The Day The Music Died (Part One)
(PART TWO)
Sooo...you meet spot and introduce your little world <33but you might know a little more than you are leading on? If you spoke up a little more...maybe others would know?
You remember seeing a man dressed in dark blue and red with a large S on his chest soaring through the sky.
He looked free. You thought absentmindedly as you walked through the busy New York crowds.
Some nauseating feeling bubbled inside of your gut. You wished you could touch the clouds like he could.
Maybe then you wouldn’t feel so trapped.
One foot after another, you made your way through a dark alley to stop in front of a quaint coffee shop.
The rats scattered beneath your feet and garbage decorated the shadows. The brick was dusty from age and the sound of horns honking and people walking became white noise as you reached for the door knob to the shop.
“Collin’s Coffee.”
Best fucking gig you’ve got going right now.
You wondered if that Spider-Guy worked a normal job like you did.
The thought of seeing a man dressed in clad spandex taking orders made you let out a soft chuckle as you ducked into the comforting atmosphere of the shop.
It gave the radiance of a library in Hognorts with the walls dripping with mounts of knowledge and books. The actual walls themselves had a sharp red brick hidden behind the shelves and posters.
Plants grew from the ceiling and succulents were plotted on the ceramic countertop.
You quickly removed your bag from your shoulders and placed it behind the counter while reaching for a navy apron. Rubbing your eyes harshly, you began to slowly wake up and soak in your surroundings.
“Hey! How’s it going, kiddo?”
Mr. Parker. Collin Parker. The kind old man that ran the coffee shop semi-hopped to where you were meticulously placing pastries inside the display case.
Most of the time, and in the most endearing way, he had more energy than a toddler.
“Fine. You?” You weren’t the biggest fan of talking, but you would make an effort to check in with the old. They held a tiny soft spot in your heart.
If you even had one.
“Good, good…just filling out some silly old paper-work. Don’t mind this old man.” Mr. Parker slowly hobbled his way back to his office, letting you finish adjusting the glass plates that presented little scones and croissants.
The front door slammed open as a clumsy pubescent boy stumbled through.
“Sorry I’m a bit late! I swear I was just on my way but a guy decided to–“
Sigh. There goes that peaceful, delicious, quiet.
“Ok.” You kept it short. Honestly, you couldn’t care less.
“–He was awwwwfulllll! Trust me, if you met a guy like him on the train you’d absolutely lose your mind.”
You had already lost yours a while ago.
“K.” Your responses where getting impossibly shorter as a the kid rambled on as he found his way behind the counter.
Peter Parker, estranged somehow related to Collin Parker. He had a good heart, but a huge fucking mouth for a fifteen-year old. His brown fluffy hair bounced as he waved his hands around to accentuate the supposed “annoying man” he met on the train.
Peter was a nerdy kid, and you appreciated the child-like joy (probably because he still was a child in your eyes) he carried but you would rather die than admit it.
You saw him as a little, albeit annoying, brother.
“You can stop now.” You prided yourself in your honesty, but always tried to tone it down to be a bit less brutal for Peter.
“Oh–Oh okay, sorry–right, silence.”
He wasn’t going to be quiet for long, but that was okay, you knew how to just–push it away.
Anywho…what’s going on? Do you want me to man the counter today? I don’t know if I’m really up for it…you know how much it makes me anxious. I would! I really would but…ya’know. I just get all shaky and–“
Buzzing echoed in your ear as his endless chatter filled the café’s walls.
“Go in the back. Do restock and phone orders.” Like he always did.
Peter let out a breath in relief, his shoulders noticeably loosened.
As he awkwardly made his way to the back, almost slipping on the white tile that covered where you and him were standing behind the counter.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won’t disappoint you! Trust me, I’ve gotten reallllyyy good at using the new toaster that I think I am a toasting god!–”
You don’t really care, but you let a tiny chuckle leave your chapped lips before you turned to face the front again. You didn’t have enough energy to really play it off with a smile, but it’s the effort that counts right?
“Mk. Bye.”
Peter quickly ducked into the back while slipping in his ear buds to get ready for a comforting day at work. When you started working here, you noticed how he looked up to you. Thinking you were…”cool.”
