#it's appropriately realistic for the character; there's no way he'd ever express it in a more forward manner

[normalbrothers]

TOMMY: It's about he told told me why he wanted to do it. Now if I tell you I can't take the knowledge back. Better off without it.

[helios-narloch]

A Roll of Quarters Never Hurt Nobody

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics),

Relationship: Peter Parker/Wade Wilson

Characters: Peter Parker, Wade Wilson, yellow box, white box, Nubbins

Additional Tags: Nubbins is a cat, Wade loves his cat, Peter is Broke. and so am i, hidden identities, Cute, free food, friends - Freeform, This was deleted so i'm posting it again, realistic?, Adults

Language: English Published:2022-08-11 Words:9,055 Chapters:1/1

It began awkwardly.

"I'm not homeless?" Wade frowned as he slowly took the offered scone from the young man.

The stranger's face paled and his expression glazed over as his frazzled college brain scrambled for an appropriate response. 

"I live in the apartment upstairs," Wade added to fill the awkward silence, unintentionally grinding the guy's mortification further. "I'm just waiting for my DoorDash because last time the chick walked off with the goods."

He could see the wheels and cogs turning in the young man's head as he tried to think but Wade was running out of things to say before this turned into a one-sided conversation he didn't really want to have. "You sure you're in any shape to be handing out food so Willy-Nilly?" He asked as he glanced him over, reaching out to peel a piece of masking tape off of the man's chest that had .50 cents written out in sharpie.

[I hate it when people write cents like that, having a point before the cent amount means it's half a dollar, no need to write cents after it. Choose one or the other. Dollars with a zero and decimal or cents, not both please.]

"Oh, well- I just..." the man giggled nervously before he scrubbed at his face, pulling at his skin so that his eyelids pulled away from his eyeballs and threatened to let them pop out of his head for a mere point two seconds.

(That was mentally scaring.)

The fifty-cent sweater was nice. It looked like some kind of wool knit. It was black with white snowflake patterns and looked casual with his well-loved jeans and abused backpack. His hair was brown, fluffy, and clean.

(And his eyes are bloodshot and big...)

His eyes were green....

[concerningly dark bags hang below those dusty green irises]

"I'm sorry.  You just looked like you needed something. Sorry about your DoorDash lady... you don't look homeless, I'm sorry. Did I say that, how did you know I was thinking that?" The young man asked, clearly distraught. "Don't worry about the scone, you can keep it."

(Bitch, as if I would ever consider giving it back.)

(Lick it, claim it as ours.)

[Would you shut up?]

"Your eyes gave it away. Most people look at ugly fucks like me and just assume I'm a ptsd ridden maniac with no home or way of getting a job." He shrugged. "It's not a first."

"That's...." The strange shook their head "again, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Thanks for the snack..." he offered the masking tape back from the end of his finger and looked away, taking a bite from the treat. It was blueberry, sweet and equally boring.

* * *

The second time he ran into him it was in the laundry. He was sitting, playing Mr. Love Queen's Choice while he was waiting for his machine to finish (as one does) when a sharp intake of break caught his attention. He looked up and none other than the green-eyed Peter was there to greet him. Well, not literally greet him. He wasn't even facing his way.

He watched the young man for a minute, staring silently while the guy pressed the start button only to fiddle with the settings knob and try again when the machine didn't start. Peter turned his attention to the mechanism, pushing the lever in to try and figure out what he'd done wrong, clearly in denial over the fact that his quarters had just been eaten.

[he seems pretty stressed. You should check it out.]

(But Lucien is confessing his feelings... who cares? We are in a date with a fictional man)

[maybe a real man wouldn't hurt.]

(With this face? Are you daft?)

Wade sighed and locked his phone. He pulled out his earbuds and got up to walk over to the familiar face. "Everything alright?"

Peter tensed, glancing over with a shameful look. He recognized him quickly and the tension left his shoulders but he still avoided his gaze. For once Wade didn't feel like it was because he was hideous.

"Hi," Peter said quietly. Laughing nervously for a moment. It must have been a moment needed to compose himself because when he looked over at Wade again an expressive mask had been put on to hide the anxiety that had been pouring off the kid moments ago.

"Guess you didn't know this is the quarter eater, huh?" Wade toed the washing machine. It was dented from years of angry patrons kicking out their frustration on the thing. Naturally, the machine was built like a tank and about twenty years older than Wade so the dents weren't a huge deterrent unless you took a good look at the scuff marks left behind from the soles of Peoples shoes. "Someone must have ripped off the note I left on it last week."

"Oh." Peter said quietly, staring at the agitator surrounded by his clothes in dismay.

"Here, just throw everything into that one next to mine." Wade pointed a few machines down. "People don't use the ones next to me in case they have to run into me while unloading."

Keep reading this sweet little slice of life on A03.

