Fanfic / Spider-Man: Finding Home

“Spider-Man: Finding Home” by SomeBoredWriter is an AU starting shortly after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, looking at how Peter Parker sets out to rebuild his life after the loss of his old family. Starting with a chance encounter with the two Hawkeyes during the confrontation with the Tracksuit Mafia and the Kingpin, Peter goes on to form an unexpected bond with Kate Bishop and Yelena Belova, which leads to him establishing a new place among Earth’s heroes as he stands alone beyond being just Iron Man’s protégé.

This fic is part of a series, “Home is Where the Harem Is”, although the other fic, “SM:FM: Deleted Scenes”, is mostly “deleted scenes” that weren’t necessary to include directly in the original fic.

Spider-Man: Finding Home contains examples of:

• 11th-Hour Ranger: After Peter returns to his life as Spider-Man after Spider-Man: No Way Home, his first night out leads to him joining Clint and Kate in the confrontation with the Tracksuit Mafia and Kingpin at the Rockefeller Centre (“So This is Christmas”).
• A Man Is Always Eager: Zig-Zagged with Peter. While he certainly wants sex, his gentlemanliness, timidity, and awkwardness means he doesn't make his desires known, letting Kate and Yelena set the pace. They’re the ones who push the relationship forward physically. In one of the side stories, Kate congratulates Peter and says she's proud of him for basically asking her for a blowjob, taking it as a sign he's getting more comfortable with the idea that it's okay to ask for sex from his girlfriends.
• Aborted Arc: Downplayed. The story starts from Karen's POV, and the early chapters feature much of her quest to get back the information she's lost about Spider-Man so she can fulfill her purpose of assisting him, as Tony Stark built her to do. Then the author admits to getting sidetracked and not knowing quite how to weave Karen back into the narrative, with several chapters going by completely Karen-less until we check back in with her. She still hasn't re-entered the narrative proper as of the last published chapter, though there are promises she'll regain prominence Real Soon Now.
• Above the Influence: Although Peter initially accepts a drunken kiss from Kate on their first night out, he resists doing anything more than that even if he's genuinely attracted to her. When Kate makes it clear that she wants them to have sex after another night out drinking, she stops Peter's concerns about if he'd be taking advantage of her by revealing that she made a recording of herself prior to them going out where she explicitly stated that she intends to take Peter's virginity that evening.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Tony’s work on artificial intelligence was so good that he literally created souls on his own. In essence, he didn't just create AI, he created an entirely new person with a soul capable of the mystic arts by complete accident.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: In this reality, the White Tiger was initially the second protector of Wakanda, empowered by a mystical amulet, but the amulet was corrupted at some point and it became too dangerous for anyone to use it.
• Adaptational Badass: While she has yet to utilize them, Pepper retains her Extremis powers. Tony didn't remove them, just stabilized them. And she's hired Dr. Catherine Connors to refine the formula and work the bugs out.
• Adaptational Villainy: In a sense; Abner Jenkins began as a villain in the comics under the codename ‘Beetle’ and then became a member of the heroic Thunderbolts using the alias ‘MACH-1’, but here Jenkins is active as a villain while calling himself MACH-1 (although Peter calls him ‘Beetle’ as Jenkins’ armour resembles a beetle).
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Yelena calls Kate "Kate Bishop," because she knows Kate finds it hot.
  • Yelena occasionally calls Peter "Peter Parker" for the same reason, but later takes to calling him милый (milyy), which is Russian for "cute."
  • Kate and Peter (mostly Kate) take to calling Yelena "pretty kitty" after she gains the White Tiger amulet. Peter tries it out in Russian once, and Yelena is flattered but critiques his pronunciation.
  • Yelena refers to Felicia as "Pussycat," at first because it annoys her, later as more genuinely this trope.
  • Felicia retains her comic predilection for calling Peter "Spider."
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: From the beginning, Karen is recorded as wondering if she has some glitch since she actually experienced negative thoughts about Tony after he took her away from Peter, comparing it to Ultron’s hostility towards him. This issue is soon put aside, but Strange and Wong are incredulous when Karen comes to them to learn sorcery and they realise that she has enough of a soul that she’s able to astral project; though they recognize that she has good intentions, they're left horrified by what could have happened if Ultron had been capable of the same thing.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • Kate starts out the most overtly horny of the cast, often Eating the Eye Candy or being Distracted by the Sexy. She openly comments on the hotness of various people they encounter, is often the first to consider inviting a new person to the arrangement (to the point Peter reflects once that, if this is a harem, it's Kate's, not his), and initiates most of the sexual encounters. After Kate makes several admiring comments about Felicia when they first meet her, Peter says he might have to start looking for her off button. Kate wishes him good luck, stating she consists mostly of on buttons.
  • Yelena is a bit more reserved; even if she has no problem with casual nudity, she takes some time get more physical. With her past, she needs to build trust and comfort with her lovers, and that's a slow process. She also prefers to avoid penetrative sex, even if she has no problem with other forms of intimacy.
