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stonecoldjerseyfox · 4 years

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Jersey on my mind (part 20)

The sun rises and slowly transforms the pitch black night into early morning, then into forenoon. Daryl observes how the quiet community, as if it had been in a coma overnight, slowly wakes up. He sees people come out of the houses, hears Carol calling out ‘breakfast’s ready’ inside the house and the clinking of forks, spoons and knives against plates. But he doesn’t move from his spot at the porch stair.

Ever since he and Jersey handed over the watchtower to Eric and another Alexandrian that he haven’t bothered to put a name on and Mila went to sleep for a few hours, he’s been sitting here, sunken in thoughts.

It’s too much to process somehow. Everything he feels, everything he found out about her; it’s overwhelming not knowing what to do with all of these swirling… whatever it is. She’s like a goddamn hurricane. All hair and hell. Damn, she’s pretty, beautiful even. And that accent. She talks a lot. She’s pragmatic to the point of being indifferent. Maybe because she was raised like a goddamn robot by a psychopath. She’s hot tempered, impatient, stubborn... and holy fuck, Daryl digs it. All of her; the big heart, the kindness, the humor and the sarcasm. It’s like booze mixed with cherry coke. The way she looks at him… or is it just a creation of his own imagination? Is he a complete idiot for thinking that she looked at him in a special way when they sat there together, in the dark, sharing that bottle of vodka? Could it be- no! Obviously she doesn’t- he’s a fool. But the way he felt, throughout his entire body and soul, when their hands touched, he definitely felt something. But that might just be it, his own stupid delusion. When she told him she’d been engaged, and declared that whoever gave her the ring was dead, Daryl felt like the devil himself for feeling relieved, but also bad for feeling like that.

The night has truly been peculiar, he thinks, while resting his gaze on a bird in a tree, trying to feed its squeaking nestlings. Parts of what Mila told him Daryl had recognized from his own childhood. He’d been beaten up many times by his old man, leaving deep scars that never faded. He’d been neglected and abused for most of his childhood, by everyone when it came down to it. But he was a boy. Not that it justified his father's actions towards him, but Daryl could at least, and used to, fight back. He was a pretty good fighter at an early age and knew he had to aim for the kidneys. But Mila was a girl, an unwanted girl who had to face the shame and blame for not being born as the son her old man so badly wanted. He’d reminded her every single day of her shortcoming, and she had apologized, and that (and when she told about the physical abuse, because that’s what it was, even though she didn’t refer to it that way) had hit him hard. How she somehow, even though she clearly despised and distanced herself from his actions, could talk about him with something that sounded like affection, Daryl found astonishing. Like she desperately cling on to the good memories, the few she might have. Was it a perfect example of Stockholm Syndrome, or just pure madness? She’d lived in a lie for almost her entire life, he’d murdered people; how was it possible that she was so indifferent after what she’d been through? Or maybe she just managed to conceal it behind a thick wall of oppressed feelings. He could understand that more than well in a way. But on the other hand it seemed like she’d turned her life around; she had a kid who she’d managed to keep alive. Her story had made him feel secure, less odd about his own history that he’d tried so hard to oppress, to push back into the deepest darkest corner of his soul, never to reveal to any living soul.

Daryl had never talked to anyone about his upbringing, in fact he’d never talked to anyone as he talked to Mila. Somehow she managed to get these things out of him, that he had previously buried deep inside himself, that he’d never in a million years thought he would tell anyone as he told her the other night. She treats him in a way he’s never been treated before.

Daryl twitches when he feels a thug on his vest. He removes his chin from the stock of the crossbow and turns where he sits on the porch stairs.

“Hey kiddo.”

Juri smiles and sits down on the stairs next to him. He’s dressed in dungarees and boots, has seemingly managed to dress himself this morning, but has failed to tie the shoelaces that dangles around his soles.

“That won’t do. Come here.” Daryl waves his hand and nods at the shoelaces that flutter in the wind. The boy obediently raises his foot, Daryl takes it and puts it to his knees and begins to lace the small boot. “Gotta tie ‘em up good, or they’ll fall off ya’ feet.” he says and ties the shoe steadily, but not too tight. He doesn’t want to be responsible for causing Jersey Jr. a broken foot.

Daryl ties the other shoes too, then they sit there next to each other, quiet. Every now and then the boy snails up at him curiously. When Daryl snails back, Juri looks away, giggling. He’s kinda funny, Daryl thinks to himself and smiles. Cheeky, a li’ rascal.

“Ya’ mum’s not up yet?” he asks.

Juri shakes his head, then makes a snarling sound.

“She snores?” Daryl grins. “Yeah, ‘bet she does, kiddo. Heard ya’ were a snorer too.” He gives of a grunt, like a pig and Juri bursts into a big, faint, silent laugh. “Ya’ wanna go for a walk?”

Juri nods eagerly.

“Let’s go.”

Daryl gets up, grabs Juri under his armpits and lifts him up and places him on the ground. They walk around the pond, a walk that normally doesn’t take half an hour, but since his companion is only 3 feet tall, the pace is below average. When they arrive back to the house, Mila’s standing on the porch, shielding her face from the sun with her hand. Daryl once again gets all warm throughout the body and his tongue starts to crawl back up toward his palate. No, dammit! Juri starts to run towards her when he sees her, with three flowers clenched in his hand, that he picked next to the pond.

“For me!” Mila’s smile could light up the entire Safe-Zone if it would've been night, when he hands her the flowers. “Moya lyubov, thank you.” She looks up at Daryl. “Where are your flowers?”

“Didn’t pick any.”

“What a shame.” She stands up and looks at Juri. “You know what! Carol has been an angel, and made lunch for you, Romeo.”

Mila shoves Juri into the house, while the boy waves at Daryl from between her legs.

“Slept well?”

“Enough.” she answers easily. “I need to get out of here for a while. Gotta go find new shoes for Juri. What kind of mother lets her son walk around in heavy boots in this heat?”

“Good luck with that.” Daryl scoffs. “Getting past those assholes unnoticed won’t be easy.”

The sapphire eyes peers at him through the sun.

“Wanna join then?” She asks boldly with a grin. “Show off those hunter skills. Trust me, it’s easier to find game meat than a pair of kids size nine’s.”

Daryl snorts and looks around. It’s not an impossible mission, but foolish. On the other hand, he can’t just wander around in here. He’s convinced that she would leave on her own if he doesn’t follow, no matter how much he, or anyone else, opposed it.

“Gear up, Jersey.” He therefore answers and nods a little.

Mila smiles triumphantly, turns on her heel and enters the house. She returns minutes later, with the automatic rifle on her shoulder and a backpack, dressed in a worn, black leather jacket over the dark t-shirt.

“New jacket?”

“Not directly. I got it for my eighteenth birthday. Saw it in this store down in Ashbury Park and thought, ‘hey, I’d look so cool in that’, so Adam and Peter brought it to me.” She corrects her left boot with the other foot. “I love fun jackets! Fringes, embroideries- I'll be buried in this one, if that's the last thing I do.” Mila smiles. “Oh, and I told Carol we were going out.”

“What did she say?” Daryl asks, clenching his jaw. Some things are better left unsaid. Like sneaking off in the middle of what can be likened to a siege.

“Something like, have fun-” Mila replies and hurries down the porch. “And take it easy.”

They walk toward the wall, toward the place Daryl climbed to enter the Safe-Zone. Mila climbs onto the truck easily and soon they’re standing on the roof of the trailer, looking out over the landscape on the other side of the Alexandria walls.

“Head for the woods.” Daryl points. “The bike’s in there somewhere. Short run.”

Quickly and silently, they get down the trailer and start running towards the trees, into the woods.

“Ya’ know where to go?” Daryl asks as they find the motorcycle in the same place he left it.

“I have a strategy.” Mila replies. “Houses with toys and swing sets outside usually have kids stuff inside too.”

“Fine.” Daryl gets the motorcycle up and leads it up the road. “Let’s go find some swing sets.”

He straddles the motorcycle and scoots forward, to give her room to sit behind him. Mila throws her leg over the body of the bike and sits down on the leather seat and wraps her arms around his waist. Daryl takes a deep breath, tries his best to maintain a normal heartbeat.

”All right.” he coughs nervously.

He warns the engine once again before he kicks off. He can feel all of the power in the machine throughout his entire body. Behind him, Mila squeezes his waist and makes a delighted cry as he increases the speed as he maneuvers the beast on the desolated road.

“This is awesome!” Mila hollers into his ear.

A smile spreads on his lips and he speeds up, causing Mila to hug harder around his waist and laugh. They cruise around the nearby residential areas, scouting for children’s bikes in the driveways, basketball hoops, colorful slides and toys. Eventually, they find a street that seems to fill all the criteria. Daryl hits the brakes and the motorcycle stops next to a two storey house with a hoop and a climbing frame in the yard. Mila climbs off and takes her rifle, attaches the silencer over the barrel.

“Okay, let’s find some shoes.” Daryl states. “Lead the way.” Briskly, Mila starts walking toward the door, rips it up and raises the AK in front of her and walks into the house. He follows, cautiously listening for hissing sounds and dragging feets. It’s clearly not her first rodeo. Mila immediately starts looking in wardrobes, in the laundry room and in cabinets.

“Nope. Nothing.” she notes after a while. “Let’s continue.”

They leave the house and start walking down the street. Mila’s long hair blows effortlessly in the wind as they pass by abandoned houses, driveways and overgrown lawns. In the distance Daryl sees a lone, limping walker approach them in the street. He lifts the crossbow to his shoulder, aims and shoots. In the distance he sees it fall into a pile on the grund.

“That house seems promising.” Mila points toward a house with what looks like a homemade skateboard ramp in the driveway.

Daryl runs over to the walker, lying in a pile on the asphalt, to collect the arrow. When he turns, Mila has caught sight of a rotten creature, appearing from behind the molding ramp. With ease she lifts the rifle, aims and places a bullet in its head and it drops to the ground with a thud. With a crooked smile Daryl remembers what she said about the soup can. He then finds her inside the house, browsing the books in a bookshelf in the living room.

“Children's Books!” Mila holds up a book for him to see. Where the wild things are, Daryl reads from the cover. He’s never read it. On the other hand, his ma’ never read books for him and Merle. “There’s so many cute books here! Peter Rabbit, Paddington-” she grabs the books and puts them in a pile.

Daryl rests on the back of the couch, watches her stacking books on a chair. He’s amazed by how she engages her entire heart and soul to make sure that the boy has everything he could ever wish for. What would it have been like growing up like that?

With about ten children's books stuffed in the backpack, Mila then continues through the house in the search of a new wardrobe for Juri, faintly humming. Daryl finds a weapon cabinet where the owner forgot a Glock and a few boxes of ammunition, and Mila finds a pair of Chuck Taylor’s in Juri’s size.

“Half a size too big, but his feet will grow.” She states and puts the shoes in the backpack.

If he thought they were done by now, Daryl was mistaken. They therefore proceed to the house next door.

“You notice something?”

Daryl immediately turns all vigilant, looks around in search of hostility movements. Mila laughs a little.

“What?” Daryl scoffs, mildly irritated, and lowers his guard.

“We’re alone.” Mila says as they walk around a dense bush, once perfectly trimmed in a rounded shape, in front of the porch. “Like a little adventure. Pretty fun, right?”

She feels the door handle and nods. Unlocked. She pushes the door open and it goes up with a creak. Mila quietly walks into the hall, Daryl follows, with a gut feeling that something will happen. And his guts don’t lie. All of a sudden Mila’s pushed to the carpet by a walker coming at them from the left, followed by its two companions. The first one attacks Mila and Daryl’s grabbed by a male, missing an eye. Mila swears loudly, a muffled bang is heard when she shoots the walker right in the face and tries to get up from the floor. Daryl tries to pull away from the one eyed bastard, that clings to his vest. The rotting mouth and disgusting fingers claws to his torso.

”Watch it!”

With impressive force Mila grabs a hold of it by its shoulders, pulls it away from him and throws it into the opposite wall of the hallway. She takes her knife from her boot shaft and pushes it into its forehead. Daryl takes a hold of the last, remaining dead asshole and pushes an arrow deeply into its skull, forcing it down on the floor.

“Are you alright?”

“Ey, wha-”

Without another word, Mila lifts his shirt and searches his torso for wounds, or at least he thinks that’s what she does. Oh god, please don’t. Daryl gets intense chills of pleasure all through his body by her touch. Those soft, delicate fingers send shivers throughout his body in sheer delight. She withdraws, sighs in relief.

”Though it bit you.” she says.

“I’m fine.” Daryl replies, hardly meeting her gaze as he pulls the shirt down.

He tries to steady his breath, all while Mila still pants faintly. Their eyes meet, or are more like glued to each other. Daryl’s heart beats hard inside his ribcage, he can almost hear it like a drum inside his ears. Suddenly, before he’s able to say or do anything, Mila has thrown herself onto him, presses her lips against his in a kiss out of this world. It’s so sudden and so surprising that he can’t turn all flushed and angry, his usual defense mechanism in unfamiliar situations. But it’s also everything he’d ever dreamt it would be. Why would he withdraw? With her hands on each side of his face, her soft tongue finds its way in-between his lips into his mouth, exploring every inch of his mouth like a gold miner looking for nuggets. It’s mesmerizing, he’s never been kissed like this in his entire life.

He cups her face with his hand, the one not holding on to the crossbow, feels the soft skin towards his palm. It soon finds its way to her lower back, as he presses her body against his as she begins to guide them away from the hallway massacre, with the three dead corpses, into the other room. Daryl briefly presses her up against a wall, making a framed picture fall to the floor. The rough, passionate kissing turns into a frenzy of hands and heavy panting. Daryl drops the crossbow to the floor and steers Mila towards the dining table. He pushes her towards the table, while their fingers eagerly search for buttons and zippers during heavy breathing and intense eye contact.

He’s so excited, so frantically horny. Never before has he felt such a desire. He fumbles, all while Mila’s able to kick off one boot, push down her jeans and underwear, making them dangle around her leg and unbuckles his belt at the same time like a fucking magician. Daryl lets out a grunt as his palms run over her bare, soft thigh. He presses his forehead against hers and they kiss again, moaning into each other's mouths. Mila’s chest heaves rapidly underneath the t-shirt as she unbuttons his jeans, pushes them over his hips, releases his pulsating cock and drags him closer. She caresses him, touches him to the point of almost no return. Daryl ends it by grabbing her buttocks in his hands, lifts her up onto the table. She spreads her legs, pants breathlessly as she pulls him in between. Daryl grunts as he lightly fondles her, she’s so fucking wet. For him! That’s the most fucking incredible part, well, one of thousands right now. There is no darn turning back now. Without breaking eye contact, almost drowning in those sapphire eyes, while inhaling her scent, the floral and everything that enchants him, Daryl enters her, making both of them exhale loudly. She tightens around him and it feels as if he will come right away. Jesus christ, I can’t hold it, he finds himself thinking as he feels a rush of pleasure spread through his body, it won’t go. He starts to grind his hips into her, causing her to moan loudly, to dig her fingers into the back of his vest, as she jerks her hips forward against him. He lets out a low growl and starts to pound into her, making the table squeak, holding her in place while he with the other hand softly grabs the hair on the back of her head, not breaking their eye contact; all while a feverish heat runs through his body.

Dear god he doesn’t want it to end, but he can feel himself edging as her body clenches around him, and he realizes that it’s more than close. He can feel it, her entire body screams that she’s on the edge too. She lifts her head to the ceiling, as she reaches climax and the surge of warmth from her orgasm surrounds him. Daryl moans loudly into her neck, feels his entire body tremble as he digs his hips into her, as deep as he possibly can, exploding inside of her.

They gasp for air, as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the room, bodies trembling, but they don’t break eye contact. Something warm runs down his cramping thigh, bolting with his runaway pulse.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Daryl’s whimpers, his voice breaks. He swallows, but doesn’t move, just keeps holding on to Mila’s body like a castaway clinging to a piece of board. “I’m sorry-”

“I’m not.” Mila pants with her fingers entangled into the back of his head, the other hand grasping the back of the vest. “I’m not.”

They remain like that for a few seconds; silent, trying to get a grip of the whole situation and what just happened, how amazing it was. Daryl lowers his eyes, for the first time in what feels like forever and with a soft movement he wipes away the warmth from her inner thigh with his thumb. He feels high on adrenaline, feverish, standing there with one hand under her left thigh and the other in a firm grip round her buttocks, welded together.

“I want ya’.” Daryl manages to utter between the heavy breaths, looking back at her. “Ya’ asked me what I want. I want ya’.”

Mila caresses his face with the other hand, runs it softly over his lips.

“I want you too.” She replies. Daryl’s uncertain, did she actually say that? The faint smile he gets, between the panting breaths, somehow says it all. ”You heard me, Dixon.”

#daryl fanfiction #daryl x oc #daryl dixon #twd daryl #Jersey on my mind #Daryl Dixon Fanfic #The Walking Dead fanficition #The walking dead fanfic #fanfiction #twd fanfiction #fanfic #twd fanfic #the walking dead fandom

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dweemeister · 3 years

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Movie Odyssey Retrospective

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Walt Disney seemed to have been mentally drifting in the 1940s, producing a scattershot of films without the artistic discipline he displayed prior to Bambi (1942). His attention wavered between the package animated features, his forays into live-action features and nature documentaries, and taking mental notes about the new medium of television. As Walt approached his 50s, the strain of the work he had thrust upon his studio and himself was beginning to show. In his nurse, Hazel George, he found a rare confidant (it was a friendship, nothing more). He noted his personal need to move forward on projects, rather than tolerate any stalling. “I’m going to move on to something else because I’m wasting my time if I mess around with that any longer,” he told George about his projects stuck in development hell. That was the difficult reality facing The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad – directed by Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, and James Algar – as it became the final animated feature of the package era of Disney animation.

Walt was dividing his time between this film, building a personal miniature railroad in his backyard (the genesis of the idea that would become Disneyland), a nostalgic and personal dramedy of rural turn-of-the-century America in So Dear to My Heart (1948), the start of his True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries with Seal Island (1948), and restarting the studio’s line of non-package animated features. Of all these things, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad probably consumed the least of his attention. A feature-length adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows had been in the works at the studio in the months before the United States’ entry into World War II, but was halted due various factors: the war, the Disney animators’ strike, and Walt’s belief that Grahame’s book did not justify a feature-length treatment. Work on an adaptation of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow began in 1946. But unlike The Wind in the Willows (which also resumed production in 1946), the adaptation of Irving’s story was always envisioned as a segment to a package film – not a standalone feature. Itching to return to animated features and still not convinced in the potential of a feature film surrounding Mr. Toad and friends, Walt announced the merging of the two projects in 1947.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad uses a live-action library as a framing device. The Wind in the Willows makes up the film’s first half; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow closes it out. Each half has a narrator that, at the time, was at their career’s peak. The opening half is narrated by Basil Rathbone (1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood and as Sherlock Holmes in fourteen movies from 1939-1946); the concluding half by Bing Crosby (best known for his musical career, but was also an enormous box office draw with the Road to… series among other films). Both Rathbone and Crosby hold up Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane, respectively, as exemplary characters of their home nation’s literature.

The Wind in the Willows begins in 1908 as J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. harbors an insatiable appetite for adventure, rather than being shut in his elegant Toad Hall estate all day. His friends Rat, Mole, and Angus MacBadger (also his accountant) mostly tolerate Toad’s newest crazes. When, for the first time, Toad spots a motor car, his eyes widen and he is enamored with this newfangled contraption. Toad’s obsession turns into recklessness – leading him to some fraudulent dealings with weasels and legal trouble.

On the surface on Walt Disney’s concerns with The Wind in the Willows, I disagree that Grahame’s novel could never be a feature film.* As presented, the segment runs a neat and all-too-brief half-hour. In an era of communal moviegoing and when a single movie ticket often bought the purchaser a double feature (a B-picture followed by an A-picture, with film trailers, short films, serials, or newsreels in between), The Wind in the Willows is presented as the film’s B-segment. That should not be taken as a swipe on the segment’s quality, however. The Wind in the Willows is a marvel of narrative compactness and situational madness that tees up Alice in Wonderland (1951). Whenever necessary, the narration and newspaper headline montages accelerate the plot. The pace is breakneck, but that never threatens to make The Wind in the Willows incomprehensible. It is filled with dry English wit, benefitting from wonderful voice acting from Eric Blore (a regular supporting actor in Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals for RKO) as Toad and J. Pat O’Malley (Tweedledum and Tweedledee in Alice in Wonderland, 1954’s Dial M for Murder) as Toad’s horse, Cyril Proudbottom. When both Toad and Cyril are introduced in the short song “Merrily on Our Way (to Nowhere in Particular)” – music by Frank Churchill and Charles Wolcott, lyrics by Larry Morey and Ray Gilbert – it is a perfect overture to the madcap misadventure that is about to occur.