It made you gag when you thought about it too much.
The bell chimed and the first customer of the day came on in.
“Welcome.” Your voice just barely tipped the ‘annoyed and exhausted but had to make some cash’ tone.
You looked up at the strange figure that just entered.
Ok…are you fucking kidding me?
His huge trench coat covered his shoulders as he stumbled in, not too unfamiliar as to Peter’s entrance.
What made your eyes blink a little more than usual was the stark white skin that stretched over him head to toe. Dark little holes scattered his body and a pair of big sunglasses covered the top half of his face.
Was that a fedora?
You just swiveled to make your own coffee. A plain, black, hot coffee. Free of charge, and one of the best things to come out of this job.
Just as you were sliding on the sleeve, you quietly shuffled behind the counter as he coughed behind you. You were almost ignoring the weird customer as a whole.
To be honest, you just couldn’t bring yourself to care.
You couldn’t bring yourself to care about most things anymore.
Was that bad?
Eh. Whatever.
You just busied yourself with minimal tasks like rearranging the pastries in the display or picking at the scabs that littered your fingers.
The customer coughed again.
“Do you have asthma? Want me to get you an inhaler?”
Whoops. That might’ve come out a little to sarcastic. You were genuinely worried, ok?
Maybe not that worried, but still. You didn’t mean it to come out like that.
“No! I–I do not…Give me the cash in the register, now please!”
Ohhhhh.
You were being robbed!
Wait.
You were being robbed.
“Nah.” Your responses were curt and short as you took short sips from your coffee.
You needed some caffeine ASAP.
“Wha–?! There isn’t a ’No’ in this! Give me the cash, now! Please!” The weirdo came up to the counter and this time you noticed how fucking huge this guy was.
He was probably 7 foot.
Did he seriously say please? At least he had manners.
“No.” You shrugged and casually went back to what you were doing, but before you could turn fully and brush him aside, a pale white hand launched out and flipped you back.
”Look at me.” Static rippled in his voice.
Maybe–just maybe-you wanted to fuck with this guy a little by actively widening your eyelids so you could showcase how you were looking in every other direction except his.
“Just–Just give me the cash. Or else I’ll…I’ll shoot!” He showed off his other hand as it pointed at you through his pocket.
If you were dumb maybe you’d have believed him.
If you didn’t have a certain…experience with guns maybe you’d have believed him.
“What kinda gun is that?”
You were starting to get a little impatient with this banter. What if Mr. Parker came out and the poor man went into cardiac arrest? What if Peter stopped listening to his shit music and did his job and saw you fighting with this guy?
“It’s a pistol.”
That was definitely not a fucking pistol.
“No, it’s not.” You shook your head and ran your fingers through your hair.
“How would you know, huh? What if it is?” Was he trying to be smug?
“The closest thing that your abnormally large fingers look like would be a fucking Longslide Glock 17 with maybe 3 out of the 17 rounds loaded with your kinda confidence. Gotta say, it is lightweight, sturdy, good for beginners...”
You were good at talking guns.
Real fucking good at talking guns.
It was probably the most you’ve said all day.
The ghostly white ‘robber’ looked shocked, if you could tell by the way his shoulders recoiled.
Stepping back he bashfully turned away.
“I just need some cash, okay? That’s all…please. I’m really not good at this whole supervillain thing.”
A little gun talk was all it took to break this guy?
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
You heard the front door bell chime and it broke you out of your thoughts.
“Nah. Maybe some other time. Bye.”
You waved a little before setting your already cold coffee on the counter to prep yourself to take an <em> actual</em> order.
“Do you even take me seriously! I am The Spot! I literally–I can travel through-- portals!”
Unsurprisingly, you kinda got bored of this whole ‘supervillain charade.’
“Ok. Bye.” You shrugged him off to turn your attention to the new customer, locking eyes with them and insinuating for them to come up to the front.
“What?!–I’ll show you! I’ll show all of you!” He angrily threw a–
was that one of his weird spot things?
Anyway, he threw a spot into an empty space in the shop and walked through it.
Finally. You sighed as you took the customers order.
….
And that, even if you didn’t know it at the time, was the end of your little world as you fucking knew it.
