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We Won't Reach Back by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for Sally0
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
21 Jan 2020
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Summary
They take twin gulps of their tea and stare into the darkness. Then Tony shifts at the exact same second Peter does, and they both make swerving eye contact, and Peter is the first to crack a tiny smile of surprise.
"Hi," says Tony, stupidly.
"Hi," says Peter.
"How are you doing?" Tony whispers. There. There--he's said it. The gate has been opened, the line crossed. There is no going back from this--and even if Tony knows it, he doesn't believe he would ever choose to go back.
"Not so good," Peter admits. Miraculously, bravely, he is still meeting Tony's gaze.
"It would be very weird if you were," Tony says.
"I know," says Peter. "I dunno if I should--be telling you all this, though. I've already made you my, like, interest-free Uber ride. You probably don't need to add 'midnight therapist' to my tab."
--
Tony and Peter's professor-student relationship takes a sudden turn for the personal when Peter's uncle Ben dies at the end of the semester and Tony offers to take the kid home in time for the funeral. Tony himself comes to terms with his own paternal feelings toward Peter Parker.Series
- Part 3 of I Promise You It's Worth It
- Part 1 of Author's Favorites
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The Game Is Afoot by notapartytrick, TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
13 Apr 2020
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Summary
Tony's face lights with childlike glee and he presses the industrial goggles to his face. "Are these more of a decorative or practical function, then? Can you see in them--?"
"Yes, yes, yes I can," Peter stutters, springing forward to snatch the entire pile from Tony's hands. "I can--I can see in them. Could we just--what's--"
Tony levels him a look. "So you are the rooftop-capering vigilante."
"I do not, I do not caper."
"Chimney tumbler."
"You have me mistaken for Santa Claus, Mr. Stark."
"Very well. Wall-crawler?"
"No. Sir."
"Jungle swinger?"
"Just--Arachnoman is fine."
Tony blinks. "I--I beg your pardon. Arachnoman? Lordy, you suffer the same linguistic disease as poor Rhodey downstairs."
--
Private detective Tony Stark is enjoying a brief respite from solving cases when his roommate Dr. Rhodes informs him of a masked vigilante in Queens. Tony quickly deduces the poor guy can't be more than an actual boy. Cue the first meeting with Peter Parker that will spark an unlikely partnership fighting crime.Series
- Part 2 of Author's Favorites
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(I Should Have Asked You) How to Be by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for notapartytrick
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
27 Dec 2020
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Summary
Tony rubs the lines of his forehead. “I was thinking--we’re with each other practically 24/7 and I cannot for the life of me sneak away from you without your pesky super-ears or eight eyes knowing about it. So. Just lay it on me--what do you want for Christmas? Nuh-uh”--he wags a finger in Peter’s direction--“I don’t care how cheap or expensive it is. I don’t. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen.”
Peter stares at him, dead into his eyes behind the stupid layer of those stupid rose-colored sunglasses, and he opens his mouth to speak and squeezes the ball of sand in his hand, and tries to say May. I want May. I want her back, and nothing comes out but a small, pained sound like a wounded animal.
“Pete?”
Stop it. Stop it. Stop, it hurts.
“I’m fine,” Peter gasps out.
--
Or: Peter thought he's getting better at dealing with May being gone, but then Christmas rolls around and reminds him that she's really not coming back. Tony learns how to be there for him.Series
- Part 2 of Knock the Ice from My Bones
- Part 3 of Author's Favorites
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Under the Stars of Orion by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
17 Jan 2020
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Summary
Peter reaches up to poke him in the goatee. "If this story ends with any mention of beds or kissing, that's it. I'm moving out tomorrow."
"My baby," Tony croons, feigning teary eyes. "My infant genius. All ready to take over MIT with the power of nerddom and grouchiness."
"Oh, hey," Peter grins cheekily in the dark. "Please, don't stop the waterworks on my account."
"I'm not crying, you're crying."
"No, you are."
"No, you are."
"My eyes have never been drier, old man."
"Sweet mother of all things holy, are you two, like, five?" Harley grumbles from the floor.
Tony delivers him a soft, swift kick to the shoulder. In the dark, a sole middle finger rises into their field of vision and then descends back into the mass of blankets. A beat later, Peter and Tony are hissing in barely contained laughter.