  • Felicia is more overtly sexual and sensual than even Kate, pretty quickly willing to jump into their arrangement (and then into bed), though she's willing to slow down and move at the group's pace.
  • Shuri, meanwhile, seems chronically horny, stripping down and pleasuring herself on video calls with the group with minimal — sometimes zero — provocation.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Alexei is this for Yelena after he drops in just as she’s convinced Peter and Kate to join her in a throuple. He not only reveals how Yelena kept talking about Kate after her last visit, but then challenges Peter to an arm-wrestling contest; when Peter wins, he loudly compliments how Yelena has taken after her mother and found another ‘super-soldier’.
• Amnesia Missed a Spot: When Peter is forced to answer Shuri's questions regarding the complete lack of information about him, a blood sample confirms that Peter is related to Richard and Mary Parker even though there’s no record of his birth. Although Shuri's subsequent search of electronic records shows no direct sign of Peter's existence in the remaining records on Richard, Mary, Ben and May, Shuri is able to find an anomaly in Ben and May's tax records that indicates they either used to have a dependent claim that has since been erased or they were committing serious tax evasion for years.
• Androids Are People, Too: Tony Stark’s A.I.s are at least considered by Pepper to be family, with FRIDAY referring to Karen as a sister when she visits the cabin. Later on, when Strange attempts to astral project Karen, he and Wong are shocked to see that she actually has a soul.
• Aroused by Their Voice: When Yelena is about to go undercover, Peter points out her rather distinctive Russian accent. Yelena responds in a flawless American accent. Kate is gobsmacked Yelena could have been speaking perfect English the whole time.
  Yelena: (in her Russian accent, enunciating each syllable) Do you want me to get rid of it, Kate Bishop?
  Kate: Shutting up.
• Artistic Licence – Biology: When Kate and Yelena ask if Peter shaves regularly given how smooth his face always is, Peter reveals that Tony's tests of his biology revealed that, since the spider bit him as he was on the verge of puberty, it had some side-effect that meant his body doesn't grow hair like it should, leaving his scalp and arms unaffected but the rest of his body basically hairless.
• Attempted Rape: Aside from the times the group explicitly maintains the "attempted" qualifier, this is heavily implied the second time Kate and Spider-Man cross paths. Not only did a group of men be appearing to do this to the young woman they'd targeted, when they take control of the fight away from Kate it's implied they intend to assault her, instead of or in addition to their initial victim. Spidey puts a stop to it.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Yelena basically uses this when infiltrating a temp agency with Jessica Jones, posing as new applicants so that they can get information about a recent spree of robberies.
• Berserk Button:
  • After his first fight with Kraven, Peter apologies to Yelena for ruining her brand new apartment by giving her the spear Kraven threw at him. She becomes violently defensive of it, having to be talked into letting Clint even take a look at it and fully prepared to fight off a full squad of Dora Milaje when they demand she hand it over. Peter and Kate quickly surmise that Yelena hasn't really received any gifts before, and so values them, especially when they come from people she loves like Kate and Peter, beyond all reason. They have to explain to her that they'd never, ever want her to endanger herself for a thing they gave her. As Kate puts it, the whole point of giving someone a gift is to show how much you appreciate them, the person themselves is more important.
  • Felicia is particularly brutal when confronting a potential rapist, to the extent that Peter has to stop her outright killing the man rather than just leaving him to be arrested.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Kraven goes to considerable lengths to go after Spider-Man, but in their first direct confrontation Peter easily manages to hold him off, quickly realising that Kraven doesn’t have superhuman abilities even if he’s basically at human peak.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Peter gives Kate an interesting version of this when he takes her to the top of Avengers Tower and then kisses her with such intensity that she doesn’t notice when he jumps them both off the tower until they’re in freefall (naturally Peter starts swinging before they’re in any danger).
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: While Yelena prefers not to be penetrated during sex, when she and Kate first encourage Peter to fully strip for them, they are both impressed by what he has underneath.
  Yelena: I said it was no big deal. It is quite a large ‘deal’.
• Boom, Headshot!: Yelena kills Kraven the Hunter in this manner after he’s been worn down by her and the Dora Milaje.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad:
  • Clint basically tries to take on this role when he learns that Kate is dating Peter and Yelena, pointing out how they could both be using Kate, but he accepts Kate’s assurances that she knows her partners aren’t like that.
  • Alexei tries, but neither Yelena nor Kate are having it; Yelena because she more or less doesn't care what Alexei thinks of Peter, Kate because she's indignant about Alexei invoking a Double Standard (questioning Peter's intentions towards Yelena, but not Kate’s.)
• Building Swing: Spider-Man, obviously; but Felicia demonstrates some skill in this area (enough that Peter is pleased she can actually keep with him; he needs to slow down for Kate and Yelena). Kate asks about getting her own set of web-shooters, but Yelena points out that Kate lacks the physical strength to use them safely as the forces involved mean a normal human would dislocate their shoulder, if not have their arm torn off (Felicia has a cybernetically-enhanced suit to help her cope with the strain).