Animator Frank Thomas’ (the dwarfs from 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Captain Hook for 1953’s Peter Pan) character designs for Toad, Rat, and Mole are simple, fluid, without too much definition (think Winnie the Pooh). As such, all three are highly expressive figures easily adaptable to the comic scenarios that stumble onto. So much is related to the audience with a crazed grin from Toad, an exasperated sigh from Rat, and Mole’s concerned face. Similar praise must also be dedicated for a side character – namely, the Crown Prosecutor designed by Ollie Johnston (the three animated principal characters in 1946’s Song of the South, the fairy godmothers of 1959’s Sleeping Beauty). The Crown Prosecutor does not appear in the film for long, but his elastic limbs and body – outside Johnston’s wheelhouse – provide a simultaneously comic and menacing contrast to the anthropomorphized animals he towers over. Like all of Disney’s package film segments before it, The Wind in the Willows has numerous instances where the backgrounds and character animations compare unfavorably to the studio’s Golden Age works. But does the lack of painterly backgrounds or character design definition mean much when the piece in question is aiming purely for laughs? Not really. This is some of the best comic filmmaking made by the Disney studios in its history, even though it seems to have been overshadowed by what happens next.

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place in Colonial-era Sleepy Hollow, New York. Ichabod Crane, the town’s new schoolteacher, is a thin dandy (“lean and lanky, skin and bone / with clothes a scarecrow would hate to own”) possessing an enormous appetite. The man looks nothing like a ladies’ man, but he is exactly that – to the annoyance of town rogue and proto-Gaston, Brom Bones. Brom and Ichabod vie for the attention of Katrina van Tassel, the daughter of wealthy farmer Baltus van Tassel. Noting Ichabod’s superstitious ways, one night Brom tells the story of the Headless Horseman – a stratagem that succeeds in spooking the schoolteacher.

Mary Blair’s midcentury modernist design and coloration for Sleepy Hollow reflects the folksiness of the village, Ichabod’s occasional naïveté. Her curved lines for the surrounding countryside – notice how her trees curve in improbable ways – make it an inviting, down-home place to live. Putting the segment’s climax aside, the backgrounds lend an atmosphere similar to early autumn, as the calendar year begins to wither away.

This, of course, is turned on its head when Ichabod encounters the Headless Horseman. Blair’s backgrounds are blanketed in black, blue, and purple – emphasizing Ichabod’s physical isolation in these moments. The trees blend into an abstract tapestry, as if one cannot see only a few feet outside of the road. Outside of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’s uninteresting romantic wooing scenes, the segment is an exemplar of atmosphere and how to successfully change a film’s tone with animation. Wolfgang Reitherman’s (an animator who later became a prominent director with the Walt Disney Studios in the 1960s) smooth character animation specific to the Headless Horseman chase contrasts Ichabod’s flexibility with the sharpness of the Headless Horseman and his horse. Reitherman’s approach to the characters, combined with Blair’s style for the backgrounds, heightens Ichabod’s full-bodied terror against the Horseman’s frightening presence.

The segment’s pedestrian character animation is unfortunate and is the film’s most visible example of cost-cutting. Yet Ichabod and Brom’s designs – by Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl (Prince Philip in 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh short films) respectively – are excellent. Ichabod’s outwardly-angled, high-footed gait proclaims immediately his peculiarity in behavior and temperament. His impossibly thin body is bendable to achieve tremendous comic effect while still resembling something like a human. When providing three village women singing lessons, Ichabod (voiced, like Brom, by Bing Crosby), assumes many of Bing Crosby’s affectations while singing himself – those raised eyebrows, that jowl movement. This scene is much funnier if one is familiar with Bing Crosby’s film (and to a lesser extent, television) appearances. For Brom, his muscular frame is a first for a Disney animated feature, providing a somewhat threatening feel for the song, “The Headless Horseman” (which introduces the idea of the segment’s villain). On paper, Brom should be the segment’s antagonist, but things are not clear cut – especially because Ichabod himself has questionable motives in his pursuit for Katrina. Decades later, Kahl’s character design for Brom heavily influenced Andreas Deja’s design for Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (1991). Deja would take some of Brom’s features, add more details and exaggerations, and provide his antagonist a more sneering disposition for Gaston.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow also has the benefit of songs sung by Bing Crosby and composed by Don Raye (known for various Andrews Sisters songs) and Gene de Paul (1954’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). The first, “Ichabod”, is the one number I always find stuck in my head and singing to myself throughout a given day (I also notice, while singing, I’m trying to imitate Crosby’s suave delivery, to little avail). It also serves as an ideal introduction to the character – outlining his personality in less than two minutes. Midway through the segment is “Katrina”, which is as musically uninteresting as the character herself. “The Headless Horseman”, also an earworm, plays on Ichabod’s fears and is a wonderful transition into this film’s most famous sequence.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the best animated feature from the Disney package era. Its two halves – so distinct in style and narrative approach – are incongruent, some may say an unnatural pairing. But moviegoing audiences in 1949 so used to the B- and A-picture format of film exhibition were also accustomed to feature film pairings with little rhyme or reason. A flighty musical comedy might lead into a war movie; a romantic melodrama before a fast-paced swashbuckler; a seedy film noir giving way to a grand historical epic. Many decades removed from the moviegoing attitudes of this era, the pairing of The Wind in the Willows with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow pays off due to the stylistic distinctions between these two segments. Compared to its package era predecessors, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad has taken the time to shape its characters. For Toad, his motor car mania is a mostly innocent obsession that has endured; Ichabod Crane is forever associated with a harrowing chase through a gnarled wood. Their characterizations come through despite the limitations put upon the studio’s animation staff.

A modest success for Walt Disney, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is now mostly described as a transitional film. The film sees the Disney animators flex their artistry before the resumption of the studio’s traditionally-structure animated features. Sometime during the final stages of this film’s development, Walt and his brother Roy E. Disney fought over the former’s desire to return to features, to recapture the thrill that he felt when he produced Snow White. Under protest, Roy relented and approved a budget for Cinderella (1950) – the first film of Walt Disney Productions’ “Silver Age” films. While Ichabod and Mr. Toad wound down, more resources were being pooled into Cinderella.

This was the effective end to a creatively restrictive period in the studio’s history, but also to some of the most unique offerings in the Disney filmography. Audiences have seldom seen the concise characterizations, Warner Bros.-influenced outlandish humor, romanticized American folk storytelling and propaganda, and experimental animation in a Disney animated feature to the present day. Each of these aspects could be found throughout Disney’s package films – which, for any serious fan of animated film, cannot be dismissed offhand. In a decade of war and global reconstruction, the studio stood mostly alone in the realm of feature animation. But not for much longer. In Europe, animation studio Soyuzmultfilm was beginning to distribute its films beyond the Soviet Union’s borders. And with Walt Disney’s attention straying from his animated films, his animation studio’s record of sterling creativity – already hobbled by the animators’ strike and wartime budget cuts – would be further challenged.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

This is the eighteenth Movie Odyssey Retrospective. Movie Odyssey Retrospectives are reviews on films I had seen in their entirety before this blog’s creation or films I failed to give a full-length write-up to following the blog’s creation. Previous Retrospectives include Dracula (1931), Godzilla (1954, Japan), and Oliver! (1968).

* A “feature film” – as defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the American Film Institute (AFI), and the British Film Institute (BFI) – is a film lasting forty minutes or longer.

#The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad #Jack Kinney #Clyde Geronimi #James Algar #Walt Disney #The Wind in the Willows #The Legend of Sleepy Hollow #Basil Rathbone #Bing Crosby #Oliver Wallace #Mary Blair #Frank Thomas #Ollie Johnston #Wolfgang Reitherman #Milt Kahl #Disney #My Movie Odyssey

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drpepperhateblog · 4 years

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Dark Season 3 predictions (Spoilers!)

After rewatching and thinking way too much, plus reading a few theories the last month, I have a few theories/predictions on what will happen in Season 3. I could be 100% wrong of course, wouldn’t be the first time, but I figured it would be fun to compare my theories to the actual result later on.

Spoiler warning. Putting it all under a cut.

Adam and Eve

Martha is the Eve to Jonas’ Adam. There is an Eve in the alternate universe who has tricked Martha into thinking she can change time too (or possibly Claudia does it, but I think it’s Eve), and thus she goes to save Jonas, but unbeknownst to her that just continues the cycle.

The promised “paradise” that Elisabeth talks about in Season 2 is a third world (the number 3 appears everywhere). However, its existence is dependent on the fact that the other two worlds have to go straight to hell. The apocalypses have to occur in order for the happier third world to exist, and that is why Adam is so adamant (no pun intended) about keeping everything the way it used to be. I’m thinking that is Noah’s purpose too- we talk about “Noah’s Ark”- the time travel machine may be used to transfer people to the 3rd world.

Mikkel

The reason why Jonas doesn’t exist in the alternate universe is because Mikkel is brought back, either by time-travelling Katharina or successfully by Ulrich. This may trigger Alt!Inez to go time travelling.

Köhler

Boris Niewald AKA the fake Alexander Köhler (or is it Aleksander? Can’t recall) is the son of Martha and Jonas. Nielsen + Kahnwald = Niewald.

The dudes with the wound on the lip are the real Alexander Köhler (photo of the real Alexander looks similar).

Again, we have a tinfoil hat idea here: Peter could be Jonas’ son and perhaps siblings with Niewald. This is based off some weak evidence so, again, acknowledge that it’s 100% tinfoil: Peter is the name of a Bible character (Apostle Peter), “son of Jonah”, a name quite similar to Jonas. I’m not expecting this to be the case, however. I think Peter’s father is someone else, but we’ll talk about that later...

Agnes Nielsen

This is wild and completely “out there”, but Mads Nielsen might be Tronte’s father and Agnes’ ex due to how the family tree is placed in the trailer. Chew on that one for a while. Perhaps Alt!Mads is alive? Combine with the fact that the surname Nielsen has to come from somewhere- because Agnes’ real surname is Tauber (proven by the fact that Noah’s real name is revealed too be Hanno Tauber). This means Tronte must be fathered by a Nielsen- what better candidate than Mads? Ulrich likely won’t be banging anyone in the asylum. Mikkel has Hannah and Magnus has Franziska.

Hannah

Since the creator of Dark mentioned in an interview that you have to consider why characters act the way they do, I’m expecting Hannah to get a tragic backstory.

I also believe the theory that she’s the lady in the lake- that she will be murdered by someone and drown there with the time machine, which is why the machine is damaged when Stranger!Jonas gives it to Tannhaus.

So, what is the purpose of Hannah and Egon? The common consensus seems to be that they have an affair and that someone could be born from this affair. If that ends up being the case, my bet is on Peter Doppler being the father.

Other

Katharina is likely killed by her mother, or at least severely injured, as the clothes match in the trailers and the photos.

Claudia and Adam’s rivalry is a farce. She’s just as interested as he is in keeping things the way they always have been. Claudia has seen the alternate world. She knows you can’t change anything.

I’m expecting the Obendorf family to come back to play again, because they sort of faded away, and in a season where you wrap everything up you have to make callbacks to explain earlier shit. I hope we get something about Yasin too.

The Ending

Jonas refuses to believe everything is decided, so he goes time travelling as The Stranger. Martha does the same in her world. Meanwhile, The Stranger realizes the third world is the only world where Martha can live happily, and so he becomes Adam.

#dark #dark season 3 #dark s3 #dark spoilers #dark season 3 spoilers #dark s3 spoilers #dark predictions #dark theories #pepper theorizes about dark

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nikkzwrites · 3 years

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(They Long to Be) Close to You | Dark Fix-It Fic Series Part 2 | Chapter 3

A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah. This is part two of the series! You can start the full series here!

CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence.

Word Count: 3.9k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Martha walked up the cobblestone street to the Tannhaus company warehouse as the thunderstorm raged on. She peeked her head into the makeshift time machine workshop. There was the crinkling sound of electricity arcing between the three towers until it stopped. Her eyes lay upon a man gripping at the table. His sorry head was hanging in exhaustion. She slowly found her voice again and asked, “Jonas?”

The man looked up and immediately stood back from his work station. He took a step back from the girl in surprise and confusion. He breathed heavily as he slowly approached the short haired girl crying. It had been so long since he had seen her face. He looked up at her and whispered, “You’re alive.” He shook his head and whispered again, “You’re alive.” He took her face gently into his hands.

This alternate world Martha slowly took his hands in her and lowered them. “I’m not Martha,” she whispered, shaking her head, “Not your Martha.”

The man shook his head and asked, “What does that mean?”

She explained to him, “I’m here to help you find the Origin.” She explained, “The one thing that’s the beginning of everything in your world and in mine.”

Martha dreamed of that night. The night she slept with a boy who didn’t love her and also the same boy she didn’t love at all. It was a momentary weakness for both of them over the girl they both loved choosing someone who wasn’t them and the fallout their moment of weakness created. The girl sat up panting and turned to see the bearded older Jonas next to her. He did not seem amused. She got out of bed and stared at him as well.

Jonas looked down at the letter in his hand then stood up. He told the girl callously, “get dressed,” before walking out.

After she was dressed, she walked back into the warehouse to see the alternate versions of her friends. They all stared at her as if they had seen a ghost.

“Martha,” Bartosz asked, walking closer towards the girl.

Magnus shook his head in disbelief, “This can’t be. You… You’re alive.” He ran to the girl who shared the same face as his sister and held her.

“This isn’t Martha,” Jonas explained harshly.

As Magnus slowly let the girl go, Bartosz turned towards Jonas and asked, “What is this?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted between Martha and Jonas before the girl spoke up, “He’s right.” She explained, “I’m not Martha.” She looked down, “Not you’re Martha.” She looked up with gritted teeth and explained, “I promised to make everything right again. So none of it happens. So you don’t die in my world and I don’t die in yours. So that Annalise… Ulrich… Dad… Mikkel… So they all come back. So everything finally comes to an end.”

It was the 22nd of September in 1987 that Katharina found herself waking up in Jonas’s, or should she say, her son Mikkel’s room. The alarm blared waking her up. She glared at it as she got up. She turned off the alarm and stared at the picture of Mikkel with Ines on the nightstand. She listened to the call left for Ines as she rounded up her things to leave for the day. She grabbed the missing posters of Mikkel and went on her mission to try and find her son.

Tronte and Jana were having a hard time across town with their own memories and funeral for their own missing son. Jana looked at her husband and demanded, “Tell them where you were when our son disappeared.” When he refused to speak, Jana announced to the room, “When my son disappeared, he was screwing Claudia Tiedemann.” Whispers filled the room as she spoke again, “If only you’d put as much energy into finding your own son as you’re wasting on finding your mistress. Then maybe Mads would be back by now.”

Tronte looked down embarrassed and dejected. He whispered, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jana sighed and stood up. She grabbed his bag and dumped its contents onto the floor. “‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’“ She mocked at the reveal of all the newspaper clippings and photographs about Claudia lay upon the floor for everyone to see.

Tronte sighed. He hung his head as he walked out.

Claudia opened up the police station on that same day only 33 years later. She listened to the radio as it talked about the events of three months ago. She turned it off as she approached her daughter’s room. She looked at the cancer medication in her hands and walked to her daughter’s side, “How are you?”

Barely able to breath, Regina struggled out, “Momma.” She held the woman’s hand and hummed happily. When her mother released herself from her grip, Regina asked, “Are you leaving again?”

Claudia turned and explained, “I’ll be back before the sun sets.”

Across town, Elisabeth walked out of the trailer her and her father started to live in. Peter turned on his detector and started walking with his daughter to find out more if they had found his wife and older daughter yet. Another figure watched as they walked away.

Freida stood inside the tent looking through the faces. She had heard that they were walling off the area in another five days. She prayed that they would find her daughter’s body by then. By all accounts, Annalise should have been found by now. Freida turned to look at her father who was nervously pacing around. He was mumbling under his breath about this reminding him too much of the war. She held onto her father and whispered, “It’s alright, Abba. No one’s going to hurt you. You’re safe.” She pulled him close to her.

“I want to go home,” David complained looking at the wall of faces, “I keep telling you she won’t be here. Annalise is with Adam now!”

Freida turned to her father crying and yelled, “Stop Abba! This isn’t funny anymore. My husband and my child are gone! I need to find her so I can bury her next to-”

The tent opened interrupting the two.

Bartosz chuckled and asked, “You come from a parallel world?”

“One where Mikkel doesn’t disappear,” Magnus asked with his arms crossed.

Franziska asked, “I’m mute?”

“And Jonas doesn’t exist,” Bartosz added.

Martha nodded and explained, “And Annalise is in love with Bartosz.”

Bartosz let out a small chuckle feeling vindicated in his own feelings, but earning a sharp glare from the older Jonas.

Magnus continued to the main part of the conversation and asked, “Where we’re all dead because your world ends just as ours does?” Seeing Martha nod, he placed his hands on this knee and complained, “That’s bullshit. I’m not dead. I’m here.”

Jonas slowly approached the girl and let out a small growled, “How did you find us? How did you know where to find us?”

She stared up at the man and said, “Jonas told me.”

Franziska crossed her arms and called, “I thought Jonas didn’t exist in your world.”

Martha looked down and explained, “He traveled there. From your world to mine.”

Jonas stepped closer to her inspecting her. He growled, “You’re lying. I was never in your world. Did you write the letter?” When she didn’t answer, he grabbed the back of her neck violently and yelled, “What do you really want? Did Adam send you?”

Bartosz and Magnus stood up and pulled the man away from the girl.

“What did you use to travel,” He screamed as he fought against them to try to get to the girl, “I want to know what you used to travel!”

“You’re late,” a deep voice interrupted the argument, “the machines aren’t running yet.” He approached the group and stated, “You have a visitor.”

Jonas stormed out of the warehouse as the other man touched her face, “So you’re the reason for his mood being even worse today that usual.” He chuckled and explained, “Don’t let me scare you. People might say I’m not quite right in the head, but I assure you that I see more than those among us who see.”

Katharina stood in the middle of the school handing out the flyers. Everyone kept denying that they had ever seen Mikkel. She turned to give out another flyer seeing the face of the younger version of her husband. She whispered to herself, “Ulrich?”

Ulrich turned to see a blonde woman. She was older but something inside of him yelled at him that she was familiar. He asked the woman, “Do I know you?”

Her breath trembled and she held out a flyer, “Do you maybe know where this boy is?”

Ulrich took the flyer and nodded, “Maybe the madman got him after all.”

“What madman,” Katharina grabbed onto the boy.

Ulrich pulled his arm away and told her, “Don’t touch me, Typhoid Mary!”

Tronte sat in the nuclear power plant waiting for Yasmine. He confronted her and asked if she noticed anything strange. That was when he learned of the older Claudia meeting her younger self before her younger self disappeared.

Peter nodded towards Freida, “Hello. We’re sorry to interrupt.” He looked at the pair and turned to the wall of faces, “Any news?”

“No,” admitted Freida shaking her head. Tears welled up as she bit her lip, “I-I’m sorry about Franziska and Charlotte. Charlotte was such a sweet woman.”

Peter nodded, “Thank you. None of them deserved this.”

David looked at them and stated, “I’m going back to the car.” He cursed under his breath about how all of this was useless.

Freida nodded and asked the man, “Would you like us to wait for-”

“That won’t be necessary. Thank you,” Peter bowed his head. He watched as the woman nodded to him.

The woman knelt down and gave Elisabeth a sweet smile. She reached into her bag and handed Elisabeth a pack of scrunchies. She smiled and explained, “These were my daughter’s. She used them for her track meets. I think she would want you to have them.” She kissed the blonde girl’s forehead and then followed her father out.

He looked at the wall once more. He walked over to two of the medics inside of the tent. He walked over to them and explained, “We’re looking for a woman. Late 40s. Blonde and a 17 year old girl. Red hair.”

The woman medic looked at him sorrowfully, “If they aren’t on the wall, they aren’t here. I’m sorry.”

Peter slowly turned back to Elisabeth and he sighed, “This is good. If they’re not here, then…”

Elisabeth signed back, “maybe they travelled.”

Peter walked over to his daughter and held her.

Katharina stormed through the police station demanding to know about the man who had escaped from the psych ward just earlier that year. She tried to get more information, but got shot down until the man took pity on her situation. She was told about the man and how Ines and Michael were in child protective services. She found the information on the man locked in the ward for 34 years interesting. She blinked and made her way out of the station.

Tronte started to drive down the road when he spotted Regina. She was sitting there with Gretchen the dog in her hands at the bus stop. He stopped the car and asked her, “Is that your dog?”

Regina replied easily, “She was my mother’s.”

Tronte sighed and asked, “Should I give you a ride?” When she didn’t respond, he just opened the door for her. He looked at the girl as they drove down the road and chuckled, “Strange. Looks like Gretchen.”

Regina made a face and commented, “I think that’s why she kept her.” They sat awkwardly for a moment before Regina spoke up and asked, “Do you think the disappearance of Mads and my mother… that they are connected?”

Tronte shook his head and commented, “I don’t know. The week before she disappeared, did she say anything to you about an old woman?”

Regina shook her head.

“And,” he asked, “did she say anything to you about me?”

Regina shook her head again.

Tronte shook his head and admitted, “I… I just thought maybe she’d said something.”

“I...I’ll,” Regina stuttered out, “get out just up ahead and walk the rest of the way.”

