#vs parker thinking no one does

[agentnash]

npcs + important people in parker's life.

also known as the countdown killer, though he is yet to be properly discovered by parker or the authorities. nathan has been killing since his 20's, leaving a steady trail of bodies, even now that he was hitting his 50 year mark. nathan killed parker's parents when parker was 12, and parker has been hunting him ever since. the first time they crossed paths in his adult years, nathan tried encouraging the darker side out of parker, which caused the agent enough hesitation for nathan to get away. parker vows not to let that happen again. nathan is a wildly charismatic family man who kills because of a religious delusion he had when he was 21.

amelia was the first woman parker had ever fallen in love with. they met in college. she was the complete opposite of him, which parker supposed is why he had been so infatuated with her. they had only been together 7 months before amelia revealed she was pregnant. panicked, the couple eloped and had a shotgun wedding. the marriage lasted an unhappy 3 years - parker was distant, drank too much, and was an absent father and husband. amelia asked for a divorce, and parker allowed her to keep the house. parker feels tremendous guilt for ruining amelia's life ( she had been on track to become a lawyer, but had to stay home and take care of their daughter, instead ). they talk, sometimes, when amelia drops their daughter off for parker's alternating weeks in watching sonny, but there is still plenty of tension between them. played by @roseguided.

content to be alone, parker had lashed out when he realized his supervisor was transferring a partner to him. he didn't like lara when she first arrived, mostly because she had never been afraid to stand up to him. over the next few months they worked together, yelling and arguing was a regular thing, interjected with short intervals of drinking and talking with one another. opening up over time, parker began to realize that lara saved him, in a way. she never backed down, always told him how it was ( held him when he needed it, kissed him like he meant something in the world ). now, lara was the only thing keeping parker afloat. played by @giallifilm.

despite being a shit father, sonny was parker's pride and joy. he can rarely fathom how much he loves her, which adds to the guilt of him not being able to be what she really needs. she's smart like her mother, and ready to stand up for anyone like her father. parker gets her every other week, which doesn't always go exactly to plan. parker can feel the resentment start to grow within his daughter every time he has to cancel their plans, but he always tries to make it up to her. they share a love for grunge rock and punk bands, often sharing earbuds while they're home or going for a walk in the park. he loves him more than anything, but still doesn't know how to properly show it.

supervisory special agent cassandra kim might be the only person who can calm parker down when he's ready to explode. she's seen what he's like when he's drunk, when he's exhausted, when he's angry. this stern, take no shit woman always knows exactly the right thing to say to help parker think just a minute more before doing something irrational. parker wouldn't admit it aloud, but he was grateful to have her as his boss - he imagined having anyone else would ensure his resignation immediately upon arrival.

she was sick, and he was hopeless, which meant that julianna and parker ran around the city without a care in the world. always wanting to get away from the foster family that didn't give a shit about them, they would do everything together, never thinking about the consequences, only living in the moment. he often took care of her, especially when her illness got worse, and when she was bullied for using her oxygen tank, he would fight those that had anything to say about it. deciding at 17 he was going to run off and make his own life, he offered to take jules with him, only for her to be put in the hospital shortly before he left. they kept in touch over the years, parker glad to hear she got better as she aged. they often meet up for coffee, and take care of each other when they're at their lowest. they've been to aa meetings together, just as they've gotten black out drunk together.

[ioannemos]

the particular bad guy of this episode, a little apprehensively: the audience wants to see me die?

nate, with more sincerity than anything he's said to anyone in her presence before: like you wouldn't believe

[paigegonerogue]

My Top 5 Shots in Every Episode of TLOU

Episode 1

TW: Guns, creepy imagery

Quick disclaimer that I was not able to find two scenes I wanted for shots in this list. I couldn’t find unedited versions of the scene with the infected child, or Ellie’s introduction, however their are plenty of other amazing shots in this list without them!

Number #5

The Last of Us quite often has very shallow depth of field. That means shots in which the background is out of focus (blurry). It works well for a lot of things, like making really pretty shots or drawing attention to certain things, but in this case it uses it for suspense. Ms. Adler twitching in the background is absolute nightmare fuel, and the way that it was played, with the camera focused on an unaware Sarah the whole time, was so incredibly well done and scary that this shot became one of my favorites of the episode.

Number #4

This one is great on a lot of levels. Not only is it pretty, with the out of focus fire lighting half of Sarah’s face (making the shot prettier with shallow depth of field), but the color scheme absolutely rocks too. But I think my favorite thing about this shot is the emotion it portrays without saying a word. Props to Nico Parker, because the tone of the visuals and her devastated expression really show the toll the apocalypse is taking on Sarah.

Number #3

This shot is a masterclass in “show don’t tell”. With just this image, we instantly know exactly what type of place our protagonists are living in. Dirty streets, snipers on roofs, lack of freedom or happiness. Somehow this one shots delivers paragraphs of exposition, and does it so well and good-looking that it’s not only bearable, but excellent.

Number #2

Another example of how well this show uses depth of field, this shot works on so many levels, and also just looks absolutely awesome. The contrasting colors of the oranges and browns of the set vs. the blues and grays of the screen is so striking, and I have just always been an absolute sucker for shots of shots, and this is one of the best executed ones I’ve ever seen.

Before I reveal my #1, here are some honorable mentions…

This shot is simply fantastic. The explosion, the people, the view through the car window, it all just works absolutely so well.

Another excellent example of visual world building, showing the tanks driving through the streets. The ultra-high camera angle also looks fantastic, and the way they used the rooftops and textures is just incredible.

Two really gorgeous, well-lit shots of Sarah.

Just like the entire show, this is a really well lite scene, and the way it uses depth of field is so well-done and pretty. Also the high 3/4 angle is fantastic, and don’t even get me started on the eery, creepy tentacles.

Number #1

This is just an I incredible shot all around. The side profiles and rim-lighting for Joel and Sarah, the out of focus explosion centered in the background. It’s so well executed, and you can feel the emotion, the fear, coming through the screen. Bravo!

Tune in for ep 2 tmrw!

[blooming-violets]

My headcanon for frat peter is that he joined one after gwen dies to distract himself and as a bandaid fucks everything that movies and gains a reputation oc / reader is his best friend very similar to dancing on my own ik but anyway she tries supporting him but peter is really unhealthy and she leaves for a while how do you think peter would feel about the hole she leaves behind cause she used to basically do all his emotional heavy lifting on hard days

He acts like he's fine. He's learned not to show his emotions especially around the guys. They were never big fans of her, anyway. It takes him about two weeks to finally notice that she's gone. It happens the day he's set to touch up his blonde roots. Usually he heads on over to her dorm, sneaking into the women's bathroom, while she does his hair for him. During those times are when he typically feels more free to speak his mind. They shared a lot of heart to hearts over those moments of the two of them, giggling alone in the bathroom, while he enjoys the feeling of her fussing over his hair. He feels the weight of the world leaving his shoulders for a short time whenever she's around.

This time, though, she doesn't come when he calls.

All his texts go unanswered. At first, he's worried she's hurt. He immediately thinks the worst. It's in his nature to assume that the people he loves will end up dead. Taken too early. It's not until he sees her walking around campus he's able to feel a sense of relief.

He jogs up to her, big, cocky grin on his face, and falls in step next to her. He expects her to open up like usual. Expects her to play along with his teasing. When he only receives a cold shoulder and the silent treatment, he reacts with anger.

Peter's been so angry lately. He's been struggling to feel many emotions but anger is one that always seems to make it through his closed off walls. They say that anger is a massive part of the grieving process but it's one he hasn't been able to shake.

They get into a huge, blow out fight in middle of campus over how he treats her now vs before and how he let's his friends treat her like shit. She's sick of his behavior and only using her whenever he needs something. It's never the other way around. Peter no longer shows up for her like she does for him. She can't take their one sided friendship anymore. This isn't the Peter she grew up loving.

It draws a crowd. People are watching them like they're today's entertainment. It ends with her crying, running back to her dorm, and Peter cursing out the crowds and stalking back to his frat house.

He mourns her loss in his life like he mourned for Gwen.

Denial.

It was her fault. She was being stupid. He had done nothing wrong. So what if his frat brothers teased her from to time. It was her fault she couldn't take a joke. He turned a blind eye to their behavior. He let them get inside his head. He didn't need her. He had lines of women waiting to throw themselves at his feet. What was the loss of one, stupid, annoying girl he knew as a kid? According to his brothers, she refused to put out, anyway. It was no loss to him. He didn't need her.

He buried his hurt by sleeping around more often than usual. A new woman every night. Sometimes two in the same day. He even slept with her best girl friend just to extra piss her off and get back at her.

He wanted her to hurt as much as him.

Anger

He was already the king of anger. He felt its power invade his every pore. It lived deep in his bones and consumed his every waking thought. He was getting into multiple fist fights every week. Not even as Spider-Man, just as Peter Parker.

He fought his frat brothers, he fought guys at the bar, he fought dudes on the street, he even fought his own reflection in the mirror. That one left him covered in blood and surrounded by shattered glass. He needed stitches to close up the wound. He couldn't stand the sight of his own face. He despised the man who stared back at him.

He didn't know this person. He didn't know Peter anymore.

Maybe she was right. Maybe had lost himself.

Bargaining

If he could just see her again...

If he could just see her one time. Hear her voice. That's all he wanted. He could watch her anytime he felt like it. He could overhear her talking to friends whenever he spied on her. He was Spider-Man. He was the master of stealth and shadows. But that wasn't enough. He wanted her voice to be directed at him. He didn't care what she said to him as long as she was talking. All he wanted was a fraction of her attention.

He would trade it all to get her back in his life. Just one conversation. That's he wanted. One, little talk just like old times.

She refused.

He couldn't blame her. He was a destroyer of lives. Anyone he touched crumbled around him. Whether they were killed in a plane crash, shot in the street, fell from a building, or were shoved away...they all left him in the end.

It was his fault. It was always his fault.

Depression

When he lost everything, he used to turn to sex. Now the thought of touching a woman who wasn't her only made him sick to his stomach. Alcohol was too risky. It fucked too much with his emotions. Made him reckless.

Pot was the cure.

It calmed him. Made him forget for a while. Allowed him to just relax and zone out.

He stopped going to his classes. Stopping talking to his brothers. Stopped answering his texts. It was just him, a strong joint, and the quiet of cave of his bedroom. In here, he could wallow in peace.

Peter Parker was not someone who could be trusted in the real world. He deserved to be locked up like an animal. No one needed him. He was better off alone.

This was where he would stay. In the dark. Where he belonged.

Acceptance

The state of his hair told him how much time had passed. It was back to brown. Greasy and unkempt. Shaggier than he typically liked it but he didn't care enough to get it fixed. The only person he ever wanted to touch his hair again was her.

And she deserved an apology.

He had been reading about grief online. There were five stages, so the internet says. There is no specific time period for each and they can jump between the stages whenever they feel like. He liked to hang out in the anger stage more often than the others. It was where he felt most at home. At least he understood anger. Anger made sense to him. Smoking helped quell the raging beast. That was a vice he didn't want to give up. Not yet. He wasn't ready for that step.

The world was an angry place and he fit right in.

