#also i found out that if you search up ''peter mj'' on google the top results are the mcu versions

[killlerfang1]

Everyone and their mother knows this already, but I find it pretty cool that both of the current Spider-Man movies have the leads being an interracial couple

[expectos-writings]

Meant to be part 2 (Otto Octavius x reader)

Word count: 2834

Rating: G

Summary: You try and get to know a but more about Otto before dropping the bomb, but things don’t go according your plan...

(A/n: part 2, also nwh spoilers, I am testing yalls patience and am once again proving that I am incapable of writing short things

After your bathroom visit, your attitude shifted. The adrenaline of the shock you got from your discovery coursing through your veins. When you walked back towards the basement your mind was reeling. All thoughts about school were forgotten when you thought about your current situation. There was no way you were going to tell him about this. You only just met him, and he hadn’t made a great first impression.

 To you, Otto seemed short-tempered, grumpy and not interested in any of this soulmate stuff. The first two could be explained by him being warped into another universe. The last, you could be wrong about it of course because you hadn’t said anything on the topic to him. The real question still remained whether or not the soulmate system was the same in his own universe as well. And if you do decide to say something, would he think of the age gap between you as a problem?

 You expected you would feel grossed out, the age gap was quite apparent. But something deep inside you was glad to have finally found the person you had been looking for, even if he was the embodiment of a grumpy old man. You were sure of one thing, you were not going to tell him. not yet, at least. If only you could get a glimpse of his wrist without him seeing it or noticing your gaze.

The distraction lifted your spirits, and you went back towards your computer with your mind buzzing with new thoughts. You re-opened your laptop without a word and started searching for the other presences you were told about. Ned and Peter were on Neds computer and MJ was on hers, doing the same as you. You searched the recent news tabs of google, some social medias and some news sites. There were a lot of disturbances and events, but not anything related to the spell Strange had cast. It got kind of boring, non stop refreshing of the news sites and nothing coming up. You decide to search this man who was supposed to be your soulmate once more, but nothing popped up.

 And even if you did get the chance to tell him, he probably had his own life back in his own universe. It felt like it was not your place to mess that up. So you get back to your task. For what seems like hours all four of you search the internet, finding nothing or only false leads. It was quiet in the basement too, the only noises where the occasional grunting from the two villains, the whirring of the actuators keeping Otto in place whenever he tried to move and the four of you exchanging words from time to time to keep each other updated.

 Then, at long last, Ned was the one to speak up. His voice laced with excitement as he found a page filled with people calling in about some guy floating around in some forest. The four of you crowded behind his laptop but within minutes you were sure this was also one of the people you were looking for. Peter went to put on his suit, quickly giving instructions before swinging out to find the source of commotion.

 MJ and Ned were tasked with helping him find the exact location of the floating man, and you were assigned to keep searching the internet and keep an eye on the two already caught villains. MJ and Ned moved to the room on ground level, not wanting to excite the villains any more nor distract you from your search. This left you alone with Curt and Otto.

 It took Peter quite some time to fly over, so there was just regular conversation on the radio next to your desk. If things went south, you could chime in via the device. Your eyes trailed from your laptop to Otto. If only you could just tell him what you’d discovered… You looked him over, he was actually really attractive. He was tall, his dark locks curled on the top of his head. You feel yourself spacing out, just admiring his face but not seeing anything. You never knew how long you were spaced out for, but a cough from the man you were looking at brought you back to earth. You felt your cheeks warm up, he caught you staring. Damnit.

 You quickly avert your gaze back to your laptop, acting as if nothing happened. But he would not let you get away with that so easily.

 ‘You know it’s rude to stare, dear?’ he says in a soft voice. Your head snaps back up at the pet name. It was probably some form of habit for him to use it, but to you it was anything but usual, especially with what you knew. You try to come up with some form of excuse, not wanting to drop the bomb just yet. Rephrasing, not READY to drop the bomb just yet.

 ‘Oh, I wasn’t… I was just… wondering…’ you say, unsure where you were going with this.

 ‘And what does that mean?’ he half-snaps, half-asks. It’s almost like he wants to continue the conversation but something in him is stopping him at the same time…

 ‘Well, if you’re from another universe… what else is different between these universes? Are some things the same? Are some people maybe even the same?’ The thought of another Otto Octavius existing in your universe has crossed your mind, maybe because he was from another universe it was enough to change the age into a name on your arm, but he didn’t have to be the one.

 ‘Well not all people are the same. Your Peter Parker is not my Peter Parker for example.’ You look up at him as he talks, his expression looks softer than before, he actually looks like he wants to talk about this.

 ‘But, like, even though they are different Peters they did the same studies, led very similar lives AND share the same name, right?’ You ask him, curiosity getting the better of you. You wanted to get him to talk about himself, to get to know him better.

 ‘Yes, I suppose so, where are you going with this?’ he asks, matching your curiosity.

 ‘Then why can’t I find anything on you on the whole internet? It’s like, you never existed in this universe…’ you say, slightly disappointed you hadn’t found anything about an Otto Octavius in your universe. ‘Both of you!’ You quickly add, trying to make it sound less stalker-y.

 Otto, being the smart man he is, sees right through you. A smile creeps onto his face, he likes your curiosity. Being a man of science, he believes willingness to discover things is a wonderful trait not all people posses, but you seem to be showing a great deal of it.

