#don't really wanna put this in the main tag so uhh

[chairteeth]

Fic question! Which one of Touka and Nemu is more likely to derail your plot? (I know together is probably the worst, so who contributes the most after that)

Oh boy! Lovely question thank you, let me just elaborate for you. So as you said, together is peak plot derailment, but besides that, the one who makes it impossible to have something normal and simple is Touka, but only if Nemu is there. Also Nemu's role is often just, riling Touka up which then causes the plot derailment. But let me go longfic by longfic, outlines included. There will be some level of spoilers for all of them, though I'll try to keep them mild or vague enough, so I'll put it under a read more just in case:

Ascent of the Fourth Beast (130.4k): This was supposed to be a fun little pokemon crossover, following the story of the Black & White games with only a little adjustment, such as Touka being Professor Juniper's assistant instead of just a normal kid and Nemu being well N (for obvious reasons I think). Needless to say, that did not happen! They got tangled up in a whole mess and then TOUKA threw a curveball at me, the curveball being "oh you know how I'm actually from Johto (because I have a Japanese name and it'd be weird for me to be in the US-based region with a Japanese name)? Well actually I died when I was 11 and got juiced up by a god and so now I have to deal with a second puberty and all that it entails and also I want to roast Nemu's father over an open flame" (this is completely valid considering she's talking about Ghetsis and as we know Ghetsis is the scum of the earth).

Pragma (18.8k): This is the ONLY "longfic" that was actually normal, and the only reason Touka did not yeet it off the rails was because I struggled very hard to end her necromancy arc early and did not want this to be any bigger. I wanted it to be an exploration of grief and mourning and also Nemu really didn't want her to go down that route or the meguca wish route. Luckily we managed to keep it self-contained! It is the only time I have succeeded in that regard.

Cage of Briars (wip): This was supposed to follow the plot of Ib, but then the lesbians lesbian'd and suddenly it's way longer than it was supposed to be. Plus I have a chapter that goes before the main plot so I can introduce the changes to the cast and then two more chapters after the supposed end of the game in order to tie up loose ends. However, the worst part is most definitely the lesbians unnecessarily lesbianing. Literally, please explain to me why the ball was necessary. And so on and so forth.

Roadkill AU: THE WORST EXAMPLE. Mad scientist Touka is like the worst possible idea anyone could have ever had. If you thought she was intense in Cage of Briars, you have NOT met motherfucking roadkill!Touka. I cannot even begin to explain the extent of her insanity in this AU, and almost literally everything in it is her fault. It was supposed to be a horror/mystery thing that would end once the mystery behind Tasuke and Nayuta's untimely demises was solved, and that is not what it became. She has zero excuses too because she is a whole ass 29 years old in this one, she's just Like That. To give you an idea, though I think I've mentioned it before, in the very first chapter she finds a wounded dirty naked woman in her property during a stormy night and first kicks her to see if she's alive, and upon hearing a grunt in response, she tells Ui to put her in a sack and stuff her in the trunk of the car, then gets to the mansion and chains her in an observation room in the basement. As far as she knows this is just some homeless person that snuck into her property. You can probably tell this is already unhinged behavior but she gets EXPONENTIALLY WORSE as the chapters go on. Sure it's not like Nemu's attitude is doing anything but encouraging her, but solely because of Touka's shenanigans in this AU, this fic might even cross into explicit territory (more for the graphic depictions of violence than anything else though, the cannibalism will likely be, considerably graphic, but also please do not underestimate roadkill!Touka because she is fully capable of putting in some wildly nsfw scenes that are not quite smut but still "??????????" in nature).

Fairy AU: This one, hopefully, will remain relatively self-contained, but I do not really trust the shenanigan potential that a Stardew Valley-esque farm setting combined with the Satomi cousins has, particularly considering Touka is 100% going to be drooling for several chapters at minimum. Plus of course detective shenanigans with the Rabi subplot and whatever Nemu is hiding and the fairy hunters that Touka thinks are lunatics, then Touka's secret that of course she has, the human experiments subplot, the Mikoto plot... Somehow I feel like Touka's shenanigans, drooling, and investigations are going to take up way more words than they're supposed to and she will get immensely distracted from the very simple premise of "dethrone the Fairy Queen (Mikoto)".

Teacher AU: This one is super grounded and has zero magical elements, however Touka's trauma in this is Very Very Intense and highly tied to relationships which will cause more friction than ever with Nemu, plus there's a child in the midst. To sum it up, Touka is an elementary school teacher (yes, elementary, there is a very important reason why she's an elementary school teacher), Sakurako is an 11 year old adopted child with a single mother. Sakurako thinks her mom is very very lonely and that she'd get along with her favorite teacher, thus tries to set them up not knowing that Touka has Very Very Intense trauma that will cause issues later down the line, ft. emotional support Ui. I expect this one to get derailed less because of Unhinged Touka BehaviorTM and more because of the sheer trauma this girl is packing in this AU, she will be avoiding a lot of things very hard.