Tronte nodded and pulled over, “Well, if you need anything…”

Regina exited the car and waited for him to drive away before she started to walk back home.

Claudia stared at the canisters and the machine. She picked up the microphone of the recorder and started, “My name is Claudia Tiedemann. I am one of the few survivors of the apocalypse of June 27, 2020. Almost three months have passed since the catastrophe. It’s still unclear what exactly led to the events in Winden. But the God Particle… If we can stabilize it, maybe it is a way back. Back to the past. Maybe we can save them. All of them.” She turned to see the pictures on the wall.

Peter and Elisabeth walked to the Kahnwald house to try and find supplies or bodies. He signed to his daughter, “I’ll take a look around upstairs.”

Elisabeth nodded and waited downstairs. She looked around the house. She then picked up an old picture of Hannah, Ulrich, and Katharina when she felt a presence. She turned to confirm with her full vision that there was a boy standing in the back door. He waved his hand and slowly took off his face mask and hood. He walked into the home and motioned for the word food.

His deep voice spoke slowly, “I’m looking for food. And you?”

Elisabeth took out a pencil and a notebook to write to him, “Mama and sister.”

Hanno had to take a step closer to be able to read her handwriting.

Elizabeth signed to him, “Where do you sleep?”

He wrote back, “Cave.”

Peter walked down the stairs to see the boy with his daughter, “What is this?” He stood between Hanno and his daughter and asked, “Why are you here? Have you been following us? I told you, we want nothing to do with you.”

Hanno looked from Elisabeth to Peter and stated, “You want to protect her, I know. So do I. And I will after you were killed.” He put on his face masked and left the two of them alone.

Back at the Machine Factory, the outside was storming. Bartosz used this time to knock on the Alternate World’s Martha’s door. He apologized to her and said, “I’m sorry about Jonas. Since we’ve been here… he’s… he’s been different.”

Martha looked at the boy. She felt sorry for him. The boy reminded him so much of her own world’s version of him. Well, except for the girl they both love being clung to his arm. The girl sighed and asked him, “How did you all get here?”

“We traveled,” Bartosz answered plainly, “Exactly the moment everything blew up.” He looked back at Martha and admitted, “He didn’t want to come here. It just happened. The device is empty. It’s not that easy to get nuclear fuel from the future in 1888.” He looked down again.

“And this,” Martha asked, “What is this? The workshop? The blind man? Does he know who you are? Where you come from?”

Bartosz looked around then stood. He held out his hand and said, “Come on. I need to show you something.”

The older Jonas stared at the letter in his hands and growled.

The blind Tannhaus spoke to him, “The young woman. Is she one of you? A traveler?” He sighed and then stated, “When I found you, it was a sign. A godsend. Whatever that woman means to you, don’t forget what we are going to create. Paradise. Every calamity can be reversed. Every pain, destroyed before it even comes to be. A perfect world. Sic mundus creatus est.”

Jonas sighed as he turned away from the man.

Katharina walked into the psych ward. She stared at the woman working behind the entrance. There in front of her was her own mother. She was nervous at first. Katharina slowly spoke up, “Excuse me?”

“How can I help you,” Nurse Albers spoke to Katharina.

Katharina stood in silence for a moment before slowly stammering out, “I’d like to visit someone. He’s been here for 34 years.”

Helene blinked and shook her head, “The inspector?” She stared at the woman and something in her rang a bell. She asked, “Have we met before? Somehow you look familiar to me.”

Katharina shook her head and told the woman, “He’s my husband.” Tears ran down her face.

“Oh,” Helene said, “You’re one of them. One of those women who go for madmen or prisoners because they can’t find anyone else. I’m off duty. Come back tomorrow.”

Katharina’s face fell in disgust. She then spoke to her mother, “I’ve traveled a long way. Let me see him. Please.”

Ulrich sat at his table by himself. He was staring at his chess game when Katharina sat in front of him.

“Ulrich,” She whispered to him.

When he raised his head, he was surprised to see his wife there. He spoke, “Katharina?”

The woman sat back in surprise, but then reached to hold his hands, “I’ll get you out of here.” He nodded deliberately, “I promise.”

Yasmine walked into the power plant when she saw a flash light. She walked inside of Claudia’s office to see a man standing there with some of the files in his hand. “Excuse me, what are you doing here,” she asked bravely.

As he turned, his younger self closed the door. Mary sat in one of the chairs and stared up at the woman as the older version of her son appeared.

“What do you want,” the native to Adam’s world asked the imposters, “I… I’ll call security.”

The man stated, “No. You won’t do that.” He closed the file and placed it down. He looked at her, “Yasmine? Right?” They all closed one hand over their wrist and continued, “Hell is empty. All the devils are here.” He took out his wire and slowly approached the women telling her to hush.

As the other woman dropped to the floor, Mary looked up at the group and said, “Good job David. Let’s go.” She smiled. That was not his name, not natively anyway, but Mary thought it fit him well since in some ways, The Unknown was also her son. So she could get a say into naming him as well, right? So she named him after her grandfather. Someone who Eve helped raise so that Mary could exist.

Tronte walked into his home to find his wife waiting up. He sat next to her on their sofa.

Jana told him, “At some point, you have to decide. For us. Or against us.”

“I…” Tronte started, “I saw Regina. She’s all grown up.”

Jana told him, “I’ve wondered all these years… If she… Claudia never said who the father was.”

Tronte’s brow furrowed as he commented back, “You’re right. I have to decide.” He grabbed her hand and held it.

Regina shook awake from the storm. Tronte slowly revealed himself to the woman and said, “Regina… I’m so sorry, but this has to happen.” He left go of her hand, took her pillow and started to smother her saying, “She said it’s the only way to save you.” Tronte cried as he carried out the act.

It was snowing in 2053. Charlotte stroked the picture of her family as the older Elisabeth walked to her mother and daughter’s side. They sat in silence before holding onto each other.

The older Jonas walked into Martha’s room as Mary slowly disappeared with her son back into their own world.

Bartosz and Martha slowly approached the Sic Mundus lair. He allowed the girl inside. He watched as she studied the room. When she turned to ask him what this was he responded, “This is kind of a secret lodge. Old Tannhaus is the only member left. His father was convinced he could override the rules of space and time. He dedicated his entire life to this. And so did his son.

“They tried to build a time machine,” Martha put together the pieces.

Bartosz nodded and told her, “Jonas is trying to rebuild things the way he saw them. He’s been here before. Not now. In the future.” Bartosz slowly approached her and said, “He asked you something earlier. Whether Adam has sent you. He said… He said Adam killed Martha and Annalise… Who is this Adam?”

The girl looked at him confused, “He didn’t tell you guys?” When Bartosz blankly stared at her she broke the news to the boy, “He is Adam. Jonas.”

A cry was heard within the Erit Lux lodge as Jonas sat with Eve. Jonas watched as an older Annalise rushed over towards the crib and picked the baby up.

“Oh Jonah, don’t cry my dear,” Mary cooed to the child, “My sweet baby, please don’t cry. Mommy’s home.”

Jonas felt his heart racing as he watched the woman cradling her child. He listened to her hum to the child before singing.

When I was young

I'd listen to the radio

Waitin' for my favorite songs

When they played I'd sing along

It made me smile.

Mary rocked the child and danced with him to help him slowly fall asleep. Her voice was just as angelic as Jonas remembered.

Those were such happy times

And not so long ago

How I wondered where they'd gone

But they're back again

Just like a long lost friend

All the songs I loved so well.

Eve seemed to be smiling watching the mother and her son. The older woman starting to hum along with the song as if she knew it by heart as well.

Every Sha-la-la-la

Every Wo-o-wo-o

Still shines

Every shing-a-ling-a-ling

That they're startin' to sing's

So fine.

Mary’s voice became hushed as if she were whispering to her son. Jonas wanted to go to her and help, but he watched as an older Bartosz walked over to her and kissed her temple.

When they get to the part

Where he's breakin' her heart

It can really make me cry

Just like before

It's yesterday once more.

The baby’s eyes had slowly closed and he started to sleep once again. Jonas watched teary eyed as the couple kissed the baby’s head and slowly walked away. They treated him and Eve almost like ghosts.

Eve turned towards Jonas and stated, “We don’t know our end. But our end knows us. Salvation or damnation. We can indulge in the illusion of free will, but we cannot escape our ultimate destiny.” She stood and walked to the family tree on her floor.

Jonas stood and followed her.

“The choices we make in this world may be different,” Eve explained, “but nevertheless, they converge on the same moment. Things may not happen in the same way, or at the same time. But they happen. You believed a world without you would be a better one.” She turned towards him and said, “But they will all die. Mikkel. Mikkel will die. Everyone will die. The apocalypse takes place in my world just as it does in yours. But in mine, that’s in just three days.”

#(they long to be) close to you fanfic #close to you fanfic #yesterday once more fanfic #dark fanfic #dark netflix #dark netflix fanfic #dark netflix au #dark (netflix)#dark (netflix) fanfiction #dark (netflix) fanfic

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deadinsidedressage · 4 years

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Have you watched the great? How "sometimes true" is it?

Hi so first of all I took a muscle relaxer because I've pulled a muscle in my back so this might loose coherence.

Most of what I saw of it in trailers was inaccurate.

It seems they're trying to model Peter III more like the infamous very "Russian" antics of Peter I (Peter the Great) instead of having any accurate portrayal of him.

Peter III did not speak Russian as a first language or even with any fluency at the time Catherine was married to him. His mother was the daughter of Peter the Great but his father was a German duke whose family was ruling Denmark at the time. As such, Peter III was very non-Russian. He self-identified as German and his mother was part of the wave of "Western educated" nobles that greatly destabilized Russia. For one, many Russian nobles such as Catherine Petronova (Peter III's mom) spoke French as a first language, German as a second, and then finally maybe Russian as a third. Peter the Great had sought to bring Western innovations to make Russia a stronger nation but instead the royal families of Western Europe took this invitation to engage with Russia (and literally engage Russian nobles) as a way in which to slowly break the nation down. If you can marry their royals with your royals... well suddenly everyone is a German noble and you can successfully consolidate power under one European empire. Do make note that Peter the Great would have absolutely loathed Peter III and his father Charles Frederick. The entire reason we got Peter III in power in the first place was because while Peter the Great fucked (2 wives, 14 kids) he didn't successfully fuck enough to have a son outlive him to rule--- and precisely that he wasn't dying fast enough was why his eldest son Alexei briefly fucked off to Austria (so I mean no throne for you) before dying (mmmm dying from torture basically at the hands of his dad lol).

Peter the Great's immediate successor was Catherine I (his wife) as Russian has generally always operated under Tsar & Tsarina "co-rule"--- debatable how involves most tsarinas are while their husband lives but does set the precedent that should the Tsar die his wife will rule until the next in succession is old enough to take over. Catherine's death then put into power Empress Elizabeth (Peter I's eldest daughter) who by all historical accounts was a pretty solid Tsarina. Well though some stupid people will tell you Elizabeth had to stage a coup to gain power from 2 month old Ivan VI, son of her uncle Ivan V who had once upon a time co-ruled with Peter the Great before dying (possibly purposefully assassinated by his brother). Ivan V was entirely blind and senile by age 27... It was assumed that either Ivan VI would inherent these traits OR was actually illigitimate--- Ivan V was... Perhaps never all there enough to consummate his marriage. At any rate, Elizabeth had Ivan VI moved to a secure palace where he'd be allowed to live out his life under strict orders for him to be killed should anyone ever try and use him as a tool in a coup. It was the 1700s what do you want from me.

Elizabeth was Peter the Great's eldest daughter and was assumed even before Alexei's death to have some potential as a successor--- as such her education reflected it. It wasn't uncommon at all for the Russian throne to go to the eldest sister of a Tsar if he was childless, so eldest daughters were often given special tutors. She successfully navigated the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War. Unfortunately, her fiancé died before her marriage AND as she was unmarried & at the time childless she could not gain a husband before her mother died and she took the throne. Yeah dudes in 1727 sucked ass and were like lmao an UNMARRIED, CHILDLESS EMPRESS OF RUSSIA??? 0/10 unfuckable her nephew is the heir apparent & there's not a high change to knock her up with a boy before he'd be able to claim the throne. 🙃

WHO WAS ELIZABETH'S NEPHEW? PETER THE FUCKING THIRD! Son of Mr. Exiled to Russia for Trying to Overthrow His Uncle as King of Sweden and Mrs. I Was Never Assumed to Have Any Political Worth By My Father So He Didn't Really Care What I Did.

As I said before, Peter III identified as a German and didn't speak fuck all Russian. He acted like a German prince and really wanted to BE a German prince. Enter Catherine II (Catherine the Great) a Prussian (is she more technically Austrian than German? who fucking remembers) princess. Empress Elizabeth actually was responsible for the matching of Catherine to Peter III. She knew that Russian needed a strong Austrian alliance since Peter III's reign would be highly scrutinized (and exploited) by the still pissed off Swedes. Catherine (then Sophie, nicknamed Fike) came from a reportedly abusive and cold mother to Russian to be wed to a drunken baby bitch boy who played with toys. Princess Joanna (Catherine's mother) immediately became a huge pain in the ass when she recognized that according to Russian custom her daughter could become Empress. Joanna was actually BANNED FROM RUSSIA FOR SPYING IN BEHALF OF THE AUSTRIAN EMPEROR by Empress Elizabeth following Catherine's arrival there. Catherine also was famously deathly ill upon her arrival to Russia and would have continued to worsen if she'd followed the medical advise prescribed by Joanna (who was anti-bloodlettting). Joanna sent a Lutheran pastor to hold a final confession for Catherine assuming she'd die and Catherine famously turned him away in favor of the Orthodox father attending to her. Empress Elizabeth fucking loved that shit. Upon getting well, Caterine converted to Orthodoxy (both her parents where BIG MAD) at which point she took the name Екатерина Алексеевна (Ekaterina Alekseyvna/ Catherine "daughter of Alexei")--- now when non-Russians take fake patronymics it's usually the russified version of their father's name or a variant of Vladimir but I've seen theorized Alexei may have been the Orthodox Father's name and I think that's more fun anyway.

Catherine hated Peter but she loved Elizabeth (mostly because of the fuck your mom be a strong woman like me) and immediately threw herself into becoming deserving of the Russian throne. She practiced her Russian lessons so long and with such frequency that she actually gave herself pneumonia. Peter though did not make the moves to he deserving off the Russian throne. He was a Lutheran, he hardly spoke Russian, and insisted on spending as much time with Germans as possible. Once his rule began he was even devising a way to give as much Russian terrority to the German royal family as possible.

Can you even believe?

Catherine had won the favor of the advisors around her husband quickly as no one loves a weak Tsar and was able to stage a coup and froce Peter III to abdicate about 6 months into Peter's actual reign. Peter III died later... Potentially in an assassination potentially not. Catherine also potentially had Ivan VI assassinated or maybe he died in a failed coup attempt by people who wanted a controllable Tsar who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️.

At any rate, no the show doesn't look accurate. I appreciate that they've taken the stance that it's not supposed to be either. There's a lot about the ways Catherine has been portrayed in media & by historians that smacks of sexism--- you often see her touted as being a huge slut who fucked her way into power but that entirely ignores that fact that she was an extremely well educated woman who got into and held power for so long by her OWN MERITS. She also was extremely dedicated to following in Peter the Great's footsteps in bringing positive aspects of Westernization to Russia without degrading the Russian culture as lesser. She never lost her Austrian accent when she spoken Russian, she was always more comfortable reading in French, and French was often the first language of her children BUT she is essentially responsible for the creation of Russia's art culture and Russian nobility actually being Russian in culture if not through ethnicity/nationality. She also did some of the largest expansions of the empire in her time which you know is good or bad depending which point you're arguing from.

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amarauder · 4 years

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Fonzo, the Alleged - Peter Parker x Reader [ Part Two ]

001. fatso, the alleged

PAIRING; Peter Parker x reader

DATE; 12.26.19

WORD COUNT; 8891

WARNING; Bad words, bad writing, fighting, smoking and bad tendencies mentioned, etc.

A/N; I apologize in advance. I really don't like the ending but I have rewritten the ending so many times and I can't seem to get it right. But here it is. So... Also, I did not get Peter's personality right at all but I kind of imagined he would be nervous around her at first then kind of get used to her presence in his house, but then I realized as someone who literally is a girl version of Peter Parker that if someone was that rude then I would never get used to them. But I don't know and I tried to get their chemistry right and tried to make their relationship seem natural but it was rather difficult figuring out a reason to hate Peter and have them gradually start to crush on each other when they haven't even met each other at the very beginning and half way through is when I reveal that they hate each other. But whatever. Let me know what you think and also a big shout out to pparkerwrites for giving me the motivation to start my own. Guys go read hers they are so amazing like I can't even describe how good they are! I couldn't stop reading it and you know it's good when you binge read. Jesus this is a along A/N.

TRAILER; In which Peter Parker accuses Fatso of eating his science project, even though he should have known better to choose a mouse instead of a frog.

It was late in the night, almost morning and she had pushed off her final History project until the very last minute. It was a usual occurrence for Y/N, something that happened way too often but she never seemed to learn from.

It wasn't like she meant to procrastinate though, it's just so many things pile up on her to do list: like watching Netflix, driving her new car, reading fan fiction, reading more fan fiction until it was almost midnight and she realized she still had to do the work that was due the next day.

It was a routine, an unhealthy one, but a productive one nonetheless.

Yawning into her hand, she glanced at how many slides she had left and decided to take a quick break. It wasn't like she could concentrate anyway with the commotion Peter made next to her.

When she had first moved in, all of his moaning and groaning had made her wonder what he was really doing up there and whether she should interrupt his special time to get some sleep or not. But then minutes turned to hours and she realized, or more like hoped, that no one could go on doing the dirty for that long.

She found out later that Peter suffered through night terrors just like her.

Accidentally stumbling over Fonzo as she got up, she cursed her way to her bed and grabbed her phone. The only light on was the lamp on her desk and considering the time she doubted any other lights would be on in the apartment. Using the flashlight on her phone was a must.

She grabbed Fonzo along the way, smothering the poor thing in apologetic kisses despite that Y/N could only guess that food would be the best apology for a cat.

She passed Peter's door on the way to the kitchen. It was quiet inside there, almost too quiet. Despite her debating, she decided to go in. Whenever she had gotten up to get a midnight snack or just was not able to fall back asleep after a rather brutal nightmare, more often than not, she would always hear some sort of noise coming from Peter's room.

She set Fonzo down and covered part of the flashlight with her hand as she opened the door. She was just making sure he was okay, it's not like it's a privacy violation or anything. He could be dying in his room for all she knew and she just needed to check he was doing alright. The light from her phone shone into a tiny sliver of his room, she felt Fonzo brush against her calf but thought nothing of it.

She peeked over towards Peter and saw his eyes shut tightly. Her brow furrowed, a hair was out of place and Y/N reached out to brush it back into place until a hissing noise startled her. She spun around to see Fonzo about to pounce on Peter's bed. If she weren't snooping around and was about to get caught, Y/N would have enjoyed seeing Peter's startled expression. She was tempted too but Y/N knew Peter was too smart to buy any of her excuses and she had already had enough embarrassing encounters with the boy earlier, she didn't feel the need to add to the list.

Just as she took off, she saw Fonzo bounce off the carpet. Her heart leapt into her throat as she hit his dresser, knowing she probably woke him up from the sound she ran faster and did not stop until she reached the kitchen.

She slammed the lights on and walked towards the cupboard that held the cups, her heart was still banging around in her chest and she was having trouble getting her breaths and thoughts together.

What had she even been doing in there?

Reaching out to touch the dumbass' hair?

How tired was she?

Was she on her period? Y/N always seemed to become delusional with wanting a boyfriend whenever she was riding the crimson wave, but really out of all the boys at her school, her hormones chose Peter? He basically didn't even count as a boy.

She had heard him shriek like a little girl a few days ago and Y/N would bet anything that he was scared of spiders.

She heard cursing upstairs and a loud bang. Y/N sighed and decided to grab two mugs instead of just one, she had a feeling it would be a long time until she got to finish the damned assignment.

She had been right. Peter stomped down the stairs holding Fonzo at an arms width, she had never seen him mad before and she was suddenly scared that he would throw her beloved cat across the room.

Before she knew what she was doing, she had raced across the room and took Fonzo back in her arms and was glaring at Peter with distrust, as if it was his fault that Fonzo was with him. "Do you not know how to carry an animal? Are you seriously that scared of Fonzo?"

"In case you've forgotten, which obviously you have, I am allergic to cats." Peter is not in fact allergic to cats and Y/N knew that for a fact, he had a habit of reaching out for Fonzo too many times. The poor boy never learned to wait for Fonzo to come to him and to never ever grab him off the ground or if he was sleeping.

"What a pity," Y/N said with pursed lips ignoring his lie and instead held Fonzo out towards him, "Are you deathly allergic?"

Peter rolled his eyes and Y/N was expecting a snarky remark back but was interrupted by the whistling of the boiling pot. She winced and quickly took it off, worried about waking up May and her Mother. She poured the water into two mugs and placed tea bags in them. "What are you doing up?" She asked him as innocently as she could muster when she grabbed honey and lemon.