But he was learning where to put that anger. It didn't belong on her. That was misguided. She had done nothing wrong. All she had ever done was love him. Anger was okay as long as it was placed in the right direction. He knew that now. Spider-Man could use anger to his advantage. Bad guys deserved anger. His frat brothers deserved his wrath for how they treated others. He, himself, deserved the anger. But not her.

And he needed to make amends. Even if she didn't fully forgive him, he needed to try, because she deserved to hear it, and he deserved to say it.

All it took was one text. After months of no contact. One text and she replied.

Coffee. 9am. Just the two of them.

One, little talk...just like old times.

I LOVED THIS!

It is very Dancing On My Own coded. I think what some people don't fully grasp in that story is that Peter was severely grieving through the later half of it. Gwen died because he couldn't catch her in time. He lost the love of his life because he wasn't good enough at the ONE thing he was supposed to be good at. He fully blames himself for her death. Do people not realize how seriously fucked that would make someone?? I think that's why I like to write dark!Peter so much. Because TASM Peter would be dark after that. He would not be normal. He would not be able to go back to being friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It would ruin him. We saw that in NWH. It's still eating him alive like a decade later. The college days of Dancing On My Own took place a year after Gwen's death. The boy is fucked up.

Grief makes you do stupid things. Anger and reckless behavior is part of grief. Obvious that doesn't mean that it's okay but to completely write someone off as a monster undeserving of love just because they're hurting doesn't sit right with me. Not that you did that, I'm just going off the comments and complaints I've gotten on the fic that always low key piss me off.

And maybe I'm just not the greatest writer so that didn't come off as well as I wanted it to in DOMO but I tried my best haha. Maybe I shouldn't have ended it where I did and allowed them to grow a bit more after but I really thought that kind of stuff would just be assumed by the reader because it made sense in my head that that's how grief and healing and forgiveness go. But no one lives in my head but me so that's my fault for not executing my intentions properly!

I lovelovelove exploring grief and the different places it can take a person. Grief/depression/anger/angst are my favorite topics. Always have been since I was young. Like how Peter in this story feels most comfortable hanging out in his anger, I feel most happy in my angst and darkness. Sad people sometimes do bad things. Hurting people sometimes hurt other people. Even people they love very much. Does that make them completely incapable of change? Does that make them forever unlovable or not worthy of forgiveness? Sometimes people think too much in black and white and forget that the world is full of all sorts of grays.

Not that this was even about DOMO and I'm completely going on a tangent I know I'm so sorry haha but it's close enough to domo because it's dealing with Peter's grief and hurting of a close friend.

Here's some of my favorite pages from my favorite children's book (Michael Rosen's Sad Book) that talks about grief and the loss of someone you loved very much that's meant to teach children how to better understand their sadness and hurt and that even if you do bad things sometimes it doesn't mean that you are a bad person who doesn't deserve love and forgiveness:

ANYWAY

I just wanted to say that I love this and I love when people come to me with headcanons. That's what fandoms are supposed to be about. We're all supposed to be pestering each other 24/7 with our ideas and creating stories together and collaborating and building shit that we all love. Always send me your ideas. No matter how unhinged you might think they are bc I'm sure I've got equally as crazy ideas to play along with you!

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 1 MASHUP 5

Dr. Olivia Octavius (Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse) vs Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus)

Dr. Olivia Octavius is a Quantum Physicist and Roboticist!

Ms. Frizzle is a Science Teacher!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Dr. Olivia Octavius:

""If you stay in this dimension too long, your body’s going to disintegrate. Do you know how painful that would be, Peter Parker? You can’t imagine. And I, for one, can’t wait to watch." I love deranged evil women she is the character of all time to me"

"Dr. Olivia Octavius, also known as Doctor Octopus, is the secondary antagonist of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. She's also known as 'Liz' by her friends, one of them being Peter Parker's aunt May. She is an evil scientist, CEO of the science research & development company known as Alchemax. She's the scientific advisor for The Kingpin's inventions to open up portals to other dimensions. She's an evil woman in STEM girlboss."

"feral :)"

"Oh I heard you like mad scientist girlies???"

"I know she’s evil but I love her shes so cool. Have you seen her. I support womens wrongs <3"

"MILF. Evil. What more does she need? wowza"

"shes not the best shes the worst and she owns it. milf i mean. who said that"

"I mean. just look at her. she has the robo arms, the awesome hair. also if I recall, she's also been in science educational videos for kids"

"Proves herself as a competent fighter able to take on multiple spider-men at once, plus rocks the mad scientist look"

"Successfully works as a kids' science show presenter while also being a supervillain and working on sketchy projects. Is an absolute dork about her work and about cool phenomena in a way that's really endearing right up until she threatens to lock someone up to slowly die so she can study the phenomenon that's killing them. Probably put bugs in the microwave as a kid to see what happens.

Yes she did get hit by a truck in the fight and disappear but I fully believe she lived and ended up in some other universe.

1. She's a supervillain, she's definitely been hit by a truck before. 2. Out of everyone fighting in there she's had the most experience with this sorr of thing. While missteps are possible she would be going into it with some idea of what the risks are and how to deal with them. 3. Isekai truck trope 4. If she did end up in another universe she would totally find a way to keep herself stable there. She's got science knowledge and robotic limbs built for crime. 5. I like her and I think it would be really funny.

Why did I make this part mostly ""no she isn't dead"". It'd still be funny even if she was dead tbh.

I cosplayed her once and that is irrelevant to the poll but idk. She's fun."

"it's so rare to have female mad scientists in media like her, she's a role model to girls who want to commit crimes against the spacetime continuum everywhere. she's very important"

"She's really cute, too bad about all the murder and stuff :/ Women's wrongs, amirite?👍"

"She has a "For Science!" attitude that makes most male mad scientist look sane and safety minded. I would gladly be her intern/minion. <3"

"is only here to do science for Nefarious Purposes. science without any regard for moral cost. idk i love that this character type gets to be a milf for once. we love to see an evilgirl winning"

"mad scientist lady. cool as hell hair. evil girlboss."

"She's evil. She's evil and I love her"

"Evil milf with giant robot arms that loves chaos."

"Mastered multiple disciplines, managed to break barriers between dimensions, which even in superhero realms is a bit impressive. STEM girlies should be allowed to go a little evil/feral/unhinged. as a treat."

"She is evil! She is sexy! She employs usage of soft robotics into her prosthetic tentacles, is the head scientist at Alchemax, and quite literally built a machine that creates a portal to alternate dimensions! Get you a girl that can both make educational science videos and also rip open a portal to alternate dimensions under dubious moral conditions."

"she's sooooooo cool"

"She is a girlboss she tried to make a portal and while she’s a villain she isn’t the Evillest out there… babygirl head scientist Her glasses are shaped like octagons :3"

Ms. Frizzle:

"*gestures at entire magic school bus series*"

"Embodies the true spirit of scientific discovery: barely-contained chaos."

"She is very knowledgeable about a wide variety of sciences, and uses that knowledge to further the educations of many people. Teachers deserve the world; they do so much for so little in return. (shout out to Mrs. Goates)"

"She loves science and loves teaching kids about science. I love her. Idk I saw she only had one submission and that made me sad so now im here submitting her"

"She is an icon and has cool earrings"

"SHE'S SO COOL!!! She's so smart and so fun and genuinely just an icon. ALSO she has a little lizard on her shoulder. I saw an ask abt the submissions for Ms. Frizzle and the sender was the only person who submitted her.. I couldn't let this go. ALSO one of my professors irl called herself the irl Frizzle and she's a doctor of biology so make of that what you will"

[leverage-ot3]

thinking about how certain characters on the leverage team have been in mortal peril and why it was one person vs another and what that means

nate has been shot, like, multiple times. he’s the leader, the planner, the mastermind. he may not be the hitter but he takes risks that might not always pay off or be in best fortune for him, and he knowingly does that anyway. not much regard for his life sometimes to be completely honest. he’s also easily the most volatile (lesser as the seasons go on but still) and most likely to make a rash decision (season four season finale I’m looking directly at you)

I’m not going to talk about eliot too much because he experiences a lot of pain, but, also, it’s almost always pain that he can endure. he is the hitter- he’s the one that is supposed to take the brunt of the pain, the one prepared to get injured for the sake of the con and the safety of the team. he knows exactly what he is getting into when he throws himself into the situation. knows the risks, the damage he’s putting himself in for

hardison is frankly the biggest example of someone who is put into grave danger (ha). I’m thinking about possibly being murdered in the experimental job, buried alive in the grave danger job, drowning in the pool in the big bang job, etc. he’s not a hitter, doesn’t have the maneuverability or stealth of a thief. he can talk himself out of situations (within reason) but that can only go so far. and he’s not nate, making plans before they act. there’s lowkey a reason why he’s in the van besides the fact that his job necessitates it. barring sophie, he’s probably the least equipped/experienced to deal with real danger, real violence

on the other hand, sophie almost never gets hurt. sure, a gun may get pointed at her, but she can surely talk her way out (‘it’s not loaded’ ‘it was’ ‘not to a grifter’). I honestly can’t remember a time that sophie was ever seriously injured??? she is so meticulous about setting herself up in situations that will specifically not get her hurt, or where she has some sort of safety net or backup plan. I’m thinking about the quote where she says she gets people to unlock doors for her vs having to pick the lock herself

parker is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum but leans more towards sophie. she’s been in some scrapes and close calls (the inside job, the hot potato job with the burn room, the long way down job). but in nearly every situation like this she finds herself in, she can also work herself out of. she can run fast enough and climb and crawl far enough, dodge lasers well enough that she can manuver herself out of the problem. the few times she was ever in real danger was when she put herself there (I’m specifically thinking about the stork job when she puts herself between children and people with guns) (albeit fake guns)

some underdeveloped thought in the back of my mind is turning around the idea of importance to the show/team’s core and the likelihood of getting hurt

(talking eliot out of the equation so as not to skew the data, hardison is hurt the most because he is the heart of the group. nate is hurt so much because he is the leader. sophie and parker are undoubtedly still important, but have the skills to maneuver out of those situations before they spiral out of control)

(although the act of taking eliot out of the equation says something in of itself. something about the only person capable of taking that amount of pain for those he loves, etc, etc)

[kitkatt0430]

do you have a favorite season or episode of Leverage? i love seeing you post about this show :)

Leverage is one of those shows that it's so hard to pic favorites because it's all so incredibly, satisfyingly good.

The first season is probably the worst which is still putting it head and shoulders over the best season of so many other shows that I love. It was hurt by being aired out of order, which thankfully the other seasons didn't suffer from, but it has so many little details in there that become running gags throughout the series. Plan M, Hardison dies. Let's steal an <X>. Parker stabbing a guy with a fork. Hardison's stories about his Nana. Eliot's very specific catchphrase. Sophie's struggle with being an actress vs being a grifter. Alice White. Hurley. Sterling. Old Nate.

I think the Pilot and the two-part finale are my favorites from that season though it is a very close call with basically every other episode.

The Pilot of course gives us the crew and becomes incredibly important to understand the motivations of the final villain of S4. So, so much is established in this episode. The heist at the start, the mini-con at the hospital, and the main con to get their revenge. The walk-away where they all fail to walk away.

And then the two part finale. Nate's ex wife shows up and everyone basically falls in love with Maggie because she's awesome. Sterling truly establishing the Sterling always wins rule with his second win. Nate being able to punch - in the face - the guy who turned down the insurance claim for the medical procedure that might have saved Nate's dying son. Sophie trying to have her cake and eat it too, only to ultimately chose the team over herself. Old Nate becoming the Leverage mascot (to real Nate's chagrin).