 ‘So, there was no professor in your universe who accidentally blew up his lab trying to recreate a small scale sun to provide an unlimited power source to the world and got four metal appendages melted to his back at the same time?’ He asks dryly.

 You let out a small chuckle, his blunt statement caught you off guard.

 ‘No, I think I would’ve remembered a news story like that.’ You watch him as a small smile creeps onto his lips as well. The tense atmosphere in the room seems to have been diffused. Curt remained silent, and it looked like he was fast asleep in the back corner of his cell.

 ‘So,’ you continue, deciding to press your luck a bit further, ‘What else did you do in your past universe? Besides causing explosions.’

 He chuckles again, and you immediately grow fond of the sound, wanting to hear more of it.

 ‘I used to work at Oscorp, with Norman Osborn. I did some teaching on occasions… that is about it.’ You heard that name before, wasn’t that the man he believed to be dead but was sighted on the bridge earlier? His answer doesn’t provide the answers you were hoping for.

 ‘So how about your sun-project, what happened?’

 ‘I miscalculated… Normans son, Harry, funded me for years. But the demonstration went wrong. Then with the help of these actuators I rebuilt the machine, but bigger. Spider-man was trying to stop me, I had him by his throat when…’ his voice trailed off.

 ‘When what?’ you tried to get him to keep talking.

 ‘Then I was here…’ he said, looking around. You could almost see the gears in his brain turning, trying to figure out how he had magically transported from that moment in space and time to this one.

 ‘So, you have a family too? Like Osborn?’ you try and sound as nonchalant as possible, your eyes lazily shifting between him and your laptop.

 ‘No, I was too busy with my project to ever look for things like that.’ He brushed your question off, not realizing this was exactly the answer you were hoping for. Could this really be your soulmate then? Your eyes sparkled with hope, but he was to lost in his own words to notice, his eyes still looking around his cell. His brown eyes looked big, he looked a bit like a lost puppy. ‘My machine… it was gone, disappeared into nothing.’

 ‘I’m sorry to hear that, we are doing what we can to fix this.’ You say. The realization dawning on you that he would have to go back sooner or later. A wave of sadness rolls over you, and you turn your back to him trying to hide your tears. He was too busy to notice anyways.

 The noise coming from the radio on your table gets louder, voices are shouting back and forth. ‘Left! No! Right!’. You turn down the volume a bit, reaching forward over the table to do so.

 ‘Wait!’ You hear from the left cell. Apparently, Curt has woken up too.

 ‘Good morning to you too, sir’ you say, sarcasm dripping from your voice.

 ‘Your wrist, is that a tattoo, or a soulmate mark?’ His question catches you off guard. The colour draining from your face. Now what not the time for the villain in the second cell to find out about this. You decide to bluff.

 ‘Just a tattoo, why?’ You try to sound calm, but the panic was quite evident in your voice. Both scientists ignore it, however.

 ‘Well, in my universe, your soulmates age is on your wrist until you make eye contact, and it changes into their name. Of course, in lizard form mine isn’t visible,’ he chuckled dryly ‘I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting mine yet, it just says ‘40’’.

 Of course, age appropriate.

 ‘We have that too,’ Otto starts, and he starts rolling up his sleeve. ‘but I also haven’t been able to find mine yet. Though I’m pretty sure mine is wrong, there is no way my soulmate is twenty-o-’. Otto’s expression was unreadable as he stares in shock at his wrist. ‘Well I’ll be damned…’.

 ‘What’s up, doc?’ Kurt asks, and you feel a warm glow engulfing your face. Shit.

 ‘It says ‘Y/n’.’ he says, looking around the room. ‘I looked her in the eyes, and never realized it was her…’ Otto says, his head dropping.

 You realize what happened then.

 You never introduced yourself!

 He has no idea…

 The room goes silent for a moment, Otto wondering how he once again overlooked such an important thing, and both Kurt and you too afraid to break the silence. The only noise heard was the radio emitting soft noises op people frantically screaming, the volume was set way down.

 Then the whole room shook, and all 3 of you were rudely taken back to the here and now, when an enormous tree was suddenly dropped into the third cell.

 What the…

 Ned and MJ run down the stairs.

 ‘Everyone okay?’ MJ asks quickly. All three of you answer yes and you move up from your seat, standing by MJ and Ned. ‘What was that?’ You ask, pointing towards the tree in the basement.

 ‘Peter found two other men, is all we know. We are waiting for him to beam them in here, but his first shot went straight through one… these are both different men than the one on the bridge.’ MJ continues.

 Some time passes and the radio silence continues, Peter was too busy rounding up the two guys to respond to you at the moment. Then after moments of nothing, the next man was beamed in. He looked angry, electricity shooting from his fingers making the lights in the room flicker. You look up to the lights, which soon stabilize and resume their emittance. When you look back down the 5th cell was also occupied, by a man made of… sand? Could this day get any stranger?

 Peter called in after that to ask if all the people he beamed in are there, which you told him was the case. The villains started talking amongst themselves, some of them appeared to come from the same universe and were catching up with each other. Otto stayed silent, not knowing any of them it seemed. The sandman also stayed quiet, occasionally looking over at Otto but never saying a word.

 You, Ned and MJ decide to move on with the internet searches. The man on the bridge was still on the loose.

 You didn’t get much time to search, when Peter showed back up with another man.

 ‘Guys, this is Norman Osborn, the man from the bridge.’ He introduced you all to him. you were weary at first but decide that in this state, Norman is not a threat to you. He shook your hand to make introductions but got distracted when he looked into the second cell, a flash of recognition crossed his face.