"I could be asking you the same thing."

Y/N stopped cutting to give him a look from over her shoulder, "Sorry, I forgot you were five and still pout like a baby."

"Well, you must be pretty dumb to be in the same grade as a baby."

She let her knife hover over the lemon for a second before putting it down, she was a bit concerned for Peter it wasn't like him to be picking for a fight. That was her job and she wasn't about to get replaced. "Alright. What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"W-what?" Peter blanched and looked at her like she had grown two heads which would be pretty cool in Y/N's opinion.

Sighing as if her explanation was going to take a lot of energy that she didn't want to waste on him, "It's an expression, Parker. I thought you were smart enough-"

"No, I know that. I've just never actually heard someone say it other than my Grandfather."

"Fine, what's gotten you so upset? Does that work for you or do I have to word it different for you, millennial?"

Peter snorted and rubbed his eyes, "Your stupid cat woke me up."

"Ya, no shit. He's nocturnal Parker. That was bound to happen eventually." Y/N said and slid the tea towards him.

He mumbled a thanks before taking a sip, he blanched and Y/N raised an eyebrow. "It's hot." He protested weakly and blew on it.

"I know." Y/N said and threw away the lemon remnants and picked up her mug. "Come on, I need to finish a stupid assignment and I am guessing you didn't bring your phone or flashlight down?"

Peter shook his head and shut the lights off in the kitchen. The walk to their bedroom was silent. She hadn't expected anything more or less but she had been thinking about Peter a lot lately- a horrible habit of hers that she loathed more than anything- she just couldn't get him to stray away from her thoughts.

Ever since the stupid car ride from earlier that day, she couldn't stop thinking about him. He had just blatantly admitted he was having nightmares in front of a girl who had been rude to him for the start. And there had been the fact that he had let the dancing go. And there was also her stupid thought that was really the worst part of it all. Did she really think he was cute?

His hair was always in messy curls that drove Y/N crazy, along with that stupid eyebrow. But that was just her OCD right?

He was always late to everything and always looking out of breath as if he had just finished saving the world or something. Sometimes he would never even show and would just come up with some lame ass excuse that it seemed everyone else but her would buy!

He was ridiculously nerdy and would go into rampant rants about science and Star Wars even though he knew she would never answer back.

And that was another thing, he was too nice! It drove her mad. Even after months of poking fun at him and trying to at least get one reaction out of him, he finally lost his temper tonight and to her cat no less! It was absolutely ridiculous. Right when he is starting to grow on her is when-No, she stopped herself, he is not starting to grow on her and she needs to stop thinking about him now. He was annoying and made her move her and she hated him.

"Goodnight," he said curtly and stepped into his room before popping his head back out the doorway, "And say goodnight to Fatso for me."

Y/N laughed, "I thought you were allergic to him?"

Peter turned red and scratched his neck awkwardly, "Just, umm, ya, still am obviously."

Y/N smiled softly and rolled her eyes. He was such an idiot sometimes.

—-

One of the best things in the world were naps. They were just so very convenient. In a bad mood? Take a nap. Tired? Take a nap. Peter blames Fonzo for eating his science project? Take a nap.

It really worked wonders and Y/N couldn't help but be thankful for them. She had just woken up a few minutes ago to Fonzo curling up to her wanting to join in on her afternoon slumber. She sighed, she knew she should get up. It was already dark outside and she had missed dinner.

Peter was hopefully asleep by now, not like she was camping up in her room hiding from him or anything. Y/N merely just was really enjoying her lazy day.

She sighed and stared at the wall a bit more, before getting up. She cringed and shut her eyes tightly willing the dizziness that came from getting up too fast to go away or maybe from hunger. She really needed to eat, in the fridge downstairs there was some leftover pizza from two nights ago that was calling her name.

But what if Peter was still awake. Sure, it was dark outside but thanks to his Peterness he had lost his rat and had blamed it on poor Fatso. She grabbed her phone and scratched the cat behind his ears, he mewled and she checked the time. He was most likely still up, she sighed but still decided to brave her future.

She grabbed a protesting Fatso for extra bravery and put the flashlight on, she was overwhelmed with flashbacks from a few nights ago. She shook her head and wondered when Peter had become such a big part of her life. They had had the biggest fight they had ever had, just a few nights ago. Y/N insisting that Peter's unmistakable unorganization had caused him to lose his experiment while he blamed poor, innocent Fonzo. They both had been stubborn and Peter had even gone far enough to take the subway.

It surprised Y/N how much she missed him.

Stumbling over air, she cursed and realized she had fallen right in front of Peter's door. Lovely, someone up there must really love her. She peeked inside to see Peter hunched over a computer and what seemed like a wreath of papers surrounded him. He looked deep in thought and guilt coursed through her veins. She chewed on her lip and double checked the time, it wasn't too late, she could easily heat up the pizza and then grab her own finished product of the same project and maybe help him.

But what if he didn't want her help? He loathed her enough to not ride with her, and it is your fault the rat is gone something whispered inside of her. She shook those thoughts away, it was not her fault. Except it was, Peter had lost the rat the same night Y/N had accidentally let Fonzo into his room to check on him while he was sleeping, and miraculously the cage had been knocked over that same night. Y/N knew she had crashed into the dresser that night but she couldn't quite remember where the cage was.

During her thought process, Fonzo had wandered into the room and snuggled up against Peter's leg. Her eyes widened and she hurriedly hid behind the wall and peeked over. He cooed at the animal and scratched him.

It was all she needed to sprint to her the kitchen and to her room to grab her project.

——

She walked into the room shyly, with the papers behind her back. Peter hadn't noticed her presence yet and it wasn't until Fonzo got up from his place between in Peter's lap to come towards her did he look up. A flash of what looked like guilt passed through his features before he continued his work.

She sighed and sat down next to him, she threw the stack of papers onto his lap before picking up his analysis. It didn't make much sense and she had a feeling that Peter had forgotten to fill out the chart everyday and had accidentally left it to last minute only to lose the damn thing.

She glanced at Peter to see him looking through her papers with interest and she decided to pipe up, "What did you name the rat?"

Peter looked up in surprise, "What?"

"What did you name the rat?"

He looked at her as if she was crazy, "Um," he glanced at his computer, "Test subject number one."

Y/N started to giggle, "You didn't name it?"

"No!" He cringed at himself before lowering his voice to a softer tone, "No, I mean, we are going to have to dissect it anyway. I just didn't want to get too attached to it."

"Oh," Y/n said surprised before sporting a smirk and poking his cheek, "Didn't know you were such a softie, Parker."

"Didn't know you harbored such a malicious murder in your house, L/N."

Y/N scoffed but lied nonetheless, "For the last time, Fonzo did not eat him. He is way too picky to eat your disgusting lab rat. Besides, you should just be happy that I am helping you, Parker. Judging by your analysis and empty table you did not check it's well being everyday which would cause you to lose points even if you didn't lose the rat."

"I don't believe you."

Y/N rolled her eyes, something she seemed to do a lot more since she met him, "Ya, well you should."

"Why? Because you are helping me? I personally think it's the guilt that is eating you alive knowing that Fonzo probably did eat my lab rat is prompting you to help me finish your project."

"You mean the project that you still would have failed if you still had Test Subject # 1?" Y/N said as she laid down on her back.

Peter sighed but laid down beside her, his ceiling was covered with flying Star Wars models and those cheesy glow in the dark star stickers that she had when she was young. He was such a child, she loved it. "Well, he's in a better place now, anyway."

Y/N rolled her eyes, "You're so dramatic."

Peter didn't answer, he only continued to stare up at the faintly glowing star stickers as if there were real stars. He reminded her of those movies where the soon to be couple would go out and star at the starry night and contemplate life.

"What do you think happens after we die?"

Oh no, now they were those people in the movie. Damn it, Peter.

She sighed wistfully, she had had many conversations just like this one many times before, "Are you sure you want to go down this path? Because once you go down you can't go back."

Peter laughed but nodded nonetheless. And so, Y/N indulged Peter onto her views of the subject. She talked about how the idea of forever freaked her out and how she hoped that reincarnation exists or how she didn't believe in the idea of a God but did believe in science but there had to be something up there. Some kind of magical being. But the idea of a god did not appease her, she believed that if there was a so called God then they would have the will and strength to end world hunger, global warming, cancer, and have people love each other freely.

Everything was quite bizarre to talk about to someone else about but she found herself enjoying her time with Peter. He was a good listener, he nodded at the right moments, looked generally interested in her views, and even agreed with some parts.

After agreeing that Gods were overrated (oops, sorry Thor and Loki), it was silent for a while. She heard Peter's breathing even out and wondered if he had fallen asleep when he spoke in a hushed tone, "I hope Flash goes to hell."

They looked at each other for a moment, Peter a bit scared for her reaction, when they both burst into laughter at the same time. Peter knew his reaction was more out of nerves and he couldn't help but laugh when she did. He had been ready to go into a ramble about how it seemed to just slip out, and did you know that you become more honest when it's late which makes sense considering it's around 2 in the morning.

Once Peter started to calm down, and finally got his mind back to normal which had seemed to always turn to gush around her, he noticed that Y/N was still laughing. She was almost crying but seemed to realize that Peter was looking at her oddly and put her hand up while trying to say something before turning into a giggling mess again.

Peter had never seen her this happy before, he liked it.

She finally stopped when she started to hiccup. She was clutching her stomach and moaning, "I think I just got a six pack from laughing so hard."

Peter snorted and looked at her with an amused smile, "You know it wasn't that funny."

"I know. I think I am becoming delusional from lack of sleep. I mean if I start to laugh at something you say, you know there has to be something wrong." Peter rolled his eyes and shoved her laughing self. He almost thought his hand might go right through her, she looked too pretty to be real. "Alright, alright, I'll stop. My stomach can't take more of your comedics, Parker."

Peter rolled his eyes, grumbling about how much work they had to do in such a limited amount of time if they wanted to finish in time.

——

Y/N always had a hard time waking up. Her Mother would tell stories about how even when she was young, she would always seem to fall back asleep whenever she tried to wake her and even if she did wake up without falling back asleep it would take her at least an hour to be able to register what was going on. Which was why it was so strange that Y/N woke up with a start and a clear head. She looked around almost panicking. Her phone was nowhere to be seen, which only made it worse. Sunlight was pouring out of the windows and Y/N wanted to cry. They were so late. She was still in Peter's room, who was still sleeping on the floor probably drooling all over the project they hadn't finished, and somehow ended up on the bed.

She raced over to Peter, ignoring her dizziness, "Peter," she said and shook him, "Fuck, wake up. We are so late. Fuck me. Ugh, where is a damn clock?!?"

She paced around as Peter groaned before shooting up and whacking some papers off of his face. He looked at Y/N with blurry eyes before checking the time on his watch. "Oh, fucking hell. We should be just about to end Fourth Period."

Y/N looked as if she was about to cry before she sprinted to her room. She raced around throwing clothes on as she listened to voice mails of her friends. Her partner explained how she had turned the project in and how Mr. Collagen had hired a sub for today.

She stopped mid way of cursing at her stupid bra strap for being so difficult to get on before just kind of standing in the middle of her room laughing. Maybe God was real and was trying to prove it to her, because there was no way in hell that she had gotten so lucky.

She squealed and did her dance, while throwing on the rest of her shirt and hopping her way to Peter's room as she put on her ugg boots. "Peter," she yelled gleefully, "You are never going to believe this."

He looked frazzled as he gathered as many papers together as possible. Some were in his mouth, some were stuffed down his pants which Y/N couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at but decided not to question, "Collagen never showed today, he hired a sub. We are fine."

He stopped in his tracks for a second before racing around and grabbing more papers, "Very funny, L/N. But I don't have time for pranks."

Y/N rolled her eyes and played the voicemail as he listened, his expressions changed so fast Y/N couldn't tell what he was feeling until it ended, he whooped before crashing into her body with a hug and spinning her around, "I am so happy, I could kiss you."

Y/N laughed before gaping at the corner of Peter's room. He froze also and let her down with a bright red face about to ramble thousands of apologies. He turned away from her with clenched fists and tightly shut eyes and deep breaths. How could he have just openly announced his feelings when he had just realized them as he blurted it out?

"Peter," Y/N said breathlessly, her hand fisting the back of his jacket. He turned around awkwardly when he realized she wasn't even looking at him, she was instead gaping at the frazzled rat in the corner of his room.

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #spiderman x reader #spiderman #marvel #mcuspiderman #avengers #tom holland x reader #tom holland

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moviepower · 4 years

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Why do people criticize Jojo Rabbit?

We'd say that this is uncharted territory for distributor Disney, but the company did previously give us their futures face. Hmm. I saw Jojo Rabbit in the best place I could for movies, in my opinion.

For this list, we're looking at why Tyco ITTS 2019 black comedy has proven. So polarizing for critics just to clarify the critical reception thus far has been mostly positive and even watch mojo gave the film a rave review following its TIFF premiere.

Nevertheless, we can definitely see why a movie like this. Wouldn't win audiences over everywhere. Hey Joe, Joe, my old friend. Hi adults. Number 10, the controversial premise. I don't think I can do this last. Of course you can simply by reading it synopsis, you can tell why Jojo rabbit has stirred up so much controversy.

In the midst of world war II, a young German boy named Joe Joe dreams of becoming a Nazi upon learning that his mother has been harboring a Jewish girl in the attic though, Jo Jo begins to reevaluate his outlook on life. I tell them you will be in big trouble throughout this coming of age journey. Our titular character is guided by his imaginary friend.

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Is it worth to watch Jojo Rabbit full movie

Who just so happens to be a flamboyantly incompetent, Adolf Hitler, as inventive as the premises, it was guaranteed to ignite passionate feelings. Critics are unsurprisingly split as to whether the film's premise is inspired or irresponsible. I wish more of our young boys had your blind fanaticism. Okay.

Number nine, how it stacks up to other satires and this world is ruined for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way Jojo rabbit. Isn't the first film to satirize Hitler or Nazis 1940 twos to be, or not to be was criticized upon release for its farcical, spin of Nazi occupied Poland.

But today is viewed as a comedy classic. I know you're quite famous in London kernel. They call you concentration camp Earhart. Yes. Yes, we do the concentrating and the poles do the camping Hitler. Technically isn't the protagonist and the great dictator. It's obvious who Charlie Chaplin was parodying. We can learn more about actress playing mother Jojo on Wikipedia.

Arguably the most famous sendup of Nazi Germany is Mel Brooks. The producers. In which two con men put on an intentionally horrible musical entitled springtime for Hitler. Practically a love letter to this own run a week week. Are you kidding display? It's got the close on page four. Some critics are ready to place Jojo rabbit alongside these revolutionary respected comedy.

What do critics write in reviews about Jojo Rabbit?

Others, however, would claim that the film has more in common with the bridge sit-com Hile, honey I'm home, which was so misguided and tasteless that it only lasted one episode. Oh 10 night. You will make an schnitzel. What a joke. You must be real mad at me, honey. I'm a very, very bad Hitler. Number eight, what's going on in the real world right now?

Fuck man. The house, although world war II is in the past. The same, unfortunately can not be said about bigotry. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the 2017 unite the right rally in Charlottesville, which attracted several hate groups, including neo-Nazis. Since prejudice and discrimination remain prevalent in today's world.

It's obvious why various critics would object to a film that makes light of Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, satire can reflect modern times as well as history in ways that straightforward drama can't. Some might argue that now isn't the right time for a Nazi satire, but others would debate that society needs a movie like Jojo rabbit. A great story about the Irishman is here.

Now more than ever, you're not to nuts. Jojo, tenue kids likes dressing up in front of you. If somebody wants to be part of a club. Number seven, the humor, the best weekend ever.

Soundtrack in the highest level of production

Wow. Your enjoyment of Jojo rabbit will hinder on how hard you laugh. Or of course, if you laugh, the film didn't tickle. Roger Freedman. Funnybone who wrote in his showbiz four one, one review Jojo rabbit is actually borderline antisemitic offensive on many levels and not even funny. Sam Adams of slate couldn't have disagreed more proclaiming for Jojo rabbit comedy.

Isn't a means to minimize, but to analyze wise, to pry at the way, hateful ideologies can be embraced as a comfort and how beneath their promise to. Blame how the world really works is an understanding no more sophisticated than a child's it's time to buy some books. Since humor is subjective, we guess there isn't always going to be a clear line between what's offensively funny and what's just plain offensive.

Oh God. Number six. Jewish jokes. Did you know, Jews can Z to each other's mind. So tell us, you know, who saw one? They could look just like us of Tyco. ITT satire is clearly the Nazis. However, the director who's of Jewish and Maori heritage also pokes fun at Judaism. Hi, well, the real Jordan Rumi was horrified by the audience's reception at the screening he attended.

Writing, you have no idea how it is to be surrounded by thousands of people laughing at jokes, specifically directed at Jews. That being said, Rumi seemed to be in the minority of a group that found the film. Hilarious. As with Borat and South park, many would argue that the humor and Jojo rabbit isn't intended to mock the Jewish faith, but to criticize how ignorant and Semites are a cute number five, the life is beautiful comparison, right?

Jojo Rabbit's reaction to mom's death

Yeah. Critics have stocked a Jojo rabbit up against numerous other films. But life is beautiful. Seems to be the one that's invited the most comparisons this 1997, Italian dromedy also presented world war II through a lighthearted lens, centering on a Jewish man who uses humor and imagination to shield his son from the horrors of the Holocaust. It's interesting what they write about this movie on Amazon.

Well, the film won an Academy award for best foreign language film, and even got nominated for best picture. There were those who found the movies comedic tone, inappropriate. Over two decades later, we will continue to debate if the movie is a life affirming fable or a dated misfire. It's actually eerie how much these two films have in common, especially since both one TIFs peoples choice award.

That is the strongest thing in the world. Number four, is it shocking enough? I was your age. I had an imaginary friend come in so much stuff even before the first trailer dropped Jojo rabbit was being built up as one of 20 nineteens most controversial movies. Weirdly enough though, some critics have expressed disappointment that the film isn't more shocking.

Well, audiences have arguably gotten more sensitive with time. There are still patrons who crave comedy that pushes the envelope to its limits. It's time to burn some books. Brian Talarico of the Chicago sun times felt Jojo rabbit played it too safe. Writing the final scenes of Jojo rabbit are too easy for a film that needs to be dangerous and daring.

Are the best scenes already included in the trailer?

Even if the film doesn't go all out with its edgy concept. Seeing Tyco, ITT dresses, Adolf Hitler will be more than enough to make a few jobs drop. What am I going to do? No idea. Going down the house in Glen Winston church one, negotiate number three. It's depiction of Nazis. The playlist Charles romesco took issue with the films, humanization of antisemites writing.

YTT concedes that a good percentage of Nazis really do hold hate in their heart. But maintains that at least some of them aren't you two seem to be getting on. Well, it doesn't seem like a bad cost. How much pain and suffering the Nazis caused many audiences will understandably struggle with this message.

However, if Ron Jones proved anything with his third wave social experiment in 1967, it's that even ordinary people can get swept up in the dangerous ideals of fascism. Likewise, Jojo rabbit poses, a challenging question. If we're not willing to acknowledge the bad and the good in people, how can we ever rid ourselves of prejudice?

Nothing makes sense anymore. Yeah, I know. It's definitely not a good time to be a Nazi. Number two it's message. And mother took me. She's kind me like a person, whatever your thoughts on Jojo rabbit, Tyco ITT clearly wanted to spread an anti hate message. YTT also claims that he started writing the screenplay before Nazis regained relevance in the media.

There's little doubt that why TTS intent was noble, whether or not the final product successfully gets his message across is where critics are split. A doubt of the a V club felt that making fun of Nazi Germany had been done before. Thus taking away from the movies, broader anti hate theme. Peter Howell begged to differ in his Toronto star review writing Taika YTT knocks it out of deer park with the meaningful lunacy of his anti hate satire, which is equal parts.

Adolf Hitler's thread in the movie

Mel Brooks, West Henderson, and own whimsical brilliance growing up too fast. Ten-year-olds and the celebrating war and talking politics. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified a better latest videos. You'll have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.

If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications. Number one it's depiction of Hitler. Well, they call me a scared rabbits. Okay. Let's address the giant rabbit in the room. Tyco YTT spends most of his screen time prancing around in a Nazi uniform and toothbrush mustache. If you want, you can read here about preparations for making a movie and other curiosities.

Without a doubt, YTT, didn't set out to deliver a serious or dignified portrayal of Hitler. Rather YTT aspired to make the fewer look as goofy and idiotic as possible. Oh, . Just painting Hitler as a wacky, even likable buffoon desensitized us to the atrocities. He committed though. Some may say yes while others may argue that it leaves audiences more informed and open-minded.

At the end of the day, everyone is going to have a different opinion of Jojo. Let them say whatever they want. People used to say a lot of nasty things about me. Oh, this guy's a lunatic. Oh, look at that psycho. He's going to get us all killed. Do you agree with our picks, check out this other recent clip from watch mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

#jojo rabbit #movie #movies #netflix #hbo

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perlukafarinn · 4 years

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Movies (I saw) of the 2010s, ranked

Because I had lots of better things to do but no inclination to do them.