Season 2 is probably my second least favorite because I think Sophie leaving the team is somewhat... mishandled? Overall they handled the actress needing time off while pregnant well, but she leaves the team to find herself but is upset that Nate gives her that space and encourages the team to do so as well? Like, yeah, he needs to be better at asking for help and it's his big failing this season but he's very much trying to respect what Sophie asked for and given shit about it. But this is quite possibly the only overarching storyline the show fumbled which is sooooo impressive. (Glances at the Flash and it's many fumbled storylines.)

The first episode of this season is hands down favorite. The team gets back together. Parker as a lock picking nun. The Team taking over Nate's apartment (and then refusing to leave for three seasons). The fact that this episode sets up the series finale. Because it does. The whole reason Nate decides to give in and rejoin the team for more than just this one job at the end? Is because this is where he realizes what really happened behind the scenes of the 2007-08 financial crisis, which leads directly to the target of The Long Goodbye Job.

(holy shit is this show amazing at callbacks and maintaining continuity)

I also really love the Two Live Crew Job for introducing Chaos and The Lost Heir Job for bringing in Tara for the rest of the season (only complaint is we barely get any more of her after this season). Though if I were to pick a second favorite episode of the season it'd be The Bottle Job because I love them saving the bar together and it has the first hints of Jimmy Ford being revealed (explaining further why Nate is the way he is).

I think Season 3 and 4 tie for me as second favorite seasons. S3 has the plot with the Italian and finally stops using Nate's personal failings as the driving impetus of the season finale. Eliot being so very ashamed of the man he used to be is incredibly touching (someone hug this man) and makes it all the more impressive what kind of man he's become now.

I love The Inside Job for putting Parker front and center. Introducing the man who raised her, but also failed her in a way that makes Nate quite likely want to punch Archie in the face. The show never outright calls Parker autistic, but she is. She so clearly is. And it's very plain to see that was factored into the set design for where Parker lives. It was part of Archie's reasoning for keeping her separate from his family - though he can say 'she wouldn't fit in' all he wants, the truth is clear in how he says it. But despite how he failed her, the episode is about showing that Parker does have a family now. The Leverage Crew. And they love her because she is the way she is. Because if she were any different, she wouldn't be their Parker. And they are willing to fight for her and trust her and follow her lead.

I love any episode where Hardison gets to be artsy, so The Scheherazade Job is beloved. How dare he be so talented? So, so, so multi-talented.

The Studio Job gives us Eliot's softer side and Christian Kane's wonderful country singing voice.

The Three Card Monte Job introducing Jimmy Ford in the flesh and giving us the wonderfully fucked up relationship he has with Nate. They love each other but they're too much alike to get ever get along. Each one has a very different code of ethics that clash irreconcilably.

The Rashoman Job is just incredibly well played, with the actors in the flashbacks being slowly updated as it's revealed this person or that person was actually one of the Leverage Crew pre-show. Sophie's accent in the flashbacks getting increasingly incomprehensible until she's basically speaking what the wingdings fonts look like when you try to type normally with them.

The King George Job giving more artsy Hardison who hacks history and probably needs a nap. Sophie's complicated backstory and her realization that cons where she thought no one really got hurt may have actually gotten people hurt after all - a character story beat that Leverage Redemption picked up for her and continued beautifully.

The San Lorenzo Job is absolutely stunning. Sophie shines here (and yet again does not know how to keep out of sight at her own funeral) absolutely stunningly as she builds herself up as a sort of Princess Diana/Evita type before her "assassination" that helps seal the deal of their election theft scheme.

Season 4 tying itself so neatly back to the job that started it all when it turns out the rich dude trying to manipulate them is working with Dubenich. It's impressive how well they pull off the reveal. But he's not the only big call back to Season One we get here. Parker's Alice White persona and the friend she made - Peggy - come back. Hurley comes back.

The Van Gogh Job is the best, best, best of the season. It doesn't pull any punches in saying "hey, this romance we're doing between a white girl and a black man? that used to be illegal. It is in living memory that these relationships could get black men lynched by racists with little to no repercussions. And talented black men would have their achievements handed to white men because 'that's the way it was.'" It puts the main actors into the roles of characters in the past just to make sure it hits hard because we know these faces. We're emotionally attached to them. Holy shit this episode.

The Hot Potato Job where the problem kid of the school field trip Nate and Parker hijack just needed people to treat him like a person, not a problem, to behave well. The way he bonds with Hardison and helps them smuggle the potato out at the end? I love this kid, I want to learn he's working for Leverage International one day.

The Carnival Job where the mark's kid is kidnapped and they burn their con because a child's life is more important. Eliot fighting concussed and with his eyes shut because he will be damned if he fails to save this little girl.

The Grave Danger Job managing to be the best 'buried alive' plot I have ever seen on a tv show (and it is a staple plot of tv shows from the 90s/early 2000s). They steal a police car and an ambulance for the sirens. It gets series with Parker calling Hardison 'Alec' and being at the most emotional we've seen her all show.

The Office Job being done in the style of The Office (and then the mockumentary follow up in the behind the scenes featurettes) is just priceless.

The Girls Night Out/The Boys Night Out Jobs being so perfect in how they intertwine over the course of the same night.

The Radio Job showing us just how much Jimmy Ford loves his son.

The Last Dam Job giving us "my son would be ashamed of me for killing someone. My father? My father would buy me an ice cream." Dubenich ultimately destroying himself while Nate walks away.

Season 5 is my favorite season, though. It's the culmination of where the show was heading from the start. Parker has grown so much from the first season that she's able to run her own con - something Sophie and Hardison have both attempted and failed - and with the rest of the team out of town to boot. Parker and Hardison clearly got the brew pub as a gift for Eliot, while realizing he'd never accept if they don't reverse psychology him into it. Sophie buying the theater and finally discovering her talent for directing as well as overcoming the blocks that kept her from bringing her prodigious acting talent to the stage floor. Nate achieving the goal that's driven him since the start of Season Two.

I love the French Connection Job for giving us more Chef Eliot. His relationship with food is lovely and this is my favorite exploration of it. Parker finally learning to appreciate beauty in art because of how she grows to understand how Eliot connects with cooking and learns to appreciate the artistry that goes into food.

The Gimme a K Job hits home personally for me - one of my sister's best friends (who was also the older sister of one of my best friends) was a cheerleader who hit her head in a cheer stunt gone wrong where the spotter messed up. It took a very, very long time for her to truly recover from that concussion (and thus why I know tv shows are bullshit for having people just walk that off) and knowing her injuries might have been less severe if cheerleading safety were taken more seriously...

The DB Cooper Job being another excellent episode built around Flashbacks staring the main cast in different roles. Agent McSweeten has to know something is up with the Leverage Crew, but he clearly respects and admires all of them. Especially Parker.

The Broken Wing Job giving us Parker on her own putting together a temporary crew from the wait staff and pulling off a con all on her own, while injured. (The whole reason why she wasn't with the team, in fact.) And it's so damn impressive of her.

The Rundown Job being as close to confirmed Eliot/Parker/Hardison as we're going to get outside of word of god (which we have!!!!) and it's beautiful to watch them work together without Nate and Sophie. It's also foreshadowing for them working together when Nate and Sophie retire.

Similarly, The Frame Up Job gives us how far Nate and Sophie have come as a couple and is as close to Nate/Sophie/Sterling as we'll probably ever get. (No word of god on this one, just me being overwhelmed by Nate and Sterling's impressive divorced-couple vibes. They're more divorced than Nate and Maggie, who are actually divorced.)

The White Rabbit Job where they almost push too far with their gaslighting routine but Parker is able to save the day by connecting to their mark in a way she didn't know how to when the show began. Her character development is such a highlight of she series so the repeated payoffs in this season are just... golden.

Every single thing about The Long Goodbye Job. Once again, all the callbacks to previous seasons. Eliot/Parker/Hardison being heavily hinted at again. Sterling letting Nate go because Nate was right, no matter what the law says. Parker inheriting the lead of the team from Nate. Sophie performing on stage the same play from the pilot, but being excellent at it this time. The episode's whole plot - again, cannot stress this enough - being a callback/having been foreshadowed by the season 2 premiere.

As you can tell, I love this show. It's beautiful and incredible and I was so, so relieved when Leverage Redemption premiered and I could instantly see that they'd done the impossible all over again. They'd recaptured the magic of the original show.

[aardvaark]

Who's your favorite Leverage side character? Like Tara, Hurley, Quinn, etc.

hi! ooh its hard to pick, i really like how leverage often gives a fair amount of personality to even just single-episode characters, let alone recurring ones. i love tara, love some of their villains-turned-kinda-allies like sterling & cha0s, etc.

however, maggie is probably my overall favourite. well, more accurately, parker is my favourite main character and her interactions with maggie are very sweet & funny, and therefore that makes me like maggie even more lol. it’s sweet how parker immediately becomes sort of attached to maggie when they meet properly in the second david job. see the following Q&A from john roger’s blog post about the zanzibar marketplace job:

aw parker <3

but anyway, maggie is great just in general, too! i like how she can spot the con stuff that no one else in the leverageverse seems to see. she notices the button camera, mentions that "the receptionist" (parker) at the plane hangar disappeared, recognises sophie & doesn’t just brush it off when sophie pretends to be someone else, hears the difference in nate’s normal speaking vs talking into comms, etc. she’s very perceptive probably bc her whole job is spotting inconsistencies - seeing the little details that mean an art piece is a forgery.

i like to imagine that the leverage team runs into her about once every year or two, some way or another. like "ah no maggie got kidnapped again ://" or "why are YOU at this art auction??" etc. and i think parker, hardison & eliot would occasionally check in on her post-nate & sophie’s exit. she’d get christmas cards, you know? sometimes the team is in town and maggie knows this because parker has inexplicably appeared in her living room in the dead of night. etc. about 99% of the time, maggie lives a pretty normal life, and then occasionally she’s watching tv and eliot is on the news holding a puppy or hardison is advertising some children’s toy and she just has to exist with that knowledge lol.

recently i’ve also been thinking about peggy & hurley a bit too. in the girls/boys night out jobs, they met and it seemed like they might get together. and in redemption, parker has mentioned that peggy and hurley are still her friends. we’ve also seen that hurley has become part of leverage international. it would be cool if peggy & hurley were still together, and at some point peggy has had to learn a bit more about her friend alice white and what her bf/husband does for work! i mean, even if peggy & hurley are not together, i kinda wanna know what parker’s friendship with peggy is like now! it’s been over a decade, does she know what alice/parker does? or does parker like keeping that part of her life, her alice identity, somewhat separate? plus not knowing would probably help prevent endangering peggy. idk! thoughts anyone??

thank you for the ask!!

[familyabolisher]

Could you expand on your thoughts on Amy Parker's Kingdom by the Sea?

