Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Quentin Beck/Peter Parker, Quentin Beck/Peter-Three (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
Characters: Peter Parker, Peter-Three (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Quentin Beck
Additional Tags: Post-Spider-Man: No Way Home (Movie), Fake Science, Slow Burn, some might say the slowest, Quentin Beck Being a Jerk, Redemption, Self-Worth Issues, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:
Quentin would probably shoot Spider-Man if he could, but he's currently elbow-deep in electronics. Also, he doesn't have a gun. It's a problem he's been meaning to correct. He's forced to watch Spider-Man hop up on a desk, unblinking mask tilting curiously towards the portal. Amicably looking back to Quentin.
Damn, he should have bought a gun.
"This isn't what it looks like," Quentin says. It is exactly what it looks like, and he knows how it sounds, but it's all he's got.
---
The multiverse pulls a reverse Uno card on Quentin Beck, landing him smack dab in an alternate universe. All he wants is to go back home, murder an eighteen-year-old boy and burn Stark Industries to the ground once and for all. Unfortunately, his ambitions put him smack dab in between Kingpin and a fresh-off-the-multiverse Peter Parker, who has a soft spot for secret lairs under NYC streets.
11 notes
·
View notes
Gotcha Meta: In which Quentin’s fantasies are inaccurate
Gotcha just got its first smut scene (a short 150k in), and because I really dislike bait and switches, I felt like I needed to leave a note that it's not indicative of what the actual smut will be like. Even though that feels a little spoilery? But I hate the idea of someone a) reading that and going yeah, can't wait for more of this vibe! Or b) reading that and going oh, I'm not a fan of that vibe, bummer.
I said feel free to ask for more details, and someone did, and in classic me style, it turned into so many damn words. So I'm putting it here to make it less potentially spoiler for people going through comments, and also so if anyone else is curious, it's already up.
Short answer:
Quentin's fantasies are based on a shallow view of a Peter he doesn't actually understand that well, and rooted in Quentin's own inability to be vulnerable in relationships. Many of the physical acts are true, but the mental and emotional component is more affectionate and awed than the imagined scorn and disgust. In addition, as things go on, Quentin's perception of his own tastes is challenged and changed.
Long answer:
The differences come down to vibe and character growth.
(This answer goes into a lot more detail on things they do later in the fic, and Quentin's mental changes. Knowing these things won't like, ruin the fic or anything, it just might change the reading experience from 'what is going to happen?' to 'how does he get there?')
Pulling apart that posted scene of Quentin's fantasies re: vibe -
Peter’s too innocent to be any sort of a tease, or any good; he’d probably be very shy, even timid, maybe, trying too hard and self conscious about it.
Peter is innocent, and self conscious, but he powers through his shyness and is not at all timid. Instead of being annoyed, Quentin ends up really enjoying Peter's innocence/nerves because it makes him a hell of a tease (even if unintentionally), and makes him very curious and eager to try new things.
let Quentin fuck his mouth, get a hand in Peter’s hair to keep in in place and a hand around his throat so Quentin could feel it in every possible way when he chokes Peter on his cock.
Quentin's right that he could convince Peter to let him do this-- he wouldn't even have to try hard—but he doesn't take advantage of it. Peter has a strong gag reflex that never really improves, and Quentin... doesn't mind. He doesn't have to fuck Peter's face rough to get a great blowjob, and since Quentin actively enjoys giving oral of all kinds, Peter ends up getting a lot more blowjobs than Quentin does.
He could have a lot of fun with that, implying that Peter wasn’t trying hard enough, that Quentin’s sure Peter could do better
You're right, Quentin, Peter would react strongly to that, and try very hard to do better. The problem is, the one time Quentin does exactly that, Peter's reaction doesn't get him all hot and bothered and smug. Instead, it upsets him enough that even though Peter says they should try again, Quentin turns him down. And literally never does that again, preferring to spend a lot of time, especially later, showering Peter with praise.
god, what Quentin could do with that. He could really pull out all the stops, working Peter down hard into some humiliation and degradation,
Again, Quentin could do this, and Peter would let him. Quentin slips a little bit in here and there, and quickly realizes that a) Peter would be incredibly hurt if it came off as real instead of teasing, and b) it's kind of... boring. He can get that from any random person he picks up. He never bothers to go beyond the sort of light, affectionate teasing because everything else Peter offers is more fun.
put him face down and ass up, all his best qualities on display, and it might be almost enjoyable
When Quentin finally gets around to fucking Peter in this position, he doesn't like it. Quentin doesn't, that is. Apparently, Peter's ass isn't his best asset, because Quentin would much rather have Peter facing him, so Quentin can see every one of his reactions (and maybe preen a little under how admiring Peter's looks are).
he’s never going to get to a point where he can actually hurt him, but he can still fantasize about making Peter spread himself wide, holding onto his own ankles to stay in place while Quentin caned those thick ass thighs black and blue,
Quentin thinks he'll never get to really hurt Peter, and that if he did, he'd want to do so in certain ways – but he absolutely does get to hurt Peter, without any toys brought in. Peter likes being hurt more for the sense of being overwhelmed than the actual pain, but there's a pretty important scene where Peter demands Quentin hurt him more and it freaks Quentin out immensely.
underneath all that sweetness and innocence and shyness, Peter will turn out to be fucking nasty, turn out to be a kinky little shit that lives for being used, for feeling like something Quentin could toss aside at any time.