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Gwen Stacy: A Character Study
Spoilers ahead for Across the Spider-Verse
I started typing this in the tags of that last Gwen Stacy reblog and realized I had way too many thoughts on this to flood the tags with. Okay if you didn't read those tags, all I had said at first was that I had seen a lot of discourse about Gwen. Miles doesn't need to take her back, she's a bad friend, how dare she show up at the cookout knowing all she knew (lol that one made me laugh ngl), nothing too heinous but I didn't see a whole lot of forgiveness. Before I get in to this, I'm not excusing her behavior in the slightest. I just think there's a lot more to it than her being a bad friend to Miles. The whole movie, Miles is trying to make a point that he's not a kid. But...he is. The way the adults try to direct his life is juvenille and definitely make it seem like he's younger, but he is still only 15. He gets away with a lot cause he's still just a kid and he's still learning. Gwen doesn't get the same treatment and yet...she's only 15mos older. She's not years older like Hobie or even Peter B.. She's barely 16 herself. Now here's a girl who still blames herself for her best friend's death and who's dad blames her for her best friend's death (unknowingly). She befriends this kid who's just.like.her. Dad's a cop, he's new to being a spider, he's her age, and he too feels alone. But she can't get too close because she hurts the people she loves. She literally STARTS the movie explaining this.
When she finally reveals herself to her father, he turns his back on her. Now here's this group of other spiders who can travel to different dimensions freely and can provide her a fastrack ticket back to Miles. She asks Jessica to adopt her on sight. And that's before her dad even drops her, that's how alone she feels. She already feels like she doesn't have a home. So imagine her probable horror when she finds out that the new best friend she's trying to get back to, is the number 1 enemy of her new "family". He's the cause of a whole host of problems and she's forbidden to tell him. She can't go back home and she can't stay with Miles because she'll glitch without a watch. And she can't even use the watch because she's not supposed to see Miles at all. So what can she do, go back and have her dad arrest her? Or stay with the only people who understand her? They show us in multiple ways that she hangs out with Hobie the most. Now they want us to think there's something there and she probably has a small crush, but that's mostly just cause Hobie's kind of too cool not to have a slight infatuation with him. (And that's coming from someone who doesn't even like guys). But I like to think Hobie also is the only person who doesn't trust Miguel and doesn't really agree with "the plan". So she hangs with the one other person *besides Peter B, who doesn't hate on Miles. I can only imagine how insufferable Miguel probably is about it. So she finally gets an opportunity to be in Miles' dimension and the FIRST thing she does is go to him. Breaks all protocol, ditches her tracking device, and goes to hang out with her best friend.
Now this is the point in which I do believe she could've told him. Especially since the last time she lied, her best friend died. But we've seen Miguel can get unhinged. To a level even Peter B. didn't know he was capable of. She knows they don't like Miles. If she tells him and he goes to confront Miguel and he kills Miles, she's now caused the death of two best friends. If she tells Miles and Miguel finds out, and takes her watch, she's now lost any chance of EVER getting back to Miles not to mention she gets thrown back with her dad...who hates her. So she does what any 16yr old girl would do when faced with a lot of tough decisions....she lies (again), and she runs. First from the Spiderteam and then from Miles. She tries to do what Miles did and have two cakes, but she's bad at it. She's not designed to "break canon" so rule breaking isn't in her nature. I think there's actually a lot more to how much that drives who they all are as people. Which also explains why Miles simply doesn't get it. Even with Hobie, it's in.his.DESIGN to be an anarchist, ergo he's still following his own canon. But Miles doesn't have a canon. So none of his friend's actions are going to make sense to him.
