease, and he was dying Peter couldn't help him he had already destroyed everything he theorised that if one used his blood he would get a fraction of his abilities if it fell in the wrong hands he would've created something he can't change. His blood gave me limited abilities i mean I can't save the city from a lizard plague while having a built wound but I can take down major stuff with help from NYPD i can't make webs I had to create my own fluid with my blood and my sense are Hightened but that's it " I ended my explanation.

"So I was right for not giving Harry my blood." he stated "Yes it would've killed him faster. You probably saw him with the venom he took." I answered."How did Peter die?" he hesitantly asked, "My brother found out about the cure when Peter refused to help he took the venom and he tried to kill me as revenge took us to the clock tower and threw me Peter managed to save me with a web string but it broke he jumped in hugged me took the fall first to the ground Sparkels fried his web shooters only one of them work." Tears threatened to fall."It should've been me - if I stayed where he asked me, none of this would've happened. " A tear broke down. He quickly took off the gloves and held my face, wiping the tears away. I relaxed to his touch. it was like a dream come true, finally being able to touch him after years of nightmares and horrors. "I was never your fault. Harry would've gotten what he wanted no matter what." he comforted me "Same thing happened with Gewen, but when i tried to save her with my web, her spine broke. she died because of me, but you didn't do anything wrong." it pained me to see him blaming himself for something he didn't control over. "I wasn't your fault though you didn't know." he gives me a weak smile

Oh, shit I see what he is doing.

"Oh okay, I see what you are doing." I let out a small chuckle. the tension grew moment by moment his hands lowered to my jaw and my hands rubbed his biceps. This was comforting i wanted to stay here forever. My breaths getting heavier and my heart was pumping faster than the flash.

"Lucy..." his voice was low and raspy, and my stomach flipped from his voice. "Peter." His name came out of my mouth like I ran miles for hours. "You sound like her," he states, his face lower to mine, our lips so close but yet felt so far. my hand sneaks up to his face, pulling him down.

I kissed him I had to I needed to. being here with him was a comfort that could last me for years. and he kissed me back he took the lead it was a spark a thrill I hadn't felt in a long time i felt so high school at this moment with him was all I needed. and there it came guilt he doesn't know who I really am he doesn't know I killed my brother. he wouldn't love me if he knew it

"We have to get back to work." he breaks the kiss, smiling. It is bright

"Yes" we do i smile back at him

#andrew garfield #spiderman #tomholland #the amazing spider man #spiderman no way home #tobey maguire #marvel mcu #peter parker imagine #peter x mj #mj watson #zendaya

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jahayla-parker · 1 year ago

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Bewitched Love : Peter Parker x Reader

Part 9

Bewitched Love Series Navigation

Desc. & Warnings: 1.5k wc, see navigation for description and warnings

Recap:

“Please, I know you’ll know how to handle this multiverse thing if something goes wrong. I need you away from the fight,” Peter pleaded, staring deeply into her blue eyes.

Y/n sighed. His pleading gaze was hard to resist and ignore, but she had to. “Peter, no. I can sense their energies and I’m not leaving you,” y/n said, eyes zoned in on Osborn. “You can waste time arguing, but I’m coming to help,” she said defiantly.

Peter sighed but nodded reluctantly. “Fine, but if something happens, you go to MJ and Ned to help them with the box. Okay?”

Y/n nodded in agreement to the proposed compromise.

Y/n watched as each of the villains made themselves at home in Happy’s condo. Once they seemed settled, she grabbed Peter’s notebook and pen from the kitchen table. Walking to the kitchen counter, she threw the notebook down and began scribbling down various thoughts on how to fix each problem.

Peter smiled in y/n’s direction before turning to May. He wanted to ask her to leave, but he suspected her reaction would be similar to y/n’s when he’d asked her. Before he could decide how to bring it up, Otto started loudly pacing around the apartment.

“So this is your plan, Peter?” Otto scoffed. “Mmm? No lab, no facilities, just performing miracles in a condominium?” He sighed. “What, you're gonna cook up some cures, some frozen burritos in a microwave?”

Y/n glared over her shoulder at Otto, making Peter feel better about the insult.

Osborn mumbled that he “could go for a burrito”, making Otto even more frustrated. Otto groaned, eyeing Peter up and down. “He's gonna kill us all,” he hissed.

Peter bit his lip anxiously, looking over at y/n. Seeing she shared Peter's apprehension, he took a deep breath. “Well, let's hope not,” Peter said in an attempt to break the tension. “You're up first, Doc,” he encouraged, heading to the attached room.

Otto shot a glare in Peter’s direction. “What?” He raised his voice as Peter continued to head to the other room. “Hey, I told you. I don't need fixing. I don't need fixing! Especially by a teenager using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer.”

Y/n shot Otto a defensive and irritated look, making May smile softly. Before y/n could comment for Otto to be more respectful to Peter, Electro walked over. She noticed the deep interest he had in seeing inside the other room.

Max looked at y/n and smirked before looking back at the doorway leading to the attached room. “No, no, no, no. He got something back there. I can feel it. Weird energy...” he said excitedly.

Y/n grabbed the notebook, quickly slipping past Electro to get to Peter first. She smiled softly in greeting when Peter turned to her as she entered. Y/n joined Peter beside a covered rectangular box-like object. Even before he removed the sheet to reveal the elaborate device and its logo, y/n could feel the Stark Tech energy flowing through it.

Osborn had followed y/n in to the second room. He walked closer to the kids with a frown. “What the hell is that?” He asked.

