Angels Among Us
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Listing Series
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Till the Concrete Angel Falls by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies)
29 Sep 2018
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Summary
It hits him all over again, and it’s almost worse, somehow, even though he hasn’t got a clue how that’s possible. It’s lava this time, and a swirling pit of misery and inadequacy and shame. A fresh wave of tears pours out of him.
“Rhodey,” he gasps. “I--I can’t--hurts--”
“Shh, shh, I know, man. I know. I got you.” Hands are on his shoulder again, gripping him, grounding him. One of them moves to the back of his neck--and then suddenly Rhodey’s there and he’s everywhere. He’s sunk down into a position much like Tony’s, seated with his knees tangled in the boy’s, arms encircling the thin frame and ready to rest his wet face against his broad shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Shh.” Rhodey continues to hush Tony’s pants of distress. “Just let it all out.”
And Tony does. He finally tells himself it’s okay, his best friend is here holding him, and his arms are there if his body decides it’s going to fall apart into a thousand metal pieces.
Stark men are made of iron.
---
Fifteen-year-old Tony Stark is too young to understand what a panic attack is when it hits him, but Rhodey is the best friend he could ever hope for and will always be there to pick him up again.Series
- Part 1 of Angels Among Us
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Take an Angel by the Wings by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Marvel Cinematic Universe
01 Sep 2018
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Summary
Peter gulps and blinks. His lashes catch the moonlight with the glint of broken tear drops. May has the sudden urge to scream at whatever poet ever decided that such sorrow was a beauty to be romanticized.
“I had to stop and sit down. It was a, it was a roof. I’ve--I don’t know. I had to think, I guess. Couldn’t really think.”
The tears won’t stop. They’re flowing and flowing and oh, God, they won’t stop.
May remembers when she read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in fifth grade. She remembers it so vividly because the nun taught her yet another unforgettable thing: the story contains the shortest verse in the Bible.
Jesus wept.
She thinks about that little fact every now and then, to this day. It returns to her at full force as she continues to stand there watching her son at arm’s length with wetness flooding his cheeks, overriding his consciousness, and May thinks about how the Bible, for all its mighty poetics in the books of Psalms and Isaiah, afforded none of those metaphorical descriptions to Jesus’ tears.
Because there’s nothing beautiful about them, May tells herself. Why do we fool ourselves with the notion that there are kaleidoscopes in mourning?
Series
- Part 2 of Angels Among Us
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Sometimes We're Holding Angels by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Marvel Cinematic Universe
12 Jul 2018
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Summary
Peter tears his gaze from his knees to affix it with a startling alertness on her. For what feels to Pepper like one of the longest seconds in history, he does nothing but stare, slack-jawed, his mind speeding through all the possible permutations of her statement before settling on one explanation. The realization doesn’t go off like a light bulb in his eyes; it’s slow and hesitant, just on the edge of heart-wrenching in its quivering optimism.
“You too?”
Pepper knows this is the first time he’s dared--he is daring--to hope that something, something will be okay. That not everything in his bones is broken.
“Me too.”
---
Looking around at all his fellow heroes who nurse nightmares and secret panic attacks, Peter turns to a surprising advocate--Pepper--in his quest to determine if his emotional detachment is a symptom of sociopathy. Tony may not know exactly what Peter is going through, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try his best to make it better for him. Even if that does involve getting stuck in an underground Legoland attraction. (He always knew heart-to-heart talks would be the death of him.)Series
- Part 13 of A Little Unsteady
- Part 3 of Angels Among Us
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What About Angels by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
09 Sep 2018
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Summary
“I hate you.”
The white lenses blink and then quiver into crinkly-eyed slits as Ned rocks backward in laughter. “This is payback for mixing all the flavors. You’re disgusting, you know that?”
Peter lobs an anchovy at Ned’s face and is rewarded when the other boy yelps, his reflexes not being up to par enough to catch the projectile. “You’re a thief.”
“Yeah, well, you’re Spider-Man. You should’ve seen it coming.”
“Just because I have a ‘spidey’ sense doesn’t mean I have common sense.”
“Ohh, you said it yourself. Self-burn. Nice.” Ned sits up again, glancing all about his room in hyperenergetic focus, no doubt having thirty-seven different heart attacks from all the cool blue clusters of information and alerts set up on the screen by Karen.
“Ned,” Peter whines. “Give it back.”
“Nah, I think I’ll finish building the set like this.”
“Great, so now I’ll have two hours of footage of you in there next time I need to look through Karen’s logs.”