As I went through all the new releases I watched this decade, a few things came to mind:

I missed so much! Most recently, I still haven’t seen Parasite, The Lighthouse or The Irishman. I’ve also seen only one of Disney’s live action remakes, two out of four Star Wars films of the decade, and I’ve missed quite a few of Marvel and DC’s outings. My tendency to mostly watch older films came to bite me in the ass here. But c’est la vie, there’s only so many hours in the day!

A huge part of my viewing history took place during film festivals, so festival movies are way over-represented here. I’m not mad about it.

There’s not too many outright bad movies on my list, because I tend to avoid movies that look bad or like I might not like them (shocker, I know). Even the ones in my bottom ten aren’t as dreadful as I was expecting.

There’s no way I can rank all these films numerically! What about movies that I can tell are good but just aren’t for me? What about movies that are bad but enjoyable? How can you compare tired Oscar-bait with soulless blockbusters? It’s impossible!

Hence these categories. I’m doing a top 10 worst and best, and the categories go roughly from worse to better movies, but otherwise this isn’t based on quality so much as what clever category names I could come up with (or couldn’t, as the case may be). I’m also listing the movies within each category alphabetically because that’s even less ranking I need to do.

Buckle up, this is over 6000 words...

Oh, and if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing I still encourage you to reply with your own favorite movies of the decade!

The Worst Exactly what it says on the tin. These movies aren’t just unenjoyable or disposable, they are actively unpleasant to watch.

American Hustle (2013) Wait, this got how many Oscar nominations again??

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) This movie is so bloated and yet they couldn’t find any time to actually develop most of the main characters? I had such a bad time watching this one, I ended up skipping out on the last part of the trilogy.

Hurricane Bianca (2016) This looked like it might be enjoyably bad but it wasn’t. I still love Bianca Del Rio, don’t get me wrong, but her humor is not the kind you build a whole movie around, yet alone two. And yet…

Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate (2018) Yeah, I watched them both. I’m a simple woman: I see Katya in a trailer, I watch. I really shouldn’t have bothered, this one is even worse.

Iron Man 2 (2010) Superhero fatigue got me bad in the past few years but even before then I hated this movie. Literally nothing enjoyable here, I was aggressively bored while watching. The Lack (2014) This is a movie about women, written and directed by a man, called “The Lack”. You might think I’m being uncharitable to say this movie is entirely about penis envy but the writer/director himself confirmed this at the Q&A I was at. This is why Q&As are always a bad idea, people!

Left Behind (2014) This one tips into “enjoyably bad” at times but in the end, it’s still two hours of your life wasted on a movie meant to make its Evangelical viewers feel vindicated in their horrible beliefs. Morgenrøde (2014) I have a fairly high tolerance for slow movies but this movie is sloooowwww and literally nothing happens in it. This is the movie that taught me not to trust it when festival brochures use the word “contemplative”.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) Just dreadful. This is the worst kind of film in my books: the kind made to follow a trend, not to tell a story.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) It’s been eight years since the fourth PotC movie came out?? God, it’s been a long decade.

The Utterly Disposable I didn’t exactly have a bad time watching these but they left no impression on me.

Alex Strangelove (2018) Netflix has released so many unremarkable-looking teen movies this decade. This is one of the few I bothered to watch and it’s cute enough, I guess.

Fyrir framan annað fólk (2016) I am Icelandic but I don’t watch a whole lot of Icelandic movies and I feel kind of guilty about that. Not guilty enough to give a boring movie a pass, though.

Ghostbusters (2016) This super did not need to exist and not even my love for Kate McKinnon makes it any less disposable.

The Great Gatsby (2013) At least it’s pretty.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) I remember this getting a few laughs out of me but that’s about it.

The Imitation Game (2014) I think I just… don’t like Beneditch Cumberbatch? Sorry. This movie is the perfect expression of the bland, middle-of-the-road biopic, with the added mishandling of the subject’s sexuality.

Isn’t It Romantic (2019) I love a good satire but this ain’t it, chief. This movie isn’t doing anything that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend hasn’t done 100x better.

John Carter (2012) If you’re gonna throw this much money into something, you could at least hire a charismatic lead actor. Then again, it seemed to work for Avatar. Magic Mike (2012) I did like that this sexy stripper movie kept showing how unhappy the main character is doing what he does as if that wouldn’t totally ruin the fantasy.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) Watched this on an airplane, which is fitting. This feels like a quintessential airplane movie; it’s mildly entertaining but ultimately disposable enough that it has completely slipped your mind by the time you reach baggage claim.

Paul (2011) Occasionally funny, I think? Barely remember it tbh.

Planetary (2015) There’s some interesting points buried in here but the movie’s too busy trying to look important to actually get them across effectively. Also feels surprisingly padded for just 80 minutes. Valentine’s Day (2010) Taylor Swift was actually kind of funny in this, which was a pleasant surprise. Zero impact otherwise.

“I Have No Memory of This Place” Movies I literally could not remember watching until I had read the entire synopsis, but for one reason or another was not comfortable calling “disposable”.

Bobby Sands: 66 Days (2015), The Departure (2017), Hell Is Empty: All the Devils Are Here (2016), Innsæi (2016), Last of the Elephant Men (2015), Late Summer (2016), Speed Sisters (2015), Una (2016), The War Show (2016) Lumping all of these together because they’re all festival movies I have hardly any memory of and that I may have in fact fallen asleep over.

Incendies (2010) Chalk this up to me seeing it almost a decade ago. When I finally remembered it, I could vaguely recall finding it affective. Probably due for a rewatch.

Prisoners (2013), Rush (2013), Warrior (2011) Around 2012-2014 I was working my way through IMdB’s top 250 list and I saw so many forgettable movies about men committing various violent acts. Literally can’t remember a single thing about these movies.

I’m So Sick of Superheroes Dear God Make It Stop I’d probably like some of these more if not for superhero fatigue but that is the trade-off for total global dominance. A couple of superhero movies did escape this category and you’ll see them later on my list.

Thor (2011), Iron Man Three (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Lumping all of Marvel’s movies in this category together because I don’t really have a lot to say about Marvel anymore. Special mention to Winter Soldier for being the movie that soured on me the most and to Age of Ultron for in hindsight being the beginning of my superhero fatigue.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Boy, this trilogy ended on a sour note. Man of Steel (2013) Confused story structure aside, this movie is utterly grey and joyless. It’s also army propaganda!

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) The only reason I watched this was because it was on IMdB’s top 250 list. Peter Dinklage was good in it, if I recall correctly.

Don’t Like This Nope.

12 Years a Slave (2013) Very uncomfortable to sit through, which I get was the point, but I’m not sure it was the right choice. It honestly feels like misery porn.

Black Swan (2010) I’ve long made peace with the fact that Darren Aronofsky will just never click with me.

The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) This movie is exhausting to watch because of the near constant country music playing. Loudly.

Kate Plays Christine (2016) This is a movie about a really interesting topic but instead of the real tragedy that actually happened it chooses to focus on an actress’s fictional struggle to connect with her role. I think the movie wanted us to think the struggle was real (heh) but for that they would’ve needed a better actress. La La Land (2016) I love classic musicals and I really wanted to like this movie but in the end I just couldn’t. As a movie it’s okay but it’s not a good musical and the whole white savior of jazz thing was……….. an odd choice.

Last Days in the Desert (2015) I’m a sucker for good, thoughtful religious films. The idea of Jesus and the devil being played by the same actor was intriguing to me and I liked that the devil wasn’t evil so much as just tired. But ultimately, this movie felt a little too cold for me.

Magic Mike: XXL (2015) I have no idea why every critic on the planet seems to love this movie. Strippers aggressively thrusting their crotch in your face is not sexy, it’s uncomfortable!

A Silent Voice (2016) Melodramatic and not in the fun, over-the-top way.

Vonarstræti (2014) It’s good but it’s just not for me.

Wir Monster (2015) I saw this at a Q&A screening and decided I didn’t wanna stick around after the credits rolled. On my way out, I tripped and almost fell onto the actors as they were walking past me. That experience had a way bigger impact on me than the movie itself. Make of that what you will.

Guilty Pleasures/So Bad They’re Good An enjoyably bad movie is a better watch than a middlingly competent one.

#REALITYHIGH (2017) Incredibly clichéd and tries way too hard to be “hip” or “lit” or whatever it is the kids were saying back in 2017. Don’t care, I’ve seen it four times.

Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) The first Bridget Jones is a highlight of the genre. The second one is just bad but the third tips over into enjoyably bad. I also loved having Renée Zellweger back on my screen!

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019) Recently watched this with my sister while baking and wrapping Christmas presents. It’s a terrible movie but we had fun (mostly by making fun of it).

Descendants (2015), Descendants 2 (2017), Descendants 3 (2019) I’m not apologizing for this even though I feel like I kind of should.

The Kissing Booth (2018) This movie is like a 13-year-old’s first fanfic come to life so of course I’m gonna love it. Even if the love interest is incredibly unappealing.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) Who would’ve thought at the start of the decade that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson would turn into indie darlings starring in one critically acclaimed film after the next? I love that for them.

Oscar Bait but I’m Not Biting Not sure the Oscars weren’t a mistake tbh.

The Artist (2011) I kind of enjoyed this but ultimately it’s watered-down Hollywood history made appealing to modern audiences and its aim is far higher than its reach.

Birdman (2014) It was a fun watch but it left no impression.

Darkest Hour (2017) Technically a good movie but such obvious Oscar bait I just couldn’t fully enjoy it.

The Help (2011) Let’s leave the white savior narrative behind in the 2010s, shall we?

The King’s Speech (2010) I love Colin Firth. I barely remember this movie.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Don’t love that the racist cop is the most fully fleshed-out character in this movie while the black characters are all unnamed extras.

Whiplash (2014) It’s just drumming, J.K. Simmons, it’s not that serious.

I Feel Like I Should Like This More This category is mostly three camps, as you’ll see.

120 battements par minute (2017), 69 Minutes of 86 Days (2017), Fire at Sea (2016), I, Daniel Blake (2016) All important movies with a worthy message that I just couldn’t connect with on a personal level.

Adieu au langage (2014), Before We Vanish (2017), Bridesmaids (2011), Jagten (2012), A Separation (2011), Timbuktu (2014), Transit (2018), Winter’s Bone (2010) Critically acclaimed, maybe it’s just me?

Her (2013) The rest is all movies I expected to like more than I did. I’m not sure what didn’t click with this one. It’s been a while since I saw it.

Get Out (2017) I wasn’t gonna watch it because I don’t really watch horror so when I finally caved, I knew pretty much everything about it. Watching a movie the first time knowing everything that happens in it and after seeing it dissected for months on end by every critic on the planet does take a lot of the enjoyment away, as it turns out.

Gone Girl (2014) Really thought I’d love it. It’s good just didn’t click with me.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) It’s pretty. Liam Neeson is always fun.

Pacific Rim (2013) Mako is great and I enjoy the chemistry between her and Raleigh but ultimately this one just kind of slipped out of my mind as soon as I’d seen it.

Toni Erdmann (2016) It’s too damn long!

The Tree of Life (2011) I just watched this the other day so it’s very possible my opinion will change. I was expecting to love it but I… didn’t. It felt like this movie was trying too hard to be profound and important, at the cost of actually saying something, well, profound and important.

No Strong Feelings One Way or the Other I actually have nothing to say about any of these movies and most of them are good but they had to go somewhere.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Boyhood (2014), Brave (2012), Creed (2015), Django Unchained (2012), Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), Flavours of Youth (2018), Frozen (2013), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Interstellar (2014), Intouchable (2011), The Jungle Book (2016), Monsters University (2013), Rogue One (2016), Schaste moe (2010), Shutter Island (2010), Three Identical Strangers (2018), To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018), Undir trénu (2017), Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Middling Festival Fare I have nothing to say about these either but I couldn’t lump them in with the others. I mostly liked them more than the movies in the previous category and they took bigger risks. Some of them might even be great, just very much not my cup of tea.

3 Tage in Quiberon (2018), Acid Forest (2018), Amateurs in Space (2016), Barakah Meets Barakah (2015), Der Andständige (2014), Disappearance (2017), Dreams by the Sea (2017), En fremmed flytter ind (2017), Føniks (2018), The Girl Down Loch Aenzi (2016), God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija (2019), Gods of Molenbeek (2019), Jag är Ingrid (2015), Já, Olga Hepnarová (2016), Looking for Oum Kulthum (2017), Mister Universo (2016), Neruda (2016), The Raven and the Seagull (2018), Rester vertical (2016), Slow West (2015), Sugar Coated (2015), Summer Survivors (2018), Tickled (2016), Worldly Girl (2016)

Maybe Not the Best But a Lot of Fun Better than those guilty pleasures but generally pretty flawed. Austenland (2013) A very cute little romcom. Extra points for Jennifer Coolidge, the most underrated character actress of this century.

Baby Driver (2017) I feel like revisiting this one might not be as enjoyable for reasons that have nothing to do with the film’s quality but I had fun watching it in the theater.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) I was a fan of this franchise from the start so even though this movie is kind of dour and dark, it was still a blast to watch. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) Do I love every choice this movie made? No. But I saw this at a midnight screening, in full cosplay with my friends, in a theater packed with fans. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I, Tonya (2017) For a movie that contains so much abuse and such a bummer ending, it’s surprisingly entertaining!

The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) Lego Batman is my favorite Batman.

Nothing Like a Dame (2018) I just really love Maggie Smith.

On - drakon (2015) This movie feels like it was pitched as “Twilight but with dragons!”. It’s fun, though, and it’s got an interesting aesthetic and a proactive heroine who gets herself out of trouble with ingenuity and bravery.

Sing Street (2016) I love the soundtrack to this movie and the characters are incredibly endearing. The story is very simple in not a great way but it doesn’t need to be deep to be enjoyable.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) I like that they skip the origin story for once and keep the scope of it fairly limited. A very nice little slice-of-life teen movie combined with a superhero flick. Tom Holland is a good Spider-Man. Would’ve been better without Iron Man tbh. Star Trek Beyond (2016) I feel like they got the characters right here, which was a problem for the first Star Trek of the rebooted trilogy. It’s a fairly inconsequential movie but it’s a blast.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan so I don’t have a lot of opinions here. It’s fun! Not a lot more I want from Star Wars. Ultimately didn’t intrigue me enough to wanna see the rest of the trilogy.

Ten no Chasuke (2015) This movie is a little weird, a little goofy and a lot of fun. I like the guy who just constantly lives through different movie plots because the angel writing his life can’t think of anything original, that tickled me.

Good Movies I Don’t Have a Clever Title Here They’re good movies, Brent.

Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground (2018) An enjoyable, well-made documentary but considering its subject matter disappointingly conventional.

Black Panther (2018) This movie could have been much better had it not been under the constraints of the MCU. Still one of the best offerings of the genre this decade.

Boy Meets Girl (2014) We need more movies like this. Not just for representation (although that is important) but also because cinema needs a greater variety of stories than are currently being told.

Brooklyn (2015) The scope of this movie is very small but the characterization is nuanced and every aspect of the film goes towards furthering that.

Bugs (2016) The focus of this movie is split between its very interesting subject matter (the use of bugs as food around the world) and the chefs we’re following around who kind of seem like dicks and honestly drag the movie down a lot.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Steve Rogers is one of my favorite MCU characters, purely on the strength of this movie. In a world where no one seems to know how to adapt Superman to film, it’s nice they got this one right.

Cloud Atlas (2012) This movie has such lofty ambitions and I admire it for that, even if the execution is off at times. But the use of yellowface is..... bad. It’s very bad and the directors should have known better.

Cold War (2018) I love the music in this, which is good because it is near constant.

Damsel (2018) I love a deconstructed western and I love Robert Pattinson. It’s a shame that the female character at the center of the story wasn’t better developed, considering how much screen time she got.

Damsels in Distress (2011) This movie is quirky and cutesie, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (and usually isn’t mine) but I love it. Some solid acting goes a long way.

Der kommer en dag (2016) This movie is two hours of children suffering yet it comes across as so optimistic? I think it’s the space race stuff. Who doesn’t love the space race?

Frantz (2016) I am always down for stories that reckon with the effects of WWI.

Future Baby (2016) There’s a scene in this movie where a surrogate mother gives birth and it is both very graphic and heart-wrenching. If the rest of the movie were more like that one scene, it’d be on my shortlist for the best of the decade.

Fyre (2019) How was Fyre Festival a real thing that happened?

Girls Don’t Fly (2016) Girls don’t fly because the man training them to be pilots is a dick and treats them horribly. It’s a bummer but important to uncover.

Hidden Figures (2016) Kevin Costner’s character needed to be written out - black stories that don’t involve “good” white people are both possible and necessary. But I adore all three main actresses and they do some amazing work.

Hjartasteinn (2016) The subject matter is cliché but it’s handled beautifully.

The Lego Movie (2014) Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when you’re part of a team!

Journey to the Shore (2015) I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel for most of the run time of this movie but by the end it got me.

On Body and Soul (2017) This movie feels like a dream and I mean that in a good way.

The Salvation (2014) Have I mentioned that I love deconstructed westerns? Mads Mikkelsen is always on point, even with garbage material, but he’s got some good stuff to work with here.

Searching for Ingmar Bergman (2018) This movie made me more interested in its director, Margarethe von Trotta, than Bergman himself. Everyone should check out The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum!

The Shape of Water (2017) This movie is very much like a fairy-tale, which means it’s not particularly nuanced or complicated, but it is beautiful.

Still the Water (2014) This movie starts with a cow being graphically slaughtered and yet the only word I can think of to describe it is “gentle”. But maybe skip the first five minutes if you’re sensitive to blood or animal death.

Studio 54 (2018) How were the 70s even real?

Sumarbörn (2017) It’s a rare feat to get such good acting out of child actors.

Thor: Ragnarök (2017) The best MCU movie. It’s a lot of fun without once losing its heart, which is a rare thing for Marvel (just google the words “bathos” and “mcu”, other people have covered this already).

Warm Bodies (2013) The cutest rom-com of the decade features a zombie as its main lead. I’m not mad about it.

Wild Tales (2014) The dissonance between the realist shooting style and the cartoonish violence often results in some excellent dark humor. The rest of the time, it just feels kind of off.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Jordan Belfast is both a lot of fun and utterly despicable and the movie is not afraid to go as balls to the walls as it needs to.

The Young Karl Marx (2017) So like... Marx and Engel were into each other? At least a little, right?

Great Movies Also No Clever Title

Andið eðlilega (2018) Okay so I don’t watch a lot of Icelandic cinema but from what I have seen, I am incredibly encouraged by the direction it is heading. Call this exhibit A.

Ága (2018) This movie is very slow and not a lot happens but that’s kind of why it works so well. It hooked me in and had me genuinely interested in every uneventful scene.

Brecht’s Threepenny Film (2018) I walked away feeling like I’d understood maybe one third of this film but it left me with a feeling of exhilaration that’s hard to define and that few films manage.

Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010) Adèle Blanc-Sec is like Tintin and Indiana Jones combined except way better. In a just world, she would be a much more popular character and the reported film trilogy would have actually happened.

En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron (2014) This movie is delightfully weird and messed up. Nothing more to say here.

The Favourite (2018) I was honestly expecting to be let down by this movie after all the overwhelming praise but as it turns out, it deserved all of the accolades and possibly more.

Gravity (2013) This movie was kind of marketed as “realistic sci-fi” and while I can’t say it felt particularly real, the emotional arc sure as hell did.

Inception (2010) The complexity of this film was vastly over-hyped but it’s still the best work I’ve seen by Nolan (though to be fair, I still haven’t seen Dunkirk). Kreuzweg (2014) The film is composed of just fourteen still shots, representing the Stations of the Cross. That could have come across as really gimmicky but it works because the shots are well staged and the material is just that good. Loveless (2017) This is the bleakest, most depressing movie I think I’ve ever seen. The Martian (2015) The best thing about this movie is the way it shows the world coming together just to save this one guy. International cooperation is the future!

Paradies: Liebe (2012) This is a movie about sex tourism and it is as unpleasant to watch as that sounds. But it’s also incredible.

Paradies: Hoffnung (2013) The third in Seidl’s paradise trilogy (I missed the middle part, don’t remember why). Just as messed up as Liebe but mildly more palatable.

Une nouvelle amie (2014) I saw this movie with my dad, which was kind of awkward, but that doesn’t take away from its beauty. We really do need more stories like this.

Tale of Tales (2015) I am always here for a fairytale adaptation, particularly ones that stick close to the dark, gruesome, humorous tone of most traditional fairytales.

Welcome to Norway (2016) This movie is just really, really funny.

White God (2014) If you’re sensitive to animal abuse then this is not the film for you. The dogs in this movie actually won the Palm Dog Award and it was well deserved. They’re very good dogs! Tom of Finland (2017) How refreshing to see a movie about a historical gay person that isn’t all death and tragedy! It does have some of that, unavoidably, but it’s also a lot of fun and ultimately is a celebration of a very important sub-cultural figure.

