#most fucked up thing is talking about squishing spiders. on a post . of someones pet spider

[mirkwood-trash]

I seriously do not get people who feel the need to comment that they hate spiders ... On a Spider Post... Like. Why are you here. Are you lost

[cyclone-rachel]

because I suddenly got attached to Brainy with a pet spider: here’s 10 minifics of Brainy with a pet spider.

@peskyshortcake

original prompt: Clark meets Desdemona the tarantula. He understands the name. SADS (disclaimer- I have not read the play with the Desdemona character in it? So I don’t actually know how her story ends? But nevertheless. Clark understands the meaning, but because this is season 1, he doesn’t understand how it applies to Brainy, or why he would give such a terrible name to his pet spider? Brainy implies something tragic. Clark is sad. They’re both sad. Possibly hugs are included.)

“Why’d you name her that?” Clark asks.

“I, um…was kind of hoping you would not understand the reference.” Brainy tells him. Clark just looks at him, confused.

“Brainy. I took plenty of English classes in high school. I studied root words, even. You literally called your spider ‘bad spirit’.”

“Believe it or not, some of us can relate to such a name.” Brainy whispers, hoping fruitlessly that Clark won’t hear him.

“Are you still talking about the spider?” Clark asks.

“For now, I am.”

“I’m sorry.” Clark says, hugging Brainy, even letting the spider on him. “It’s a good name.”

~

original prompt: Desdemona gets loose! Shenanigans.

“Brainy, I swear I just saw the creepy-ass thing you call your pet skitter behind that couch.” Lightning Lad says, pointing.

“Desdie!” Brainy exclaims, using his flight ring to hover over to said area, inspecting it carefully. “Whoever let her escape is going to regret it.”

He turns to Lightning Lad then, and says: “Thank you for letting me know of her release, though. I know how much you dislike her.”

“Anytime, weirdo. Have fun finding your spider-girlfriend.” The older boy responds.

A moment later, the announcement: “Attention, Legionnaires. Everyone within the headquarters, do NOT move. This is very important.”

~

original prompt: Brainy can’t find Desdemona. Clark helps him.

“How’d you lose a tarantula?” Clark asks, moving things gingerly around the lab, looking up and down for Brainy’s new pet. Brainy’s looking around too, but Clark also catches him just looking at him a few times.

“I don’t know. I was busy. I suppose it just got out of its cage somehow.” Brainy says. Clark knows he doesn’t sleep, but he still looks and sounds tired.

“You were irresponsible, and you lost it.” Clark corrects.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Clark.” Brainy says.

“You know I’m right.”

“I know a lot of things. That isn’t one of them.”

~

Original prompt: One or more of the other Legionnaires bonding with Desdemona, surprisingly

Timber Wolf is…gentle, with Desdemona- he knows what it’s like to be treated like a monster, after all, and doesn’t wish that on anyone or anything else who doesn’t deserve it. And after seeing how all types of creatures were treated by his father, something like this is a method of making up for what he did.

Phantom Girl doesn’t mind her, either- she’ll happily let her crawl up her arm, rest on her shoulder. She’s not scared, as she knows she can just phase through the spider if she ever tries to bite her.

(She doesn’t, for the record)

~

Original prompt: Brainy thinks Desdemona is squished, makes a joke about it. Surprise, she’s okay

“Well.” Brainy says, thinking about ways to plan the funeral. They’d just had one for the stupid coffee machine, he couldn’t very well have one for his spider until at least a week from then. If he could convince the others to have one for her at all. He knew only 3 of his fellow Legionnaires actually tolerated the spider’s company. No one would cry for Desdemona, that was certain.

“Given her name, I cannot say that this was not unexpected.” He continues.

“Brainy.” Tinya says, phasing into the room then, tarantula nesting in her hair. “Relax, your spider’s alright.”

~

Original prompt: How many times can I write ‘Desdemona’ and have it still sound like a word

Anyway. Someone calls Desdemona a ‘bug’. Brainy is hilariously offended, Clark calls him a nerd

“My Desdemona is not a bug. Nor is she an insect.” Brainy corrects.

“Then, what is she?” Lightning Lad asks.

“She is an arachnid. Something entirely different from either of those categories.”

Clark adds “Duh.” And Brainy scowls at him, before returning to what he was saying.

“Specifically, my spider is of the species classification Grammostola pulchripes, formerly Grammostola aureostriata, genus Grammostola, family Theraphosidae, suborder Mygalomorphae, order Araneae, class Arachnida, phylum Arthropoda, kingdom Animalia. But you can just call her by her name.”

“*Nerd*” Clark coughs.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Gotta say, I’m kinda with him on this one, Brainy.”

~

Original prompt: DEATH BATTLE: DESDEMONA VS. Q-T

Brainy’s amused by the competition- he just got this spider, and she’s competing for attention with the coffee machine that he uses most often.

He didn’t think the spider would react either positively or negatively to the coffee machine.

So he’s surprised when he finds her out of her cage, one day- behind the coffee machine, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d think she was trying to take it apart.

“She’s jealous, just like-“ Clark starts, but cuts himself off. “Uh. I knew I didn’t hate her.”

That attitude is only reinforced when the coffee machine turns traitor.

~

Original prompt: Anyway how the heckie did Brainy even get Desdemona. Why does he have a goddamn venomous spider. Why do spiders even exist in the 31st century. Why is she named after a character from a Shakespeare play. What the fuck Brainy.

“You can find amazing things on the Internet, Clark.” Brainy says, and if he had eyebrows, Clark swears they’d be wiggling.

~

He isn’t a monster yet.

He knows they don’t think of him as a monster.

But.

It doesn’t hurt to help out a fellow creature with a negative reputation, even an organic one.

~

“Of course spiders exist in the 31st century. You didn’t think everything disappeared, did you?”

~

He finds the name, as with many things, through an Internet search. It’s fascinating, how this now-ancient author’s works have survived, taking names from similarly-dead languages.

“Ill-starred”. Appropriate.

~

Original prompt: Brainy has to leave the Headquarters for a weekend, someone ends up having to bug-sit Desdemona

Saturn Girl wakes up one morning to a spider cage outside her door, inhabitant safely inside, thank goodness, with a Post-It note on the outside.

(the Post-It note is probably Clark’s contribution)

The note simply says ‘YOUR TURN’ and Saturn Girl wonders, briefly, if this is a punishment or a threat or some combination of the two, until she remembers Brainy bought a spider last month and now he’s away. And apparently, it’s her duty to take care of her until he comes back.

It’s very important.

Should’ve seen this coming, she thinks, and takes the spider into her room.

~

Original prompt: Brainy introduces Desdemona to Kara

“You have a spider!” Kara said, trying not to sound scared. “Of course you do.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Brainy asked, genuinely curious.

“I mean, you’re…kinda weird. No offense. One of those… science-types. Like my friend Winn. It only makes sense that you’d have a pet you wouldn’t need to devote much care to. Having a pet spider is perfect for you.”

“There is no reason for you to be scared of her. You are made of steel.”

“I’m aware.” She looked at the tarantula again. “Does she have a name?”

“Desdemona.”

“Seriously?”

“That was what Clark said.”