The cruelest part is its introduction. Did you realize [Nabokov] killed her off? I didn’t. Who reads an introduction? But it is true. Right away, without ceremony, he undoes her. He anticipates any attempts on the part of her readers to help her, to free her, to resist the text by imagining her beyond its borders, by allowing her, perhaps, an adulthood. He withholds this—the great gift of any fiction—the margin beyond which characters may persist. Before we ever meet her, he nails her down in her coffin. The book is her tomb—she’s walled up in it. He knew what he was doing; he was no fool. He bricks her up with offhanded casualness in the masonry of the book. The only life she is allowed is the life he gives her. Dolly Hayes tries and tries to break through, she is a scintilla in the book, a bright rebellious flicker in the margins. But he is so tightfisted, so malicious—that he will not allow her to draw a single breath in another person’s imagination, let alone her own. I could almost forgive him, I could almost believe those moments when his narrator’s conscience pricks—his beautiful ironies of perspective; in the mournful and sharp fragments of her truth which he allows to break through—if he had only let her to live.

[...]

But nothing can make Dolores die—if death means hold still, if death means that which settles you, that which chloroforms you and pins you like a butterfly to a bit of paper—my little Lo-lepidoptera has more metamorphoses for you. Go ahead. Keep writing Dolores into HHis bed, into her grave. Mock her, love her, murder her, knock her down or knock her up. Lie about her. Dolores will not die. You can’t fix our Dolores with death. You can’t prevent her escape. So play your games. Turn her rape into an origami shape a reader can fold and refold obsessively, or make of her tale a Mobius strip, where Dolores is on both sides and neither. Go on, wax acrobatic, let people peep through the cracks in your voice and play out your end game.

We, her daughters, her granddaughters, her sisters and aunts, we will send Dolores back into the alphabet. She will not die. Unpack her name. Put it through its paces like Proteus. Dolores will find a door, she will always find a door. It is hidden—did you not see it—it is hidden in her name.

^ i don't think this is fair on nabokov and i think this desire to rescue dolores from the narrative and imagine her outside of it or whatever is fundamentally at odds with a coherent engagement with the book -- the attempted totality of humbert's narrative vs the moments where dolores can 'break through,' so to speak, is stronger for that scarcity -- like sorry but i think dolores dying is one of the strongest choices made in the book lmao. i can see what it does for people but personally i find the reluctance to confront dolores' death and account for it as a narratological device rather than a real thing that happened to a real person kind of silly.

[foolsocracy]

Do you have any fic recommendations? I've just read the open road and other anesthetics, which was good, but I'd love more Noir content.

oh boy do i

Here are a few fics i have on hand! If I have time or stumble across more, I can make another post/add to this one. Heads up, the open road and other anesthetics is pretty light hearted and these probably will not be. so say vigilant LMAO (its noir, ya know?). If you wanted more spiderverse centric fics rather than noirverse let me know i'll see what i can pull together.

Burning Matches by HopelesslyLost (complete) 344,746 words

Cant have a Spider Noir fic rec list without the gospel itself. Definitely on the whumpier side, lots of "this guy can never catch a break huh" but very good! Takes the noirverse and makes it so so cool. I pull a lot from this fic. Great stuff Its a post ITSV setting and features a great deal of everyone but Pete is def the focus. The spider gang is trying to get back together, but when they get to Noir's world things don't go as planned. Heavy on the found family. Heavy on the angst. Love Noir's relationship w/ Miles' parents

The Wind Follows by HopelesslyLost (incomplete) 99,501 words

Goes along with Burning Matches as a side story of Pete infiltrating the KKK to get them tf out of NYC. Very heavy handed on the angst. Even whumpier than Burning Matches. Where it stands right now, it ends on an incredibly low note, very much like Eyes Without a Face. Peter's kicked while he's down & physically incapable of getting a win. But Peter does kick Nazi ass which is always nice to see If you like the noirverse HopelesslyLost writes this is very interesting! Gotta be my fave part of this fic. I love seeing Noir Cage, Daredevil, and Tony Stark. Plus the who "cursed" situation.. mwah

i'll go back to december by snapplebee (incomplete, recently updated) 14,503 words

This fic reminds me of the open road and other anesthetics, but if it was a little angstier w/ Noir. The spider gang is hanging out for the holidays, Noir doesn't know how to fuckn relax.

Catch a Tiger by the Tail by Gruoch (completed) 40,049 words

Just finished this one today! Was very fun. It's an MJ spider-man (her POV) and a Black Cat Peter. Gwen Stacy, a dancer at Felica Hardy's place, is found dead. Her fiancé, Peter Parker, is found dead soon after. Its very much a mystery! TBH i think i was out of it reading this because a twist got me that I'm almost positive was obvious from the beginning LMAO. Slight Peter/Johnny Storm as well

Between Midnight and Dawn by Gruoch (incomplete) 14,158 words

Prequel to the previous rec. I love this one and I'd do anything to see it update again. Shows you how Peter got to be the Black Cat, he has cool run ins with the Dare Devil and Stark, all the fun noir folks. Heads up on the dysfunctional found family tag, thats for sure Peter and Felicia. But they're strange in canon anyway so its not really much of a surprise.

He Sleeps in a Town of Darkness by luckystarsandgarters (complete) 21,278 words

This is the fic i mentioned a post or 2 ago about Johnny Storm being a drag performer. I really love the atmosphere of this fic, I thought it was pulling from an offical comic thats how well it got me. This one's Pete/Johnny Storm! They're cute. Lots of focus on the gay subculture of the 30s I think.

Trust by Ackerhardt (complete) 6,989

Peter & Jean De Wolfe vs the world. Quick read in the classic noirverse. Jean is fun we should talk about him more tbh. Peter/Jean actually! Just colleged aged guys taking on crime in the city.

[jahayla-parker]

Hey! Could you please do a Peter Parker x reader one where y/n is the new girl at Midtown high school and there is a plot twist she's a witch ( the good kind) and she meets Peter and his friends. Y/n starts liking Peter but she finds out that he has a plan to tell MJ that he likes her. Even though Peter likes MJ he starts to really like y/n so now he has to make a choice between MJ and y/n. And unknown to y/n Agatha is on her trail trying to steal her powers.

Detail ideas:

• Y/n is a new student who is a good witch (the magic has been passed down through her family down to her) she's trying to keep her magical powers ( telekinesis and has a book that she learns spells from) a secret

• Y/n does spells in English/Latin?

• Her color scheme is a light bluish color

•  Takes place during the events of Far From Home

• She meet Peter, Ned, MJ and everyone else Peter is also trying to keep his spiderman life a secret

•  Y/n starts to like Peter  but she overhears Peters plan for MJ

• Peter deep down starts to like y/n too but he now has to choose between MJ and y/n

•  Peter has the Peter tingle he senses that y/n is different somehow and y/n senses the same thing about Peter

• They both get suspicious about each other

• Y/n's jealousy plays up her powers on the trip because her powers are linked to her emotions

• Y/n brings the book of shadows ( a book that has been passed down in her family) with her on the trip so she can practice spells

• By accident Peter sees the book and asks her what kind of book is it and y/n tries to hide it and lies and says that she is taking latin

• Y/n is the most powerful witch but she doesn't know it yet and Agatha senses it so she goes looking for her (y/n goes up against Agatha) Agatha follows y/n all around Europe

• Brad tries to flirt with y/n but she shuts him down

• When the class is in Venice and the water elemental shows up y/n saves Ned and Betty by moving the boat that they are in out of the way to safety with her powers

• Y/n thinks that nobody sees her using her powers but Unbeknownst to her Peter sees it

• Peter tells Ned to get y/n, MJ, and the others to safety but before y/n follows the others she sees Peter use his webshooters

• The scene where they go to the opera Peter is gonna talk to MJ but then y/n walks by which catches his attention because she is wearing a really pretty blue dress

• When Peter tells y/n he knows she has powers y/n tries to deny it and y/n questions Peter about him hiding something (because she saw him use his webshooters)

• Scene where y/n explains her familys magical history to Peter

• When Peter goes to alert Fury about Mysterio but ends up fighting Mysterio and he gets hit by the train at the same time y/n is going up against Agatha and at some point Agatha starts to absorbing y/n powers but at the last minute y/n escapes from her

• Y/n calls peter and tells him what happened with Agatha (her magic is kinda weak due to Agatha absorbing her powers earlier )so Happy and Peter pick her up and they both have to come up with a plan to stop their enemies

• Y/n decides to use herself as bait to lure Agatha out but Peter fights her on her plan because he is worried about her safety and she tells him she'll be fine

• Final battle between y/n vs Agatha happens at the same time as Peter goes up against Mysterio

• Peter tries to protect y/n from Agatha during the battle but he gets hurt seeing this y/n gets really mad to that point where she musters all of her power to beat Agatha

• After their battles y/n sees that Peter is limping so she uses a healing spell to heal his leg

• At the end where Peter tells y/n that at first he did like MJ but he really likes her more and they share an awkward kiss

Crushing Plans : Peter Parker x Reader

Part One

Description: 5.5k Crushing Plans part 1, y/n has a crush on her bestfriend Peter but he’s interested in their friend MJ. Meanwhile Peter and Y/n have to decide if they want the responsibility that comes with their powers (while also trying to keep these powers a secret). To make matters worse, y/n’s powers are impacted by her emotions; including jealousy. How will their class trip to Europe go with all of this going on?

Warnings for series as a whole): Mention of injuries, villains, far from home spoilers?, evil, witches, magic, powers/abilities, jealousy, hurt-comfort, I think that’s it!

Series Masterlist (5 parts plus the story continues in Bewitched Love (No Way Home wip w/ the same characters as a story continuation)

Y/n hated being the new girl.

Everyone looked at you at all times; just waiting for you to make a fool of yourself.

She understood it was out of curiosity and a way to know where she stood among their peer groups, but it was unsettling nonetheless.

Especially when she had a secret to keep and a crush to hide.

Speaking of which, as Ned and Peter rambled on about some plans Peter had, y/n spaced out.

They were whispering so she could hardly make out their words, but she likely didn’t want to hear it.

She suspected Peter had a crush on MJ.

Not that she could fault him, MJ was a very unique energy.

While y/n had become somewhat of friends with their group by now, she was not close enough for them to disclose such secrets to her.

Nor did she want him to, she wasn’t sure she could fake a smile if he told her of his feelings for another girl.

So, she sat there silently staring at her crush as he enthusiastically walked Ned through whatever they were discussing.

Y/n bit her lip as her eyes trailed Peter’s face.

He was so unbelievably cute.

It wasn’t even just his looks, even his personality was perfect.

From the way he would always ask her how her night was, the way he always smiled widely when he did well on an exam, the way-

“Are you going on the trip y/n?” Ned asked, making y/n startle slightly as she refocused on her surroundings.

Y/n blinked quickly, hoping her cheeks were flushed, “oh, yeah, of course”.

Peter smiled at her, “great! It should be a lot of fun”.

She nodded, smiling back at him, “any big plans?”

Y/n wanted to slap herself for that.

It was a normal response given the topic, but she knew better.

Peter bit his lip, his dimples showing as he blushed, “umm a bit… I uhm”.

She shook her head, “it’s okay Peter! You don’t have to tell me”

Y/n forced a smile, “I’m sure it’ll go well though”.

Peter sighed and gave her a weak smile, “right umm, thanks”.

He bit his lip and looked over at Ned as y/n politely excused herself.

“Do you think she… no.. Nevermind” Peter mumbled, watching as y/n walked across the classroom to sit by MJ.

“That she heard your plans and is going to tell MJ?” Ned asked, “no, I don’t think y/n is like that”.