--
It's Peter's 18th birthday celebration, and he spends it together with Ned, MJ, Harley, May and Tony in quietness and reflection before heading off to college--where time and distance will prove the strength of their love for one another.Series
- Part 2 of I'm Peter, I'm 19 and I Never Learned to Read
- Part 3 of Tennessee Teen Genius vs. the World
- Part 4 of Author's Favorites
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Talk to Shooting Stars by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for stewyonmolly
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
25 Apr 2020
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Summary
Harley gulps. "You know how Dr. Carp said I only had brain damage to the right side of my noggin from the impact?"
Peter nods. He knows where this is going--he's sharp as a whip, and he's filled with ice in his veins, with something not quite fear but its close cousin, unnamed and dreadful and strangling.
"Well, she was right. I did. And that's how I lost my hearin' in that side of my head. But the other--the, the left--" Harley swallows. He rips up a blade of grass and twists it around his fingertip.
Peter moves briefly to pinch the bridge of his nose. Then he unfurls himself a little, scooting closer, only just daring to brush a knuckle over the wet knee of Harley's jeans. "When did you lose your hearing in the left one, Harley?"
Harley's mouth falls open and his jaw pushes to the side. Peter knows that mannerism, he knows that look, because he's done it a thousand times before, in front of Ned or May or Tony or MJ, when he's trying not to cry and all he can do to keep himself together is stretch the tension in his body as taut as it will go.
"When I was seven," says Harley, and he deserves all the fucking Oscars in the world for how evenly his voice comes out.
Series
- Part 7 of I'm Peter, I'm 19 and I Never Learned to Read
- Part 4 of Tennessee Teen Genius vs. the World
- Part 5 of Author's Favorites
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To Anyone Who Might Care by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for stewyonmolly, fatiable
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
07 Jul 2020
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Summary
Several beats too late, Harley finally admits, “No. I’m at NYU. I’m on--don’t be mad. I’m on a roof.”
Peter breathes. The sound is deliberate, forced, controlled.
“I’m not standing. I’m sitting. I’ve been--painting, actually.”
The wind picks up again and whistles, cutting out Harley’s audio on Peter for a second as Spider-Man leaps down toward the glare of late-night traffic and shoots, thwip, thwip, and swings in a beeline toward Manhattan.
“You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to come. I just wanted to, like, call you up and see what was going on.” Harley’s voice is overly calm.
But inside, he pounds, his everything pounds, and something starts to scream, please come, please come.
--
Or: 3 times Peter and Harley saved each other, and 1 time Tony saved them both.Series
- Part 12 of I'm Peter, I'm 19 and I Never Learned to Read
- Part 5 of Tennessee Teen Genius vs. the World
- Part 6 of Author's Favorites
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Harley Keener and the Greeting Card Budget Debacle by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for stewyonmolly
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
07 May 2021
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Summary
It comes as no secret to anyone in Harley Keener’s life that he’s poor.
On the days he’s feeling touchy about it, the guy actually prefers the term moderately, passably, reasonably okay. Considering the fact that he’s rather disposed to mocking Tony’s obscene stack of credit cards with a proletariat disdain, though, those days are rare.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Harley would rather go through the half-finished multipack of Deepest Sympathies cards from the local thrift store, than buy an individual greeting card specific for a special occasion.
Partly because he has a strict budget for this sort of thing. Partly because he’s just an asshole.
--
Or: 3 times Harley gave somebody the wrong kind of greeting card, and 1 time he made the perfect one.
Series
- Part 15 of I'm Peter, I'm 19 and I Never Learned to Read
- Part 7 of Tennessee Teen Genius vs. the World
- Part 7 of Author's Favorites
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“It smells kind of like you,” Nandor says. Calmly, casually, practically a shrug, like that isn’t the most vulnerable and intimate thing Guillermo has heard in days--weeks--years.
And then, to his absolute horror, Guillermo feels the traitorous pricking of tears at the corners of his eyes. Nandor has leaned away, but he’s still closer than he was before, fanning the surface of Guillermo’s skin with his gentle breath.
Guillermo will not cry. He will not cry.
He can laugh about this. He’s not entirely human--he’s allowed to laugh at this.
So he does what his body knows best, and he bites down with an unprecedented savagery on the inside of his cheek. The familiar and comforting warmth of his own blood flows onto his tongue before he can realize his stupidity.