 ‘Octavius?’ He spoke to the man with his back turned. Otto spun around like he had seen a ghost.

 ‘Osborn?’ he responded, but his mind was struggling to catch up.

 ‘What happened to you?’ Norman asked, referring to the whole tentacle situation his friend had going on.

 ‘What happened to-, YOU’RE the walking corpse!’

 Confusion ensued. But it quickly became clear that 3 of the 5 guys in this dungeon should have been dead, at least at some point in their respective universes.

 Strange came back at that point, and without even letting Peter speak he shot Norman in a cell of his own. You didn’t want to send the guys back like this, especially if this Otto really is your soulmate, it wasn’t fair. It seems Peter thought the same thing, because as Strange was about to reverse the spell he took the box. Their fighting ended up outside but when you came out there to watch and try to help, they were nowhere to be found.

 You walk back in to MJ and Ned.

 ‘So, let’s say Peter manages to get the spell and gets a shot at curing these guys, where do we go?’

 ‘Aunt may already offered up her appartement when she met Norman, we could go there.’ MJ offered.

 ‘Maybe you could already go over there? You could disable the security cameras so Happy won’t find out!’ Ned said.

 While you were a media student, you knew a bit of basic coding. You and Peter did it from time to time. Without further arguing you left the sanctum, desperate to get away. There were too many villains and one of them was probably your soulmate? You weren’t ready for that conversation with Otto. He was pleasant to talk with, but you didn’t want all those prying eyes looking at you when you had this conversation with him. It was, after all, only a matter of time before he would find out your name…

 You walk over to Happy’s place, shutting down the security system without to much trouble before sitting down on the couch and turning on the tv. The daily bugle was on with some weird report on spider-man. Though usually their conspiracy theories were way off… this time they were actually really close. ‘Spider-man aids the notorious new villains in town.’

 Your phone suddenly rang, it was MJ.

 ‘Y/n! Did you get everything set up?’

 ‘Sure did! Peter get the spell?’

 ‘Yes, he trapped Strange in the mirror dimension and all, we’ll tell you later. Peter will be there soon with the guys, get ready.’ She says. You thank her for the info and hang up waiting around for the guys for a bit longer.

 Meanwhile Otto’s mind was reeling. As he was walking towards the van, he overheard MJ calling you. When you answered the phone, she said your name… he couldn’t remember exactly but it sounded familiar. You racked his brain, but he could not place it.

 That is until he sat down in the van.

 And he looked down at his hands.

 And there, on his wrist, it was again.

 ‘Y/n’

 ‘Shit…’ he muttered to himself.

[peachybowen]

Painkiller

pt.3

series masterlist 🍑 masterlist

Pairing: platonic!Bucky x Stark!Reader, platonic!Peter Parker x reader

warnings: maybe some mistakes that’s it :)

Tu vas bientôt rentrer. = You’re gonna be home soon. (Idk if it’s right I used google translate)

A/N 2: I ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THIS YESTERDAY AHHH BUT ANYWAYS HERE IT IS I HATE IT SM BUT CHAPTER 4 IS GONNA BE BETTER I PROMISE 🥺

if you want to be added/removed to/from my taglist let me know! ❤️

,,How about this one?'' MJ asked and held up a black dress.

„Nah. I don't want a black one.'' I answered and turned my attention back to the other dresses in the store. I didn't want a black dress because it reminded me of the funeral of my dad. I missed him. A lot. I missed how he would always watch reality shows with me when I was sad or how we would make fun of Peter together when he did something dumb. He may wasn't the best dad when I was 4 but he changed and he meant the world to me. When he snapped, the world stopped for me. I was shocked and overall just scared. Scared to lose the only biological parent I had left. My mom died while giving birth to me. I never even had the privilege to meet her. I believe that she was a beautiful kind-hearted woman. The only thing I had left of her was a ring. It was silver and had a small diamond in the middle. It never left my finger and it never will.

,,Y/N what about this one?''

Peter held up a short red dress. It was a pretty velvet dress so I decided to at least try it on.

,,How do I look?'' I asked as soon as I left the changing room. MJ looked me up and down and shook her head.

,,It's pretty but it isn't screaming you. Try this on.'' she said and handed me a dress which looked purple but I wasn't quite sure. It kinda looked like a disco ball. Don't get me wrong it was cute but I wasn't sure if it was a good dress for homecoming.

,,Isn't it a bit over the top?''

,,No. Now try it on.'' She insisted and sat down on a chair that was standing in front of the changing rooms. I sighed and gave in.

The dress looked good but I just didn't think it was it.

When I stepped out, MJ stood up.

,,You look good.'' she stated with a small smile.

,,You really do.''

I gasped and turned to my right to be greeted by Matt, who was standing there with another dress in his hands.

,,Thanks!''

It was awfully quiet for a few seconds before he cleared his throat.

,,I found this dress. I don't know if you like it but I thought it would look good on you.'' he stuttered, kinda trying to avoid eye contact. He handed me the dress, our fingers touched, you know just like in these really cheesy but quite cute movies, and I looked up to see him already looking at me. I cleared my throat and went back in the changing room.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The dress was perfect. It was purple and had this clear fabric over it. There were silver stars on the fabric and it was overall just really beautiful. It also wasn’t as tight as the others and it fit just perfectly. I smiled at myself. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly beautiful. That was the dress.