“What?! No, that’s not what I was asking! And you’re right, she’s not like that. No… I just… she seemed sad like maybe she…” Peter rambled, playing the scene over again in his mind.

“Dude, you aren’t actually crushing on her too are you?” Ned groaned, recognizing the look in his bestfriend’s eyes.

“Hmm, no, no way” Peter lied, unable to break his gaze with her.

Ned rolled his eyes in disbelief but played along, “well that’s good. I know I said we should be bachelors and all, but dude, I didn’t mean fuckboys”.

Peter finally looked away as he realized MJ was sitting beside her, turning and glaring at Ned instead.

“I’m not being a … a fuckboy” he defended, quickly looking back across the room for a moment, “am I?”

“Not if you choose one” Ned suggested, “but you can’t act on both”.

Peter nodded, “I wasn’t going to. I… MJ. It’s MJ”.

Ned raised a brow in suspicion, “no way it was really that simple Peter”.

Peter shrugged, “I’ve known MJ longer, and I’ve had a crush on her longer. So, MJ”.

His friend shook his head and sighed dramatically, “whatever dude. You have to admit by now that my plan is much less complicated”.

As MJ approached their table on her way to grab a new piece of paper from the back cabinet, both boys went silent.

“You have a plan?” MJ inquired, pausing next to Peter who blushed again and froze.

“I don’t have a plan” he lied, feeling guilty as his eyes land on y/n.

“No, he's just gonna collect tiny spoons when we're traveling to other countries” Ned blurted in an attempt to conceal their discussion.

“Like a grandmother?” MJ teased.

“I’m not collecting tiny spoons. He’s collecting tiny spoons” Peter exclaimed.

“Oh. Okay, well, that was a real roller coaster” MJ said slowly before waving as she leaves to attend to her task.

“Spoons, Ned?” Peter grumbled.

“I panicked!” Ned defended with a shrug, “I didn’t want to blurt your actual plans or that you may secretly have two plans now”.

“I don’t have two plans Ned! I already chose” he reminded Ned but felt a tightness in his chest as he smiled at y/n when she turned and saw him looking her way.

“Clearly” Ned sarcastically remarked.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Y/n, is it okay if Peter sits next to you?” Mr. Harrington asked, tapping her shoulder.

She looked up and saw Peter blushing and staring down at the aisle-way of the plane.

“Oh, umm, sure… but,” she responded, looking over at Brad who was sitting next to her.

Brad , “doesn’t he have a seat already?”

Y/n bit her lip and looked between Brad and Mr. Harrington, pausing as she noticed Peter was now furrowing his eyebrows at Brad as if he was bothered by his question.

“He does, but he has a perfume allergy, and believe me, those are much worse than they sound” Mr. Harrington said.

Y/n raised an eyebrow at Peter in suspicion, never having heard of this; even when their classmate Sara showed up nearly soaked in the latest Victoria’s Secret perfume.

Brad seemed to notice y/N’s reaction as he put his arm around her shoulder, “well, I don’t think he’ll want my seat then. I don’t know if it’s perfume or shampoo or something, but Y/n smells really good “.

Y/n blushed deeply, looking away shyly from all three of the guys surrounding her; unsure what was exactly happening.

Peter mumbled something under his breath before clearing his throat, “I’m fine with coconut”.

Y/n nearly choked; coconut, how did he…?

She knew Brad was simply trying to get a way to stay next to her; she hadn’t used her usual products today as she’d been in a rush.

But, Peter was right… y/n normally did use a coconut scented conditioner.

She just never realized he noticed her enough to know that.

Sure, they sat together in a few classes, but she wasn’t sure he ever noticed her more than a friend.

But friends don’t know what your hair smells like… right?

She snapped her eyes up to Peter who blushed again and looked away as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Mr. Davis, please” Mr. Harrington requested and Brad sighed loudly.

He glared at Peter as he removed his arm from around y/n’s shoulder.

“I’ll see you when we land, Hmm?” Brad winked down at her before brushing past Peter.

“Oh… yeah… okay” y/n mumbled, still spacey from such intense confusion and shock.

“I umm…” Peter mumbled, sitting next to y/n, “I hope you’re not upset about me switching with Brad”.

Y/n shook her head, “no, it’s fine Peter”.

He nodded and sat down next to her, “are you sure? It feels like interrupted something”.

She chuckles, “no, nothing. I probably should tell him that… I just wasn’t excepting him to…”

“Try flirting with you?” Peter mumbled, sounding a bit offended himself.

“Yeah. I’m not mad he did, just not interested.. in him” she said.

Peter looked over at her and offered her a smile, “Ned says all the girls are”.

Y/n laughed and rolled her eyes, “maybe Ned is then”.

Peter laughed and put his bag under his seat as he buckled his seatbelt.

“Perfume allergy though? Since when?” Y/n asked, making him freeze and stare over at her.

“Oh… umm… It was just really strong” he argued.

“So was Sara’s last week” y/n smirked.

Peter bit his lip, “right… but I wasn’t going to be next to her for over nine hours”.

Y/n nodded in agreement, “fair enough Parker”.

He smiled, “so…umm.. what were you going to do for the duration of the flight?”

Y/n shrugged, “just make out with Brad “.

Peter coughed and his eyes went wide before he noticed her laughing and shaking her head.

He questioned himself over the sudden tightness in his chest he felt once again; he couldn’t be jealous, right?

He reminded himself he liked MJ… longer.

Peter took a deep breath and chuckled, “oh, right, you’re not interested in him”

Y/n nodded, “you’re a bit spacey today hmm?”

He leaned back in his seat, “yeah, just a lot of confusing things in my mind I guess”

She copied his movements unconsciously, “me too”.

“Did you want to talk about it?” He asked, hoping to get his mind off his own thoughts.

“Not really, but thank you. You?” Y/n offered.

“No” he rushed out before chuckling nervously a bit, “thanks though”.

She smiled kindly while nodding, before leaning her head back into the headrest and closing her eyes.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Peter glancing between y/n and MJ.

Ned caught his friend’s shifting attention and shook his head, stifling a laugh.

Peter found his eyes lingering on y/n longer each time.

Slowly he took a deep breath, “so… what’re you looking forward to in Venice?”.

He mentally cringed at his weak attempt to strike up a conversation, wondering why he was so nervous to talk to his friend.

But as she opened her eyes and smiled over at him, he felt his body relax.

“Assuming things go smoothly, just be able to enjoy myself and relax without any pressures” she admitted.

Peter wasn’t sure what it was, but something about her confession made him feel a connection.

He wanted to brush it off, she obviously wasn’t meaning being able to give up some secret superhero identity for a few days of relaxation the way he was.

But, there was something that set off his Peter tingle during her statement.

Deciding to try and find out what it was, Peter spoke up, “you normally can’t do that?”

He watched as her cheeks flushed and eyes widened slightly before she formed a small pout.

As he waited for her to respond, he found himself staring at her lips.

Peter shook his head, internally groaning.

“It’s hard to explain… but no. Umm, even outside of school I don’t really get a break, too many expectations and responsibilities. I’m sure you know what it’s like to have a… part time job while in school, Ned said you used to have one?” She rambled.

Peter squinted at her words, it being similar to the way he’d avoid the subject if asked.

But he nodded at the last statement, glad for a new way to avoid the topic, “yeah. Not much sleeping or relaxation outside of school hours, I get that. And it feels like the world is always watching “.

Y/n tilted her head, laughing softly, “the world? Where did you work, some international news company?”

Peter chuckled and shook his head, “no, I… umm..”

“I’m kidding Peter, I get it” she assured, smiling softly as she pulled her blanket over her lap.

"What's that?" Peter asked as y/n reached into her personal item backpack to grab a piece of gum.

She froze and her fingers nearly snapped the stick of gum in half from the tension radiating through her body at his inquiry.

She did not even have to look to know what he must have seen.

The spell book from her mother had been kept in her personal item bag so that no one would have access to it even when on the several hour long international flight.

However, she was not intending to have Peter sitting next to her on said flight.

Y/n was fairly certain that most of her other classmates would not have noticed the item, much less Brad Davis whom she was supposed to be seated with.

"Umm, gum?" y/n tried, holding up the pack as if that was the item he was asking about.

Peter chuckled tenderly, "no, that".

Y/n swatted his hand when he began reaching for the book.

Her hand hit the back of his just as his fingers swept over the hardcover binding of the book.

Peter startled at her reaction, only becoming more confused when he noticed his Spidey Senses- or Peter Tingle like Aunt May termed it- tingled when he touched the book.

"Sorry" Y/n gushed, feeling very warm suddenly, "I just... I uhh.."

Peter shook his head, cocking it to the side slightly as he spoke, "no, it's okay... I shouldn't have done that without asking".

She gave him a kind smile and sighed, "it's just a really important book is all. I don't really like anyone else touching it".

Peter nodded, trying to keep his curious eyes off of her bag.

"Can I ask what is is? Is it like a first edition of your favorite book or something?" He asked.

Peter realized he was not only curious as to what the item was and why it prompted such a response, but also found himself suddenly wanting to know what her favorite book was.

He bit his cheek as he stiffled a frustrated sigh at realizing that maybe just claiming to choose MJ was not as simple as it sounded.

He'd never really questioned what MJ's favorite book was... but surely that was not that big of a deal, right?

"Oh. I..." y/n's voice brought him back to the moment as she minimally tilted the book back to show him the cover, "it is a really old authentic text that I am using for my Latin lessons".

Peter's eyes flickered from her face down to the book briefly, noticing how antique the material was and the latin wording on the cover.

It's appearance matched her description but for some reason Peter found himself still slightly suspicious that there was more to it than that.

Nonethless, he nodded and gave her a smile, "you're learning Latin?"

She nodded, covering the book back up and zipping the bag.

"Isn't it a dead language?" Peter asked breazily, wanting to smack himself afterwards for how his verbiage sounded.

Y/n laughed and leaned back into her seat, passing him a piece of gum, "it's only dead if people stop using it".

Peter's lips parted as he thought through her words, smirking in agreement as he grabbed the gum, "I suppose that's true".

"So, I assume your plan probably isn't off to the best start now huh?" y/n hummed, sipping on the water cup the flight attendant provided.

"My plan?" Peter asked, setting his own cup down on the tray.

"Earlier..., I asked if you had any big plans.." y/n said, annoyed with herself for feeling dissapointed that he didn't remember.

"I remember" he admitted, trying to think of what to tell her.

"Ahh, sorry, I don't mean to pry, I know you don't want to tell me about it. I was just going to see if there was maybe something I could do to help since you're stuck sitting next to me" y/n explained shyly.

Peter froze and frowned at her, "stuck with you?"

She gave him a polite curl of her lips, "I know you were trying to sit with MJ".

Peter felt his cheeks redden and his eyes enlarge.

Despite the jealousy she felt, she giggled at his boyish reaction, "it was a bit obvious that you were trying to change seats, and well, I have seen the way you look at MJ".

Peter's jaw dropped slightly, was he that obvious?

If so, was his simultanious crush on y/n obvious as well?

It didn't seem so given the current discussion... unless this was her way of kindly letting him know she wasn't interested by redirecting him to focus on MJ.

Peter rubbed his neck nervously as he tried to clear these thoughts from his mind.

"Well, I'm sure you and Ned can pick up the pieces and restart whatever the plan was when we land" y/n offered to cheer him up even though the idea hurt her.