“Guillermo,” Nandor says. Low. Throaty. “Why do you do that?”
--
Or: Guillermo's guilt grows with him from the moment he realizes he's different. Something between ordinary and inhuman. Then Nandor comes into his life, all danger and love, and Guillermo begins to think he can finally feel alive.Series
- Part 3 of Tender Is the Night
- Part 1 of Who We Smooch in the Shadows
- Part 8 of Author's Favorites
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Theo steps closer. His gaze flickers down to the shape of Liam’s lips--it’s undeniable. Liam wonders if the swoop in his stomach is terror or excitement or exhausted incoherence or--all three at once.
“I guess I haven’t been very articulate about my priorities, then,” Theo says.
Liam can almost taste his breath. He chews the last bit of clementine pulp between his teeth and swallows.
“What was your dream about?”
“What?”
Theo doesn’t miss how Liam’s heartbeat goes wonky, if his sad and fleeting smile is anything to go by. “You haven’t told anyone yet about the dreams, have you?”
“Don’t see any point in it,” Liam says, and they’re close, too close to be having a ridiculous conversation like this.
--
Or: Liam hasn't told anyone about his nightmares and hallucinations of the Dread Doctors. He deals with them--badly--until Scott gets the pack to go on a vacation together and the truth must spill out of Liam eventually.
Series
- Part 1 of Staying Alive
- Part 9 of Author's Favorites
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Summary
Theo’s hands twitch and trigger ripples across the surface of the water that has gone deathly still in the last few minutes. The movement draws Liam’s gaze to them.
Theo shuts his eyes. He has to, before he can back down from the next terrifying thing he’s going to ask Liam.
“Liam?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you--hold my hand, please?”
--
Or: the story of Theo Raeken's hands, and how he climbs up from hell into redemption because he won't be another constellation without a happy ending.
Series
- Part 2 of Staying Alive
- Part 9 of Author's Favorites
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Liam thinks that there is a part of his father that will always live in his bones.
In his cracked bones, in his whole ones, in each of the two hundred and six bones he learned from school exist beneath the veneer of healing skin and scarless bag of blood and memories.
--
Or: Liam sees his biological father come back to town, and he doesn't realize until hours later that he is not, in fact, handling the triggers as well as he thought he was. Theo is there to pick up the pieces and put him back together again.
Series
- Part 10 of Author's Favorites
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Theo almost jerks to the side when the stunning warmth of Liam's palm slides over his chest. Theo's supernatural senses are gone, but he doesn't think he's ever been more hyper-aware of a single touch, every pressure point between Liam's finger pads and Theo's cotton-clad skin lighting his very nerve endings on fire. And just like that, the dubstep of his heart lurches straight for his throat.
"Your heart," Liam murmurs, sleepy and confused. "I've never heard it make that strange sound before."
That's because it's you, Theo thinks. That's because I'm human.
Will you love me? Will you bare my chest and kiss me there and love me like this, with an always breaking heart?
"Liam," he speaks into the night between them, slow and rough. "I have to tell you something."
--
Or: A witch grants Theo's wish to turn human for a day and be loved for who he is. Liam shows him just what that wish might look like.
Series
- Part 2 of Just a Little Human
- Part 3 of Jewish Theo Raeken
- Part 11 of Author's Favorites
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Theo says, voice like a glacier, "I'm warning you now, I'm not dying for you."
Liam fixes his gaze on him. Theo's eyes are doing something complicated, wavering between gray and green and blue. "I'm not dying for you, either."
That's not all. There's more left unspoken on the hill of Liam's tongue, something he sees in the blaze of Theo's look, too, as Theo runs his gaze down Liam's battered body and back up to his face. A silent agreement: but I will fight with you.
--
Or: The Hunger Games AU where the Games are always rigged for the hunters to slaughter the wolves, and Liam's only fighting chance at life may be faking a relationship with Hayden for the cameras--and relying on the loner chimera Theo Raeken who can't seem to stop saving his life in the arena.
trailer | edit by EquallyLoyalandLethal
Series
- Part 1 of From the Mouths of Wolves
- Part 13 of Author's Favorites
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"Liam," Theo rasps out.
Liam stills. He glances over his shoulder. "I'm helping you out, just give me a minute--"
"No, I--" Theo sighs. "...I don't have any more shirts."