,,Wow.'' was the first thing I heard when I stepped out. The words came from Peter and I smiled at him.

,,You look like a freaking goddess.'' MJ added.

,,You look really pretty.''

I turned my attention to the curly-haired boy who chose this dress in the first place.

,,Thank you Matt.'' I smiled and turned back to MJ.

,,I'm gonna change real quick. Meet me at the checkout.''

After paying for the dress, we finally left the store. We spend around 2 hours in there and we all just wanted to sit down for a bit.

,,Can we get Ice cream now?'' Peter asked and grabbed MJ's hand. I hated being single in times like that.

,,Please.'' he begged and we all agreed that it was a good opportunity to sit down. So we searched for the nearest Ice cream shop.

,,So Matt, tell us a bit about yourself.'' MJ said and bit, yes she bit, into her ice cream. I got goosebumps just watching her.

,,Well I'm 17, I moved here from Salt Lake City and I go to midtown but you know that already. I uh...I can speak French, I don't have any siblings and my parents are divorced.''

,,I never met a person who can speak French.'' Peter acknowledged in awe.

,,Me neither and I met a lot of people.'' I said and continued eating my Ice cream.

,,Can you say something? Just for fun?'' Peter asked while wiping the chocolate Ice cream off of his nose.

,,Tu vas bientôt rentrer.''

,,Yeah I have no idea what you just said.'' I laughed and looked at a grinning Matt.

,,It's just a book I read once.'' Matt explained and finished his Strawberry Ice cream.

Time past and we were all sitting in my room, doing absolutely nothing. We were all on our phones and nobody said anything. MJ and I sent Tik Toks in the group chat the whole time. It was boring but still fun..?

„Do you all want to stay over?" I asked, looking up from my phone.

MJ, who was sitting on the floor with Peters head in her lap, nodded.

„Yeah, I'm too lazy to go back home."

She then looked at Peter. He was half asleep and just nodded lightly. Then my gaze fell on Matt who was sitting on the floor as well.

„I mean if you're really okay with it." he mumbled and I nodded eagerly.

„Yeah! It's gonna be fun and Bucky won't mind." I replied casually and looked at the time.

„Wait...you're living with Bucky Barnes? The Winter Soldier?"

„Yeah. I moved in with him because I still go to school and the house my dad bought is kinda far away."

,,Makes sense."

Later that night we ordered pizza, watched Harry Potter and I actually got to teach Peter and Matt some tik tok dances. MJ got Pyjamas from me, Peter had a few Shirts here and he gave Matt one. The good thing was that I was able to spend quality time with my friends and it actually took my mind off of the mission.

Painkiller taglist (open):

crossed= couldn’t tag you

@hannahneedstocalmdown @eridanuswave @viarogers @badgalll88 @caitsymichelle13 @e7here4l @gigi-maria-argu @too-much-caffine @brandomp4

[frobster]

Still taking requests?? If you are, perhaps a sequel to your bucky x Peter prostitute drabble would be interesting... I know I would enjoy it :)

HERE WE GO this took forever because it spawned an entire fic. I am responding with the first chapter. Chapter 2 will be posted in a week and I am currently working on chapter 3. Oops.

It is also currently up on ao3 where the next chapters will be added!

EDIT: here's the original ficlet that inspired this request!

☆☆☆

Peter was fiercely independent and did not take well to Bucky offering to pay for everything. He slipped away while Bucky slept, taking all the money he could find and jumping in a cab as soon as he could. His mind reeled as the cab drove him home, running over all the events that transpired in the past few hours. Some random rich guy plucked him off the street, took him home, and offered to pay for everything he could ever want. It had to be a trick. That didn’t really happen outside of movies, and even if it did, it would never happen to him. He wasn’t lucky enough for that.

When he got back to his crappy little apartment, Peter collapsed face-first onto his couch. He barely got any sleep the previous night with how anxious he was about this man. It might not have been safe for him to fall asleep. What if he woke up in some dark, cold basement, tied down and completely at the man’s mercy?

Peter shivered as that thought crossed his mind. But no, he had to stay focused. That was not a scenario he wanted to find himself in. Fantasy had to stay fantasy.

Checking his phone, Peter realized it was dead since he had been working most of the night and then spent the last few hours before sunrise at a stranger’s apartment. He groaned as he pushed up from the couch and shuffled to his bedroom where he plugged his phone in before flopping onto the bed in the exact same fashion as the couch. Maybe he could get some sleep while his phone charged.

It felt like Peter had just closed his eyes when his phone rang. He blindly swatted around his bed until he found it and swiped to answer without even bothering to look at the caller ID.

“Pete, where the hell have you been?!”

Peter winced at the loud voice, but he recognized it immediately. 

“At home,” he mumbled in reply.

“Well get up and come open the door. Me and MJ are here, we brought food,” Ned said.

The sounds of doors closing and bags crinkling filled the line for a moment. Peter finally pried his eyes open and winced at how bright his room was. He must have gotten some sleep, the sun was high in the sky by then. When he got home, it was barely sunrise. 

“Yeah, yeah. See you in a minute.” Peter hung up the call before sliding out of bed and going to open the door.

Ned was Peter’s high school best friend. They had just graduated the year before and Peter had taken some time off to earn money since he had to support himself and couldn’t afford to go right to college. MJ was Peter’s street best friend. She worked the same job and they often planned to stand on the same corners together so they wouldn’t be bored or lonely. To his relief, they both got along well.