I don't know. I think a lot of Gwen's decisions can be chalked up to "she's a 16yr old girl with her own baggage". She wants to see her best friend but it comes at a cost. A cost she pays for almost immediately when hanging with Miles is the reason the Spot gets even stronger and then escapes. She was supposed to be watching him but she impulsively went to go hang out with her best friend. Thus dragging Miles into the problem because he follows her. Her lying gets people hurt in so many ways. But if she had told Miles the truth, he still would've followed her. He has a thirst for knowledge and a need to help. He was always going to intervene when given the chance. Gwen's choices were between family or friends. Same as Miles. The only difference being, Miles considers them to be the SAME thing thus making the decision to choose, damn near impossible for him. He's close with his family but he can't tell them the truth, so he just needs friends who understand him. She needs both but she told her dad the truth and he turned his back, so if she tells Miles the truth....... She's been told explicitly that she can either have this new family who gets/wants her, or go back to her dad if she chooses Miles (who also gets her on a level that no one else does) but who she can't be with without risk of death by glitch....so she lies. And when she realizes she still has her dad, guess what her first act is? Going back to Miles. So should she have lied to him? No. But would telling him the truth have yielded different results? Honestly, I don't know. But I like to think no. Everything still would've happened, just differently. The Spot still would've gotten away and Miles would still go against Miguel to save his dad and stop the Spot. Unfortunately the only thing her lying did was put tension on their friendship, but she had no way of knowing if telling him would work in anyone's favor.
Now Peter B......I want to know if Miguel threatened him. Cause when Miles asks why he didn't come to see him he says the same thing as Gwen, "I couldn't". Miles doesn't really hear that. He hears "i had the opportunity to see you and I chose differently" but that's not what either of them said. I'm hoping they show us more of that cause there's a lot of power in the word "couldn't".
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DC + Marvel
So Tim is Spider Man in this.
It starts off with him deciding to leave Gotham after Bruce is comes back from his timeline shenanigans that made everyone think he was dead. The first thing he does is investigate a dubious corporation who are doing experiments on spiders (going under the fake name Peter Parker).
Guess what happens while there?
Anyway, so Tim now has powers. During this, he ends up catching the attention of the Conners (as he is still investigating the corporation but his recently acquired powers are making it more difficult for him to blend in), who eventually end up taking him in. Tim decides to take a break from heroics (initially because he has to adapt to his new abilities) and starts to wonder if maybe he shouldn’t be a hero (since he sees and reads how Gotham is doing fine without him, which also means that he doesn’t use any of his money as it would attract the attention of the rest of the Batfamily. In addition, his lack of control makes him more of a liability).
During this, the Conners are strapped for cash due to their son’s cancer treatment (along with both Dr. Conner’s being underpaid at their jobs at said dubious company). Tim sees this and decides to try to earn money, which results in him doing metahuman cage fighting. He does this for a bit and sneaks the money to the Conners.
The Conners pick up on this and try to stop him, which does not happen (although they don’t know it’s cage fighting). The night of his last cage fight (which is right after the argument with the Conners), Dr. Curt and Martha Conners go looking for him. They end up finding him and see him cage fighting. Tim wins but he’s outed to the Conners and they start to argue again (the Conners don’t want him to put himself at risk and don’t care that he is a meta). This argument is continued into the streets of New York as they are walking home
Unfortunately, the meta Tim was fighting is a sore loser and attacks Tim with a gun while he’s arguing with Conners. Tim makes it out okay and beats the meta again: Martha Conners, on the other hand, was shot and dies.
Tim stops cage fighting and goes back to living with Dr Curt Conners and his son Billy (Dr. Conners doesn’t blame Tim and knows he was trying to help them with their financial troubles). Tim then decides to go back to being a hero, with Dr. Conners being his “Guy in the Chair”, which was temporarily put on halt when he became the Lizard (along with his son, although his son did not lose his mind when transformed and tried to help Tim against the Lizard).
Once Dr Conners regains his sanity (although stuck as the Lizard), the two remaining Conners go into hiding (as the company Dr Conners worked for wants them for experimentation). Because of this, Tim has to find an apartment of his own and finds a job as a photographer at the Daily Bugle.
Eventually, he does have to go to Gotham because one of his villains sneaks off there and does it under the guise of taking pictures for the Daily Bugle. Thus the Bats now re-enter his life when they come across him at a gala with his “Peter Parker” disguise (which they can immediately ID him). They don’t learn he’s Spider-Man right away and it takes several team-ups before some of the Bats start to put two-and-two together (up to the writer to decide who figures it out first and confronts Tim).
Side note: might try writing this. Kind of think it would be interesting if some of the plot included Tim being sucked into Earth-199999 during ‘No Way Home’ or gets involved with ‘Into the Spiderverse’.
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