[sysba]

book recommendations

my worstie @winesharksea tagged me teehee<3 idk who's been tagged in this already but psst @leondaltons @777greywolf and whoever wants to do this!!

the last book i read: ,,, thanks to zeph i have been reading and re reading and obsessing over all for the game. so yea. the sunshine court 😭

a book i recommend: i don't like recommending stuff in general because it depends on the person but i would say, howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones is fun!

a book that i couldn't put down: ditto on having a hard time putting down books, even when they're dreadful i usually wanna know how they end (cough cough sister, maiden, monster). that said,, gonna mention the heaven official's blessing series bc at that point i had not read anything in months and suddenly i was inhaling an 8-books series like it was nothing. a small miracle in the form of tragic lil gays, bless<3

a book i've read twice (or more): every book i have ever enjoyed has been read at least twice, they're not special JHJFFHSJKD i guess the record goes to room with a view because i was once on a family vacation for a month with only that and zoo station to read and after christiane f. i needed something happy... ty for your service, george emerson

a book on my TBR: god SO MANY i'm ashamed but it really is so easy to just re-read smth i know i like than venture into new books,,, but uhh i really wanna go through rf kuang's works! and give another try to gtn i guess

a book i've put down: i think the last one i gave up on was may the best man win by zr ellor? i was just having a horrible time with the main char's personality,, i've still read like half of it, i tried

a book on my wishlist: .......the sunshine court sequel JKDFJKFH jean moreau come back to me i will even cheer for france i swear--

a favourite book from my childhood: oh god,, chronicles of the emerged world. i read the trilogy in literally 24 hours when i was 11, i was Obsessed with it and anything by licia troisi tbh. i'm frankly scared to ever touch it again in case it doesn't hold up, i wanna keep the Memory fjklsfjkljsdflksf

a book you would give to a friend: i like when friends curse me so probably a really bad one

a book of poetry or lyrics you own: my 2 favs i own are probably a comprehensive collection of poems by eugenio montale and baudelaire's les fleurs du mal

a nonfiction book you own: i'll just go with the most recent buy which was i'm glad my mom died

what are you currently reading: reading off with their heads by zhm and possibly hatereading the cruel prince (not far enough to hate yet but i give it 2 chapters)

what are you planning on reading next: don't know if it'll be the next but ngl i really wanna try the raven cycle because i keep hearing it has similar vibes to aftg and i'm in the trenches lmao

[ageofwonders]

omg hiiii another city of mist blogger!! do you have tags or posts about your characters that I can read 🥺

hai hai haiiiiii :3 i heart the narrative and its consequences

Uhh right neow I have like two main tags for characters that I've like. Actually played

Felicia is my lil meow meow whose campaign died but also if I don't use her for something in the next 5 months I am going to blow up. Rift of The Morrigan(Irish goddess(es?) of war and fate) who works at a liquor store and wishes the economy didn't suck

Adeline sucks and I hate her /j Uh she is the rift of Dante Aligheri's Divine Comedy(the inferno purgatario and paradisio), a linguistics major who needs catholic god to get her to go touch grass. She has one older brother(Sven) who has had his lore change so much since I first made him but he's normal around other people and will get Adeline to eat a vegetable :)

However recently I have come up with a third. Sibling who also sucks so so bad. His name is Vester(Sylvester) and uh basically Sven used to be a rift of King Minos but then he turned into a different character so I took those traits and. Put them onto the Vesterrrrr. He's a kleptomaniac who will steal your knives and lighters and also he has a magic book that he can ask for wishes from(meant to represent the bull that was a gift from poseidon to prove that minos was rightful ruler). He needs glasses really really bad but doesn't wanna wear them because he'll look like a nerd and he's not a nerd he's gone to jail!!!!!1!!

I have like. 15 other lil guys who are desperately rattling aroudn in my head and I wanna get them out so bad but also introducing characters scary :( One day I shall let Carol be real

[snickerdoodlles]

I am obviously biased, but as someone who tagged you in the WIP game, I'd love for you to do it! I'm curious, okay? I wanna know what's scrambling around up there, if your mess is as messy as mine? So if there is any chance of me swaying you, please do it? Puppy eyes or flirtatious brow waggle or digital cookies, whichever would have the greatest effect on you?