“Hey, kid,” MJ said with a grin as she walked in with Ned right behind her. They were both carrying bags of food and it seemed like they did some grocery shopping for him too. Peter felt a little guilty, but Ned lived with his parents still and had money from his part time job that he didn’t really need to spend on anything else, and MJ had far more experience along with living in a shared unit so her rent wasn’t as high. 

“I’m not a kid, not compared to you,” Peter pouted as the two started putting food away.

“I’m two years older than you,” she countered. “And Ned is a few months older. You’re the baby of this group, Petey.”

Ned snickered as Peter glowered at them and flopped onto his couch again. He didn’t have the energy to debate them on his baby status.

“You disappeared last night and never answered your phone. I called you like twenty times.” MJ walked over and looked down at Peter with a stern expression.

“Yeah, sorry. Some rich guy picked me up and took me home. He said he’d pay for everything I ever wanted if I lived with him, but that sounded like a trap so I snuck out this morning. Didn’t have time to charge my phone while I was planning my escape.”

Both Ned and MJ had raised eyebrows. They glanced at each other and had a silent conversation that consisted of vague hand gestures and pointed facial expressions.

“Almost sounds like you could’ve snatched up a sugar daddy,” Ned finally said as he pulled out a container of french fries to hand to Peter.

Peter accepted the fries and ate a few as he thought. “Maybe. But come on, I’m not stupid. Nothing like that ever happens in real life, and it definitely would never happen to me. He probably had some sort of torture room where he kills vulnerable, helpless people like me that he just plucks off the street.”

“Dude, you were there all night and nothing happened,” MJ pointed out before biting into her burger.

“Yeah if he really wanted to kill you, it would’ve been easy last night.” Ned wiped a spot of ketchup off his face and shrugged. “Did you get his name? Maybe we could look him up, do some investigating.”

“Well, he didn’t tell me his name but I went through his wallet when he was asleep to take his money,” Peter said casually as he picked up his phone. He had already tried googling the guy earlier but nothing much came up.

Pulling up the search page again, Peter showed his friends the name and measly number of results. MJ scrunched up her face in distaste as Ned rolled his eyes.

“Really, Peter? Have I not taught you better than this? Never go to google for your stalking.”

Ned shook his head as he got up to grab his backpack. He dug out his laptop and booted it up before opening his own search page. Peter recognized it as something they had worked on together in high school, though he couldn’t do much now since his own laptop was a cheap, crappy thing that he could barely connect to the internet with. 

MJ shifted to sit on the other side of Ned so she could see the screen too as he typed away. It took a few minutes but soon Ned had a search page with far more results than Peter managed to find, and even some pictures.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Peter confirmed as he went back to his chicken nuggets.

“I see why you’re suspicious,” MJ muttered, pointing to an article link. The boys glanced at it and Peter sucked in a sharp breath.

“Peter! The mafia?” Ned whispered sharply.

“I had no idea!” Peter whispered back in the same tone. They were all afraid to talk too loudly, especially with the thin walls of his apartment. 

“You could be the kept boy of a mafia don,” MJ added with a smirk.

Peter just squeaked and looked away, heart racing as he thought of all the ways the previous night could have gone. He felt lucky to be alive, let alone in his own apartment. 

There were plenty of reasons for Peter to fear for his life without the interest of such a dangerous man. Being a sex worker was bad enough, on top of also being transgender. He made it clear up front to anyone who wanted to buy a service from him and he put up with cruel misgendering so long as they didn’t physically harm him. There was pepper spray, a pocket knife, and a rape whistle in his bag at all times, and he wore jewelry that could be used as a weapon if he couldn’t get to his bag.

Ned and MJ knew about the struggles he faced on a daily basis and always tried to support him as best as they could, but Peter wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do in this case. Maybe if he was lucky, this James guy would just leave him alone. 

“Maybe I could just skip work for a few nights, or stand on a different corner,” Peter suggested lamely. He couldn’t really afford to skip any nights of work, but he also didn’t want to risk James finding him again.

“Pete, I doubt that would really stop this guy if he’s actually interested in you. Guy owns like half the city, he probably has people out right now looking for you,” Ned pointed out.

Peter sighed and flopped back onto the couch. He felt stuck and entirely unsure what to do. Typically he and MJ worked the same corner, or at least the same street, so they could keep an eye on each other. But he didn’t want MJ to fall under the attention of this man too.

“We can work different streets if that would make you feel better,” MJ offered with a smile. “I’ll just talk to the boss and tell him we’re gonna be in a different area. It shouldn’t be an issue as long as we stick to a street with bars and a nearby hotel.”

“Yeah, okay.” Peter relaxed slightly. He could always count on MJ to have his back. “That sounds good. I don’t work tonight, so maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, kid.” MJ was already taking out her phone to send a text to their boss about changing locations.

Peter rolled his eyes at MJ calling him a kid again, but he liked it. It was a term of endearment between them, nothing against his age or slight stature. Even with the help of hormone therapy, something Peter refused to give up even when money got tight, he was still on the smaller side. He was always immensely thankful that he managed to get top surgery before his aunt passed away. Her insurance had helped them afford it and there was no more to pay off on it. All Peter had to really worry about was paying for his hormones. 

The day passed with all three of them lounging around Peter’s apartment, cooking when they were hungry but otherwise just watching television or playing games with Ned’s laptop connected to the tv. It was just what Peter needed to relax after the strange night with James, and he didn’t think about being followed or tracked until his friends bid him goodnight and left. 