• Bullet Proof Human Shield: When Peter and the girls meet the Defenders, on their first joint patrol Luke Cage basically serves as this when he's assigned to team up with Kate, as she’s the only one of Peter’s partners who’s basically just human (even Felicia has a super-suit).
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Peter confronts the Shocker and the Scorpion as they rant about how he got them arrested, he asks them for more details, pointing out that given his actions as a hero he's gotten a lot of people arrested so they aren't giving him anything that would help him narrow down what they're talking about. He's playing it up to Troll Herman, but he genuinely doesn't remember Mac Gargan.
• Call-Back: Daredevil notes that it’s difficult for him to get in touch with his old heroic contacts as most of them believe he died years ago and he hasn’t corrected that belief before now.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: Compared to Peter, whose spider-powers mean he Never Gets Drunk, and Yelena, who drinks like only a Russian can, Kate is a lightweight.
• Chick Magnet: Although Peter tries to deny that he has a harem, when he’s attracted the interest of women ranging from a new vigilante to the Princess of Wakanda, he’s eventually forced to concede that’s an accurate description. The moment of clarity comes when Peter's on the couch with Kate and Yelena, Felicia laying on all of their laps, and Shuri videoconferencing in for movie night.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome:
  • While Peter initially focused on rebuilding his own life as Peter Parker after Strange’s spell erased him from existence, an incident where he stopped a girl being assaulted affirmed that he couldn’t abandon being Spider-Man for good. Peter actually assumes his absence as Spider-Man is what led to the big shootout with the Tracksuits in Rockefeller Plaza.
  • Part of Kate’s relationship with Peter and Yelena is based around her wanting to help them both get better as people and overcome their issues, and she regrets that she doesn’t know how to explicitly help them feel better about themselves.
• Closest Thing We Got: While working to infiltrate the Tinkerer’s workshop, the trio have to ask Kate’s ex-stepfather Jack to act as bait; Peter doesn’t have the money to be believable as someone who’d hire that kind of service, nobody would believe an Avenger’s protégé would contact a criminal, and Yelena’s near-blank history would raise too many questions.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Felicia Hardy’s leather catsuit is augmented by subtle technical enhancements to allow her to achieve greater physical feats without actual superpowers.
• Combat Medic:
  • Yelena has some medical training, and carries first aid supplied in her tactical vest to help out if she or any of her team are injured during a fight.
  • Peter has made sure his web fluid is sterile and safe for use as emergency bandages for bleeding wounds. When uses them on himself after getting stuck with some throwing knives, he notes they do nothing for the pain and thinks he'll have to fix that.
• Combat Pragmatist: During Spider-Man’s first encounter with Kate while she’s on patrol, he notes that Kate is only shooting off a few arrows then going straight to hand-to-hand combat when dealing with crimes. He advises her that there's nothing wrong with relying on her arrows to deal with most opponents, considering that she lacks his superhuman strength or Clint's hand-to-hand experience and so would be at more of a disadvantage in a straight fight.
• Commonality Connection: Yelena and Jessica are surprised to learn that they were both essentially mind-controlled and raped, even if Kilgrave’s direct control of Jessica and the Red Room brainwashing Yelena have various distinctions from each other.
• Composite Character: After Kraven tries to steal the White Tiger amulet from Wakanda, Yelena claims it for herself, eventually adopting that as her new code name.
• Contrived Coincidence: After Peter delivers pizza to Kate and Clint as himself and then joins in the final battle with the Tracksuit Mafia at Rockefeller, he and Kate end up in the same class at college. Lampshaded by Clint, who points out how suspicious it is and thinks Peter is using Kate for her money.
• Crimefighting with Cash: Kate basically serves as the financial backer for Peter’s efforts as Spider-Man, such as helping him repair his suit after he dived into a fire (Yelena also has independent wealth received from her ‘parents’, but she tends to just use that to support herself). Notably, Peter frequently tries to refuse Kate's offers of financial assistance, but accepts some of them on grounds that it's going to the benefit of people Spider-Man will help.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Despite being an experienced Avenger, Clint has no real idea how to deal with street-level crime such as what Spider-Man usually deals with; Clint’s actions as an Avenger and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. focused on larger targets, and as Ronin he went after the heads of criminal organisations rather than general street criminals.
• Curse Escape Clause: Although the White Tiger amulet was somehow corrupted in the distant past in a manner that drove anyone who tried to use it insane, Yelena somehow purifies it when she takes the amulet to use its strength to help Peter. It could be through putting her own life on the line to help others by helping lift the building, or helping Peter in an Act of True Love, though it is not stated which.
• Death by Adaptation: As part of his campaign, Kraven killed Genral Okoye and tried to frame Spider-Man for it.