😂❤ akjds thank you friend !! i am planning on doing the WIP game ...tonight? tomorrow? maybe today-- i was out of commission earlier this week, so im making up on missed work today, but maybe it'll make a good break as my eyes water between spreadsheets hmm 🤔😂

re messy process: i am. such a messy writer. i'm such a vibe gardener lol. you wouldn't be able to see this from my writing folder tho. look at my kp folder:

most of my fic folders look like this! organized by fandom > folders for series/multi-chapter fics and working docs in the middle. all the docs in the series folders are numbered for easy finding. i even have handy folders for posted (finished) stuff to keep the working docs/series space cleaned and a compost folder for old discarded drafts/snippets/etc. you would think this would indicate a clean approach to writing!

h a h

what's not present in this folder are my many, many phone notes full of writing snippets (or the many, many other snippets i have written in notebooks) (...or other snippets saved as starred emails in my inbox, which i do not recommend after my last email panic lol) or my DMs with friends. which, honestly, DMs with friends deserves its own asterisk, it's hands down my biggest writing vice. i actually make a point not to (or at least, only rarely) copy out story notes from my DMs because it's just. i always have so many ideas. all the time. to handle them, my approach is i will remember if it's worth remembering, and if i forget them, probably for the best anyways. until im at a point where there's a cohesive story around the idea or enough of them have bumped up into each other to make a story, who cares (at which point, i...still don't copy out the ideas. like. at all. 💦). this is absolutely infuriating to some of my friends who really like some of the ideas i chuck around, esp when i have the audacity to forget them 😂

(ideas in friends DMs is the main thing fueling my fics i'm not writing ask game actually! it's a lot more freeing to me to just be able to put the idea out there along with any individual scenes i want to write without having to actually write the whole fic. i haven't really found the best way to post the scenes to AO3 yet, but ehh, future cookie problem.)

sorry, i wound up just rambling about a lot of nothing here 😂 i'm actually feeling very pumped up to play the WIP game post now tho, clearly i need more enrichment during my breaks 😂

(so uhh. your persuasion tactics: success! ✔)

[multifandom-brainrot]

Uhh hey!! so erm. I don't really make posts like this, thisll be my first time doing so but i could use some advice. Nothing major i just wanna tag my stuff properly, if anyone is in the sfw tickle community and likes off (and/or makes content of it) i would appreciate help with what tag to use, if any at all, kinda like how i use "mc tickling" or "tmc tickles" i'd feel a little silly being the only one uploading to a certain tag and am also too embarrassed to go seek it out myself to verify its existence, any help is appreciated. the main reason im asking is bc a friend of mine sent in a request and idk how im gonna tag it when i finish it. if need be i will make my own dang tag myself but i figured id ask first HEEHJGE (not putting the fandom tag, idk if thatll make a difference but still)

[graboidfarmer]

Yoooooooooooooo! CONGLATURATION!!! I am honoured on your behalf :P. Since you're taking drabble requests, I had a really out-of-left-field idea: something involving Mouse and Robbie (because it occurred to me that I don't think they've interacted much in the main fic, if at all, and I wanna see your take on insecure emo boy. :V)

Thanks for the request, this was so much fun! I love getting to stretch my nerd muscles. (Also this turned out hella long.

It’s another typical day at the library: filling hold requests, reshelving books, selecting others to be put up for sale. There’s a certain point when it becomes mindless busy work, and you fall into a trance. At first you don’t even notice the teenaged boy standing in the middle of the Romance section.

He’s tall and skinny, with jet-black hair that covers eyes rimmed with smudged liner. You recognize him as the boy who dated Wendy and terrorized Dipper last summer; Dipper’s drawings of him are shockingly accurate. Robbie Something. He’s hunched over a paperback sporting an image of a muscle-bound man and a scantily-clad woman riding a wild-eyed stallion. Poor horse must be in agony.

The kid’s expression is that of mingled bewilderment and horror. You decide to take pity on him. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, you walk quietly over to him.

“Hi, can I—“

The book nearly flies out of his hand as he jerks in surprise. “Holy shit!” he gasps. “Where’d you even come from? You snuck up on me like a little…”

“Mouse?” you supply with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. You just looked like you might need some assistance.”

The teen narrows his eyes. “What, do you work here or something?”

In answer, you tap the name tag on your chest.

“Oh,” he blurts. “Right. No, I’m good. This?” He gestures at the lurid novel in his hands. “This isn’t— I don’t read this kind of stuff. This is just for… research. I’m working on a project.”

You pretend to ignore the obvious avoidance tactic. “Oh, what kind of project?” you ask with interest.

“Composition. I’m a musician.” He leans against the bookshelf behind him, the very picture of directionless youthful rebellion. “Indie punk rock. You probably wouldn’t be into it.”

You shrug. “I don’t know, I like the Ramones, and the Pixies. Are they punk?”

The kid’s eyebrows shoot upward, clearly not expecting that response. “Yeah,” he says slowly. “Yeah, those guys are legit.”

You suppress a smile. “So, you’re writing a punk love song?”

The boy — Robbie — immediately goes on the defense. “Maybe, so what?”

“No, that’s great,” you tell him. “It’s just… Harlequin romances may not be the best resource. From what I understand, punk is about defying stereotypes and cultural norms, and those books kind of perpetuate outdated, sexist ideas of love and gender roles.”

He gives a scoff. “So you’re some kind of love expert?” he asks skeptically.