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

Might be long, just wanted to give my two cents if you'd let me. Sorry for the trolls, I guess to be expected with YA franchises like these, they tend to get VERY toxic over surprisingly little.

Both Peeta and Gale treat Katniss wrongly at points in the story, but Peeta is the only one to ever apologize at all. Katniss just is silent or forgives him on her own terms like "he's not like this" when he shows her time and again that he IS.

Mostly talking about up to Catching Fire with this because Mockingjay is a can of worms and not everyone has to agree with the character progression, but the scene where Gale literally pushes Katniss in CF after displaying a bunch of sudden physical affection irks me, in a love bombing sort of way. And I never got the impression he really thinks that highly of her considering he's so quick to throw Peeta and Cinna's gloves in her face, which Katniss stops herself from doing the same thing.

Maybe if he kept his character in the first book it'd seem like a fair fight as a love triangle, but he was barely given time to shine in the first book outside of Katniss remembering things about him. Which I don't mind their friendship at all, especially in the first, however I feel like Suzanne had to take his character somewhere bold if he'd ever leave a huge impression to be honest. Unfortunately he was given a bit too emotionally immature and angry of scenes when he was usually pretty smart and calculating like Katniss.

That's just my views on Gale at least as someone who prefers Peeta. But I see the appeal of Gale after rereading, as frustrated as he sometimes makes me. To be honest I'd just be as happy if Peeta got a cooking show at the end of the series and lived his dream in the Capitol lol.

As far as Mockingjay goes, admittedly I wished Peeta didn't get hijacked and instead had relationship conflicts with Katniss of his own volition because it'd be more realistic and interesting, because we see some conflict there but it never gets RESOLVED, and as for Gale, he shouldn't be the ONLY person who is being shamed and judged for "going too far" when the adults in his life put him in that position of power to begin with. Beetee was pretty happy with the bomb despite being in an arena twice. Like c'mon. MJ was very dumbed down in my opinion and I didn't like a lot of the newer characters too. But that's besides the point.

Okay, I'm glad you're polite, and I'm glad you wanted to share your thoughts! But fair warning, I disagree with...a lot of them. Peeta apologizes and is right to do, because he is the only one who has something to apologize for, which is treating Katniss so badly. Gale is brutally honest with Katniss at times, but he never does anything coming close to what Peeta does. Katniss doesn't need an apology from him, because the two know each other, and she knows why he does the things that he does, and understands her part in them. And even in the times she is upset with Gale, she understands him, and knows he understands her. So. Lol, that's not "lovebombing." Not even close to what the term means. (technically, lovebombing would apply more to Peeta, who withdrew all his affection abruptly after being displeased by Katniss) Gale pushes Katniss back, yes, but it's...due to the realization that she is not on the same terms with him? It's actually the appropriate thing to do in that situation. He's at first excited and overjoyed, and thinks that she's intending to go off with him like they'd spoken about, and thinks that she's admitting her love that way. And he expresses that through physical affection, which Katniss has no issue with. But when Gale realizes that Katniss is not on the same page, of course he withdraws. He's had something of a bucket of cold water dumped on his head. But he doesn't do it to hurt her, but because he is reacting in the moment. I don't know where are how you got that impression, but I can only assume you've been reading the books with a much, much different view of Gale and Katniss' relationship. So much of what Gale does is centered around how much he esteems and loves Katniss, just because he isn't gushing over her like Peeta doesn't mean he doesn't highly regard her. And as to the gloves, no again. (also, those gloves aren't Peeta's, they are Cinna's.) Gale gives the gloves back, because to him, they represent everything he loathes, and everything he fears will happen/is happening to Katniss. Gale does not know Cinna like Katniss does, he does not trust or care for Cinna much, if at all. To him, the gloves are product of the Capitol, and he sees it as an insult to be given them. Which, he's not to be blamed for. "Unfortunately he was given a bit too emotionally immature and angry of scenes when he was usually pretty smart and calculating like Katniss." All this. All this right here is part of the problem I have with people in this fandom. People are so quick to see or label Gale as immature or angry, when he has literally every right to be angry. And far as immature, Gale was hardly immature. He's certainly more mature than even Peeta or Katniss, and he is much more smart and calculating than Katniss at times too. Gale looks at the wider picture, while Katniss focuses on the personal. Gale's character was consistent throughout the books, at least until the end of MJ, and it was bold. People just don't like the type of bold that it was, lmao. But you prefer Peeta, so I'm not surprised in the slightest that you think of Gale that way. It's to be expected. As for MJ, I think we both agree on that, it warped a lot of the characters in ways I didn't like. As for Peeta being hijacked, I have no problem with it, but him being with Katniss at the end was for me the unrealistic thing. In any case, I'm dissatisfied with the endings for Katniss, Gale and Peeta, and I wish the author didn't rush things at the end to achieve her desired moral point.