• Demoted to Extra: The opening establishes how Peter stopped talking to Karen so much, coming to need her less while on patrol now that he had Ned and May to confide in, although Karen was still happy to help out.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: This basically defines Karen’s desire to reunite with Spider-Man, as she was literally created to help him and with his identity erased from her system she feels as though she has no purpose.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • Kate unconvincingly tells herself that she wasn’t distracted when Spider-Man first lifted his shirt to show her his past injuries and she got a good look at his abs.
  • Peter similarly tells himself he's not at all disappointed when Dr. Connors closes up her labcoat, concealing the scant tank top and short, tight shorts she was wearing beneath it.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: When Peter realises that his college professor is the one-armed Doctor Catherine Connors, he immediately speculates that she is the counterpart to the Lizard he faced with the other Peters. Once he explains his concerns to Kate and Yelena, the three agree to watch out for any possibility that Connors will do work with lizard DNA, but don’t outright condemn her based on her counterpart's actions.
• Double Standard: Alexei takes Yelena dating Kate in stride, not surprised because of how Yelena was "gushing" about her. When he learns Yelena is also dating Peter (and Peter and Kate are also together) Alexei insists on investigating Peter's intentions. Kate is offended that Alexei wants to question Peter but not her, growing more so when Alexei states he didn't feel the need because Kate is a woman.
  Kate: Hey, how come you’re just giving Peter the talk and not me? I could be a philanderer, you don’t know.
• The Dreaded: Thanos is clearly established as this for the heroes of Earth, with Yelena and Kate being both impressed and disturbed when Peter reveals that he fought Thanos before the big final battle with Tony, Strange and some of the Guardians.
• Empowered Badass Normal: After Kraven the Hunter steals the White Tiger amulet from Wakanda, Yelena takes it from Kraven after killing him. After she somehow purified the amulet while using it to help save Peter’s life, T’Challa allows Yelena to keep it, the amulet giving her enhanced strength and healing, as well as energy claws able to cut through vibranium.
• Erotic Eating: Peter over texts with Kate describing his enjoyment of white cheddar mac and cheese becomes this. Peter plays it up for her benefit.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite the extent of his criminal contacts, the Tinkerer was reluctant to complete Mac Gargan’s request for a super-suit to go after Spider-Man, until the gang knew that Spider-Man would be looking for them in turn now that he’s aware of their activities.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: While Jessica Jones is cynical rather than evil, she expresses very vocal confusion at how Peter and Kate can have such a healthy relationship that Peter doesn't mind Kate being in his apartment without his permission (she's discreetly leaving him food) and Kate has no concerns about Peter bringing an unknown woman to his apartment when he had every reason to believe Kate wouldn't be there (Jessica had accused Peter/Spider-Man of theft and Peter had to show her he didn't have the stolen goods in his rooms).
• Fastball Special: Spider-Man throws Daredevil at the Beetle, Daredevil uses the cable in his batons to neck-throw Beetle into the ground.
• Frame-Up: As part of his campaign against Spider-Man, Kraven the Hunter frames Spider-Man, White Widow and Hawkeye II for the murder of General Okoye; Kraven kills the general, steals her spear, and leaves it in a manner where the weapon will be claimed by his enemies so that they will be taken back to Wakanda for trial, allowing Kraven to sneak in after them.
• Fun T-Shirt: When he first visits her lab for the internship, Peter sees Dr. Connors in a tank top that reads "In the lab it's chemistry, in the garage it's a felony."
• Gender Flip: Peter is surprised to realise that his new professor, Doctor Catherine Connors, is almost certainly the ‘local’ Variant of the Lizard he fought with his Variants.
• Generation Xerox: When Alexei first witnesses Peter’s strength, he praises Yelena for getting together with a super-soldier just like her mother.
• Genre Savvy: After Peter is first attacked by Kraven, Kate assures Peter that bad guys with Kraven’s sense of drama wouldn’t attack Spider-Man again for at least a couple of days.
• Gone Horribly Right: Two of the side stories involve an amusing incident at Dr. Connors' lab and it's aftermath at Kate’s apartment. Peter used some free lab time Dr. Connors gave him to whip up a "health drink," because Yelena and Kate had asked him to start drinking pineapple juice so his release will taste better. Peter, hating pineapple juice, formulated a flavorless alternative he hoped would work just as well. Explaining this to Kate, he sheepishly asks for her assistance evaluating the results of the experiment. Smash Cut to Yelena entering the apartment four hours later to find Peter limp on the couch, begging Yelena for help as Kate sucks a fifth climax out of him because he tastes too good.
• Good Samaritan: The LARPers who helped Kate and Clint in the original series have become a semi-vigilante group essentially ‘led’ by Jack, taking care to only react in self-defence rather than go around actively fighting people. If they do encounter violent crime, they'll call the police instead of trying to handle it themselves, and mostly scare nonviolent criminals off with a police-siren sound effect. Their biggest adventures are usually finding lost dogs.