Vinterbrødre (2017) I wasn’t expecting a movie set in a mining community to look this beautiful.

Wonder Woman (2017) The best superhero movie of the decade, despite the slightly messy third act. It’s such an earnest, hopeful movie and unlike most films of the genre, it’s not afraid to take itself seriously or to come across as cheesy. Superheroes are cheesy! That’s one of the best things about them!

Amazing Animation I don’t like animation being singled out from live action as if it’s somehow less, but I wanted to highlight how many excellent animated films were made this decade.

The Breadwinner (2017) I’ve seen this film’s production company, Cartoon Saloon, been called the Irish version of Disney but Disney has never made anything half this daring. Coco (2017) The ending made me sob like a little kid. This movie doesn’t get enough credit for being one of only two Pixar films this decade to live up to their early work.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) The flight scenes in this movie gave me actual vertigo and I loved it.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) The rare sequel that’s actually better than the original! For all the franchises that exist out there just to continue milking that cash cow, it’s nice to see something get continued because the filmmakers had more stories to tell.

Loving Vincent (2017) This movie has been criticized for a weak plot, to which I say: it’s an animated movie made up of oil paintings! Do you really care about the plot? Sometimes the spectacle is all you need, especially when it’s something that touches you as deeply as Vincent van Gogh’s art does.

Moana (2016) Moana’s scenes with her grandmother and Te Fiti are up there with some of the most emotionally evocative stuff to come out of Disney studios. It’s a pity the rest of the movie couldn’t quite live up to that.

Rise of the Guardians (2012) Mostly, this movie just looks incredible. I am also an eternal sucker for Chris Pine, even if his voice sounds weird coming out of a teenager’s mouth.

Song of the Sea (2014) This is the most beautiful animated film I’ve ever seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s best, both the look and the feel of it.

Tangled (2010) I know I sound like an old fogy but this movie would’ve been much better if it had been traditionally animated. Still pretty good!

Toy Story 3 (2010) It’s been nine years since the third Toy Story came out?? Christ, this decade.

Your Name (2016) I really should be watching more anime.

Zootopia (2016) Disney’s best work since Treasure Planet, which is an underrated masterpiece. It’s almost worth the resurgence in furries (jk furries, you’re okay).

This Is Why You Guys Should Be Watching Documentaries Because documentaries are a seriously underrated art form.

Ama-San (2016) This is the kind of cinema vérité filmmaking I live for.

Behind the Curve (2018) The existence of flat earthers remains baffling (well, maybe not that baffling when you look at the rest of our society) but this documentary is excellent.

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) This is a documentary about a cache of lost silent films that were found in the 70s and most of the movie is silent, with information being conveyed through text and images. It’s these kinds of choices that elevate a good documentary beyond just educational programming.

Exodus: Where I Come From Is Disappearing (2016) Absolutely heart-wrenching. It’s difficult to watch but the issues it discusses shouldn’t be looked away from.

Foodies (2014) There’s a foodie in this movie who rates his food on looks before he even tastes it and a chef whose signature dish is a dessert called “sex on the beach” which includes a very realistic-looking used condom. I wanted those two to meet but they never did and that is my one criticism of this film.

Free Solo (2018) I developed a fear of heights after watching this movie.

The Great Green Wall (2019) I had never heard of the great green wall before seeing this movie. It’s so surreal to get a window into a society where no one is arguing about climate change because they are already undeniably feeling the effects of it. And by strange, I mean incredibly sad and upsetting.

How to Let Go of the World: and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change (2016) Speaking of climate change. This movie takes on climate grief and shows why you can’t stop at that, why you need to push past it and keep fighting. I’d argue The Great Green Wall actually does that same thing and better but it’s still a very necessary message.

Into the Inferno (2016) Werner Herzog is just. The best. Especially his documentaries.

Kismet (2014) This movie examines how art affects people by way of one of the least respected art forms out there (soap operas). I just really love that premise and the execution is even better.

Merchants of Doubt (2014) Honestly fuck every single person making money by hastening our descent towards climate catastrophe. Good movie, though.

My Scientology Movie (2015) This was the first Louis Theroux movie I saw and it’s a great one to start with. For all they’ve been treated like a joke, Scientologists are actually pretty scary.

The Other Side of Everything (2017) The personal is the political in this film. What an incredible look at the ways our past shapes our present and future.

Pervert Park (2014) This movie fucked me up.

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (2016) The conceit of this film is looking at the US prison system indirectly by keeping the camera outside the actual prisons and off actual prisoners. It works incredibly well, just astounding documentary film making.

Push (2019) Just when you thought you couldn’t hate the rental market any more!

Safari (2016) Fuck trophy hunters.

The Silence of Others (2018) I didn’t even know about the Spanish 1977 Amnesty Law until I saw this movie. Maybe that’s just my own ignorance but I feel it shows how necessary documentaries like these are.

Tower (2016) I cried like a baby watching this movie. Using rotoscope animation to tell the story of the 1966 shootings a the University of Texas was I think an excellent choice and made for a unique documentary.

Visages villages (2017) Agnès Varda is possibly my favorite director and it hurts to leave this one off the “best” list (call it an unofficial #11). Still not sure I shouldn’t have swapped out one of the actual top ten for it.

Welcome to Sodom (2018) The world is so fucked up.

It Stayed With Me Movies that left me reeling and that I couldn’t get out of my head for days after watching (call all of them an unofficial joint #12).

The Act of Killing (2012) Speaking of fucked up! It is absolutely surreal seeing these mass murderers try to justify their actions to the interviewers. “I was just doing my job” is no excuse and trying to use it as one is actually reprehensible.

Arrival (2016) I didn’t actually see it until this year and I felt it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype but it did! It’s reminiscent of Interstellar in that in this ‘hard’ science fiction story the ultimate solution is based on an emotional revelation but Arrival pulled it off much better. The Congress (2013) This is basically two movies in one; one is fairly grounded sci-fi and the other is just a straight up acid trip in film form. In any case, Robin Wright is absolutely flawless.

Carol (2015) Cate Blanchett please date me. Grüße aus Fukushima (2016) I’m always gonna be a sucker for a movie about women connecting and helping each other through trauma.

High Life (2018) I saw this one knowing nothing about it and ngl it shocked me a bit. The way it incrementally got more and more fucked up made me feel a bit like a frog being slowly boiled alive. November (2017) The atmosphere this movie creates is unreal. Maybe not the strongest characterization but it balances a feeling of magic and wonder with just utter bleakness and it left me reeling. Paterson (2016) I can’t even fully explain why I loved this movie so much or why it stuck me. Mostly, it’s just so damn cozy. The Square (2017) I mean, that scene with the ape man was fucked up right? Tangerine (2015) I don’t think filming on your iPhone is the future of cinema or anything but it does show how accessible filmmaking is slowly becoming. Also, that scene of Alexandra performing Toyland is one of the best musical moments in cinema this decade and that is not up for debate. Team Hurricane (2017) I’ve never seen a movie with an aesthetic like this before (it’s very vaporwave) but this film is about and was mostly shot by a group of actual teenage girls. It’s a little melodramatic in places but at the same time that feels very sincere and the girls all clearly have a lot of talent and a lot to say. Varda par Agnes (2019) This movie probably wouldn’t have stuck with me so much if Agnès Varda hadn’t died earlier this year. She is a truly unparalleled figure in film history.

The Best According to me, anyway. But I’m right.

Cameraperson (2016) This is a different kind of documentary filmmaking. What it most reminds me of is Beaches of Agnès (no, I’m never done talking about Agnès Varda) but even that is not a perfect comparison. It’s deeply personal while also covering an insane variety of topics. Embrace of the Serpent (2015) This movie feels like a dream and I mean that in the best way possible. At turns beautiful, brutal, and absolutely baffling. The Florida Project (2017) I’ve seen this movie criticized for glorifying poverty and I can’t discount that opinion. For my part, I thought this movie did an incredible job balancing the world as seen through the eyes of a carefree child enjoying her summer and the dangerous, precarious reality of living in poverty. Inside Out (2015) When Pixar gets it right, they get it really right. The Love Witch (2016) I just really, really love witches. The best looking live action movie of the decade. The fact that writer/director/editor/producer Anna Biller hasn’t made another film since is an actual crime. Melancholia (2011) No movie has ever hit me this hard in such a visceral way; I was miserable for days after seeing it. Lars von Trier is an asshole but he knows how to film depression. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Believe the hype, it is actually perfect. And I don’t even like action movies! Moonlight (2016) It’s rare to see a movie this deeply, devastatingly human. The final two shots of the film, paired together, are literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in a theater. Kona fer í stríð (2018) The best Icelandic movie that’s been made yet. Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir is a national treasure. Shoplifters (2018) I mean, who’s expecting a movie called ‘Shoplifters’ to be so devastating? It’s such a painful film but it is also heartwarming and intimate. Un couteau dans le coeur (2018) This movie is strange and funny and violent and gorgeous. I’ve never had such a good experience at a film festival as I did the two times I went to see this movie.

#well it's done #this was mostly written for an audience of one aka me #but hey this took a while so do check it out if you want

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cynicallystiles · 5 years

Text

And A Day...

Disclaimer: Gif originally posted by me.

Author: @cynicallystiles

Warning: Hella long, MEGA ANGST, IW, an allusion to sex, swearing and minor fluff

Notes: So, no one asked for a super angsty Infinity War Peter fic but you’re gonna get one because I need somewhere to put all my emotions after the Endgame trailer. Italics are flashbacks. Also, the last flashback takes place before the third flashback. I just wrote them in weird. Enjoy sharing my pain! Please COMMENT/REBLOG if you enjoy. (Ignore my shitty gif making)

Pairing: Peter Parker/Spider-Man x Reader

Masterlist in Bio

Words: 12,511

You sat comfortably despite the jostling of the school bus. The comfort came from Peter's left arm slung over your shoulders warmly. He held that hand open, palm-down so you could trace the lines on his palm mindlessly with your fingertips. He whispers something so utterly him about the coming field trip to MoMA and leaves his forehead on your temple as you giggle.

All was normal. Usually, life was hectic being with Peter. He had responsibilities, and you did your best to be his support system because you knew it took its toll on him. You always make sure to appreciate these moments, never knowing when they'll be ripped away by chaos. As if on cue, you feel his skin bristle under your touch. If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was just goosebumps. But, you did know better.

"Peter Benjamin Parker!" You groaned the name of your best friend into your phone as you sat with your feet dangling off of your fire escape. The cold wind flutters the skirt of your dress around your knees as you swing your feet. "You promised you would be here by now!”

Peter's voice cut you off from the other end of the line. "Ah, ah, ah!" He says urgently. "I specifically never promised that just in case I got held up!" He grunts and pants in between his words and you really wondered what the hell he was doing.

"Okay, yeah! You didn't use the 'p' word, but you strongly suggested that you would be here," you remind him as the level of your voice decreases with your anger. Your eyes close and you rest your head against the rail sadly. "I'm sorry, y/n! But, there's this job-" his sentence abruptly cuts out before you hear a crashing sound. A minute or so later, he continues speaking more evenly. "You know I would be there if this wasn't important."

You scoff, frustrated tears beginning to brim in your eyes against the wind. "Wow," you breathe out. "What could be more important than my birthday? You're fifteen, you don't have a job! I'm not that stupid, Peter-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" He interrupts again. "Y/n...I would never, ever think you're stupid!"

As you blink, a couple of tears spill from your eyes and you quickly wipe them away with your other hand. "Well, you would have to in order for you to think that I would believe all your lame excuses for ditching me lately."

"Y/n, I'm sorry..." his voice cracks on the other end. "I-I can make it up to you. Just wait up for me. I'm on my-"

This time, it's you who cuts him off. "No, Peter. Don't even bother," you say with a trembling voice, "My birthday is already ruined." Breathing in a calming breath, you speak with more control in your voice. "Goodnight, Peter. I'll see you at school."

"No, no, no, no. Y/n, wait-" Peter stares at your contact picture on his phone. He really screwed up this time. But, how is he supposed to balance being the perfect best friend with his new duties as a superhero? Peter couldn't just tell you about it, either. Then, you'd always be in danger. He tucks his phone away safely before swinging back home on his webs.

After you hung up the phone, you went back inside to the party that your mom had worked so hard to throw for you. You tried to perk up for the remainder of it; Peter had already missed cake, presents, and the ceremonial game of Just Dance.

You sit at the kitchen island, sipping some soda as you watch Michelle and Ned facing off, his hat barely staying on his head. Not too long later, it's time for everyone to go home. It is a school night after all. You stand at the door, bidding everyone goodbye before helping your mom clean up the mess.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," she calls as you head to your room. "And happy birthday!" You thank her before closing the door and changing into your pajamas.

You flick on your desk lamp before turning off your overhead light. Pulling your homework from your book bag, you spread it out on your desk to finish it before bed. As you pored over your homework, a dreadful feeling caused your stomach to sink. Once your homework was finished, you turned off your lamp. Before settling into your bed, you touch the rectangular lamp in your windowsill. It lights up a gradient green and across the street, you look into Peter's window to see that his rectangle has lit up a gradient purple. A tiny smile peeks at the corner of your lips. Of course, he would set it as your favorite color.

Disappointment floods through your veins making it hard to fall asleep. You really can't believe that Peter would miss your fifteenth birthday. More and more lately, it seemed like Peter was getting tired of you and your friendship. The thought made your heart ache unimaginably.

Though you couldn't say why. Peter was just your best friend. Sometimes, best friends grow out of each other and you find new ones. It's no big deal. Maybe sometimes you looked at Peter and saw him as more than your best friend. You shouldn't, but you can't help it. It's Peter.

The more you thought about how much you really liked him, the sadder you got. You couldn't help the silent tears from slipping down your face and onto your pillow. When your lip begins to tremble, you close your eyes tight to try and fight the cries that want to come.

Peter lands on the wall just beside his bedroom window. As he goes to creep into his room, he notices a light that wasn't on before he left. Once inside, he gently drops down onto the floor and takes off his mask. He looks at the lamp on his windowsill, lit up with your favorite color.

A heaviness settles into his chest and he reaches out to touch his lamp. As he rests his palm on the lamp, he looks across the street to watch yours change colors. It changes from green to blue, his favorite color. Your lamp changing colors in your windowsill causes you to open your eyes. Sniffling in order to try and breathe through your nose, you stand up and go to your window. You look across the way and barely see a figure illuminated by the dim light of the lamp.

Peter continues to stare as he sees you appear in the window. He makes eye contact with you, though you don't know it, while you slowly lean to the side of the window. At first, he doesn't know what you're doing. But abruptly, the light from both of your lamps goes out and you disappear from the window.

You unplug the lamp slowly and watch the light in Peter's room go out. At least you knew he was home safe. That's all you wanted to know. Now, you could go back to crying your eyes out because your best friend was tired of being your best friend.

A lump forms in his throat as he stares at the empty window. Surely, you weren't this mad at him? Peter's mind races and he tries to think of any way he could possibly win back your friendship. He hangs his head as he realizes that only one thing could fix this. So, he pulls his mask back on and swings across the way to your apartment building.

You leaned against your headboard with your knees pulled to your chest as you cried. Why did this hurt so much? It's just Peter. There were a million boys in the world, it wasn't like he was anything special. Except, he is special...because he's Peter.

A light tap on your window pulls you out of your thoughts. You look in the direction of the window, unsure if you actually heard something. As you wait for several long seconds, two more taps sound on your window. You slowly get up, pulling your jo staff from under your bed in case it was some weirdo who had climbed the fire escape.

Clutching it in both hands, you approach the window and look out onto the fire escape. You see no one, so you get as close as you can to the glass to try and see the walls of the building. A blur of color fills your vision as something drops from above and you jump back, pointing your jo staff at the window.

The strangely dressed person holds their hands in front of them, waving them frantically. You squint your eyes, wondering if you had cried yourself to sleep and this was some bizarre dream. "Can you open the window, please?" The muffled voice asks rather politely.

"Why?"

He drops his hands to his hips as he steps back. "I need to talk to you...it's important," he pleads. You relax your grip on your staff and you get close to the window again.

"Don't try anything! I'm trained to use this thing," you threaten and the guy nods, holding his hands up innocently. Slowly, you unlock your window and slide it up so that the cold air is pouring into your room.

The guy steps closer to the window. "Thanks."

"Mhm," you respond suspiciously. "You're, uh...you're Spider-Man. From YouTube, right?" He nods as he wrings his hands in front of him. "Why are you at my window in the middle of the night?"

He scratches the mask on his head as his robotic eyes squint. "That-that's a good question. Um..." he drags out the word as he looks around. Something tugs at the back of your mind from the sound of his voice. You can't quite place it. "Listen...can I come in? It's a little cold out here," he chuckles nervously.

"You think I'm just gonna let a stranger into my apartment?" You scoff. "Tell me why you, a famous superhero from YouTube, need to talk to me, a fifteen-year-old nobody from Queens."

"Aw c'mon, y/n. You're not a nobody," he says sincerely.

You tilt your head to the side. "What did you just say?" Your throat constricts and it suddenly hits you as to why he sounds familiar.

"I said 'you're not a nobody'. I mean, you have to be somebody to be a pro at using a jo staff at fifteen," he marvels.

Stepping away from the window, you gesture inside with your staff. He cautiously crawls through the window as you point it at him again. "How did you know my name?"

"W-what?" He croaks out.

You close the window and step back toward him. "Just a minute ago, you said my name. How do you know it?" Your mouth presses into a flat line while you kneel down and put your staff back under your bed. Crossing your arms as you sit on the edge of your bed, you wait.

He hangs his head as he wanders over to sit on the floor in front of you. Inhaling a deep breath that causes his shoulders to rise and fall, he looks up at you. "The same way I know where you live...what your favorite color is...and that you have a black belt in martial arts but also a gold medal in gymnastics...that it was your birthday today..."

Silently, you get up and plug your lamp back in. You tap it so that Peter's is lit up as well before sitting down with your knees touching his. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were stalking me, Spider-Man." A cheeky grin splits your lips and you hear him chuckle.

"No! It's not like that," he tries to explain frantically. "R-really, I-"

You reach out and grab his hand, causing his words to cease. "If I didn't know any better..." you repeat as you look at your intertwined fingers. "But, I already told you once today...I'm not that stupid."

"Wait, what?" His head whips up from looking at your hands to your face. A small giggle falls from your lips and you reach out to shove his shoulder. "Ah! What was that for?!"

"That was for missing my birthday party, Peter Benjamin Parker!!" You laugh as you playfully throw his hand in his lap. "I can't believe you kept this from me," you breathe out as you shake your head.

He rips his mask off, leaving his hair wild and all over the place. "I'm so so sorry! It's only been a few months and I feel terrible for not telling you," he rambles.

"Does Ned know?" You mumble as you play with the plush carpet of your bedroom floor.

"No," he breathes out. "You're the first person I've told." You look up to meet his eyes. For the first time since the lamp has been on, Peter is getting a good look at your face. "Y/n, have you been crying?"

Concern laces every syllable and you feel silly for having cried so much. So, you just shake your head as you wipe under your eyes to make sure they're dry. "No, I'm just tired," you lie unconvincingly.

"Was it-were you crying because of me?" Peter whispers sadly. You raise one of your shoulders casually and let it fall. "Y/n, I had no idea missing your birthday was gonna make you cry! There was a mugging with a couple of guys and I-"

You shake your head as you cut him off. "It wasn't because you missed my birthday, Peter." Looking at the ceiling you realize how paranoid you were being and you don't want to tell him what you realized tonight.

"Then, what was it?" You avoid his eyes and he reaches out to take your hand. "Y/n?"

Sighing, you finally look at him. "It's stupid...but I thou-I don't know. It just seemed like you were tired of having me as a best friend..."

"Y/n, I could never get tired of you." He squeezes your hand and the gesture causes your heart to flutter.

You breathe deeply, trying to settle the jittery feeling in your body. "So, what kind of powers do you have?" You ask excitedly.

"Well, there's a few..." he begins before looking at you mischievously. "But, there's this one where the hairs on my arm stand up...I've been calling it my Spider-Sense...”

Less than a second after, his head whips toward the window. You follow suit and are horrified by what you see. Before you can ask what it is, Peter's arm is gone from you, and he's patting Ned's face who's seated in front of you.

"I need you to create a distraction!" He repeats frantically. Ned catches on quickly as he looks out the window and sees the ring-shaped craft hovering over the New York City skyline. Immediately, he begins screaming, "We're all gonna die!" He gets up and leads everyone to the back of the bus to gawk.

Peter springs into action as he digs in his bag. You know that it's urgent. You know that you don't have time to steal with him. "Peter..." you whisper sadly. Despite trying to be strong for him, your eyes sting with coming tears. In your gut, you could feel that this mission was different. That it was going to be more dangerous.