You nearly let out a laugh. “Wow. Uhh, no. Quite the opposite, actually.” A harsh, bitter quality seeps into your voice, against your wishes. “I just read a lot. Librarian.” You clear your throat. “Anyway, I’ll be over here if you need help.”

You start to walk away, but Robbie calls to you. “Wait.”

Turning, you find him wringing the old paperback in his hands. “Okay, look,” he says in a low voice. “My girlfriend broke up with me over this stupid fight. I’m writing a song to get her back. Not like… get her back, like I want revenge,” he amends quickly. “I just… She’s super important to me, and I don’t want to lose her.”

He looks so genuinely remorseful, you can’t help feeling sorry for him. “I think a song would be a really sweet gesture,” you tell him quietly. “What sort of things does your girlfriend like to read?”

He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. Fingerless gloves. Oof. “She’s… really into poetry,” he replies at last. “Shakespeare and Dickinson and Keats and crap like that.”

A smirk finds its way onto your face. “Okay, well, people wouldn’t still be performing Shakespeare’s plays four hundred years after he’d written them if they were crap, but anyway. Let’s check out the poetry section.”

He follows you like a lost puppy, the cheesy romance novel still clutched in one hand. “You know, writing songs is a lot like writing poetry,” you say as you scan the shelves. “They’re both about rhythm, flow, expression, hidden meanings.”

“Pshh, I know that.” His eyes dart around, as if expecting someone to challenge his claim.

After a moment, you find what you’re looking for. “It sounds like your girlfriend has an appreciation for Gothic poetry. How familiar are you with Poe?”

For the first time, Robbie smiles. Well, almost anyway. “I’ve read some of his stuff for school. He wrote The Tell-tale Heart, right? That was sick.”

“He also wrote a lot of poetry. Not just ‘The Raven’, but some beautiful love poems. They’re full of such vivid imagery and loss and melancholy, and his use of rhythm is masterful.”

Ah, dream too bright to last!

Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise

But to be overcast!—

You shake your head. “I’d recommend ‘Annabel Lee’, ‘A Dream within a Dream’, and ‘To One in Paradise’, for starters,” you say, handing him an anthology of poems. “Just don’t copy out of them, because I can almost guarantee your girlfriend has already read them.”

Robbie’s cheeks turn red. “Yeah, no, I learned my lesson. I write all my own songs now.”

You check his book out for him at the front counter, glancing at his full name on the computer screen. Robbie Valentino. Appropriate, you think with a smile as you slide the book back to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

“No problem,” you reply. “Good luck. Oh, hold up!” you add as he starts to leave. He frowns, but stays where he is as you run to the Fiction section and grab an additional book: High Fidelity. “This isn’t poetry, but I think you might find it interesting. It’s about a guy who works in a record store and loves music. He goes through a breakup and has kind of an existential crisis, but he learns a lot of things about himself. And his name is Rob.”

Robbie blinks a few times. “Uhh… okay, I’ll check it out.” You quickly scan it and hand it to him. “Later.”

His manner is amusingly furtive as he leaves, as if he’s terrified that someone he knows will see him carrying around a book of poems. But at least he took them. There’s hope for him yet.

The next time Robbie comes in to the library, he makes a beeline to the counter just to inform you that his girlfriend loved the song, and they’re back together. He invites you to come hear his band play at the all-ages club in town, and that you had better not “lame out”. As you watch him go with another armful of poetry, you feel strangely smug.

You may have been a nerd in school, but it’s finally paying off.

[charrfie]

Alright now that its officially Forzen Friday let's try this post again since it didn't show up in the tags last time-

I'M FINALLY MAKING A FORZEN HC DUMP (kinda AU-ish territory but not really idk exactly) AND NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME

There are also a few other hcs sprinkled in here related to other characters (like Darnold and Sunkist for example) but Forzen is the main focus!! Despite him being a minor character I latched onto him and fleshed him out sm yall have no idea

Everything under the cut bc this shit is gonna be LONG (and there's also some more doodles that take up a bit of space!)

Also uhh if people like this I might take one for another hlvrai character later bc I have a lot to say about everyone!!

Forzen moved from France to the US with his parents when he was around 12 or 13 (yes, I'm aware that Scorpy and Holly are French Canadian and not France French but that doesn't mean Forzen can't be, I'm just being sure to say this now before someone says something to me about it)

He wanted to go to college and eventually become a game dev, but he didn't have the funds or the support for it (his family thought anything to do with games would amount to a career that would go nowhere).

Because of this, he instead was recruited in the US military. He originally had no intent to join, but after constantly being harrassed recommended to join and being entertained with the concept of being able to afford and pay for college, he caved (hence him telling the science team that his only goal is "to graduate").

He doesn't like his job very much if that wasn't clear.

And neither do most others that have the same job like him.