When he was alone, Peter huddled down into his bed with every blanket he owned piled around him for comfort. His phone was set aside to charge with the volume all the way up before he closed his eyes and tried to settle his chaotic thoughts. 

Nothing bad will happen. It was a one-time thing. MJ will help if something does happen.

Eventually Peter was able to fall asleep, but he tossed and turned all night as strange dreams played through his mind. In one, James found him again and all his fears came true. He was kept prisoner, abused, tortured and finally killed. But it morphed into something that made his dream self feel like he was coming back to life. The dream glowed bright white and seemed to reset with him in James’ apartment once more. This time, the man was making dinner with his hair tied back in a casual bun, whistling to himself over the sizzling stove.

Dream-Peter got up to walk over, curious about what was cooking. It looked exactly like the pasta he had made with his friends that day and somehow, that soothed him. He glanced up to James, surprised to see the man smiling, and instinctually smiled back. 

“Go sit down, Pete. Food’s almost ready, I’ll serve it up soon.” James’ voice was smooth and deep. Definitely something Peter could get used to hearing.

As if in a trance, dream-Peter sat down at the nearby dining table which was already set with two places. Soon James came over and scooped some pasta onto both plates and pressed a kiss to Peter’s head before sitting down next to him.

“Eat up, baby,” James said with a smile. He had one arm draped over Peter’s chair and ate with his other hand, as casual as could be. 

In a complete flip of the previous dream, Peter felt safe and relaxed. He scooted his chair closer to James before digging into his food. Real-Peter started to drool onto his pillow as he imagined a fresh plate of pasta with garlic butter sauce. 

The dream skipped as dreams often do, and the two were then on the couch. James once again had his arm around Peter, who leaned into the older man like he belonged tucked against his side. It was a calm, comfortable moment and real-Peter finally relaxed in his mess of blankets. 

“I’m glad you came back to me.” Dream-Peter looked up to James who was smiling again, always smiling, and looking at him like he was something precious. James leaned down to give dream-Peter a proper kiss but just before their lips met, there was a shrill beeping sound.

Peter jolted awake with a gasp, lips still warm and tingling from what almost happened. He groaned when he realized it was all a dream, rolling over onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. The dreams were exhausting, emotionally and mentally, and he wasn’t sure how he would be able to stay awake that night. Maybe MJ could buy them coffee at some point. 

The memories of the first dream made Peter shudder and tuck his blankets closer around him. The shrill beeping started again, so he finally reached over to smack at his phone until it stopped. He cursed the sound, wishing the dream could’ve continued, before realizing what that thought meant. 

“Fuck,” Peter muttered.

Just one day after it all happened and he was dreaming about James in a romantic way. Should he tell MJ? Did he wish that James would appear again to take him back to that penthouse apartment, so far away from all his other worries?

Wanting to distract himself from that line of thought, Peter rolled over to grab his phone. There were only a few notifications, most of which he didn’t care about, but one was a text from an unknown number. 

“You ran out before we could really talk, Peter. I would like to see you again, if you’re willing. -JBB.”

“What the fuck?” Peter squeaked out. He snapped a screenshot of the text and sent it to his group chat with MJ and Ned, desperate for their opinions on everything.

> Ned: Dude. I need to do more research before you go out tonight. When do you start work?

Ned, bless him, was always casual about Peter’s line of work. They had known each other for years and even though it was a big change, he never judged Peter for it. 

> Peter: I’m leaving at 7:30. Me n MJ are gonna meet up around 7:45

Peter stared at his phone for a few more minutes before setting it aside. Ned was either in class or already doing his sleuth work. Maybe a shower would help clear his mind.

Sliding out of bed, Peter grabbed his phone again so he could listen to music while he showered. He was on Ned’s Spotify family plan, another best friend blessing, so he queued up his playlist as he started the shower. The water wasn’t often very warm thanks to the shitty building he lived in, but he had become accustomed to it after nearly a year living there.

As he stepped into the shower while singing, Peter’s voice pitched high as the cold water splashed onto his skin. But he powered through, quickly soaping himself down and staying focused on the lyrics of his songs. He was almost finished, rinsing the conditioner out of his hair, when his phone started dinging with new texts. Assuming it was MJ or Ned with news, Peter took his time making sure his hair was completely rinsed before turning off the water to check.

With a towel around his waist and one wrapped in his hair, Peter picked up his phone to idly read the messages as he walked back to his room. But he didn’t make it very far before he realized someone was in his apartment. 

“I tried texting you, figured it would be kinder than calling.” That same voice from the other night, from his dreams.

Peter slowly looked up with wide eyes to see James seated on his couch, looking as though he belonged there. The younger man swallowed nervously, just staring at James and entirely unsure what to do. He was naked, he couldn’t just run. And even if he tried, there were likely more people out in the stairwell and surrounding the building. 

“Um. Hi,” Peter finally managed.

James glanced down from Peter’s face, taking in his bare torso, watching the water droplets trace lines down his chest. Peter was never self-conscious about his surgery scars and that gave him a surge of confidence as he stood up straighter, daring James to say something about them.

“I gave you a day to think. I’m sure your friends had their own opinions yesterday as well. My offer still stands, even though you ran out on me,” James continued, as casual as ever. 

“Yeah, well. Imagine you’re a young, broke prostitute who just got picked up by a rich mafia boss and offered to have all your dreams come true. Sounds pretty impossible,” Peter countered, finding his sass despite his racing heartbeat. 