He looks at you with concern in his eyes and also guilt that he didn't have time to comfort you. He slaps his web device on his wrist and slings his bag over his shoulder. "Hey. Shh...babe," he coos as his hands find your cheeks, and his long fingers brush the hair from around your ears. You swallow the tears as best you can and look at his loving eyes. You nod, letting him know that you'll be okay. He moves to leave, but you grip his bare wrist to stop him

As he's halfway out of the seat, he looks at you. Your eyes search his as you say what you always say when he leaves like this, "Come back to me?" His heart almost breaks as he, too, can feel that this time is different.

"Always, babe," he says with a reassuring smile, "you're my web." The words bring a smile to your lips and you know he's not done.

"Peter Benjamin Parker," you say through clenched teeth, "if you don't stop hanging over me like that I'm gonna sabotage this modification on purpose." He was currently hanging upside down over your head from the ceiling of your bedroom while you were working on his suit.

He sighs heavily and you hear a soft thud as he lands on the floor. "Geez," he says as he opts to sit on the edge of your desk instead. "Sorry. I just can't wait to try it out!"

You inhale to calm your irritation. "You're sitting in my workspace, Peter," you warn him. Rolling his eyes, he quickly hops up and paces around your room. Your tongue peeks out from your lips as you use a pair of tweezers to insert the tiny chip where it needs to go. "And...done."

"Haha! Yes!" Peter exclaims as he immediately yanks the suit from your desk to put it on. You rub your temples while you swivel in your chair to face him.

It's been a few months since he told you he was Spider-Man and you've been helping him make modifications to his suit so it wasn't as ridiculous. Lately, he's been off the wall and so worked up about fighting crime. You were really beginning to worry about his safety.

"What'd you put in it this time?" He asks as he puts on the homemade suit.

"Tracker," you state simply.

Peter pauses to stare at you. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I mean..." you trail off, not having the right words exactly. "That way if you need directions, you can call me and I'll help."

He contemplates your words before nodding. "Good thinking, y/n." He smiles as he goes back to putting on the suit. That smile made your heart soar and you knew there was another reason for the tracker.

"But, like, worst-case scenario..." you begin cautiously and he seems to be in his own world. "It's there just in case something bad happens and I don't hear from you for a long time," you whisper the words and your stomach sinks. What he does is really dangerous. Powers or not.

His head whirls in your direction and you realize that he was paying attention to you. "Nothing bad is gonna happen, y/n," he assures you as he walks over and squats in front of you. "Can you promise that?" You look into his warm brown eyes intensely and wait for his answer. You know he's particular about when he uses the 'p' word.

Peter sighs and lets his head hang. "No...I can't," he murmurs honestly.

"That's what I thought." You stand up and open your window before crossing your arms. "Go swing to somewhere that I don't know about so I can test the tracker," you instruct with a nod.

He grips his mask in his hand before looking at you sadly. Slipping it on his head he leaves out of the window and you hear the 'thwip' of his webs as he gets further away. You close your window and head back to your desk to clean up the mess.

After clearing all the tech into a box that you keep under your bed, you sit at your desk and open up your laptop. You type in a few things before reaching into a drawer to pull out your headset and put it on. The tiny blip on the grid you've pulled up keeps moving further and further away. You pull open your main drawer before feeling along the edges of it. Once your fingers feel the small grip, you lift up the false bottom to retrieve your notebook.

You close the drawer and open the notebook up to flip through it. When Peter told you about his secret, you decided to keep a sort of journal about everything. The notebook has everything from a list of his powers and abilities to schematics of his suit. You have the formula for how to make his web fluid and basically, everything else that Peter would need in an emergency.

After you fill out a page about the tracker you just did, you flip through the rest of the empty pages to the back. On the very last couple of pages, you have a ton of random facts about spiders. You don't know why, but you decided to research them to learn more. Your phone rings on your desk, causing you to jump.

When you look at the screen, the blip has stopped. You connect it to your headset and answer. "Go for Spider-Man," you say professionally.

"I'm at the destination," he replies simply.

You squint at the grid and roll your eyes. "I told you to go somewhere I didn't know, Spider-Man."

"I did!" He protests and you laugh.

"I know about the Empire State Building you dweeb!" You type a little bit more on your laptop and manage to get into a low-tech security camera near-by. After swiveling it around you can make out the grainy and blurry image of him high up on the building. "Stop doing flips for people!"

The image on the screen trips before catching himself. "I'm not!"

"Spider-Man, I can see you."

On the screen, he looks around confused. "How are you doing that?"

"I may have...hacked into a security camera. It's not a very good one though," you grumble.

You hear him sigh on the other end and you watch him sit down. "Y/n, you know how I feel about you breaking the law!"

"Fine! I'll get off of it!" You quickly exit out of the camera and lean back in your chair. "It's starting to get dark, you can head back now."

"Don't be like that!" He knows you all too well. "Why don't you give me a few more facts while I'm on my way?"

You perk up a little bit. It made you happy that he actually liked hearing the useless research you did on spiders. "Okay, okay," you cave easily and you hear the wind from the headset you installed in his mask. "Where did we leave off?"

"I think the last one was twenty-seven," he reminds you.

Your finger traces the page as you go to find number twenty-eight. "Okay, got it. You ready?"

"Always!" He replies with a chuckle and you hear him grunt, probably in the midst of another swing.

After reading it in your head once, you reword it. "So, cobwebs are actually webs that spiders have abandoned."

"Abandoned? I thought spiders lived in those webs," Peter muses.

You swivel your chair from side to side lazily as you answer. "Well, turns out most spiders make a new web every day. Some eat the old ones and reuse them. I guess cobwebs are the ones that don't get reused," you explain as you look over your notes.

"What did you mean when you said most spiders make a new web?" He questions.

As you sit up to lean over your notes, you search for the next fact. "Well...exactly what I said. Most spiders make a new web. But, there are a few...I think...that make webs that last several years. I know at least one does and that's the banana spider," you inform him.

"Woah. Really? Are those the ones th-" A loud crashing sound cuts off Peter's words.

You press your headset closer to your ears as if it would help you hear him but all you can make out is sirens weirdly crackling. "Spider-Man! What just happened??"

No words come from the other end and you look at the blip on the screen to see it moving in a circle around a building. Your fingers quickly tap the keys as you try to find a camera close by that you could hack. Surprisingly, you manage to weasel your way into one from a bank nearby.

For the life of you, you couldn't figure out why you could hear the commotion but not Peter. If his comm was working then he should be able to hear you and respond. You control the camera to figure out what's happening and your heart sinks into your stomach. There's a building on fire.

You're about to search the scene for Peter when your mom comes into your room without knocking. You slam the laptop closed. "Mom! Could you knock??"

"Sweetheart, you have to come look at this on the news." She immediately exits your room and your furrow your brows as you follow her.

As you round into the living room you begin to question her, "What's so urgent-" Your voice gets caught in your throat and you see the building engulfed in flames. "Oh my god...do they know what happened?"

"They're saying it was some kind of gas leak..." your mom whispers in horror while you rest your hands on the back of the couch. "I'm surprised you didn't hear it happen from your room."

Your throat goes dry. "What do you mean?"

"Honey." she turns around to look at you. "That's an apartment building a few blocks down from us."

Without another word you turn and run to your room. You rush over to your window and slide it up harshly, shaking the glass. Crawling out onto the fire escape, you lean against the rail and look around. Fire trucks speed past on the street below and your eyes follow them.

You look on in that direction and see the billowing smoke coming from the building. You hear your mom's voice yell from the living room, "Hey, that Spider-Guy from YouTube is there!! He's getting people out-"

Her words disappear from earshot as you scramble to climb down the seven flights of the fire escape. The metal is slick from slight drizzling rain and you didn't stop to put on shoes so your socks are sliding everywhere. Your feet finally hit the ground with a splash and you almost trip before taking off at a sprint.

Your heart thunders in your chest and the heavy trickle of guilt sweeps into your veins because you didn't realize that the comm had been knocked out. You were literally hearing the commotion from your window and not your headset. The closer you get, the more the air darkens and is thick with smoke.

A crowd as gathered on the other side of police barriers at a safe distance from the building. Some people filming the whole ordeal. Your throat burns from the rapid breaths you were taking and you slow to a stop amongst them.

"Has anyone seen Spider-Man?" You ask casually.

A guy beside you turns his head slightly as he answers. "He just went in again a couple of minutes ago. I think there's a family trapped on the fifth floor."

You slowly creep along the police barrier to a section where no one is standing. It hurts to breathe as you stare up at the building for any sign that he was okay. A commotion grabs your attention and people begin cheering as Spider-Man emerges through the front door with a little girl.

He hands her over to a nearby EMT. You watch with relief before you hear a fireman speak quietly to his partner near you. "We need to get these people further back. I think there's gonna be a second blow." The other one nods and heads over to the other end of the barrier to scoot them back.

"Polly is still up there!!" You hear a little girl cry as they try to take her to the ambulance. "Mr. Spider-Man my puppy is still in my room!" She cries.

You shake your head as you see Peter look between the little girl and the quickly deteriorating building. "No," you whisper to yourself. "Don't you dare do it."

Peter's head suddenly turns in your direction and you forgot that he can hear really well. You can see the tension he holds in his body as the fireman returns to move your barrier back. "We have to move these back more for the safety of the public, ma'am," he explains.

"Yeah," you breathe out as you let him move it back. While you're scooting back with the barrier you glance up and see Peter running back into the building. "SPIDER-MAN, NO!!" You scream and try to lurch over the barrier before the fireman stops you. "He just went in there!!"

The fireman looks back at the building and you back away from the barrier, shaking your head. It feels like hours pass as you wait, hand cupped over your mouth while you cry. A deafening boom sounds, accompanied by glass spraying all over the streets below the building. Everyone crouches as they shield their head with their arms.

Your clothes are soaked as the drizzle has picked up to a heavy rain. Water drips down your cheeks, and it could be rain, it could be your tears. You wander down the street a little bit, away from the building. Your hands run through your hair to get it out of your face as you sit on a curb near an alley.

"Polly!!" You lift your head up quickly to see a dog trotting toward the little girl. Looking around, you see no sign of Peter anywhere. You release staggered breaths as you stand up, ready to go tell May what happened.

The sound of a trashcan knocking over draws your attention to the alley behind you. "Psst." You quickly jog down the alley toward the noise. As you pass the dumpster, you hear a 'thwip' sound and you're tugged by your wrist behind it.

"Peter, oh my god!" You almost scream as you throw your weight into him, your arms hugging him around his abdomen tightly. His arms circle around your shoulders, pulling you to him almost too strongly. Your ear presses against his chest, allowing you to hear how rapidly his heart is beating.

Peter tangles his fingers in your wet hair repeatedly. "Y/n, what are you doing here?" You untangle yourself from him and slam both of your palms into his shoulders. "Ow!! What was that for?!"

"For making me think you died!!" You yell. "What the hell was that?" You gesture vaguely in the direction of the building.

He looks around quickly before removing his mask. His curls are instantly drenched in water, plastering them to his head. "There was a dog still in there! I couldn't let her die!"

"Peter, you could have died!" Your voice cracks and his face instantly crumbles. He pulls you into another hug by your waist and rubs up and down your back soothingly.

"I didn't, though," he says slowly. "I promise you, y/n. I promise I will always come back to you."

You pull back to meet his gaze. "You what?"

"I realized something when I saw you before I went back in the last time y/n." His grip tightens slightly and you realize that he's shaking. "You're my best friend, and you're my web. I don't mean like a cobweb either because I will never abandon you. I mean like the web of a banana spider that lasts for years and years-"

A giggle bubbles up in your throat as you listen to his rambling. "Peter Parker, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this." Peter suddenly leans down and plants his lips on your softly, causing you to let out a surprise hum. You circle your arms around his shoulders and one of your hands tangles in his hair as he deepens the kiss. His lips slant against yours perfectly and you're certain you forget to inhale because your lungs are burning.

Just when it feels like you're about to pass out from being so light-headed, Peter slowly leans back. "Peter-"

"You're my web, y/n." He rests his forehead on yours. "And I promise I will always come back to you...for years and years." His eyes search yours and you don't really believe what's happening. Inside, he begins to panic because you've been quiet for so long.

"Kiss me again, Spider-Man."

"Will you leave the light on?" he asks, a twinge of sadness in his voice even though he knows the answer.

You don't hesitate as you reply, "Of course."

He cocks his head to the side with a cheeky yet solemn grin. "Forever?"

You nod with a similar smile as you assure him, "And a day..."

He reaches one hand out to pull your face to his. You meet him halfway and your lips connect hastily with his soft ones. A million things run through your mind. Memories and little moments with him you adored. When he pulls away, you immediately feel cold. Maybe not cold per se. But, an absence of warmth. An absence of him. One last look between you and he's out the emergency window.

The rest of the day was awful. You walked around with knots in your stomach. You couldn't eat even though you were desperately hungry. The fear of throwing up overruled the hunger. Eventually, you made your way home to the apartment building across from Peter's.

The ring had disappeared from the atmosphere about 20 minutes after Peter left you on the bus. You'd expected to have heard from him by now. Your anxiety was skyrocketing. You half-expected him to be in your room when you got home, hung from the ceiling to surprise you. Of course, he wasn't. You were disappointed even though you knew the chance was minuscule.

After unpacking your school bag, you slump down on your bed. You look at the ceiling and see dirty footprints. The corner of your lips turn up sadly as you think about the boy you were completely gone for. You take a deep breath and rise from the bed to cross the room to your window. Looking outside, you could tell that it was a few hours from being dark. To give yourself some sort of comfort, you take the box sitting in the windowsill and toggle it on.

"Peter Benjamin Parker!!" You giggle from the floor after he had gently tripped you. "That's cheating and you know it! I demand a rematch," you say as you get up and dust yourself off.

Peter scoffs and it turns into a laugh. "Wha-" He looks around the room for support and finds none. "How is it my fault that you're uncoordinated?" He teases you.

"I'm a gold medal gymnast...I think I'm plenty coordinated," you challenge as you saunter toward him until you're nose to nose. "Just not when people stick their feet in between my ankles!"

He rolls his eyes and turns around to walk away, but you quickly jump onto his back. "Woah, woah, woah! This has got to be a party foul!" He chuckles as he swings around in a circle.

You both fall into a fit of laughter as he plops onto the couch, essentially squishing you. Ned and MJ take their turn at the Just Dance game while you nuzzle your nose into Peter's neck. Your arms wrap around his abdomen to hug him from behind and he places his hands over yours.

"Thank you for being here," you murmur so only he can hear you before placing a quick kiss on his jaw. "I know that you had to skip the Internship to make it and I know it's important, so thank you."

He turns his head and you lean back so he can see you. "It's not a big deal," he whispers back and your features soften. "I promised I'd make it this time and I've never broken a promise to you so..."

You can't help but smile as he brushes his nose against yours. He leans forward and his lips ghost over yours before pressing against them softly. "I love you," you whisper against his lips.

"And I love you," he replies before kissing you again. The kiss breaks as a pillow comes down over your heads.

"Can you two stop making out for five seconds?" Ned laughs and walks around the couch to the kitchen. "It's time for presents."

Peter stands up and turns around, offering his hands to help you up. "C'mon, Ned," he whines.

Once you're standing, he wraps his arms around your waist from behind. This causes the two of you to waddle like penguins to the kitchen and you sit down at the head of the table. Peter rests his hands on the chair behind you.

You go through and open everyone's gifts, thanking them as you went along. Discarded wrapping paper and gift bags litter the floor. "Where's Peter's gift?" MJ questions.

"Oh, we agreed that since my birthday is so close to Valentine's day we'd just count that gift for both," you explain with a smile as Peter gently squeezes your shoulders.

An hour or so later, the party ends and your friends go home. You and Peter help your mom clean up before heading to your room. "Remember it's a school night! Peter has to go home at some point," your mom calls before closing her bedroom door.

You laugh as you sit on the edge of your bed and lay back. Peter wanders in, leaving the door open behind him. It was adorable how respectful he was when it came to being in your room now. When he used to come over before you were dating, you would close the door and he'd spend the night without asking. Now, he leaves the door open without your mom even asking him to because that's how May raised him.

It was funny because the two of you had already had sex a couple of times. But, he still respected the unspoken rules as if you hadn't. He lays down next to you and the two of you stare at your ceiling.

"Peter, you need to stop crawling on my ceiling," you chuckle. "I mean, how the hell am I supposed to clean up there?" You gesture your hand toward the dirty footprints creating patterns on your ceiling.

He laughs and the sound warms you from head to toe. "I'm sorry. I'll wipe my feet on the welcome mat next time," he retorts sarcastically.

"Ha, ha." You reach down and interlace your fingers with his between you two. Squeezing his hand, you sit up. "You can go if you want. I bet you could get in a few hours of patrolling and still get enough sleep for school," you suggest.

Peter sits up next to you and bumps your shoulder with his. "I've got something for you first." He grins mischievously and goes out onto your fire escape to retrieve something.

"I thought we said one present was enough!" You remind him. When you suggested it, you had really done so because you knew that he couldn't afford to do so many present so close together. And he had already gotten you the most wonderful Christmas gift. You really didn't need anything else.

He appears back through your window and closes it. You see the carefully wrapped box in his hand as he approaches. "Y/n, I know you made that rule because of the money," he sighs and sits next to you.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like-" Shaking his head, he kisses your cheek. "You don't need to apologize. I love that you want to make it easier on me and May." He holds up the box to you. "Which is why this is made and not bought."

You take it from him slowly. After setting it in your lap, you gently remove the lid with the bow and peer inside. Your eyebrows quirk together and you glance at Peter before reaching in.

It takes both hands to lift it up because the cube is the width of both of your palms next to each other. You expected it to be heavy because it looks like it's made of metal, but it's surprisingly light. Two opposite sides of the cube are a shiny black. While the other four sides alternate between red and blue, the color of his suit.

"Peter, what is this?" You chuckle nervously. As you examine it, you notice a small toggle switch on one of the black sides. You reach out and nudge it to the other side.

Suddenly, a bright red light shines out of the other black side. You quickly hold the box at a distance as you close your eyes, not wanting to be blinded. When you open them again, you follow where the light is shining to the ceiling. You're amazed by what you see.

"Oh my gosh..." you marvel at the high-tech Spider-Man beacon displayed across your ceiling. It's the same one that Peter can display from his new suit from Mr. Stark. "How did you make this?"

He takes it from you and walks over to your window. "Well...Mr. Stark helped me, actually," he admits as he sets the box on its side and the beacon shines on the wall across from your window. "I made it 'cause I know your mom got tired of our lamps running up your electric bill."

"Won't this do the same thing?" You ask as you cross the room to him.

Peter pulls you into him by your waist and rests his hands on the small of your back. "No, it won't...because this doesn't plug into anything." He reaches down and toggles it off before replacing his hand on your back.

"What if it runs out of batteries?"

"It doesn't run on batteries," he explains. "The sides double as solar panels. So you just leave it here all the time and it'll always be charged." He grins at you and you slide your hands up to rest on the back of his neck.

You lean toward him and his lips meet yours halfway as you pull him down to you gently. His lips slant against yours slowly, and carefully as if he wanted to make the moment last. "This is perfect! Now I can leave the light on for you every time you're out on a mission!" You whisper after you pull away for a breath.

"Do patrols count as missions?" He questions and rubs his nose against yours. You scrunch your lips to one side as you think. Looking back into his eyes, you nod with a small hum. "Babe," Peter chuckles, "you'll literally have that thing on all the time."

"So." You shrug and the two of you have started to sway a bit. "I'd leave it on forever if it meant you knowing that I'd wait for you."

His grip on you tightens as he pulls you further into his embrace. The warmth he radiates seeps into your skin. "Oh, you'd leave it on forever?" He asks skeptically.

"Yeah," you assure him. "And a day," you add quickly.

One of his hands leaves your back to cup your jaw. "Why the extra day?" He chuckles.

"'Cause." You pull your bottom lip between your teeth for a second. "It'll give me a whole day to make sure that you're back for real and for good. Ya know, an extra day past forever is just for good measure."

"That's smart," he mumbles as he brings his lips closer to yours. "You're the smartest person I've ever met, y/n."

You smile against his lips. "You clearly haven't met yourself, Peter."

"No," he laughs before kissing your cheek. "It's not just book smart. You're, like, everything smart. And you're strong...and talented...and beautiful..." In between each thing, Peter places a kiss on your forehead, your other cheek, and even your neck. But, they're soft kisses. Not like he wants anything to happen. "I love you so much."

Your lips find his again and they glide across them lovingly. "I love you just as much, Peter Parker." You let your lips sink into his for a few minutes more before he leaves to patrol the neighborhood. Your fingers trace your lips as the taste of him lingers. Reaching down, you toggle on your new beacon box before getting ready for bed.

Meticulously, you position it so that the Spider-Man beacon shines clearly on the opposite wall from your window. It didn't do much for comfort as you still had the awful feeling of a pit in your stomach. So, you distracted yourself with homework.

You spent hours and hours doing homework even though your mind was elsewhere. You were pretty sure that you weren't learning anything and that all your answers were wrong but you continued. Well into the night you tried to focus on something, anything other than the fact that the boy you loved had gone up into space in some floating alien craft.