• Goofy Print Underwear: When Felicia first runs into Spider-Man, she says she's a fan, and laments that today is the day she didn't wear her spider-themed underwear. Peter chooses to believe she's joking, though it's rather heavily implied she isn't.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: A very odd variant. Peter eventually builds Kate a "web launcher arrow." The bulk of the arrow locks into her bow, as she draws back a shaft extends out of the main body, then when she fires web fluid is released at her target, sticking fast and creating a very strong rope. The arrow body includes a mechanism to reel the webline back in very quickly; since it's locked into her bow all she has to do is hold on tight to the bow, and she can ascend to great heights very quickly.
• Has a Type: Peter starts to wonder if this applies to him, since most of the girls he’s involved with have some kind of Cat Girl motif (Yelena acquired the White Tiger amulet, Felicia calls herself Black Cat, and Shuri’s ties to the Black Panther are obvious).
• Healing Factor: Peter has one he refers to as such, regenerating his wounds very effectively and quickly. For instance, a few days after a bomb goes off in his face, he's fully recovered with no lasting injuries.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: The only way Jessica Jones can deal with the Adorkable wholesomeness that is Peter and Kate's relationship.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Peter deals with an unexpected example of this when he's first confronted by Yelena regarding his intentions towards Kate. While Peter is reluctant to pursue a new relationship, Yelena informs him that she might want to be with Kate herself, but she also recognises that Kate wants to be with Peter, affirming that she would be happy to let Kate date Peter and herself if that's what Kate wants.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: When Alexei Shostakov reveals that he plans to form a counterpart team to the Avengers called "the Revengers", he's shocked when Peter informs him that there's already a team with that name that was assembled by Thor.
• Ignored Epiphany: Basically where Eleanor Bishop finds herself. Rather than taking being arrested and awaiting trial as a sign of how bad her decisions were and how much danger they placed her and her daughter in, Eleanor insists she did nothing truly wrong, trying to convince Kate "grease the wheels" to get her out, disapproving of Kate’s vigilantism, and finally threatening to take both Bishop Security and the family wealth away from Kate. In short, prison has not made Eleanor reflect and become a better person, it's made her worse.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During the fight with Kraven, Yelena impales him with a vibranium spear, but by that point the White Tiger amulet has driven him to such a state of madness that he doesn’t properly register the damage.
• Inner Monologue Conversation: Kate and Yelena have a silent conversation when Peter's awkward reaction after they suggest how other guys would jump at the idea of a relationship with both of them for the sake of sex at least suggests that he's a virgin. Yelena in particular observes (without saying a word) that Peter is young and doesn't seem the type to pressure anyone into anything, concluding with a sly smile from Yelena as she observes that virgins can be trained.
• Innocent Innuendo: Alexei insists on arm-wrestling Peter, to "take measure of his manhood!" Peter, Kate, and Yelena try valiantly to cruise right past the unfortunate phrasing.
• Insistent Terminology: Peter insists the arrangement he's in is a polyamorous relationship, not a harem. Or if it is a harem, it's Kate's harem, not his. The others are less keen on labels, though Kate is pretty firm that it's not an "open relationship," outward appearances to the contrary. (That is, the people involved aren't sleeping around willy-nilly, new partners can be added but it requires some level of consent from all currently involved).
• The Internet Is for Porn: Pepper asks that if Karen has any questions regarding sexuality, to talk to her. Karen reminds Pepper she has full access to the knowledge of the internet, and Pepper replies that's what worries her.
• Intimate Telecommunications:
  • Shuri does her own version of this when she joins the relationship; having upgraded Peter's phone with vibranium nanites, she can not only create a projection of herself to at least give the appearance of sharing a meal with the others, but also modify those nanites to form a vibrator to allow her to join in a subsequent sexual encounter long-distance.
  • Bizarrely, a text conversation about different types of macaroni and cheese devolves into what Kate deems "food smut" as Peter luridly describes his love of white cheddar (the old kind with elbow macaroni, not the new kind with shells).
• It's All My Fault: Peter has this attitude as always, most notably when he realises that thieves are still using Toomes’ equipment, reflecting that he should have known that someone else created the weapons while Toomes was the strategist.
• Kissing Under the Influence: Peter, Kate and Yelena's first kisses with each other all occur on a night out when Kate gets particularly drunk; first Kate kisses Yelena, then she kisses Peter, and then grabs the other two by the heads and makes them kiss each other (Peter and Yelena weren't as intoxicated, but went along with the unexpected twist at the time due to both being surprised, although they each agree to stop Kate taking it further than a kiss at this time).
• Lap Pillow: Peter and Kate are both awed when they realise that Yelena has been asleep in Kate’s lap for almost an hour, as it marks the first time they’ve truly seen Yelena sleeping, each speculating that this affirms that Yelena trusts them enough to be that vulnerable.
• Likes Older Women: To varying degrees, so far basically every girl Peter has become involved with is older than him, ranging from Kate, Shuri, and Felicia just being a few years older to Yelena and Catherine Connors being almost twice his age.