He was put on a "team" of his own, Team Nice, which was likely arranged as a guaranteed way to get Forzen in the way of danger, and with no one else fighting beside him, he would be easily dealt with- no one would have to worry about him bothering them again. However, he somehow manages to survive all of this, of course. Somehow. He likely knows the real reason he was assigned his own team (if you can even call it that), but refuses to fully acknowledge it for his own sanity, and instead pretends that he's some big, important person on a team that ranks so highly, he's the only one qualified to be in it. (I apologize ahead of time for giving one of the most shitposty and throwaway characters in hlvrai this much depth and angst, there was just potential there leave me alone)

Fast forward to the actual events of hlvrai though. This hc is a little outlandish but I really like the concept!!! So, at one point, Forzen is killed, presumably by some kind of creature that was out and about due to the RenCas. The science team + Benrey stumble across him (act 2 part 2 at around 13 min in for anyone curious), and Benrey decides to use the healing beam Sweet Voice on him. While Benrey and Forzen may not be on good terms anymore, Benrey still very begrudgingly cares about him and didn't want to see him get injured or die. Forzen wakes up a minute or so after the science team exits the room, assuming that he just passed out, nothing more, and goes along with things as normal.

He meets Darnold a while after his first (concious) run in with the science team. Darnold has recently dealt with the science team and helped them out, but is pretty bummed that he couldn't travel with them, as everything was far too scary and dangerous for him. Forzen, wanting to escape Black Mesa and the military altogether, ends up making a deal with him that he'll handle all the dangerous stuff if Darnold can show him a way out.

Now, meeting Darnold is a very new experience for him, since Darnold actually enjoys his company, and actually wants to befriend him! At first, Forzen openly tries to act as if Darnold is a huge deal to put up with- he goes along with with the whole "if you're escaping outta this hellhole with me, you better keep up" kinda deal (despite the fact that he kinda NEEDS Darnold to escape and show him the way out). His walls are still very much so raised, and he doesn't let his guard down as he's not used to others caring about him and his safety. But as time passes, he begins to realize that maybe Darnold DOES want to be his friend, and the tough guy act becomes less apparent.

To preface this next one- Sunkist sensed that something was up (he has a next-level sense of danger when it comes to Tommy's safety) and got to BM as fast as he could, searching every hallway for his boy. This is when Forzen finds him!! He figures that taking Sunkist as a hostage would be enough to get extra info out of the team that's been practically plaguing him lately.

Darnold doesn't know about Forzen's plans to take Sunkist hostage, so is completely fine with traveling alongside him. At one point though, Forzen and Darnold get separated (Forzen occupies him, makes sure hes safe and then runs off to deal with Sunkist). Darnold immediately uses his surroundings to model a quick little teleporter device to get Forzen back, because, you know, the man's a genius. Idc if its logical or not just go with it shhh I've gotta fill in the plotholes with something. That's why Forzen disappears all of a sudden after he's cornered by the science team. He just pops back in front of Darnold suddenly, all confused and loopy from the whole teleportation thing.

As things begin to wind down, Darnold and Forzen make it out of BM and start making a break for it, no idea how they'll get away from BM and to safety somewhere- they didnt really think things through.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for Forzen really), however, G-man picks both of them up. He means to drop Darnold off at Tommy's party, as he observed that Darnold helped his son to safety and is grateful for it. Forzen, though, he intends to "deal with" for messing things up so badly with Tommy, Sunkist, and all of Tommy's friends. This is where Darnold finds out about everything Forzen did and frankly gets really pissed with him since he thought he only had good intentions??? Luckily though, Darnold convinces G-man to give him a second chance, let him go to Tommy's party and apologize, and try things again. G-man, for some reasons agrees- probably bc hes in a good mood, as it IS his son's birthday.

The party is pretty uncomfortable to say the least. Tommy's extremely hesitant to talk to Forzen, but he does, and they end up on neutral terms by the end of it. Uneasy, but neutral. Tommy and Darnold hit it off though, and Tommy opens the invitation to Darnold that he can visit his place anytime now that everything at BM is over with.

As everyone's getting ready to leave, Forzen mentions to Darnold that he doesn't have a place to stay, seeing as the entire military was kinda. Yknow. Wiped out. Obviously wouldn't wanna go back to check anyways. And he has no interest in going home to his parents. So Darnold agrees to let him stay with him since they've become good pals over the course of everything.

Over time, Darnold visits Tommy more and more often. He starts bringing Forzen along, which Tommy is iffy of at first, but their dynamic starts to change and become more comfortable once Tommy sees that Forzen isnt interested in being enemies anymore.

Sunkist and Forzen still don't get along for a very long time. Or, well- it's moreso that Sunkist is very wary about Forzen, despite him not doing anything to harm either Sunkist or Tommy.