When you ran out of homework, you forced yourself to go to the kitchen and eat. It was hard considering you didn't have an appetite. Sure, you hadn't eaten anything since breakfast but with every bite, you felt more nauseous. But, you were determined to put something in your stomach to give you the strength and energy to wait up for Peter. He will come back.

At some time after one a.m., you sat on the edge of your bed waiting. Just staring at the light shining from the beacon box that Peter made you. You can't sleep well unless it's completely dark. But, sleep was less important than Peter knowing that you were waiting. So, you picked up your phone and dialed Ned.

After anxiously waiting through several rings, you were sure he wouldn't pick up because he was asleep. Like a normal person. Then, he did. "Y/n? Is everything okay? Have you heard from Peter?" His groggy voice became more clear with every question and your heart sunk.

"No...I, uh," you stutter as you tried to choke down the sob that wanted to emerge from your throat. "I was hoping that maybe you had," you whimper.

You hear a deep sigh on the other line. "I'm sorry, y/n. He always goes to you first...I just figured..." he lets his sentence trail off and you finally feel tears leaving warm trails on your cheeks.

"Tell me he's gonna come back, Ned. Please, tell me that," you beg as you release a staggered breath.

"I know that he's gonna do his best. He would never leave you on purpose," he answers. You nod as you roll your lips together, tasting your tears. Ned would never lie to you and so he gave you the best response that he could while still being truthful. But, that just lets you know that even he believes that Peter might not come back this time.

You stay on the phone with Ned until you hear his snores through the line. Your body begged you to sleep, but your heart was too heavy to comply. Every minute was like an eternity as you laid in the dark with only the red hue of the Spider-Man beacon on your wall to focus on. Your eyelids drooped slightly and maybe you drifted off to sleep for a few minutes. Or a couple of hours. It didn't matter how much sleep you got because when you woke, it felt as though you'd been awake for weeks.

The day went on as it usually did. Except it didn't. Peter didn't meet you on the sidewalk outside of your building to walk to the subway together. He wasn't leaning against your locker in between every class, just waiting for you so he could kiss your cheek. Peter wasn't there to hand you an extra pencil when yours broke from pressing it to the paper so hard because you were anxious. His spot next to you at the lunch table was empty, and he wasn't there to tease you about the way you separate your food before eating it. You and Ned sat in silence without Peter there to hatch mischievous plans with.

You were cold. All day you were cold because you weren't used to not having his body next to yours wherever you go. Your hands lived in your pockets because you didn't have his hands to hold. The sweater you had stolen from him was the only comfort you had because it smelled like him. But, it wasn't him.

After school, you went over to his apartment and knocked on the door. It opened quickly and May's face dropped from hope to sadness. One look at you and she opened her arms. You fell into them as your face crumpled with your guilt. Garbled apologies fell from your lips and you tried to take the blame for letting him go, but May was having none of that. The two of you collapsed to your knees in the doorway as she rocked you and sobs escaped your throat.

Once you finally cried yourself out, you asked if you could just sit in Peter's room until he got back. She nodded solemnly and said she'd make some cookies for you to snack on. You smiled slightly, wondering if she'd have to go out and buy some or if she's getting any better at cooking.

You softly push open the door to his room and the tears come quickly again as you look around. It's in complete disarray, just as he left it yesterday morning. His bed is unmade, and clothes are strewn around his hamper as if he tossed them close to but not quite in it. Open books and crumpled papers lay on his desk along with stray pencils everywhere. Your fingertips trace the wooden frame around a picture of the two of you at homecoming on his bedside table. Your foreheads were pressed together as you both smiled contently, eyes closed, and arms wrapped around each other as if you didn't want to let go.

Your legs fold and you sink to the floor in the center of his room. You lie back and let your eyes wander along the ceiling as you follow the dirty footprints. As your head falls to the side, you notice all the extra pillows and sheets shoved under his bed. You pull them out and a soft grin forms on your lips. Of course, he would stockpile pillows and sheets. He remembers everything you say and does his best to make sure you know it.

"Peter Benjamin Parker!!" You squeal as the cold from the snow he just pelted you with seeps through some of your layers. He laughs loudly and almost slips as he turns to run the other way. "Oh no, you don't!" You threaten as you quickly lean down and scoop up a handful of snow.

Chasing after him, you tried to aim at him. But, you were at a disadvantage because you could tell he was using his powers to evade you. With a groan of frustration, you stand in place and drop the snow. He stops and turns around to look at you. "You're not even gonna try and get me back?"

"I would, but it's kind of useless when you're cheating," you pout as you cross your arms. Peter jogs back to stand in front of you. Placing his hands on your hips, he pulls you in for a kiss. You turn your head so that his lips meet your cheek. "No kisses for cheaters."

He pulls back with a surprised scoff. "But, babe," he whines playfully. You stick your nose up in the air, refusing to look at him. "I'm sorry...I won't cheat next time," he mumbles as he leans forward and brushes his lips across your exposed neck.

"That's cheating..." you whisper breathlessly as a shiver runs through you.

Peter tilts his head and places another kiss just below your ear. "I don't know what you mean." You roll your eyes because you could practically hear the smirk in his voice. He works his lips up to your jaw and you groan. "Forgive me yet?"

Reluctantly, you uncross your arms and grip his sweater-covered biceps. "Maybe a little bit." You take your bottom lip between your teeth as he lifts his head up to gaze at you.

"I can work with that," he chuckles as he leans in for a kiss. Just as your lips are about to touch, you shove with all your might. Peter is taken surprise as he loses his balance and falls backward into a snowbank.

You laugh loudly as he flails trying to get up. "And now I got you back!" He finally manages to sit up and grins ruefully at you.

"Oh, that was cold. Literally." He brushes the snow off of himself as he stands up.

Your shoulders shrug lazily. "I had to distract you so your Spider-Sense wouldn't give me away," you inform him.

"You're sneaky." He nods before lurching forward and wrapping his arms around you. You squeal as he picks you up and spins you around. The two of you fall into laughter as he sets you down. "Let's get you home," he says while rubbing up and down your arms to generate heat. You beam up at him and sling your arm around his waist as you head home.

Soon, the two of you are in your living room floor surrounded by wrapping paper as your mom takes pictures. You clasp your hands in front of your lips as you wait in anticipation for Peter to open up his last gift from you.

"What on earth is this, y/n?" He chuckles as he tries to tear away your expertly wrapped paper and tape.

You pull up your shoulders and don't say anything as he finally gets down to the box. The grin on your lips is so big that your cheeks are starting to hurt. "Merry Christmas!!" You say excitedly.

"Wha-" he breathes out as he pulls it out of the box. "Y/n, this is amazing. I...How did you afford this?" He marvels before slipping the strap over his head to rest on his neck.

"It wasn't expensive," you tell him as you nibble on your lip.

Peter holds it up to his face and aims it at you. "There's no way this wasn't expensive! It's a really nice camera," he mumbles softly.

"I promise it wasn't. It was at a flea market and I fixed it up." You look up from your lap and a flash blinds you. "Wow! That's bright." You blink several times to get your vision back.

He lowers the camera and reaches out one hand to rest on the back of your neck. "Thank you so much! I love....it." His lips pull into a grin before you're pulled to him and he kisses you sweetly. "I should go so May doesn't send out a search party."

"She wouldn't have to send them far," you tease and the two of you stand up. You walk him to the door out of your mom's earshot.

Peter turns and kisses your cheek before whispering in your ear. "I actually have a couple more presents for you, but I have to go set them up in my room. I'll let you know when they're ready." He places a soft peck to your lips and you watch with curious eyes as he leaves.

Sometime after you've helped clean up and take all your presents to your room, you're laying on your bed. As you wait for Peter to text you, your body fills with butterflies while thinking of him. You were excited for this surprise but also a little bit nervous because you had no idea what it would be.

Just then, your phone chimes from its place on your desk. You hop up quickly and open up the message from Peter. It reads:

PBP: Everything is all set up! Come in through the window ❤️

You scoffed out loud as you went to your window and saw him standing there waiting for you. Quickly typing out a response, you hit send and wait for him to get it.

You: You expect me to climb 7 flights of a fire escape and crawl through your window in late December?

Peter's shoulders shake as he snickers at your message. You watch as he types again and then looks up at you. Your phone chimes in your hand.

PBP: Just use one of the old web-shooters and swing over here!

Rolling your eyes, you go to the locked box under your bed to retrieve one of them. Peter had been teaching you how to use them for fun, but mostly lower to the ground. Closing your window behind you, you secure it on your dominant wrist.

He's opened his window and is leaning out of it waiting for you. "I'm not sure I can do this!" You call across the open space to him.

"You'll do great! Just get over here!" He chuckles back so you can hear. Upon seeing your panic, he continues, "I'll catch you! I promise!"

Just like that, your nerves were gone. When Peter uses the 'p' word, you know he's serious. And you trust him with everything you have in you. So if he says he'll catch you, he will. You carefully climb over the railing of the fire escape and lean your back against it as you look at Peter.

He nods encouragingly. With a shaking hand, you aim the web-shooter at the top ledge of the building so you should swing right to his window. You take a deep breath and jump. As soon as you feel gravity pulling at you, you bring your fingers down on the shooter. You hear the familiar 'thwip' of the web as it latches onto its exact target.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you feel the wind whipping through your hair as you swing over the gap. Just as quickly as you jumped, a pair of firm hands was catching you and maneuvering your legs into the window. You open your eyes and wait until you're firmly planted on his floor to release the web.

"That...was...crazy!!" You whisper-yell as you jump up and down excitedly. As Peter closes the window, you turn and see what he's been working on. Your mouth falls open in awe. "Peter..."

He gently takes your hand and pulls you to your knees with him. "Merry Christmas!" He laughs at your shocked expression as you continue to marvel at it. Sheets hang from precarious positions and colorful spots of light filter through them.

"You made me a pillow fort???" You quickly crawl into the center and find some pillows stacked for the two of you to lay on. He follows closely behind you and pulls his laptop out from under a pillow.

He nods as you lay back to stare at the lights. "Do you like it? We didn't have just white Christmas lights so I had to use the color-"

"Babe, it's perfect," you interrupt as you reach out and squeeze his hand. "Well...you couldn't go wrong with a few more pillows and sheets. Just to make it seem like we're in our own world."

"I'm always in my own world when I'm with you," he murmurs as he lays down next to you, shoulder to shoulder. You turn your head and give him a lingering kiss on the cheek.

Cuddling into his side, you wrap an arm over his abdomen. "What movie are we watching?"

"Whatever you want, babe." He wraps his arm around your shoulder and kisses the top of your head.

You prop yourself up onto your elbow and look down at him. "What if I said I didn't want to watch a movie?"

"Well," he drags the word out as he repositions his head to look at you. "I would have to ask what you'd rather do." His hand reaches out to brush the hair from your face and caress your cheek.

Your pulse begins to quicken as you look down at him. He looks so soft and sweet, illuminated by the colorful lights he worked so hard to string up. Quietly, you lean down as your lips are drawn to his. Your lips move against his slowly, but earnestly. After a few moments of the warmth building up in you, you pull away.

"I think I'd rather keep doing that," you whisper breathlessly as you look between his eyes and his lips. He looks at you a little bit confused and you continue. "And maybe a little bit more..."

Peter visibly gulps. "R-really?" You nod shyly, pink creeping onto your cheeks. His eyes flicker up and down the length of your body before meeting your eyes again. One corner of his lips tugs upward into the most insanely adorable smile.

Slowly, he lets both of his hands roam up and down your sides before pulling you back down onto him by your hips. You grin as your lips connect with his and the two of you get lost in each other.

A little bit later, you're curled into Peter's side with the covers pulled up to your chin. He has his arm around you and he's lazily playing with your hair. Your fingers are tracing soft trails along the lines of his surprisingly toned ab muscles.

You swallow thickly before breaking the silence. "Was it-was I any good?" A nervous chuckle falls escapes your throat.

"What??" Peter laughs loudly and you're surprised by his reaction. "Were you any good?? Y/n! That was like the most incredible thing I've ever experienced in my life and I've jumped off of the Empire State Building!"

You laughed and the anxiety slowly faded from your body. "You are the most dramatic person I've ever met in my life, Peter Parker," you giggle. He may have been telling the truth about it being good, but he always had a knack for exaggerating things. You nuzzle back into his chest as your giggles died down. "I love you," you sigh.

"Y-you what?" He says suddenly serious.

Every muscle in your body freezes. You didn't realize what you had said until he asked. "Um.." you slowly sat up, holding the blanket over your chest.

"Wait, wait," Peter says quickly before sitting up and feeling around under the covers and pillows for something. "Okay...here," he says as a flourish of his hands reveals a small box.

You reach out and take it from him with slightly nervous fingers. As you open the box, the slightly irrational part of you hopes this isn't a ring. Your hopes a granted and you release a relieved breath as you see a necklace.

"This is beautiful," you murmur as you take it out the get a better look. It's a silver chain, and on it hangs the frame of a silver heart. But inside the frame of the heart, you swear it looks like... "Is this your web fluid?" You question and look up at him.

He grins from ear to ear as he nods. "Yeah, it sure is." Peter reaches out and takes the necklace from you. Carefully, he unclasps it and places it around your neck before re-clasping it under your hair.

"But, won't it dissolve in a few hours?" You pick the heart up in your fingers and look at it some more.

"No. I, uh..." he clears his throat weirdly. "I made a special one that'll last." You smile happily as you let it rest back on your sternum. "It's special, ya know?"

You cock your head to one side. "Is that so?"

"Mhm." He nods and scoots closer to you. "See, as long as you're wearing this...you'll always know if I'm okay or not."

Rolling your lips together, you lean forward and connect your lips with his briefly. "Then, I will never take it off," you promise. Peter leans forward and kisses you softly.

"I love you, y/n," he whispers as he rests his forehead against yours. You bite your lip to contain your excited giggles. He looks deep into your eyes seriously. "I think I always have." Then, he reconnects his lips with yours to kiss you much more urgently than he ever has as the two of you fall back onto the pillows.

By the time you've finished making a fort out of the sheets and pillows, May has finished with the cookies. She knocks on the door and lets it swing open. You poke your head out and look up at her. "I hope you don't mind..."

"Of course not, sweetie," she smiles warmly down at you. "Got any more room in there?" She chuckles slightly. You nod, holding the sheet open so she can carefully crawl inside with the plate of cookies.

You take one and sit back against the pile of pillows as you take a bite. "Mm," you hum, swallowing the chewy bite. "You're getting good at these."

She kisses your head gently and the two of you snack on the cookies in content silence. For the first time since yesterday, your stomach isn't in knots, and your heart doesn't feel heavy. It's almost like a regular day and Peter is gonna come home at any minute and join the two of you.

"Can I...can I stay in here tonight?" You whisper after a few minutes of silence and realizing that it's not a regular day.

Your eyes are trained on your lap and May squeezes your shoulder reassuringly. "You can stay as long as you want." After a while of sitting together, she leaves you alone in Peter's room.

While making the fort, you had positioned the sheets so you could still see out the window. You could see perfectly into your room across the street, and the beacon still shines brightly on your wall. Your fingers grip the cold silver of your necklace as you breathe deeply. Peter will come back.

Peter always comes back. With some sort of semblance of comfort, you're able to fall asleep much more easily than last night. When someone wakes you up, your eyelids are so heavy that you have to pry them open and wipe the sleep from your eyes. You sit up in the floor of the fort and look around.

"Peter?" Your voice is sleepy but it cracks with hope. As your eyes focus, you find May kneeling next to you. "Oh..." You finally remember that Peter is missing. Not missing. Gone. Gone up into space.

She tilts her head slightly as she rubs soothing circles on your back. "You okay, sweetie?" You furrow your eyebrows and tuck your hair behind your ears.

"Fine, I guess...why?" You eyes bare into hers, worried that something happened while you were out

"Well, you were crying," she informs you. Your hand goes to your cheeks and you feel the wet residue from tears.

You wipe your eyes and clear your throat. "I guess I'm just tired." Your fingertips instinctively go to your necklace. An uneasy feeling takes place in your stomach as you trace the silver frame of a heart. "No..."

"What's wrong?" May asks as she watches you unclasp the necklace and hold it up to the light.

The web that once made up the inside of the heart has dissolved or disappeared. You didn't know which, but you knew it was gone. Frantically, you search the sheets around you. But, you can't find any evidence of the small section of web anywhere.

"No," you croak out as your face contorts in pain and tears flow freely down your cheeks. May pulls you into her, unsure of what's happening. Sobs wrack your body because you know what this means. "Peter...he-"

Peter said that as long as you wore the necklace, you'd know if he was okay. You don't know how he did it, but you know this means something bad. You know this means that he's gone. You know it means he's not coming back.

May holds onto you tightly, finally understanding what was happening. She begins to cry too. You hold each other as the streets outside bring the noise of honking horns and cars crashing. Something bad happened. Maybe not just to Peter.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting whine sounds from across the street. You jolt out of May's arms and to the window. As you look around the city below, you see the chaos happening. Your head swivels toward the source of the whine and it's your room. The Spider-Man beacon flashes rapidly on your bedroom wall as if it's a ticking bomb.

Without a word, you sprint out of Peter's room and down the stairs of the building. You tear out onto the street and narrowly avoid a speeding car as your feet carry you to your building and up to your room. As you burst through your front door, you see your mom standing oddly still in the kitchen.

"Mom?" You cautiously approach her.

She turns slowly and her features are etched in worry. You reach out to her and just before your fingers brush her hand, it crumples into ash. Your mouth falls open in shock as the rest of her crumbles away into ash and the ash is blown away by some invisible wind. A guttural scream escapes your throat and you fall to your knees.

What the hell is happening? The whine suddenly starts up again and you clutch your ears at the frequency. Swallowing your tears you barely manage to scramble to your feet and stumble into your room. It's louder than anywhere else as you approach it, frantically looking for how to make it stop.

You pick it up in both of your hands and collapse to your knees as you turn it over and over. "Goddamn it!!" You cry as you bang your palms against the side of it repeatedly. Frustrated, you raise it up and throw it at the floor.

It bounces to the center of the room with the beacon now displayed across your ceiling, and you hear something click. The whine stops and is replaced by a beeping sound. Your bottom lip quivers as you crawl across the floor and to the other side of the box. A panel has opened up, with an indentation inside of it.

Your fingers trace the shape and your heart constricts when you realize what goes there. With shaking fingers, you reach up and unclasp your necklace, letting the heart slide off of the chain. Your throat tightens as you press the heart pendant into the empty indentation in the box.

At first, nothing happens. You wipe your nose with the back of your hand as you wait. You're about to get up and leave when the box starts whirring. The Spider-Man beacon goes dark and the box begins clicking meticulously. Panels on the top open up as it expands, a small projector rising up from the middle.

You fall back into a sitting position as a 3D projection materializes above the box. It looks like a person, but one you've never seen before. You peer closer when suddenly, their eyes open.

"Hello." You jump back in surprise, almost falling completely onto your back. "My name is KAREN. In the event of a disaster, I have been programmed to display a message from Peter Parker for y/n y/l/n. Voice identification required."

She blinks, seemingly waiting for something. Your mouth opens and closes several times. In the event of a disaster... You're not sure you want to open whatever message this is because if you do...then that makes it real.

"Voice identification required," she repeats robotically. You blink as your breathing becomes shallow. With a trembling hand, you reach out and remove the heart from the open panel. KAREN immediately disappears as the box returns to normal and the Spider-Man beacon displays across your ceiling once again. You scrunch your eyes tight to try to contain the tears and you hold the heart firmly to your chest. Peter isn't gone. He's going to come back to you. He promised you that he'd always come back to you.

~10 minutes earlier on Titan~

Peter stands around on the deserted planet with Tony, the wizard, and the supposed Guardians of the Galaxy. Thanos has the Time Stone and he's just gone to Earth to get the Mind Stone.

One by one, the Guardians start disintegrating. Peter feels the trickle of something bad go through his veins. His Spider-Sense has kicked into high alert as the wizard disappears next. Immediately, the rest of Peter feels wrong.

"Mr. Stark," he chokes out. He can feel it happening to him too. Everything in him is fighting what's happening. He can't go like this. He has to stay. Tony catches Peter as he collapses, no longer being able to stand. Peter cries as Tony lowers him to the ground. He just keeps repeating, "I don't wanna go..."

Most of Peter has turned to ash by now but somehow, he's still able to speak his last words. He looks at Tony with a look in his eyes that Tony never wanted to see. Guilt floods what's left of his heart and agony that he'll never see y/n again. "I'm sorry..." he whispers before his face falls blank and his remains blow away in a phantom wind.

As long as he's alive, Tony will think that Peter was apologizing to him. For stowing away on the spaceship, or for having his death be put on Tony's conscience. For being the reason that Tony loses another important person in his life. But, he wasn't. That apology was meant for one person who was planets away.

Peter didn't know if you would be gone in the snap too, but he didn't care. Even though you wouldn't be able to hear him say he's sorry in this moment, he needed to say it. He made sure to have contingencies in place months ago so that you'd still get to hear him say goodbye. So, he was sorry. He was sorry because that was the first and last time in his entire life that he broke a promise he made to you.

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