Dear Yuletide Writer 2022

 Dear Yuletide writer,

Thank you in advance for writing for me! I've written a little about what I love about the canons I've requested and included some prompts, but if you have a totally different idea, go for it! 

General likes: Pining (mutual or otherwise), hurt/comfort especially when it's heavy on the comfort, pretending to be married/dating, fake dating turns real in general, happy endings, soulbonding/mates/any kind of weird psychic connection bonding scenario. I'm a big fan of AUs, so if you want to write one that's out there, I'll probably be happy to receive it. (With the exception that I'm not a huge fan of cyberpunk scenarios.) I also love all the canons I requested and am more than happy to receive a fic rooted firmly within them. I'm cool with porn.

General dislikes/DNWs: Permanent major non-canonical character death (I’m fine with canon character deaths and past plot important character deaths like Louise as she pertains to Kaine's story), infidelity between the main couple in case of shipfic (although I'm fine with infidelity for Peter and Felicia in Marvel Noir given the nature of both the canon and their relationship), watersports/scat, any mention of harm to animals, unhappy endings. All of my requests are for Marvel fandoms but please no references to the MCU or MCU-based characterization. 

I'm Traincat at Ao3 and tumblr and @hellotraincat on twitter if you want to poke around. I tag everything on tumblr by character name and general series.

Fantastic Four (Comics)

Johnny Storm, Peter Parker

One thing I love about these two is the sheer breadth of their history, spanning from the ‘60s until today -- the teenage rivalry, the deep trust and affection between them even back before Johnny knew Peter's name or face – and how the relationship has stayed so important to both characters over all that time. Their long history of saving each other. The fact that canonically every Christmas they meet up at the Statue of Liberty. The way Johnny will tell Peter anything, from when he messed up by asking Ben to be his best man to the fact that the "Alicia" he married was actually a Skrull spy, and also the fact that he slept naked in his bed. What was up with that one!! I love the banter and the jokes but also how they can flip the switch and be serious with each other in an instant. I admit I'm more partial to fic set post-identity reveal, after they’re adults, but identity porn is always fun. If you do decide to write a fic where they're in high school, I'd prefer it lean more on the original Kirby/Lee and Ditko/Lee runs' interpretation rather than a "jock/nerd" bent where Peter's the nerd. Johnny on the bowling team more than welcome.

I’m also extremely weak to the fact that they canonically hang out every Christmas morning at the Statue of Liberty and would love to get holiday fic. I also mentioned I really love AUs! I think they fit a lot of fun AU scenarios, especially a romcom styled one, although in almost all AU settings I prefer that Peter keeps his powers. 

 

When it comes to canon fic, they have so much history and they've known each other literally their entire careers, so a game I like to play is to pick any point in their shared canon and reimagine it if they were in a relationship at that time. What changes and what stays the same? For example, what does Fraction's Fantastic Four run look like if Peter's along for the ride? How much does it up the angst of Johnny leaving Peter his family if they’re together when Johnny sacrifices himself in Hickman’s run? Do torrid feelings get in the way of Johnny’s wedding in Fantastic Four #300? What’s THAT version of the Clone Saga even look like? As a note, I'm not really up to date on Slott's run (I skimmed it), but I wouldn't mind a Spideytorch spin on the events. I'm a quick canon study.

I'm also interested in how Johnny’s celebrity and Peter’s dual identity play into how the public views their friendship and/or relationship. Johnny can define himself by public perception, to the point of his own detriment, while Peter has an extremely mixed relationship with the press. Is Spider-Man ever accused of dragging the Human Torch into shady business? Tarnishing his reputation? Do they get snapped by tourists at Lady Liberty? Related, there has got to be Spider-Man/Human Torch RPF in-universe, and Johnny googles himself enough to probably know about it. 

I'm totally down with smut and would feel remiss not pointing out that 1) Peter's canonically used webbing in the bedroom, 2) Johnny really seems to dig the idea of "Peter Parker in charge", and 3) Peter "loves" when Johnny "does what he says." (Thanks, Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man #3.) One thing I do not want in regard to this request is any positive mentions of Lyja or Johnny's relationship with Lyja. I'm fine with Johnny's other exes popping up, and more than okay with Peter and his amazing ability to remain friends with his exes.

This is an extremely long running canon but I do have a reading list of recommended issues here.

 

Scarlet Spider

Kaine, Flash Thompson, Aracely Penalba

You don't have to use all my requested characters for this request, although I would also be very happy if you did, but I need Kaine included. I'm happy get either Kaine&Aracely focused fic or Flash/Kaine focused fic. I very much ship Flash/Kaine, but I view Kaine and Aracely as having a strictly familial relationship and DNW shipfic for them. If you do want to use all three, I would also love shipfic where Flash is convinced he has to win Aracely over, and Aracely takes shameless advantage, much to Kaine's chagrin. ("You DON'T have to buy her stuff, she knows where I keep the duffel bag of stolen cash.")

So first off, I'm obsessed with Kaine Parker. He's one of my top favorite Marvel characters. I think that "broody clone of the hero" is such a quintessentially comics trope, but at the same time Kaine is very much his own character and not just Peter But Edgier, and I think his Scarlet Spider run did such a good job of growing his character beyond who he was in the Clone Saga and letting him explore what life could offer him once the clone degeneration was cured: a home, a family, and his own blossoming identity. And a huge part of that is his relationship with Aracely. I think it's pretty clear that initially he sees a lot of himself in her, and his saving her is in a way saving his younger self, but I love how their bond grows out of that and how devoted they are to each other. Kaine is her champion! She knows he would never hurt her! He fought werewolves to protect her! They have a psychic bond! I would love to see more exploration of that, of the connection between them and possibly how it ties into Kaine's own former psychic abilities. I'm also very good with them having a spa day in Houston.