Peter nodded slowly, uncertain what to say to her.

"How are you getting texts?" Peter asked, looking up from her phone.

They'd been watching a movie on her phone after they searched the films on the airplane seat screens only to find they were all relating to the Avengers; mostly Tony.

"Sorry, I thought I had my push notifications off for the movie" she sighed, pausing it as she went to dismiss the notification and then turn on do not disturb mode.

"It's okay" Peter reassured her with a tender voice, "I just thought they had to be on airplane mode".

She laughed, "I have an iPhone, so using the internet allows me to send and recieve iMessages still".

Peter grimmaced in embarassment, he should have known that.

Well, he did know it... he just did not remember it at the moment.

It was like all his thoughts and knowledge had dissapeared the second y/n was leaning against him and laughing at the movie they were watching.

"Right, duh" Peter laughed breathily.

"One sec, it's Brad, I should see what he wants" y/n said, Peter's lips instantly forming a pout.

"Brad? Why is he-" he began to ask, stopping as y/n's eyes lifted slowly up to Peter with a look he could not discern.

"So, Brad is offering to switch seats with you if you want" y/n told him, trying to hide her dissapointment from him.

Peter scoffed, "of course he does".

"What?" y/n asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Shaking his head, Peter sighed , "nothing".

"Okay... Well, what do you want me to tell him?" she asked.

Peter pressed his lips into a fine line before speaking, "do you want to sit with him instead?"

"No" y/n said, far too quickly.

"I just know that you got stuck with me, and Brad is with MJ, so you could switch and be where you wanted" y/n stated, forcing the words to come out as emotionally numb as possible.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Peter asked, frustration mixing with confusion on his face.

"What do you mean? I know you like her, so I-" she began softly.

He shook his head to cut her off, "no. Not that. Why do you keep saying I am stuck with you?"

She shrugged, "I wasn't the plan, MJ was. You were forced to sit with me, it's as simple as that".

Peter sighed, running his hand up his forehead and through his hair, "it's really not that simple".

'It's fine Peter" y/n lied, "I just need to know what to tell Brad".

"Y/n, just-" he sighed, closing his eyes briefly as he took a deep breath, "I am serious, it's not that simple. I don't feel stuck sitting with you. You can tell Brad no. I am enjoying sitting here and talking to you. I'm sorry I made it seem like I didn't".

She pondered his words for a moment before nodding, "If you're sure, I will tell him no. But I don't see how that'll help with the MJ thing".

Before he could respond she lied, "I won't take it personal if you chose to switch with Brad to sit with her instead. It's not like I could blame you".

"I am not choosing to switch" Peter told her, "besides, what do you mean you couldn't blame me?"

He watched closely as she composed her thoughts before speaking, his sixth sense on edge again, alerting him that something was wrong/concerning.

"I-" she let out a breathy laugh, "it doesn't matter".

"Yes it does" Peter argued.

As she went to shake her head, Peter added, "it does to me".

She tried to keep her facial features from betraying her sudden and unwaranted delight.

"You already know though Peter, so telling you would be redundant" she pointed out.

"Humor me" Peter requested, beyond confused.

"MJ is super fun, keeps things interesting, pretty, and is nice" y/n explained.

Peter nodded, "okay... right... Annnd?"

"And, that makes her the better choice" she told him, "therefore, as I said, I couldn't blame you for chosing to switch to be next to her".

Peter felt himself practically glare at the words she uttered, "Don't put yourself down like that."

"I'm not putting myself down Peter, I am merely stating my observations" y/n remarked.

He shook his head, lips still at an unnatural angle due to his disagreement, "not everything is as simple as you seem to think it is".

She laughed and shrugged, "believe me, I know".

Y/n was already over the conversation as she could no longer keep pushing him towards MJ, even if it was what she knew he wanted and would hopefully help her move on from her doomed crush on him.

Peter sighed as he leaned back into his seat, "seriously though, don't compare yourself to people, trust me it does no good".

Yn sighed and leaned back into her own seat, "we can agree on that"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It is taking sooo long" Flash whined, resting his head on the window of their transport.

Y/n rolled her eyes and turned to make a joke with Peter only to remember he'd sat with MJ when they swtiched from the plane to their shuttle.

She sighed and looked back to them, watching jealously as Peter smiled and laughed at something MJ said.

As she turned around to face the front again, she saw Ned smirking at Peter in encouragement.

Biting her lip, y/n focused on the side-view mirror of the vehicle to the left and slightly head of their's.

She tried to get her brain to focus on the cute dog the mirror allowed her to see, but it kept going back to MJ and Peter.

Stubbornly, she gripped the seat beneath her as she stared firmly at the mirror, desperate for some distraction.

It wasn't long until she got what she wanted.

Well, sort of.

Before she could react and stop it, the side-view mirror broke off the car and flew towards their shuttle.

Luckily, she was able to get her telekenisis back in regulation and moved the broken car part downwards and slowed its pace.

Everyone gasped as the mirror hit the side of their shuttle, just below the windows.

Y/n felt her breath hitch as she waited to see if anyone made the connection.

But how could they?

No one knew she had powers, much less that those powers could be manipluated by her emotions; such as her jealousy towards MJ and Peter.

When the shuttle driver kept going and new landmarks started to appear, her classmates resumed their previously abandoned activities.

Y/n leaned back against her seat and let her held breath out.

"That was pretty scary huh?" Brad asked, suddenly seated next to her.

She bit her lip and nodded, feeling guilty for having put them at risk over her emotions.

"Guess that means the rest of the trip can only improve huh?" Brad winked, resting his arm on the seat around her.

Y/n was tempted to make it clear to him, yet again, that she was not interested.

However, at least this was a distraction and she could use it to keep everyone safe from her abilities until she could distance herself from Peter and MJ.

"Then maybe some food after" MJ said, laughing as she waved her hand in front of Peter's face.

Peter blushed and snapped his head back to the girl next to him, "I'm sorry, what?"

MJ rolled her eyes, "you were staring at y/n again".

"I-No, I was not- I" Peter mumbled.

Laughing, MJ joked "Oh, must've been Brad you were staring at then".

Peter grimaced at the mention of the guy next to y/n, "No"

MJ shook her head as she laughed again.

Was she right?

Was he really staring over there?

Sure, he was looking her way when whatever it was hit their shuttle.

And, sure, he was still looking at her when Brad joined her and began getting comfortable next to her.

And sure, even as MJ resumed answering the question he asked before, he was lookimg at her.

To be honest, even as he asked MJ the question, he was watching how Y/n was glancing around the vehicle; secereyly hoping to catch her looking his way.

Peter mentally groaned, he really thought he could just keep this simple and choose MJ but things are not that easy it seems.

"Sorry, I just feel bad for abandoning her after the flight" Peter mumbled.

It was true, he did feel bad even as he made the choice he thought was appropriate to proceed with his plans.

Yet, it wasn't the real reason he kept watching her.

Nor was it the reason he was still watching her, now glaring at the back of Brad's head as he noticed hpw his arm was around her seat.