And it's that, of all things, that drives a laugh out of Liam as though from the end of a spike, wheezing and too-long, until it turns crazed.
"You should've--you should have fucking thought of that before doing that to your fucking spleen," says Liam with a round gesture at Theo's person.
Theo grins. It's bitter. Appropriate.
"Oops."
"Come here."
Theo holds out his arms to be lifted up from the tub before he can help himself. It's a habit ingrained into his body, deeper than lie still so she can strap you in place, deeper still than strike for the gut and aim for the throat. It fills his mind with the last time he did this, when he was five and his mother still looked at him from under her overgrown bangs with a tiredness that did not yet border on hatred.
And Liam comes closer and lifts him.
Series
- Part 13 of Author's Favorites
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L: do you have any fucking clue what it was like getting hung up on last night
L: i had a boner for THIRTY MINUTES
T: Aww shucks, thank you
L: fuck you
L: you're an asshole
L: who deserves to be punished
T: Promise? :)
---
In which Theo tortures Liam with thirst traps over Liam's away game weekend, and Liam is having none of it when he gets home.
Series
- Part 15 of Author's Favorites
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Summary
Sometimes, when Theo looks at Liam, he sees blood in his mouth and death in his eyes.
Series
- Part 16 of Author's Favorites
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Nothing in the world, not even the Berserkers or the Ghost Riders or last semester's linguistics midterm grade, could have ever prepared Liam for the stomach-dropping sight of Theo splayed out on his back across the pool table with the top button of his shirt undone and his legs spread around the triangular formation of empty red Solo cups at his crotch. The tall guy from before has rounded up a bunch of his buddies and they're all roaring and cheering, taking turns having their shot at jumping the cue ball over Theo's entire torso into one of the farthest cups at the end of the table.
Theo's head has lolled back and his face is loose, glowing, painted with an easy grin, and Liam doesn't think he's ever seen the chimera this unwound before.
Or this level of infuriating, either, for that matter.
(The way his jeans suddenly tighten has absolutely nothing to do with this train of thought.)
Series
- Part 17 of Author's Favorites
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It’s on a hectic night when he and Liam get home from different ends of Beacon Hills—Liam from a pack meeting, Theo from his late-night shift at the fast food place that his manager absolutely would not let him skip under threat of firing—that Theo slips up about his secret routine.
He’s gotten a little overconfident, leaving his door slightly ajar these days, so he’s taken completely by surprise when the beta stomps into his room without so much as a knock and flops dramatically face forward across Theo’s quilt-covered feet at the end of the bed.
Theo’s heart jolts in his chest and he snatches one earbud from his ear as casually as he can given how rattled he is by Liam’s appearance. He nudges Liam by wiggling his toe once, twice. When Liam doesn’t make any indication of moving, but instead lets out a muffled scream into the bedspread, Theo relaxes and says wryly: “Want me to go get your chewy toy?”
Series
- Part 18 of Author's Favorites
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“How…” Liam whispers. “How would you have done it?”
“Quickly,” says Theo. He fixes his eyeline on the glimmer of the telephone poles under the moonlight several houses over so he doesn’t have to feel so gutted as he speaks. “I wouldn’t have made you suffer.” He pauses. “Not you.”
“Even then?” Liam asks.
“Even then,” Theo promises.
“How would you have done it?” Liam prods again.
Theo shuts his eyes. Soberness is returning to him rapidly, and it’s making his eyes sting.
“Claws to the throat, probably,” he admits in the smallest of voices.
Series
- Part 30 of Thiam Drabbles
- Part 19 of Author's Favorites
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Mason squints at him. “I’ll trade you an answer if you trade me one, too.”
“Something tells me this is not gonna be a very efficient way of communicating.”
Mason shakes his head. “Just--tell me something. What are you even doing here?”
Theo wiggles his empty paper cup in the air. “Having some ice cream.”
Mason eyes the cup, then him. “Yeah, but...why?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Theo snarks. “Did I miss the memo where ex-psychopaths were banned from enjoying ice cream?”
----
Or: How Mason and Theo go from unwilling confession partners to stylist and stylee, to a strange sort of forgiveness. And through it all, Liam's presence shows Theo's capacity, possibly, for love.
Series
- Part 1 of From the Outside
- Part 20 of Author's Favorites