James was silent as his gaze returned to Peter’s face. Peter didn’t notice before, but his eyes seemed an unknown color. Blue, grey, almost silver. Sapphires and precious metals. Expensive rings and steel bars. He shivered and blamed it on not having a shirt.

“Well, here I am, ready to make your dreams come true.” James held his arms out like he was offering Peter the whole world. 

Maybe it was a dream come true. Or maybe it was a nightmare. Peter’s dreams had him feeling conflicted. It could go so terribly or so well and he had no idea which would be the outcome unless he dove right in.

His phone buzzed again and Peter looked down out of habit. There were two more texts from the unknown number, who he now knew for sure was James, and twelve in the group chat with Ned and MJ. 

“Go ahead, check your messages. Hell, tell ‘em I’m here.” Everything about James was so casual, it was starting to irritate Peter.

“You’re trespassing on my apartment. I didn’t invite you here.” Peter looked to James again, eyes narrowed in a more confident expression.

“Can’t trespass in buildings that I own.” James smirked and Peter huffed, hating how attractive the man looked there - slouched but not in a lazy way, suit unbuttoned, hair slicked back, confident as could be.

The comment eventually settled over Peter and he realized that James really did own a good portion of the city, likely the hotels and bars he worked at too. There was no way he could get away from this man.

“If you really don’t have any interest in my offer, just say so and I will leave you alone. I ain’t the obsessive stalker type. You have my number, you can reach me any time.” James stood and took a step closer to Peter, who swayed slightly as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to step forwards or back.

“So I can have some time to think?” Peter asked.

“Sure. How about a week?” James closed the distance between them and reached up to cup Peter’s cheek. He stroked his thumb slowly over Peter’s skin, soft and flushed from his shower. Peter blushed and he hoped James wouldn’t notice. “I hope you agree. I would love to keep you.”

It felt so much like Peter’s dream, he almost leaned in for a kiss just to see what it would really feel like. But he held his ground and licked his lips instead, trying to remember how to speak with this gorgeous man so close to him.

“Okay,” Peter breathed out.

James chuckled softly, entirely aware of the effect he had on Peter, and dropped his hand. He turned to walk out, then paused again.

“You can call me Bucky, doll. I only use James for business.” Bucky shot Peter a wink before leaving, closing the door behind him.

☆☆☆

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 18: MJ is lying to Peter but it definitely couldn’t be for his own sake

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This is something of a tangent on the last post, where I discussed why MJ would know better than to lie to Peter. However an angle I didn’t cover was the idea that she might be lying in order to protect Peter and his life interests in some way. Well today we’re going to tackle that very question.

This counterargument stems from the fact that MJ (obviously) wouldn’t want to see Peter come to harm and wouldn’t want to harm his chances in making more of his life. After all, Peter (circa AMJ #1) had only recently begun attending college again.

Informing him about Mysterio would likely prompt Peter to ride out to L.A. immediately and potentially jeopardise his academic career.

But this just doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny.

In part 16 I spoke a length about how MJ values the greater good above even her marriage to Peter. I demonstrated that since she values her marriage over her career it therefore means she values the greater good above her career.

Using the same logic it’s pretty obvious to deduce that MJ also values the greater good above Peter’s academic career.

In ASM #303 (covered in part 16) MJ was prepared to jeopardise or potentially give up her successful modelling career for the sake of her marriage. This was owed to Peter being offered a promising new job in Kansas. 

However Peter turned the job down out of consideration for MJ and instead decided to go back to college (as he is in ASM v5) so he could get a job in NYC. Mary Jane doesn’t even try to protest against this.

I’m by no means suggesting MJ is being selfish here, but it does demonstrate that the value she places upon Peter’s career prospects (which his college education is an extension of) has it’s limits. She clearly values her marriage more than that in addition to her own career.

So if MJ’s priorities place Peter’s career below their marriage and their marriage below the greater good, by extension it means she actually doesn’t value Peter’s education above the greater good.

And so she wouldn’t avoid alerting Peter to the existence of potentially dangerous criminals simply because she doesn’t want to screw up his academic chances.

But if you want even more proof, remember ASM #286? MJ ultimately decides the risk to Peter’s life wasn’t as important as the innocent lives that could be saved. Are we seriously going to suggest MJ believes Peter’s career options are more important than his literal life?

Of course not. And let’s not forget that Peter has gone back to school four  time by this point. I am unfamiliar with the American college education system, but that suggests to me that there is no limit on the number of times someone can stop and start their academic career. So even if MJ reluctantly has to kill Peter’s current chances in college, she knows that he could simply restart again. She also knows Peter would want it that way too.

Not to mention MJ could be honest with Peter without  risking him riding down to L.A. to save the day.

Peter knows he can trust Mary Jane. She doesn’t have the ability to get him to agree with anything she wants. But nor is Peter going to be immovable on any topic that entails MJ somehow being in a dangerous situation. In Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #2 Peter is insistent that MJ leave New York in order for her to evade whomever had abducted Aunt May.

Whilst she reluctantly left, she soon returned despite what Peter wanted and continued to stick around in spite of him wanting her to leave again.

However he didn’t press the point a second time even though the situation hadn’t changed. There are various reasons as to why but the point is that Peter was able to accept that it was a reasonable decision even though he disliked it.