Peter tried to focus on MJ but found it harder than normal.

~~~~~~~~~~

“One sec” Peter said, taking a photo of Yn in the main square, the architecture behind her.

“Thanks Peter!” She smiled talking her phone back

He nodded “of course… you.. look… I think the photo turned out great”.

Y/n bit the inside of her cheek at what it sounded like he was going to say.

Holding her composure, she blushed and thanked him.

“When’s the next step in your plan?” she asked to remind herself he wasn’t hers and his interest was MJ.

“Oh I umm I kinda scratched that plan I think” Peter mumbled.

“Really why?” Y/n wondered.

“Like I said on the plane things aren’t as simple as they seem” Peter admitted.

With a raised eyebrow, y/n hummed “well.., then whatcha up to?”

“Just thought I’d sightsee” he lie, having walked around distracted hoping to clear his head.

As they walked silently, suddenly there was a massive wave in the canal making everyone panic.

Peter snapped to face Yn and get her away from whatever it was, but she was no longer at his side.

He panicked and looked back at the water before quickly glancing around the surrounding docks.

His search paused as he noticed Ned and Betty were in a canoe in the canal and were understandably terrified.

While Peter racked his brain for a solution, ideally one that wouldn’t expose his secret identity, he watched their canoe move.

But it wasn’t the direction in which it moved that struck him as odd.

To be fair, the whole incident was odd, but the canoe was moving sideways.

Yet, the insane ripple of water that was causing the chaos it was wasn’t even near the canoe.

Peter glanced up and saw Yn standing under this ledge, slightly hidden from the public.

Squinting, he watched as her fingers on her right hand curled towards her palm, the canoe moving in the same direction.

Peter wasn’t sure if he wanted to gasp or smirk.

He knew something about her was different, but he hadn’t expected this.

When Ned and Betty reached the side of the canal, Yn rushed forward to help them out.

Just as the couple stepped onto the cobblestone, another surge of the water began.

Peter’s eyes widened as it neared y/n.

“Ned, get y/n, MJ, Betty, and everyone back to the hotel” Peter shouted over the chaos.

Y/n felt a flutter in her chest over the simple fact he said her name first, not that it meant anything to him.

Ned complied and started trying to herd the girls and a few other classmates who were still in the area away.

Y/n wanted to help more, but she had no idea what was happening or how to fight it.

So she reluctantly went with Ned, occasionally looking over her shoulder at the scene.

One time when she glanced back, she noticed Peter had disappeared; causing her to panic.

What if the water thing got him?

She was pleased Ned’s focus was now on Betty, and used it to her advantage as she slowed her pace until she was far enough behind to slip away.

Y/n slid behind a wall and looked around before running to where she last saw Peter.

Before she could reach the destination, she saw him.

Except this time, he had webs shooting from his hands and was pulling on two heavy structures with minimal difficulty.

She shook her head, of course he was Spider-Man, it all made sense now.

Her focus snapped back to the scene and she tucked herself around the corner where he wouldn’t be able to see.

Y/n instinctively used her telekinesis to push the buildings back in the direction Peter was trying to pull them.

Satisfied, she began walking closer, only to be stopped by Ned a few seconds later.

“There you are, come on are you crazy? The water is attacking us and you just run off?!” Ned complained.

“Sorry I got scared” she said, a half-truth.

Ned sighed and nodded, “let’s go”.

“What about Peter” y/n asked.

“He should already be back, now come on” he said, covering for Peter.

She always sensed something was off with Ned whenever Peter had something suddenly come up.

Buy, now that she knew why, it was even more clear.

Nonetheless, she couldn’t state this or stay without exposing him and potentially herself, plus most of the chaos died down so she went with Ned.

Y/n smiled softly as MJ sat beside her, wraping her arm around her friend, "glad to see you're okay MJ"

"You too, although I lost track of you there for a little" MJ commented.

Bting her lower lip y/n shrugged, "it was pretty hectic, I got a bit distracted".

"At least its over now" MJ muttered, giving her a small smile.

"He's alright. He's no Spider-Man." Flash remarked about the unknown superhero that was at the canals today.

MJ laughed mockingly and shook her head over Flash once again fanboying over Spider-Man, "What is it with you and Spider-Man?"

"What? He's just awesome, okay? He protects the neighborhood and y'know he's inspiring. He inspires me to be a better man" Flash rambled on.

MJ rolled her eyes and leaned back against the steps as Y/n removed her arm grom her shoulder and adjusted her hairtie to distract her from worrying over Peter.

Fortunately, y/n soon felt a change in the atmosphere and turned her head around the stair banister just as Peter walked in.

Flash saw him at the same time, commenting, "'Sup, dickwad? Thought you drowned",

Brad smirked at the dig and MJ rolled her eyes again as y/n just scanned him for injuries.

Peter ignored Flash and looked over y/n and MJ.

"So how much of that did you see?" Peter asked, eyes landing on y/n.

Before she could respond, MJ cut in, "Not much. I was running".

Peter's eyes snapped to her and then back to y/n briefly before looking at MJ again, "Right. Me too. I was also running... away."

Y/n bit her lip as she wanted nothing more than to melt to the floor and slide away from them and their conversation.

"So Paris tomorrow. Go to the Eiffel Tower. Should be great, it's on your bucket list right?" Peter commented, bringing her attention back to the group.

Y/n smiled gratefully at him and nodded.

But once again, just as she was about to respond, MJ interrupted "I read it was secretly built as a mind-control antenna to create an army of the insane."

Y/n felt herself deflate and forced herself to look away from their conversation, making eye contact with the only other person seemingly noticing this parituclar side conversation, Brad.

"Oh" is all Peter said, and unbeknownst to y/n, his eyes are focused on her.

Had she not been using all her might to ignore the situation around her, her powers would have allowed her to realize what was truly happening.

But she was too disappointed and hurt to not completely shut out the conversation and his presence.

However, the wink Brad sends her way makes her even more frustrated.

Why couldn't Brad go for MJ and Peter be interested in her?

Sighing, she turned her focus back to her positiion between two of her best friends as she tried to find a way to politely excuse herself.

"Which is why it's my favorite destination on the whole trip" MJ flirts with a smug smile over at Peter.

At that, y/n no longer looked for a polite way to get out of it, she had to flee immediately as she felt her hands warm as her power ebbed with her emotions.

"Y/n?" Peter called after her as she suddenly stood and started up the stairs.

See series masterlist link for next part(s)

SERIES MASTERLIST/NAVIGATION

PETER PARKER MASTERLIST/NAVIGATION

TOM HOLLAND MASTERLIST/NAVIGATION (INCLUDING CHARACTERS)

MY MAIN MASTERLIST/NAVIGATION (ALL MY WORKS)

Peter Parker Taglist: @galaxyholland @fishingirl12 @raajali3 @justapurrcat @natswife-marvelicious @directioner5life @ell0ra-br3kk3r @theslayerofthevampires

Peter Parker Taglist (comment here to be added): @galaxyholland @bigbirdstwins @mcushvft @fishingirl12 @raajali3 @justapurrcat @natswife-marvelicious @directioner5life @ell0ra-br3kk3r

[sciderman]

DBXKXBX PLEASE, YOUR RECENT POST GOT ME SAD J WANNA HUG HIM SO BAD NOW 😭😭 (no but like, fr, Peter is almost always the one blamed for any of the fallouts, and if he's not, he's always just told/praised for being the mature one and it breaks my heart. I don't think I've ever seen Wade be the one to come to Peter and apologize, and I can imagine just how badly that weighs down on Pete.)

this morning my thoughts were occupied entirely with peter "it was all my fault" parker

vs wade "yeah. it was all peter's fault" wilson

peter - peter's so primed to take the blame for everything. even when it's just for being him.

he's always finding something to apologise for. finding some way that he just wasn't enough, or he was in the wrong the whole time, or – 

wade's generally unapologetic, and his defence tactic is usually to blame someone else, or make it out that everyone else is just as bad as him.

wade does make apologies sometimes. and it's always a moment.

it's kind of a funny thing, actually. wade wants peter to be less apologetic. kind of everyone wants peter to be less apologetic.

while peter wants wade to be more apologetic. he loves it when wade apologises.

loves it when wade takes responsibility.

peter's kind of already hyper-aware of how much power he has over wade, and is ready to take responsibility for that.

wade - wade's still figuring out that he has power over peter too.

and with that power, there must also come responsi... you get it.

[ayotofu]

Imagine if you will (with a lot of hand wavy time changes ofc) that the leverage team during their LA days end up crossing paths with the 118. I just feel like chim and hardison would get along so well. And Bobby and Nate both have the brooding trauma thing but Bobby has actually faced his demons.

This is out of left field sorry i just wanted to think out loud about shoving my two favourite shows together like im five and they’re my barbies

believe you me anon i have IMAGINED THE SHIT outta this :D :D :D

i'm soooooo glad you asked because i've had this fic in the back of my head where hen and karen are like. hey what this councilwoman is doing to us and to our nine year old is fucking malicious and cruel and only possible because she is abusing her power and now she's put hen's old shithead captain (who was REMOVED from the same station for creating a hostile work environment and particularly bullying hen) BACK IN CHARGE, and all of this is super sketchy, but ortiz and gerrard have ALL the power in this scenario. so.

who do they call if not the leverage team?

hen obviously tells chim, who tells everyone else, so when strange people start showing up and doing weird shit, they all collectively decide not to worry about it.

eliot definitely goes undercover at the 118, covering for someone who got a spontaneous all-expenses-paid vacation (hardison tried to send them on a cruise at first, but for some reason they declined). he and eddie instantly bond, macho-to-macho. eliot quickly learns that eddie a) has a kid and b) can't cook very well so decides that he needs to learn so he can feed his kid well. (eddie insists that he's not that bad at cooking jesus but eliot is getting too into it)

buck at one point overhears eliot talking to parker and hardison on the comm and is like "omg, can i try" and annoys eliot until he agrees. buck, it turns out, does not actually know what to say on the comm so he just starts listing facts about famous heists in history while parker gives her opinion on the quality of each of them. "aw," parker says, "you're like a little nerd in my ear" to which hardison says "babe do i mean nothing to you"

sophie tries to work ortiz while nate tries to work gerrard. because of this, nate happens to run into bobby when they were both coming to talk to gerrard (bobby to try to convince him, somehow, to leave vs. nate for the con) and they talk. bobby knows why nate is here (chimney reeeeally can't keep a secret) but that short conversation lets him see in nate all the darkness he's keeping at bay in himself. bobby looks at nate and gets sad because, while nate is functional, that darkness could have been him. nate looks at bobby and gets angry because, while bobby will never be fully healed, that lightness could have been him.

parker works closest with hen and karen. she is furious on their behalf, gets a little too emotionally involved. she's seen a lot of people do terrible things for money and power (she's done some things herself that she's not exactly proud of) but this one hits different. ortiz isn't hurting hen and karen to get more money or power; she's doing it because she wants to hurt them. it's so vindictive. just pointlessly cruel.

and more than that: parker was mara, once upon a time. she was the mara who never really got her hen and karen. she doesn't want another little girl to end up like her. she and sophie are both around ortiz at one point and ortiz says something about mara (such a tragedy, that little girl, abandoned again like it wasn't all her fault) and sophie grabs the pencil out of parker's hand before she can start stabbing.

i don't know exactly how chim and hardison meet, but chimney absolutely starts asking him to hack into random shit. harmless shit. gerrard's email (90% of it was spam emails. chim, delighted, signs him up for hundreds more. mostly gay porn), ortiz's hildy coffee machine (to make it run, constantly, for an hour, spilling hot coffee all over her floor) (eddie hears about it and holds it over buck for weeks because he was RIGHT those things are DANGEROUS)

i don't have a very coherent plot for this but i do think it would be such a fun crossover

[roseamongroses]

its called the parker curse not the morales curse 😒

atsv spoilers under cut

ok...jokes aside. after a certain point when miguel was going in on miles, i don't think he was talking about miles anymore.

and to be clear, what he said and how he said it can't be easily taken back--scorched earth yada yada-- so its impact still stands. but if you've ever had an argument as a child with a traumatized + unhealed adult-- it felt like that.

had me sweating in the theatre because you can feel him projecting HEAVY mid-way through. the way he dealt with miles, even before he started the hunt, def felt like he was punishing his past self / trying to stop his past self rather then understand a new situation +person

the assumptions he was making about miles and how he handles multi-dimensional travel, seem to lean heavy on fear. and that makes sense considering his past, but i do think only viewing justice within the lens of fearing what may happen isn't productive in the long run.

they still don't know how these initial dimensional slip ups happen before the collider exploded and bagel guy showed up. (or do they???lol) nor do they know what decides canon and non-canon (i remember the comic book authority approval at the beginning of the film and i wonder if they get mentioned again or if its just a one off joke)

(getting a lil meta there, do you think we'll get a lego movie esq ending next movie???mfkers wake up and realize they're comic book characters)

-

on the conflict

personally i love a good "hero tries to save them all, and realizes their innate limitations" type storyline, but i don't think that's the conclusion they're going for.

for example i thought Pavitr would def get his shit rocked after his spiel about being spiderman being easy and that he's happy. and he did go through something (and probably will go through something else considering he has a living girlfriend )

BUT he was able to reach out for help instead. he couldn't do it all, but he didn't have to. and i think that plot line is just as compelling as him failing outright and dragging himself out of the trenches as a lonely hero.

the "save one person vs. an entire dimension" conflict is interesting because miles is a believer in "why not both". often times with these trolly problem esq. situations, the person who questions the existence of the dilemma is dismissed.

miles is considered naive because he thinks he can "do it all". but i don't think thats the case. miles considers both because despite the trauma, he's been surrounded by a loving community who sees the best in him.

so he knows (consciously or not) that he can do both because he's not alone. he is the lone spiderman, but that doesn't have to be the case. that's why he was so excited for the spider-club cause he thought he wouldn't have to endure alone, but instead he was met with the fact that the club was meant to reaffirm their loneliness rather then circumvent it.