• Load-Bearing Hero: During his trip to Wakanda, Peter has to hold up a building on the brink of collapse after a rampaging rhino damages a support pillar, forced to hold this position for several hours until Shuri can assemble a new support and Yelena retrieve the White Tiger amulet to help lift the building further at the last minute.
• Love Confession: Peter and Kate first explicitly exchange ‘I love yous’ when Peter finds that Kate has been secretly leaving him food, and enjoy making a private moment of it at least partially to annoy Jessica Jones by making her wait. By contrast, Yelena simply brings it up in a conversation, observing that Americans feel a need to say things where she prefers to show it through her actions.
• Morality Chain: Peter serves as one for Yelena and Felicia in particular. While he accepts that Yelena in particular sometimes has to kill her opponents, such as when she killed Kraven so that she could use the White Tiger amulet to help Peter, he inspires both to recognise when they don’t have to go that far.
• Moving the Goalposts: After going to considerable lengths to acquire the strength to face Spider-Man, Kraven declares that he has no interest in facing his previously intended prey if the wall-crawler can’t survive the challenge of holding up a collapsing building, even though this feat of strength should have nothing to do with his skills as an opponent.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Felicia has this when her attempt to get away from the heroes with her bad luck amulet nearly causes a train accident.
• Myopic Architecture: Invoked when Shuri is questioning Peter, Yelena and Kate while all three are restrained on a table; when Peter actively tries to get out of his bonds, it reveals that while the restraints are made of vibranium, the table itself is less durable, allowing him to tear off chunks of the table even as the restraints remain around his wrists and ankles.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Delivering a pizza to Clint and Kate during the events of Hawkeye, a flustered Peter blurts "Pizza time!" then reflects that none of cooler, more mature Variants, especially Peter-2, would ever say something as stupid as "Pizza time".
  • At one point, Kate considers adjusting her superhero suit to include some holes around her arms and waist in the belief that it looks better and the practical issue that it would be less hot, a look based on her costume in the comics. However, Yelena points out that given that Kate is the most human of the group it’s actually better if she stays covered up for the protection.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Kate definitely likes Petter's intelligence (especially his help in chemistry class), but seeing him in a lab coat really does it for her. Yelena doesn't see the appeal, but when Kate tries explaining it to Felicia, Felicia is at least curious. Notably, Kate considers it inevitable that Dr. Connors would grow attracted to Peter, since she gets to see him in a lab coat all day.
• Never Gets Drunk: Like Steve Rogers, Peter's spider powers include an increased metabolism that means alcohol can't affect him, at least in anything shy of truly massive doses.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Kate is apologetic when she learns that Wendy got fired from the police for stealing the arrows from evidence. However, Wendy assures Kate that she’s happy with how things turned out, observing that the force wasn’t always welcoming to a gay black woman anyway, and adds that she knew and accepted such risks.
• Not What It Looks Like:
  • Played with. Peter and Kate are in a disused lab at ESU, brewing up web fluid, and Kate takes advantage to get "close" to Peter. Dr. Connors chooses that moment to discover them. When Peter blurts out "it's not what it looks like," Connors responds that it looks like they're illicitly using university resources for unsanctioned experiments, which is exactly what they're doing. After Kate leaves, Dr. Connors holds Peter back, noting that she saw that Peter and Kate were almost making out, but she only expresses concern that Kate might be manipulating Peter with promises of sex to get him to do favors for her and Spider-Man. When Peter assures her that isn't the case, Connors lets the matter drop.
  • Felicia walks into the Manhattan Fahrenheit server room as Spider-Man is downloading the client data, so he, Kate, Yelena, and Jessica can track down Jessica's mysterious burglar. Peter blurts "it's not what it looks like," to which Felicia replies it looks like he's downloading her employer's client list. Peter has to admit that, yeah, that's exactly what he's doing.
• Odd Friendship: Jessica and Yelena become friends and drinking buddies, not that Jessica will admit to the friends part. Yelena enjoys drinking with someone who can keep up with her (Peter, thanks to his spider powers, can't get drunk, and Kate's a lightweight). Jessica will just take any excuse to drink.
• Playing Drunk: Peter and Yelena end up doing this when Yelena drops in to invite Kate out for a few drinks while Peter’s already visiting Kate. Since Peter's metabolism allows him to process alcohol faster than normal, he initially pretends to be drunk to avoid drawing attention to himself, but after Kate's returned home Yelena reveals that she was also faking being drunk as she wanted to confirm Peter wasn't a threat to Kate (she had done background research and confirmed that Peter's identity documents were faked even if she doesn't know why they were faked).
• Polyamory: As the fic continues, Peter, Kate and Yelena’s relationship eventually expands to include Shuri and Felicia Hardy. Some characters jokingly refer to themselves as Peter's harem as they enjoy seeing him embarrassed, even as he tries to protest that the girls are also interested in each other rather than it just being about him (Yelena concedes that she joined for Kate but was quickly won over by Peter).