Oh yeah and almost forgot to mention one of my favorite hcs (that I PROMISE you started out as a joke but then I got attached) is Sunkist can talk!! So his first spoken interaction with Forzen after Forzen comes over to visit for the first time is literally just him being all threatening and laying down the ground rules bc he doesn't want Forzen to hurt Tommy at all in any way. And of course Forzen about has a heart attack bc "HUH??????? THERE'S A DOG THAT IS SPEAKING HUMAN WORDS TO ME"

UHH I HAVE MORE (I've written out so much shit about dynamics and what I'd think would happen even after all of this) BUT I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE TOO LONG like it already is SO I SUPPOSE I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT FOR NOW!!!! I hope this isn't too ooc either, I just have Emotions about this series and write too much so why not share it yknow

[shadedrose01]

Young God

Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker

Tags: idek how to tag this one, uhh, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, kind of?, more like, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies with benefits?, Rivalry, Rivals with benefits?, Its hard to explain aodjsk, Harley Keener as Iron Lad, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Has a Bad Day, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Nothing shown tho, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, parkner week 2020, Day 2, Arguing

Prompts: “And i said ‘no,’ you know, like a liar” / identity shenanigans / iron lad

Notes: Day 2, everybody! Hope you enjoy! 💞💞

Read on ao3 Here!

~~

He says "oo, baby girl, you know we're gonna be legends,

I'm the king and you're the queen, and we will stumble through heaven,"

Peter sucks in a quick breath just before he crashes onto the rooftop, sliding across the sandpaper like tiles and feeling as it rips up his suit, the backs of his arms and legs, his hands as he claws and slows himself down until he finally stops, just at the edge of the house.

He stays still for a second, pants as he hears the mechanical whirrs and clicks of the robotic arms coming closer and closer to him, before he feels his hair stand up, and jumps backwards off of one rooftop to the other, just as Doc Ock crashes through the house below him, leaving only destruction in his wake. Peter listens sharply, for a scream or a cry but hears nothing, and feels a wave of relief knowing the family must not of been home, before its quickly wiped away as he instinctive jumps out of the way again, a claw crunching the stone he was stood on just moments before.

"Come on, Spider-Man," the man taunts, his bluish purple goggles gleaming in the setting sunlight. "Stop running away, and fight!"

Another claw, and another jump, except this time, Peter bounces off of the next rooftop he lands on, circling around and kicking the man right in the jawbone. "You asked for it!" He spits out as the kick throws him back, off kilter for a second, a moment that Peter tries to take to get out of distance again, out of range, but he's too slow, a third claw reaching for him, about to grab him-

Before its blasted to pieces by a bright purple light, and Peter cant help but to stifle the annoyed sigh that threatens to escape, the simmering anger that's been inside him all day starting to boil, to bubble up as he hears the familiar, way way too familiar Southern drawl call out, in all its mocking glory, "Hey squid boy, watch where you're throwing those things, someone could get hurt!"

Peter lands onto the brick wall, sticking into place and turns just to see Doc let out an irritated yell, and lunge for the bright red and gray suit, purple lights attached like lazor pointers to a cat, an easy target that never seems to faze the man no matter how many times Peter told him to tone them down. For once, Peter understands Docs anger, annoyance, as the suit weaves through his claws and shoots them apart with ease, laughing and mocking him the entire time. It makes his insides twist, and his blood boil, his heart racing and his teeth gritting together.

Peter throws himself off the wall just in time to kick Doc to the ground, all of his claws and weapons destroyed, and an affronted, almost insulted noise comes from the robotic suit flying beside him. "You can't just come in and steal the kill, that's not cool, dude!"

Peter doesn't even spare him a glance, webbing the villians hand, feet and then body to the ground. "What, like you did?"

"I did not," The robotizied voice cries out, like a child. "I was just helping you out, Spidey! You should be thanking me!"

Now, Peter can hear the smug grin on the man's face, and this time he can't help the bitter sigh that escapes, as he turns to send a heated glare. "Fuck off, Iron Lad."

He can practically see his eyebrows raise, even through the emotionless mask and the man laughs, loudly, his voice higher pitched with pure amusement as he says, "Oh ho ho, Man! What's got you in a piss poor mood, huh? Having a bad Spidey day, Spider-Man?"

Peter's nostrils flare, and he has to physically hold back the words that long to spill from his mouth, tasting bitter on his tongue, flames licking at his lungs. "Police?" He asks instead, glancing away to glare at the stones below him, his hands clenched hard into fists.

"On the way, eta maaybe two minutes?"

"Then let's go." Peter doesn't wait for an answer, shooting a web off into the distance and yanking himself away, huffing out a breath when he hears the very clear, "Sir, yes sir!" And the echo of replusors sound from behind him, following him like they always do.

"If there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes,

I know you wanna go to heaven but you're human tonight,"

Peter swings for a while, trying to ignore, pretend that the metallic sounds of blasters aren't following him, hoping that eventually, the man, that Harley would get the hint and leave him the fuck alone today, but after a while, he realizes that won't happen and lands on the top of a building, crashing to the ground a little rougher than necessary, feeling his bubbling anger, annoyance rising higher and higher in his chest.