“Yeah, right. You can’t get enough of me.”
Peter chokes audibly on an anchovy in the background.
Series
- Part 4 of Angels Among Us
- Part 2 of Nobody Puts Baby on an Alien Spaceship
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These Angels See the Light by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for stewyonmolly
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
09 Jan 2020
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Summary
"I’m still coming with ya upstate to mow your damn lawn," says Harley.
“Sorry,” another voice interrupts with an audible grimace. “Afraid I can’t allow that. You’d be putting me outta my job.”
Tony is blindsided by an inelegant snort at Peter’s arrival, which is heralded by the heavenly rustle of plastic bags and the snap of paper napkins.
Harley stiffens for a second and then bolts upright so fast it should be hilarious.
“Shite,” he says. “Meetin’ me for the first time and I’m not in my usual Mr. Universe glory.”
Peter plops a Subway footlong into Harley’s lap, then takes a moment to feign assessing the other boy’s raggedness. “Hm. Guess you’re right, you could use some fresh cucumbers on those extra big bags.”
“Excuse me, I was punched.”
--
Tony's family vacation with Pepper, Peter and May gets sidetracked when Harley calls him asking to bail his mom out of jail. As the details of the whole fiasco come to light, everyone can't help adopting the darn Keener kid into Tony's sad nerd orphanage. Peter most of all.Series
- Part 5 of Angels Among Us
- Part 1 of Tennessee Teen Genius vs. the World
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Are Those Real Angels? by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
09 Apr 2020
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Summary
“Thank you,” Tony grates out.
Peter inhales sharply. And then, in a warble: “I don’t know what I would have done if I walked in and you weren’t breathing anymore.”
Tony hates himself. He hates, he hates, he hates, he twists up in--
“Sorry,” Peter tacks on. “Sorry, sorry. This is--this is not about me. I didn’t mean to guilt trip you.” His fingers return to Tony's hair, smoothing it back from his brow and rubbing circles there frantically like it can erase the weight of his outburst.
But--but Peter is just a kid. He is a kid. If the droplets of his grief patter hotly onto Tony’s cheek without his meaning to, all is already forgiven. He’s sixteen and small and human and the last thing he deserves is to see this.
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Tony calls Peter in the middle of attempting to take his own life. The kid flies over in the blink of an eye, because he's something like Tony's guardian angel.Series
- Part 6 of Angels Among Us
- Part 14 of A Little Unsteady
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Like Dreaming of Angels by TheOceanIsMyInkwell for fatiable
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
06 Dec 2020
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Summary
“You’re nervous. Why are you nervous?”
Tony throws up his hands. “Just because I’m having candy doesn’t mean I’m nervous.”
Peter shuffles from the bathroom into the lounge at that moment, wiping his hands on the thighs of his jeans. May glances over at him. “Baby, isn’t Tony nervous?”
The kid flashes both adults a traitorous grin. “That’s his third sweet in the last hour. He’s definitely nervous, May.”
Tony points at him. “I can’t believe I used to think I’d trust you with my life.”
“It’s the eyes, sir,” Ned butts in with a holler from the kitchen bar. “Make you trust him forever. That’s his real superpower.”
“Aww, babe,” says Peter.
--
Tony gifts May with an egg-shaped hologram projector for Christmas so she can see her old photos of Ben in motion. Things get as emotionally constipated as one might imagine.Series
- Part 7 of Angels Among Us
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In the Arms of the Angel by TheOceanIsMyInkwell
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
01 Jun 2019
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Summary
Peter audibly swallows. Try as he might, the wobble of his tone refuses to obey him. “It’s like a time marker, you know? H-he--he became the frame of reference of everything in my life. Before Skip, after Skip. And the problem is that...almost everything significant that ever happened to me, happened to me after.”
Tony can taste bile at the back of his throat. He closes his eyes for a moment and struggles to focus on the whine of the cicadas outside the window. If he concentrates hard enough, he thinks to himself, he can probably hear the hum of the lamps all around the cabin, the lapping of the lake under a sleepy moon. The tragic song of the stars whose light reaches them years too late on earth from the skies.
“Maybe he ruined something in me,” Peter says. It comes out more like a gasp. “Maybe, maybe he touched something and my brain couldn’t handle how unclean it felt after that.”
--
After years of wondering alone, Peter finally asks Tony the question that has been hanging over his head--did Skip's abuse make him trans?
Series
- Part 8 of Angels Among Us