I know Kaine and Flash only have the one relatively brief interaction, but their chemistry was so good and I think they should kiss on the lips. Possibly with some more fighting together first. I loved their Minimum Carnage banter -- if you can call Flash attempting to get along and Kaine struggling like a cat about to get a bath every step of the way banter. I do headcanon both Flash and Kaine as being attracted to men, although I think Flash is much more aware of this than Kaine, who was grown in a basement lab and raised for like two whole months by the only father figure he has, an abusive professor in a fursuit who tried to kill him, and so is maybe not very good at self-reflection as a result of that. I do think that Flash is attracted to Peter, and so I wouldn't mind a reflection of what it means for him to be in a relationship with Peter's clone, but if you do go down that route I would like it established that Flash genuinely likes Kaine for who Kaine is, and not because he's Peter's clone. I also wouldn't say no to a non-powers AU where Kaine's always had a crush on football star Flash but is convinced he only sees him as Peter's moody little brother.

I do think Kaine has, understandably, a lot of issues with intimacy and touch and the trust that comes with those things, stemming from the Jackal's abuse of him but also in more recent canon from being assaulted by Shathra in the guise of Annabelle, and also generally from believing he doesn't deserve to be touched kindly because he views himself as a worthless monster. So I would also love fic where Kaine explores touch and intimacy with Flash and learns what he does and doesn't like, and maybe that he really enjoys surrendering on his own terms and letting Flash be in charge for a while.

If you want to set things after the Scarlet Spider run, I'm very much fine either taking or leaving anything that happens to Kaine after the New Warriors run, including Spider-Verse and Clone Conspiracy. If it's post Clone Conspiracy, I would like for Kaine's face to be healed of the clone scars, because he's right and it's not fair that Ben gets magically healed and Kaine doesn't. I'm also always very partial to Kaine with longer hair, as much as I appreciate his character development buzzcut. (But honestly neither of these are deal breakers.)

Scarlet Spider (2012) ran for 25 issues, which is pretty quick by comic standards. I don't mind New Warriors (2014) canon popping up, but I also don't mind if anyone chooses to disregard it entirely. The entirety of Flash and Kaine's interaction can be found in the Minimum Carnage storyline. 

Marvel Noir

Peter Parker, Felicia Hardy

This is the only request I would prefer not to get an AU for, as it's already a canon AU setting. I'm not terribly interested in anything that happened with this Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy during or after the Spider-Verse event in comics and would prefer anything after Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face ignored. If you want to go totally canon divergent after Eyes Without a Face, that's more than cool.

 

One of my favorite things that you can do with a multiverse is examine how shifting one little thing changes a character. For example, with Marvel Noir's Peter, Uncle Ben was murdered before Peter was bitten by the spider, and he wasn't killed by a gun. In reaction, this Peter carries and uses guns, and also may not have as much of a problem with the whole killing thing. (He certainly didn't seem to feel any great remorse or guilt after he killed the Vulture.) I'm interested in an exploration of this Peter and how he feels about violence -- he seems sickened by it when it's inflicted by other people, possibly because of how Ben died? But at the same time, with the timing of the bite and Ben's murder, his sense of responsibility over Ben's death is at least lessened, if not nonexistent: this is not a thing that happened because of him. IMHO Peter's almost crushing sense of responsibility is what keeps him, a man with the ability to crush steel with his bare hands, in check. What then keeps Noir Peter in check? What does he consider to be the hard limit? (I am more than interested in an exploration of Peter Parker’s brutality in the pursuit of justice, especially when it’s balanced with his tenderness towards friends, family, and lovers.)

Similarly, this Felicia is really interesting, a harder take on a character who was already unfairly thrust into a bad girl box by the narrative, shaped to fit the Noir narrative. We don't see as much of her life as we do Peter's, or her perspective. I'm interested in her life before Peter, and also in their on again and off again affair. I'd love anything that touches on her and her club, whether it was the opening, the day to day operation, or where things stand after she puts on that mask. I am good with a canon divergent fic where she's the femme fatale who approaches the detective for mysterious reasons. Totally different canon, but I'm a Spider-Man PS4 PeterFel baby truther, so if you wanted to put that on Noir as well, I'm cool with kidfic, and I think it's fun when people keep huge secrets from Peter the way he keeps them from everyone in his life. 

I love the bedroom scenes from Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face, especially the lovely one where Felicia gets undressed and leans up to kiss Peter while her cats twine around them. I am 100% down with Peter/Felicia PWP or even Peter and Felicia shop talking in bed while cats climb on top of Peter's head and chew on his hair or try to bat him in the eye. Similarly, I'm interested in Peter and Felicia's attachment to each other despite their different viewpoints -- and despite Peter wanting more than Felicia can give him. I’d love to read anything about Peter and Felicia in the gap between Spider-Man Noir and Eyes Without a Face. While I said I don't really view anything beyond Eyes Without a Face as canon, I did like the tone of the recent Noir story in Edge of Spider-Verse (2022) #1, and I thought it was interesting though not really touched on that Peter took Shathra to Felicia's club. I'd love a Felicia point of view on that scenario.

Spider-Man Noir ran four issues and Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without a Face ran for four after that. Eyes Without a Face comes with heavy trigger warnings for physical, sexual, and racial violence, as the plot deals heavily with Nazi experimentation. You don't need to dig deep into this for the purpose of a gift (I would prefer if you didn't) and I understand if anyone would prefer to avoid the comic because of it. I'd prefer no mention of the events of Spider-Verse or the 2020 Spider-Man Noir series, and while I loved Noir Peter in Into the Spider-Verse, I prefer the original comics' more grounded characterization and voices.