While y/n watched Osborn closely, Peter answered him respectfully. “It's a fabricator,” He told him, pressing the button to unfold the device. Peter grinned as the box opened up into a small engineering lab. “It can analyze, design, construct... basically anything,” he explained, glancing at y/n to see if she remembered the one from the plane.

Y/n felt Peter’s gaze and smiled warmly at him. She nodded in silent acknowledgement that she recalled the device.

May laughed lightly. “I thought that was the tanning bed Happy broke,” she admitted.

Suddenly Electro’s eyes flashed yellow again. “Look at that,” Max smirked, his eyes staring intently at the arc reactor on the device.

Y/n shifted her body slightly to block Max from moving closer to the device. Y/n winced as the wall connected to the kitchen cracked due to the expansive size of the unboxed machine now pushing against it. She heard Otto shout once again that he was worried Peter would kill them all.

Y/n rolled her eyes, leaning down to where Peter was sitting as he started working on the device. “You’ve got this one right Peter?” She whispered into his ear, watching him start his work. Y/n smiled as Peter blushed from the closeness and nodded. “Mmm, great, I’ll get started on Electro”.

Peter licked his lips as he focused on the chip he was designing. “So, the chip in the back of Doc's neck was designed to protect his brain from the A.I. system that's controlling these tentacles,” he explained to Osborn who was standing beside him. Peter knew y/n wasn’t a fan of leaning Osborn in the same room with Peter while she was in the other room. So, he figured if he kept talking, it would keep Osborn interested and focused on the future where he would be fixed, and also would soothe Y/N’s worries since she could hear him through the now-cracked wall.

“But if you look here... The chip is fried. So rather than him being in control of the tentacles, the tentacles are now in control of him. Which, I guess explains why... he is so miserable all the time,” Peter explained, his tongue stuck between his lips as he concentrated on the intricate details of the chip.

As y/n was working in the programming to help Electro, May tried to keep the others occupied. She walked up to Otto and offered him a glass of water, “thirsty?”.

Otto hummed hesitantly. “Well, yes. I am thirsty”.

Y/n continued rapidly typing the programming for Max's solution but watched May and Otto's interaction from her periphery. She had to stifle a laugh as May asked if Otto wanted fresh water or salt. However, when May awkwardly explained the reason she asked was because Otto was an octopus, y/n snorted. She quickly covered her mouth but could hear Peter chuckling from the other room over her reaction.

Otto frowned, looking between May and y/n. “What?”

May paused to ensure she kept her composure. “Fresh water it is,” she nodded.

As he waited for y/n to finish whatever she was doing on Peter’s laptop, Electro stared out the window at the city. “Look at this place. And all the possibilities,” he said dazedly.

Flint placed the framed photo he was examining back down. “What? This condo?” he asked, facing Max.

Max laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, the condo. I love the whole floor plan,” he said sarcastically. “No, man. I'm talking about the world,” Max clarified, stroking his beard. “I kinda like who I am here,” he nodded.

Y/n lifted her eyes off the programming code on Peter’s laptop to analyze Max. She could sense something was off. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long to find out what caused that sensation.

Max looked back at where Peter was. “And all that power back there... I could be so much more,” he hummed. “So why did you come here?” Max asked, shaking his head before turning back towards Flint.

Y/n continued her programming but listened to Flint and Max’s conversation. Mostly so that she could catch any potential signs that Electro was going to resist the solution she was working on. However, she also suspected it might help to know more about them; and hopefully, tailor the solutions even more to the specific problem or cause of their conditions.

Peter rushed back to the main part of the apartment. He proudly held up the neutral inhibitor chip device. Peter smiled at May and Y/N’s attentive gazes. “I got it. I did it. I did it,” he exclaimed.

Peter pointed to the handheld device that was connected to Otto’s metal tentacles. “May, will you send him up?” he requested, running to the staircase.

Once Doctor Octopus was at Peter's level on the mezzanine, May set the device down.

“Oh, will all these humiliations never cease?!” Otto complained, making Peter apologize quietly. “You!” Otto shouted, noticing Peter had moved closer in order to fix him. “Keep your science fair project away from me!”

Y/n rolled her eyes. She watched as Peter slowly moved the chip closer to Otto. Y/n nearly gave herself whiplash when she heard Osborn speak nicely on Peter’s behalf.

“Hey, it will work. Have faith,” Osborn assured Otto.

“Says the reckless fool who turned himself into a monster,” Otto argued rudely.

Y/n watched as Osborn went silent. She could sense his offense and sadness. Evidently what Otto said was true, whatever happened to Osborn had been done by Osborn himself. While this was true of most of the villains she and Peter were working on, this was different.

Osborn had a darkness to him that the others didn’t. He had some corrupted cosmic energy inside him now, and seemingly he’d done that himself. Y/n didn’t know if that was intentional or a known risk of whatever he was trying to do when he became the villain he was. But, she knew it meant there was a chance that Osborn had knowingly inflicted himself with the darkness; only increasing her fears that his cosmic split wouldn’t last and one side would take over.

Peter’s voice drew y/n’s attention back to the current moment. “Please stop. Hold still,” he pleaded.

Otto shook his head. “Don't you dare!”

He squirmed in a desperate attempt to avoid Peter’s corrected chip. "I swear... when I get out of this, we're gonna rip you a...”

Peter’s eyes widened as Otto went silent and limp upon the chip being inserted. “Doc?” He whispered. “Doc?” Peter asked again, his worried eyes looking at y/n for help. When she gave him a reassuring look, he tried again. “Doc? Doctor Octa-“ Peter panicked.

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