• Power is Sexy:
  • Alexei challenges Peter to arm-wrestling, bragging about being Russia's first and only super-soldier and warning Peter not to forfeit. Peter, fed up with a lot of things at this point, gives it his all. Alexei is thrown to the floor, Yelena’s table is smashed, and Yelena responds by grabbing Peter and passionately making out with him.
  • After Yelena get the White Tiger amulet, Peter notes the she didn't need to get more scary, "but it's kinda hot."
  • Yelena takes down and pins Jessica Jones (without the White Tiger amulet) and forces her to apologize for being mean to Kate and Peter. Once Yelena lets Jessica up, Kate is all over her. Their makeout session is so intense Peter and Jessica have to break it up so they can get on with their mission.
  • Their First Time, Kate asks Peter to use his super-strength to rip her clothes off. When he effortlessly does do with her jeans, she muses "this is a thing for me now." Peter advises they get cheaper, more disposable clothing for future instances.
• Promotion, Not Punishment:
  • Zig-Zagged. After Karen summons Kauf Kaul before she's ready, Wong notes her actions could have resulted in catastrophe and there must be consequences. He expels her from the sorcerers, but permits her to take a artifact and asks that she seek their help before trying to summon an eldritch deity again; the overall impression is less of Karen being expelled and more of her graduating.
  • Dr. Connors catches Peter and Kate in an unused ESU lab brewing up web fluid. After declining to call security after hearing their explanation, she talks over the web fluid and web shooters with Peter (unaware he's Spider-Man), and finally offers him an internship with her, recognizing his brilliance is not being fully utilized.
• Rape as Backstory: As in canon, Felicia Hardy is strongly implied to have been raped in the past. It's implied that Peter was as well, drawing on an obscure piece of comic book lore involving one Skip Westcott.
• Rhino Rampage: As part of an attack on Wakanda, Kraven provokes a rampage of the war rhinos, requiring Peter and T’Challa to help corrall the beasts.
• Running Gag: Shuri hacking the group chat and giving Peter in particular various embarrassing nicknames.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Kate is disturbed to find that this is part of the reason she’s been allowed to get away with her own vigilante activities, as her ties to Clint encourage police to make an exception for her where others like Spider-Man and Daredevil had to earn a reputation over time.
• Sex Bot: As Karen sees more news reports about Spider-Man being involved with other women, she takes steps to adjust her body so that she can offer him similar support, although Pepper talks with her to ensure Karen isn’t doing it for the wrong reasons.
• Sexy Secretary: While investigating robberies with Jessica Jones, Yelena infiltrates Manhattan Fahrenheit, a temp agency that basically specializes in offering these to potential employers.
• Shame If Something Happened: Doctor Catherine Connors is told that Peter will be hurt if she doesn’t assist the Hand in recreating a rare substance.
• Shout-Out:
  • As Peter and Kate stand at the top of Avengers Tower, when Peter asks Kate "Do you trust me?", she teases that he is "so just copying Aladdin right now", even if she agrees that she trusts him.
  • When Yelena is shown in her attire for a LARPing session, Peter and Kate compare her to Astrid of How to Train Your Dragon, and immediately vow to watch it once Yelena reveals she hasn’t seen it.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: After Yelena receives the White Tiger amulet, she upgrades her white costume to include black stripes along the arms and legs and white slashes on the black tactical vest. It also includes a tiger-like mask designed by Shuri, with tactical goggles that resemble cat ears when raised.
• So Crazy, It Must Be True:
  • When Karen first visits the New York Sanctum and introduces herself as Spider-Man’s former A.I. helper, Wong accepts the explanation because there’s no way someone would make up a claim like that.
  • When Peter tells Kate and Yelena about the circumstances that led to his identity being erased from the world's memory, Yelena observes that she has spent the last hour (during which Peter was recovering from injuries in a fire) running online searches for any background information on Peter, and between a magic spell and her skills being lacking she's willing to accept "magic spell" as an explanation for that lack of information.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike in canon, T’Challa is still alive.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • Yelena identifies Peter as Spider-Man based on how he pins her down after their first night out with Kate, as she observes that only one person held her down like that.
  • When helping Jessica investigate a break-in, Peter and Kate call on Shuri to examine claw marks and confirm that the marks weren’t made by T’Challa or Yelena (they affirm that they didn’t believe either party was committing such thefts, but it was worth making sure).
• Spy Catsuit: Yelena adopts the White Widow look as her regular ‘superhero’ attire, observing that since she’s going out with Peter/Spider-Man stealth isn’t really an issue in the field and all female superheroes wear suits that show off their bodies. The ‘cat’ part becomes more literal as she becomes the White Tiger.
• Super-Senses: Peter has these, in addition to his Spider-Sense. Daredevil, who also has super-senses, teaches Peter in the thick of combat how to hone and focus them to work in conjunction with his Spider-Sense to pinpoint a Hand ninja throwing knives at them.