Quentin's right about Peter being filthy underneath it all, but it's not in the sort of... degrading, disgusted way he's thinking of it. For one, it's literally filthy because Peter has a Thing for come play, (while Quentin Does Not Like the mess of sex) and for another, Peter's kink interests are far more mental than physical. Does Peter want to feel like he belongs to Quentin? Absolutely, but as something incredibly valued instead of as a disposable toy, and Quentin doesn't end up using 'treasure' as an endearment just because Peter likes it.
want it to be obvious that he’s someone’s toy, Quentin’s hand print red on on his ass and his face, bruises on his hips and purple rings around his wrists, his neck, bite marks all fucking over
Peter is super into getting bruises and bite marks, but just as much into giving them, much to Quentin's dismay-- and that dismay is primarily because it's embarrassing for his team to see him with hickeys, not because he dislikes it. Peter absolutely wants it to be beyond obvious that he belongs to Quentin, but he mostly does so through their equivalent of a collar. (There are a lot of D/s elements and vibes throughout, but while Quentin has played with that previously, he never introduces Peter to it in any formal way or using those terms.)
that’s so much better, the thought of Peter hurting and crying and hating every second of it
Quentin thinks he'll love this, but every time Peter either goes along with something he doesn't like for Quentin's sake, or actively hurts and doesn't like it, Quentin hates it. Peter can take so much more than others Quentin's played with without having to dislike it, and that's something Quentin ends up being fascinated and drawn in by.
You can get a pretty good sense of overall vibe change from Quentin's fantasies here to reality by reading the scene from Gotcha I posted as a standalone fic (Both Hands Free). Chapter 19 Quentin would laugh himself sick at the thought of praising Peter until he comes from that alone, unless it was so Quentin could mock him afterward; BHF Quentin is excited and enthralled that it's even possible, and finds it oh so easy to find things to praise. They're both still pretty filthy assholes though.
Both Hands Free is also interesting in that it sits at almost exactly the middle of Gotcha, where Quentin is also right on the edge of having a lot of small, slow changes hit him hard. Because that's the other thing that makes his fantasies here out of place with the rest of the fic, though it's not as obvious until some time has passed; how much character growth happens over his arc.
Going back to this first smut scene re: character growth -
For Quentin, a lot of these things he rattles off as fantasies are things that require zero vulnerability from him, and allow him to be a certain level of vicious/wrong without having it questioned. But it's never, ever enough for him, because he's always holding back from really going as far as he wants, from really having his most 'unacceptable' desires and biggest flaws seen.
In Peter, he finds someone who can accept and bear all of that, and not just enjoy it but meet him in intensity, match him. More, being with Peter doesn't simply allow Quentin to be vulnerable – it forces him to be, because Peter sees through a lot of Quentin's defenses, and Quentin has to sort of showcase these 'fake' vulnerabilities to entrap Peter (spoiler alert Quentin: they're not fake). And that's even better for him, because then he can get the benefits of being vulnerable and still have the safety of being able to tell himself it wasn't up to him, he wouldn't have if he'd had the option.
Quentin starts with this preconceived notion of Peter as like... a subby bottom and sweet and soft, etc, kind of the standard fandom take on Peter. He hasn't quite considered the aspects of Spider-Man that aren't that are still present when Peter's just being Peter. For a while, this isn't massively challenged-- in little ways, but nothing that radically reshapes Quentin's view. So when Peter starts fucking him, starts using him a little, hurting him a little, praising him and taking control and acting like maybe he owns Quentin a little too, it is a shock, though it's slow enough it creeps up on Quentin before he can fight it.
Even worse, Quentin likes it. Quentin really, really likes it. Considering how deeply in denial we've already seen Quentin be about things like 'yes hugs are nice even for you, dumbass', it's not that surprising that Quentin struggles with accepting that yes, he also likes feeling that intensely and completely wanted, kept, and taken care of.
This isn't a relationship where someone tops and someone bottoms, where one person doms and one person subs, where the power is in one person's hands and not the other's. It shifts back and forth between them from moment to moment, but once Peter gets his feet under him, it's almost equally shared. After a while, the only edge Quentin has on Peter is that Peter doesn't know this is all a lie.
I think Quentin's change—and his opinion of that change—can be pretty nicely summed up in a quote from the one of the last five chapters:
“I thought,” Quentin breathes out, “I thought, I'm going to have to be so careful and it was so hard and it made me do things I wouldn't have, and they ended up being so fucking good. By the time I realized I didn't have to be quite so careful—by the time you made me see that—you'd already ruined me, already taught me to like it too much.”
“Quentin,” Peter whispers, pressing closer, all lax and sweet and beautiful, and he moans when Quentin pulls him even closer, when his cock slides against Quentin's skin.
“I liked it,” Quentin tells him, “I liked all of it, I liked so much that I didn't think I would, that I never had, that I didn't want to. I—” he growls, frustrated, annoyed, and glares at Peter. “I don't really like getting fucked,” he says, “I don't like being pinned or taken or rimmed and I hate, hate the mess of sex, would never like rolling around in it like you do, and you made me fucking like all of it, you brat.”
He rolls his hips against Peter, his breath catching. “I liked everything you did to me; fuck, Peter, you ruined me and I liked it.”
15 notes
·
View notes