"Finally," The suit groans out, landing right beside Peter on the rooftop before flailing his arms out dramatically. "I thought you were never gonna stop, jeez."

"I'm on patrol." Peter growls out, going to the edge of the rooftop to look down and focus his hearing, to make sure he doesn't miss any moments, any crime that he needs to stop, almost wishing, itching that there was some so he could get away from the man encased in metal. He doesn't know why his presence is bugging him so much today- he's normally annoying, sure but not this much, never this bad- but it is and Peter just longs to get away (even as a part of him begs to get closer).

The man just huffs, his neon purple eyes seeming stare into Peter's soul incredulously. "Thats never stopped you before." When Peter just ignores him, the man takes a step forward and his helmet retracts, the face of the one and only Harley Stark- son to Tony Stark, heir to Stark industeies and the main pain in Peters ass for the last eight months- scrunched up with a weird mix of childish annoyance and worry that makes him look constipated. "Seriously, Spidey. What's going on? Are you okay?"

The real concern that slips into the mans tone makes Peter's insides twist, but he ignores it as he spits out, "Why do you care? Thought you only cared about yourself?"

Its intentionally rude, and he knows it hits its mark when a pang of hurt runs across Harley's features before it disappears back into a blank slate so similar to the one his father wears for the same reason, to hide the pain. "You know that's not true." Even his voice has gone back to painfully neutral, and any satisfaction Peter anticipated to feel is overwhelmed by a sickening guilt that poisons him from the inside out, twists his stomach and makes him feel nauseous.

He should apologize, he knows, but he's still- he still feels the burning, the fire under his skin, in his bloodstream, charring his lungs, molten lava in his veins, and he can't stop the sour words from slipping past his lips, with a faint mocking laugh. "Do I?"

"I thought you did." He mutters, his usually bright, summer day skies eyes darkening as a storm cloud passes by, rumbling with a thunder that makes Peter's heart thump heavily in his chest. "I know you do. I know you don't really like me, I get that, but you normally aren't this much of a dick about it. This isn't you."

Peter just laughs again, bitter and twisted and wrong sounding, even to himself. "You don't know me. You don't know anything about me."

He says, "oo baby girl, don't get caught on my edges,

I'm the king of everything, you know my tongue is a weapon,"

Harley's eyes just narrow more, his jaw clenching, and Peter can see his words are started to get to him, his fingers twitching and his shoulders raising. Good. "I think I know more about you than you think."

"Do you?" Peter snorts, shaking his head in exasperation as he glances over to the man, glaring, the fire burning brighter, flames licking at his throat. "Say, what do you know about me?"

"I know your kind," He starts, scowling, counting on his fingers as if Peter is a child that he's lecuring. "I know you're considerate. I know you put everyone else before yourself, because you think somehow, subconsciously that your life is worth less than others. I know you feel guilty for something that happened in the past, and try to better yourself because of it. I know you care, much more than you let on." Peter snorts, trying to ignore the emotions and raw feelings bubbling in his throat, and Harley just continues, ignoring it. "I may not know your name, or your face, or your- your identity but I know you, Spidey. And this," He makes a waving motion at Peter's body, "whatever this is, it isn't you. So Explain. What's going on?"

He's almost pleading, now, begging for Peter to tell him and the masked man almost longs to tell him, but honestly, he doesn't even know what's wrong. He's felt this burning, this itch for something since he woke up, and as the day went on, he grew more and more irritated, irate, a chemical reaction gone wrong, Harley acting as a catalyst and speeding up the reaction until now, its starting to explode, bubbling over the glass and creating a mess of emotions.

Peter can't tell him that, though, can't tell him that he's being a dick for nothing, so he just shrugs him off, looking away again and muttering a quick, "Nothing."

He can almost feel the tension in the air rise, turning thick as Harley bristles and flares, "Let me help you, for fucks sake!"

"Maybe I don't want you to help me!" Peter sparks back, whipping his head back around to glare at the man, the energy high, electric around them.

"There's a light in the crack, that separates your thighs,

And if you wanna go to heaven, you should fuck me tonight,"

"Oh, no. You do." Harley sneers, stepping forward, closer to Peter. "You do, you're just too much of a coward to admit it."

Peter rolls up his mask to his nose, and glares heavily at the man, taking a step towards him in retaliation. "Middle school insults, really?"

"Only telling the truth." Another step forward. "You're a coward who tries to hide his true feelings and pretend they don't even, even though you know they do."

"Oh yeah?" Another step, and suddenly, they're face to face, their noses millimeters apart, almost brushing in their proximity. "Say that again, I dare you."

Harley takes the bait, leaning in closer until Peter can feel his air on his lips, their breath mixing. "You're a coward, Spider-Man."