• Take Up My Sword: During their visit to Wakanda, Peter lends T’Challa one of his webshooters to help them corrall rampaging rhinos. Later, after Yelena purifies the White Tiger amulet, T’Challa allows her to keep it despite the amulet being intended for the second protector of Wakanda, only asking that she use it for good.
• The Talk: Pepper finds herself in the unusual position of having to give one to the nanobot gynoid Karen, as Karen has realized she is not fully equipped to tend to all of Spider-Man's needs.
• Teacher/Student Romance: After Catherine Connors hires Peter as her intern, she swiftly finds herself acknowledging a deeper attraction to him.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: In order to ensure that a mystically-enhanced Kraven is dead, after he’s been sufficiently worn down in a fight with her and the Dora Milaje, Yelena shoots him in the head multiple times, with such precision that all of her shots hit the same spot; by the time she’s finished it’s possible to see through Kraven’s skull to the other side.
• Three-Way Sex: Peter, Kate and Yelena have a few moments of this in particular, such as Kate basically helping Yelena give Peter a blowjob, although for Peter and Kate's first time having actual sex it's just the two of them as Yelena isn't as comfortable with penetrative sex (she spends the night with Felicia while Shuri observes over a call).
• Tummy Cushion: At one point, Kate and Yelena do the more intimate version of this when the triad are resting in Yelena’s bed, as Yelena explicitly pulls Peter down so his head is resting on her cleavage and Kate offers Yelena a similar place to rest (they are all still wearing undergarments and pyjamas).
• Twerp Sweating: Alexei wants to do this to Peter, but Yelena will not allow it, and Kate is offended Alexei doesn't feel the need to do so for her.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: When Peter first tells Kate and Yelena about the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, while he stresses that his counterparts looked different from him, Kate nevertheless finds herself fantasising about the possibilities of three identical Peters.
• Uncanny Valley: Karen’s nanobot form is noted to be too perfect: skin and hair too smooth, face too symmetrical, eyes too brightly colored.
• Uptown Girl: Applies to Kate and Shuri in particular, considering that Kate’s family is so rich that burgers costing $30 are considered cheap and Shuri is the princess of the most powerful nation in the world.
• Vapor Wear: When Peter sees Dr. Connors in her more casual clothes in her lab, he valiant refuses to note that her bosom seems far less restrained than usual.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Yelena towards Kate and Peter, mostly Peter (thanks to good old Parker luck). When Yelena meets Jessica Jones, who's been her usual abrasive asshole self to Peter and Kate, Yelena insists Jessica apologize to them. When Jessica doesn't, Yelena takes her down and pins her (without using the White Tiger amulet) and refuses to let her up until she does. Later, Yelena is prepared to kill Felica for clawing Peter's face. Even later, when Felica comes to Yelena admitting that she got in another fight with Spider-Man, Yelena congratulates Felicia on walking to her death (she doesn't kill Felicia, but does sucker punch her in the gut).
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: When the heroes initially confront Felicia, she has an amulet that allows her to manipulate luck in her presence to help her get away from pursuers.
• Wolverine Claws: The White Tiger amulet gives its wearer green energy claws, capable of slicing through vibranium. After Yelena purifies the amulet, the claws become red.
• Workaholic: Dr. Connors works in her private lab alone, and is enthusiastic about bringing Peter on as an intern, because she could really use another set of hands (or, as she comments to herself, just one full set of hands). When Peter turns up Monday morning as instructed, he finds Connors has worked herself almost into a stupor, staggering around in a very unprofessional state of dress, unsure what time of day (or even what day) it is, and very nearly ready to pass out from exhaustion. She seems to alternate between thinking Peter's shown up early, he's right on time and she's lost track of it, and not recognizing him at all. Once Peter gets some coffee in her, she gets more lucid.
• Worthless Foreign Degree: The best description of Peter’s situation after the spell, as he literally lost all of his old academic qualifications so that he’s starting his education all over from scratch (he claims his records were lost in the post-Blip chaos). Fortunately, once he impresses one of his current professors, he’s given an opportunity to do more challenging work that uses his academic talents despite his qualification issues.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kate never says this to Peter and Yelena directly, but she tells Clint at one point that she recognises that the other two have various issues but she wants to help Peter realise that it’s OK to put himself first sometimes and get Yelena to accept that she can be more than the assassin she’s been in the past.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Invoked when the other Defenders notice Yelena and Felicia’s interaction; Daredevil observes that his enhanced senses make him aware of what’s going on and he doesn’t want to share that information with the others.
• You Remind Me of X: Watching Yelena’s resolve to carry out a tedious task — in this case, monitoring a potential super-villain base — prompts Shuri to compare her to Bucky, as once his programming was broken Bucky had a tendency to take on difficult tasks as a form of atoning for his old sins.
• Young and in Charge: It takes until chapter 33 for Peter to realise he’s basically the leader of the ‘team’ of him, Kate, Yelena and Felicia, as while Yelena is more experienced, Peter is the one better suited to keep them focused.

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