(also the possibility of this franchise introducing other heros later on is something im begging for btw but ik copyright will nuke that)

if miles is an anomaly, the possibility of his events deviating from the norm does exist. miles had the right to question if it was really the only way or if miguel just didn't want to try otherwise. and to be honest im questioning if miles was really the first anomaly considering we don't have all the details about miguel's backstory

-

on comics

what does it mean to be spiderman? to uphold goodness? to be a compelling hero?

For a lot of the characters explored, their justice is tied to their suffering. they are good heros because they've seen the worst and wil. endure the worst and that's what makes them compelling. but with this "new" generation of heroes, that doesn't hold up when we consider intersectional identities and what the audience desires to see from their hero's.

if the audience is already enduring and suffering in their day-to-day lives what can they get out of a story that only reaffirms the daily injustices of their reality. i don't want heros that look like me if they only uphold the status quo "suffer, work, live, be good". that isn't enough. i love me some angst, but what else makes the story compelling???

i read the superhero genre because i want better. I want to be able to fight back, to question, to explore. to stretch the idea of what goodness and justice looks like for communities that are used to being told to accept the bare minimum and just survive.

[traincat]

Hey, so quick question: which version of Spider-Man you consider canon? I mean, the writers SAY a lot about the character and while he’s relatively relatable, he’s ALSO a wish fullfiliment kind of person so you can imagine yourself as him.

For example: he’s POOR, so WHY the heck is he still in New York since that's a EXPENSIVE City to live on? He hadn't suffered NEARLY as many tragedies as some other characters like Hulk or Jessica Jones.

Or, he's a loser, but... that's not true at all?? I like Peter, but I can't deny that he isn't necessarily THAT much of a woobie or an overall asshole on occasion (he ain't this saint people tend to claim, if anything he occasionaly behaves like a kid??). To be honest, he kinda has it... easy? Like, he can't have relationships, he's almost NEVER not in one, yet... they claim otherwise.

So yeah, I DO like the little asshole, but Marvel's tendency to retcon and don't show, but tell is... really confusing.

(The only thing that DOES help over that is their admitance it's on purpose, that it's not supposed to be realistic, still... is annoying.)

So I have a direct answer to "which version of Spider-Man do I consider canon" and then I have a lot of more nebulous thoughts about "versions" of characters, reader interpretation, and canon.

My Peter Parker is always going to be 616 Peter, from 1962 through to ugh. Probably about 2014, that's when I personally think the steady downhill slide in characterization that started around Brand New Day entered into irrevocable character damage territory. And I've talked before about how I think, despite what various creators may have said and despite different movie interpretations and the kind of fanon that shows up when you have an extremely large fandom with various levels of interest in actually reading the original-original source material, 616 Peter has traditionally remained a remarkably consistent character. Like yes you have to allow for different writers having slightly different takes, and no superhero who has been written by different creators over decades and decades is ever going to be 100% consistent, but given those factors, and given the character's growth -- like, these are all things that just apply to superhero comics by their very nature, but Peter Parker went five decades where he was a character who just made sense. When I call him fully realized, I really mean it. He feels real and completely fleshed out.

Which is why I kind of feel like the rest of your inquiries veer into more of a discussion on reader interpretation vs actual hard canon fact. And when I say reader interpretation I'm talking about the people who write the comics, too, because again we're working with a medium where fans often become creators, and bring all their own previous interpretations and related baggage with them into the story. Which has pros and cons! I don't mean to make it sound all negative.

I've talked about the relatable trap a lot and that I think there's been a troubling cultural shift from "this character is relatable because he relates to the basic human condition" to "this character is supposed to be relatable so he has to be exactly like me and have all of my exact problems" which feeds back into what you're saying re: "IS Peter a loser? Does he have troubles with girls?" Because it's like, if he's supposed to be a reflection of the Average Comic Book Reader (which I don't think he is) and if the Average Comic Book Reader is a Stereotypical Nerd (insulting implication) then obviously he has to be a loser who has problems with women. But like you said, that's not actually what's reflected in the comics. So what we're up against is this conglomeration of various reader interpretations all kind of tossed together and competing for attention and drowning out the actual comic character. Which is also the problem with calling him wish fulfillment -- whose wishes are we fulfilling? (My wish is to just read good Spider-Man comics currently, so obviously not mine.)

I also think it's a trap to go "well he's poor so obviously he shouldn't live in New York City" when the comics themselves go into this. His aunt and uncle lived in that house for a long time; most likely it's paid off. When he's lived in trendy Manhattan neighborhoods, it's often been in apartments owned by Harry Osborn. Mary Jane pays their bills a lot of the time! We have canon explanations for these things, we don't need to be having arguments about how they're not realistic because at the end of the day, Peter Parker is a fictional character -- writers have the ability to make these things make sense. He's in New York because he is New York; I don't see people jumping at the bit for him to move to Boise, Idaho, or for him to move back to Portland.

I think it's easy to say Peter hasn't had as many tragedies, or has suffered comparatively less than other major comic book figures, but that's opinion. His parents died! His uncle died! His aunt being in ill health in his youth meant an incredible about of responsibility was foisted on him much younger than his peers, leading to a sense of isolation! His girlfriend died! His best friend tried to kill him! Repeatedly! His best friend died! He was cloned! He was convinced that he was a clone and that his whole life was a lie and that he wasn't the real him! His clone, who he viewed as his brother, died! His baby died! On the same night! He thought that his aunt died but actually she'd been replaced by an actress and so he suffered through that grief and loss and tried to move on and then it turned out she wasn't dead! The world assumed his wife was dead for months and his friend group tried to force him to move on! The entirety of One More Day hinges on his inability to move on from the fact that when he instinctively saved his wife from gunfire, he left his aunt in the path of it! Like it's ALL tragedy, it's tragedy all the way down. Spider-Man is a tragedy. But because Peter Parker has earned this false title of being like, a funny little guy who is perpetually in high school and only ever cracks jokes and never engages in Serious Violence or whatever, that gets lost in translation. But for me, that's not a "version" of Peter Parker. That's just misinformation that's unfortunately become popular on a cultural scale and now it's impossible to get away from it. It's not an honest reflection of the source material.

Show, don't tell is the basis of a lot of writing -- whether or not you think that's good advice -- and I think a lot of these issues come down to people looking at small slices of a very large story and thinking that because it doesn't tell them everything in a huge Star Wars credits info dump at the very beginning of the each individual installment of the story that the whole thing doesn't make sense and that they need to "fix" it by declaring that if Peter is poor, he can't live in New York. If he's ever joked about having women troubles, he must be a total loser, so it's not realistic because he's actually always dating someone. Because a bomb didn't go off in his face, he's suffered less than other heroes. But that's not how long running superhero stories work, and sometimes it is necessary to look at the big picture to grasp the smaller details about a character.

[feministsouthpark]

Tegridy Farms Filler Guide - Season 23

Link for Seasons  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

This time, while I guide you through the canon of it all, I might include some other notes since I feel like it.

S23E1 Mexican Joker is CANON

So the first episode doesn't really set up the season (S22E4 had the honours), however it gets a follow-up episode that ties everything together, called Season Finale, and there is also the fact that Kyle and Eric go to camp, and because of it, they are absent during most of the next episode. Also Towelie got added to the theme song, which is wacky. He's a main character now. S23E2 Band in China is CANON

Episode 2 of the show Tegridy Farms turned out to be the most popular one, and that may very well be, because it's about censorship vs artistic integrity, which is the one topic creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are most passionate about. The reason it is canon, is the fact that there's a plot about Randy trying to do business with China, and that plot point is heavily featured in the next season, as his ventures with Mickey Mouse might bite him in the butt later. Stan and his board game addiction is further seen in his new room. S23E3 Shots!!! is CANON

While Randy and Towelie might have an arc that is the continuation of the last episode, but the conflict itself is only apparent in this one, and while it fleshes out both Towelie and Liane, ultimately the very special 3th episode of the show Tegridy Farms is just overshadowed by other episodes' content. That is where I first left it, and called it a filler. However by nature of the show, as I found ways for the other episodes to all be canon, and this episode does get referenced in minor ways, the intent clearly was every event being tied together by Season Finale. So I decided by finding my better judgement to conclude that Tegridy Farms as a story arc is actually all canon, even if this one is a breather episode. It builds upon the previous episode and even a serialized show is allowed to have an episode that is not as significant as the others, but adds to the experience both in atmosphere and character building. S23E4 Let Them Eat Goo is CANON

There's a new trio in town! Eric, Butters and Scott are now seen regularly together, which I find to be a neat and sensible team-up. The reason why this episode is canon, though, are the dead cows. S23E5 Tegridy Farms Halloween Special is CANON

Randy poisoning many people is the main reason why he will be sentenced in the Season Finale, so the penultimate episode of Tegridy Farms, which by the way has the cows return in zombie form as well as Winnie the Pooh, earns its role as canon material. S23E6 Season Finale is CANON

President Garrison finally has another major role in the story, and we have bookends from the season premiere in the form of Mexican Joker appearing. Jason White dies, and his parents adopt Alejandro and another child as well, the latter stays with the family. S23E7 Board Girls is CANON

Ultimately, PC Babies seems to be another serialized show, just like Tegridy Farms. We learn some backstory, that Heather was Strong Woman's ex, and Stan's love for board games are expended upon, Eric, Butters and Scott are seen as a trio still, I considered putting this as a lore episode, but this batch of episodes follow the logic of characters developing in some way or another, so it makes sense for me to count it as canon, especially since all the PC babies episodes got to be. For these characters and their arcs this episode is important. Also, I'd like to get political here, so feel free to skip it if you get offended by the topic. We have to ponder about including people in sports who may have different hormones than their opponents. I think we should all ask ourselves: What is the point of separate gender divisions in the first place? If you think you know the reason, you might as well know how we should determine who gets to compete in which division. While the trans person in this episode was a fraud, and that was the root of the problem, biology IS considered to be the reason why women compete without men, so by that logic, women with more similar biology to men shouldn't compete with the women who don't. However if you consider the reason for separation to be something only done for appearances, the strongest should win, as is the nature of sports anyway. (can you tell I'm really not into the whole 'fight each other for fame and money' thing?) S23E8 Turd Burglars is FILLER

Well, okay, while I love One for the Ladies as an idea, the episode in execution is basically just another classic type boys episode, and while that is not a problem at all, the call-backs for this episode are basically just a shot of the One for the Ladies logo, but since the episode has other fake show-within-a-show content like this that have no previous reference, I think this one is truly a filler. S23E9 Basic Cable is CANON

While in the last few seasons we had the finale to tie the season together, I feel like for this faux spin-off season, this is the episode that does the honors. Also Scott was built up as a regular character anyway, for him to finally have his spotlight. But the main reason that makes this episode canon, is of course, Sophie Gray, who moved to town and is seemingly here to stay. Only time will tell how important she is going to be after this, but right now, I can't just consider her to be a one-off quite yet. S23E10 Christmas Snow is...

All right, this is the biggest question mark for me, because one hand it is a filler episode, that doesn't really get a mention again. Except one of its main motifs does. South Park, the television series is an expansion of two internet short, the second of which is called Jesus vs. Santa, so the very DNA of the show is based on these mythical characters, and while the episode is a rare modern townfolk-based episode, in which the children curiously stay in the background, in the next season Stan makes it very clear that his childhood adventures can be summarized by adventuring with Jesus and Santa. So this is clearly one of the roots of the show, and is deep in its heart. Still, since basically you have all necessary information in Red Sleigh Down, I won't get sentimental over this, and actually consider this as the filler it is.

SPOILER-FREE RUNDOWN

S23E1 Mexican Joker is CANON S23E2 Band in China is CANON S23E3 Shots!!! is CANON S23E4 Let Them Eat Goo is CANON S23E5 Tegridy Farms Halloween Special is CANON S23E6 Season Finale is CANON S23E7 Board Girls is CANON S23E8 Turd Burglars is FILLER S23E9 Basic Cable is CANON S23E10 Christmas Snow is FILLER

CANON counter:

S1: 9 out of 13   S2: 3 out of 18   S3: 6 out of 18   S4: 10 out of 17   S5: 8 out of 14   S6: 11 out of 17  S7: 6 out of 15  S8: 4 out of 14  S9: 8 out of 14  S10: 4 out of 14  S11: 4 out of 14  S12: 8 out of 14  S13: 3 out of 14  S14: 7 out of 14  S15: 6 out of 14  S16: 2 out of 14  S17: 4 out of 10 + a highly lore based game  S18: 8 out of 10  S19: 9 out of 10  S20: 10 out of 10 S21: 7 out of 10 + a highly lore based game + 2 DLCs S22: 9 out of 10 S23: 8 out of 10

Overall: 154 out of 308 Personal notes: Happy to announce that no matter what happens next, at this point I can say that I cut the episode count by half by omitting fillers. Even if it's nonsense, I pride myself in creating a nearly accurate take on filler lists with this ironic thing.