And Peter thinks he's going to punch him. His fists are clenched, his body is tense, he's bracing himself to do it. But instead, he finds himself grabbing his shoulders tightly and pushing their lips together, his mind whirling as the reaction bubbles over and the flame in his chest ignites into a wildfire, bright and untamable as Harley kisses back just as heavily, just as intensely, pressing him back back back until his back is pushed against a brick wall. Their lips don't disconnect, their heads turning and tongue swirling as Harley's hands roam up and down Peter's suit, over his arms, chest and abs, Peter's moan being swallowed into Harley's mouth, only to be reciprocated moments later.

The kiss breaks only to allow Peter to jump into Harleys arms, his legs wrapped around and sticking to the waist of the metal suit and his arms around his neck before theyre reconnected again, sucking face and groaning into each others mouths.

"My place?" The blond asks, voice muddled by lips and tongue and teeth, and Peter only nods instead of answering, pressing his face into his neck to leave marks, bites and bruises as the other man wraps his arms around his waist and under his ass, before the repulsors start back up and they fly away, towards the giant looming tower in the distance.

And I've been sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool, for a while now,

Drowning my thoughts out with the sounds,

Peter blinks awake slowly, hearing the faint whisper of a fan and a steady mechanical hum and feeling the satin, silk sheets beneath his fingertips. He turns his head slowly, his brain still groggy as he sees the other man, Harley beside him, his ryestalk hair askew and his face lax, more youthful than Peter's ever seen it, the sheet only covering to halfway up his chest, the rest out in the open, bare outside of the bright red marks still covering his skin. He flushes slightly as the memory's return from the night before, or, evening? He looks to the large, floor to ceiling windows beside the bed to see that it's still nighttime, the bright moonlight shining in through the clear glass, the pale blinds and illumating the room, casting shadows onto Harley's features and making him look... softer, ethereal, such a contrast to his sharp words and his even sharper personality. He finds he likes it, the softer, gentler look, and finds himself staring for a few moments, taking the moment in before he sits up slowly, making sure not to awaken the other man, and stands.

He finds a pair of pants on the floor, and a shirt he isn't sure is clean or dirty, throwing them both on before noticing a glass door, leading out into a balcony on the other side of the room. He had remembered landing somewhere early, hazily, though he obviously wasnt focused on it. It must've been there. He finds himself drawn to it, tiptoeing quietly over to the door and sliding it open before stepping outside, and taking a large inhale of the chilled air. He moves to the railing of the balcony, listening to the faint breeze of the late August winds, the car horns and honks in the distance, stares down at the still busseling, still alive city below them, not really focusing on anything, not really thinking, just breathing, feeling, living.

That must be why he doesn't hear the other man stirring, or hear him approch until the door behind him clicks open again. Peter doesn't turn around, doesn't have to, just continuing to watch the cars drive by until two arms wrap around his waist, gently, warily, until a, now clothed, chest is pressed against his back, and a chin rests on his shoulder. Peter just exhales, leaning back into the other mans grip, feeling more relaxed, more at ease than he has in a while, longer than he can remember.

Do you feel like a young god?

You know the two of us are just young gods,

"Do you ever..." Peter doesn't know when, or why, he starts to speak, doesn't think of what he says as he murmurs, hushed, low, a whisper, "feel like a young god? With these powers, the suits, the- the responsibility..." Harley just hums, faintly, and they start to sway, subtle, gentle back and forth motions, back and forth, like waves cascading onto a beach. "They all look up to me. The people, the city. They all-" Peter shakes his head, sighing lightly, airy. "And sometimes I just... sometimes I just don't know if I'm enough, you know? Sometimes I just..."

"Need a break." The other man finishes, murmurs, his lips brushing against Peter's cheek and sends tingles down his back.

"I-I guess so, yeah." There's a few moments, a few seconds where they just sit in the comfortable silence, where Peter glances up at the smog filled sky, seeing a few stars shining through, the almost full moon gleaming brightly down at them.

Before, "Let me help, baby." Harley whispers, pleads, and Peter goes to protest but the blond beats him to it. "You're burnt out, constantly saving the city, saving the world, constantly being the punching bag for everyone else, let me help. Please, Peter," And that was something new, too, Harley knowing his name, knowing his face, knowing him through and through, though he knows the other man won't tell, won't share, turning his head with easy fingers to look him in the eye, his ocean blues almost neon in the glow of the moon. "Let me help you."

They stare at each other, flickering from eye to eye for a few beats, a few thumps in Peter's chest, and he doesn't answer, not really, just lowers his head and places it onto Harley's chest, into the crook of his neck, but his lack of an answer is answer enough. The older man just presses a drawn out kiss onto the top of his head, and holds him closer, a non spoken thank you that sends Peter reeling, unused to the feeling of care, of concern, of love.

And yet, surrounded by strong arms and held closely to a firm chest, Peter feels at his strongest, feels comforted, known, feels safe. He closes his eyes, and just breathes, let's himself have this moment of calm and quiet in the arms of his love.

And we'll be flying through the streets, with the people underneath,

And they're running, running, running...