Later in ASM #536 following the public unveiling of his identity and his turning against the Super Human Registration Act, the Parker family find themselves on the run. Peter wants MJ and May to get as far away from him as possible, arguing it’d be safer and more efficient for him to operate on his own. Peter is however convinced by May and MJ’s arguments to the contrary.

Both examples demonstrate MJ being honest with Peter of being in direct danger but of her also convincing him to allow her to remain in that situation. Now for sure we could argue that these outcomes were ultimately the lesser of two evils from Peter’s POV. That what MJ wanted was actually ultimately safer over all.

However if somehow MJ had a solid argument for why her sticking around on the film set served the greater good or was ultimately better for her it’s far from impossible that Peter could be convinced to stay in NYC. Just spit balling here but she could argue that something very fishy is going on, Beck already tried something large scale recently and singling MJ out could mean he knows Peter’s identity As a result sending him to jail could risk exposing his identity and by extension endangering his friends and family. If MJ sticks around and Peter keeps a distance it puts her into a position to investigate and see what he knows.

I don’t know how much that idea holds up to scrutiny as I came up with it off the top of my head but it certainly makes a lot more sense than Mary Jane just straight up lying to Peter.

Even if hypothetically Peter just could never accept MJ being surrounded by criminals, she could simply promise him she would contact her various super hero associates. Or in fact ask him to do that on her behalf.

That’s not me suggesting MJ be passive or allow a man to sort out her problems for her either.

It’d be a strategic and diplomatic use of both her intimate knowledge of Peter’s psychology and her famous people skills. Having Peter on some level  take an active role in helping/protecting her would make him feel in control in some way. Make him feel like he is living up to his responsibilities as a hero and as a partner and thus alleviate his urges to ride down and intervene personally.

Nowadays Peter isn’t opposed to this level of trust in his super hero friends. Even ignoring his years as an Avenger (which included living with them alongside MJ and May), Peter has called upon these people in the very recent past.

Throughout in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man volume 2 Peter called upon the aid of his super hero associates to help him during various crises. These included the Doctor Strange, Iron Man, the Human Torch and the wider Fantastic Four.

Another example can be found during the ‘Absolute Carnage’ event, which definitely occurred after MJ left for L.A. We know this because in ASM v5 #29 and issues #30-31 were tie-ins to the event.* The Avengers in fact appear briefly in issue #30.

In Absolute Carnage #2 Venom/Eddie Brock suggests that they call upon the help of the Avengers to deal with Carnage’s impending rampage. Peter asserts that it’s best if he do that.

He is shown doing exactly that in Absolute Carnage: Avengers #1 where he teams up with Captain America, Wolverine and Ben Grimm.

Additionally this team contacts Hawkeye on the West Coast to deal with Carnage’s minions over in San Francisco.

It’s important to note that Hawkeye was on the West Coast because he was a part of the West Coast branch of the Avengers. Their headquarters specifically being…in Los Angeles…where Mary Jane is making her movie.

Granted, it’s not the same part  of Los Angeles because MJ is in Hollywood and the West Coast Avengers HQ is in Venice Boulevard. And a quick Google search reveals that to travel between the two locations on foot it’d take…under three hours…Yeah…

Basically nowadays Peter is absolutely not going to be opposed to calling upon the aid of other heroes to help him directly or indirectly so asking them to show up and lookout for the woman he loves wouldn’t be out of character. Especially when one considers that Hawkeye alone is probably out of Mysterio’s league considering the threats he’s survived. But Mary Jane’s personal friends Iron Man and Ironheart? Unless Beck specifically prepared for them he would be unlikely to get away, let alone hurt them.

Now look I’m not suggesting we apply every single facet of the Marvel Universe into our analyses because that’d be ridiculous. Every Spider-Man or related story would fall apart because he could simply resolve his problems by calling other heroes. It’s part of the suspension of disbelief that Spidey is the only person available to deal with whatever crisis is at hand.**

But these are all very recent stories that, happened in the main Spider-Man titles; or tie-ins directly to those titles. In the Avengers’ case they were his teammates for over a decade and were for a time outright his supporting cast. Mary Jane was a major supporting character in the solo titles of two separate Avengers characters and that fact was acknowledged within ASM itself.

Is the idea of calling upon these characters really not fair game in this hypothetical scenario of ours?

I’d say no.

Regardless the fact remains that in AM #1 Mary Jane cannot be lying to Peter for his own sake and has no other justifiable reason either. She would know better than to do that.

Next time we take a look at MJ’s skills and whether they actually could protect her and others from Mysterio or not.

*It’s not entirely clear when the events of AMJ #1 happen in relation to ASM v5 #30-31. They must happen after ASM v5 #29 and AMj #1 was published the very same day as ASM v5 #32; being referenced in that same issue.

To me this implies that AMJ #1 slots in just prior to ASM v5 #32, but in fairness it could occur just after ASM v5 #29.

However, the events from the story I’m discussing were published before AMJ #1. They would also happen so close to it no matter what that Peter’s characterization in the former is still a fair source to cite.

**Although it should be noted that it has often been common practice for Spider-Man stories to directly address exactly why other heroes aren’t available to help Spidey. A great example would be ASM #361, Peter’s first encounter with Carnage, where the F4 and Avengers are occupied forcing Peter to call upon the aid of Venom.

P.S. For some additional food for thought check out ASM #291. In the issue a Spider Slayer robot was on the loose but Peter reluctantly left it to the authorities because a crying Mary Jane called him up and asked for his help.

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