you've heard of starker, now get ready for spidony

“I resent that phrase.” Tony quips lightly, as sweat rolls off his body. “And I am not-“ he sets down the bench press, “-whipped.”

Nat raises her eyebrows, casting her gaze across the gym. “So, you’re telling me that this extra working-out isn’t for Peter?”

“Peter loves my body just the way it is, thank you very much.”

“Then why are you in the gym?”

“What if I’m just trying to get healthy? I have a new 22 year old ballerina boyfriend, maybe I’m just inspired.”

Natasha frowns at him, her gaze dragging over his figure, before shaking her head. “Nope, sorry, don’t buy it. The Tony I know loves scotch and cigars. Tell me the truth.” She turns to look menacingly at the boxing ring. “Don’t make me beat it out of you.”

Tony sighs, collapsing in a heap on one of the benches. “I’m trying to work off a little pent up energy.”

“Stress?”

He winces. “No, not stress exactly. Just- look, it doesn’t matter, it’s-“

He feels the warm presence of Natasha by his side, and can feel her expectant glare boring into the side of his head, so he sighs and lets it out: “Pete thinks we should wait to have sex, and I agree, so I’m just- I haven’t had sex in a while…”

There’s silence for a beat, before Natasha bursts into fits of laughter and Tony rolls his eyes. He’s a goddamn 45 year old man and-

“I take it back. You’re worse than whipped- oh my god, he’s got you right around his finger- I have to give him credit!“ She screams between fits of laughter. “The Tony Stark- sex god, and you’ve been dating for like three months!”

“We’re taking it slow,” he scolds lightly, “besides, Peter’s different. If he- I want to wait.”

She softens a little at that. “Well, that’s good. He’s sweet. And beautiful.”

Tony groans. “He is beautiful. I need to do another set of sit ups.”

Natasha laughs. “I’ll spot you.”

*** “And what’s really beautiful about this sequence is that those two dancers are doing the exact same dance- but Miguel is doing it in reverse, as a reflection on their characters,” Peter murmurs, snuggled up against his boyfriend on the couch.

Tony hums. The dance is pretty, sure. But he’s only really interested when he’s watching Peter on stage. Besides, it’s hard to focus when his boyfriend is pressed up against him smelling of strawberries and the chocolate cake he had for dessert.

Peter peaks up at him through his tumbling locks, face so close that Tony can’t help but lean down and kiss him gently. Peter smiles against him, before pulling back. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?” He asks innocently, and Tony wraps his arm around the boy’s slender waist and noses at his temple.

“It’s fine, sweetheart. I mean, I don’t have a thousand dollar bet on the ballet.”

Peter giggles, before reaching for the remote. “You don’t have to watch this stuff for me, Tony,” he says sweetly, and Tony’s heart bursts with fondness. “We’re a team. We should do stuff we both like.”

Tony grits his teeth a little. There are lots of things he’d like to do with Peter. One specifically. His hand on Peter’s waist catches a little sliver of skin from where his t-shirt has ridden up, and Tony just wants to drag the boy onto his lap and ravish him and-

“Baby, listen, there was something I wanted to talk to you about,”

Peter looks up brightly, wetting his soft plush lips. “What’s up?”

How best to do it? He can’t think of tactful way- and besides, actions speak louder than words- so he cups Peter’s face in his hands and kisses him.

Peter makes a pleased sound of surprise, and before long Tony has him pressed into the couch, one hand snaking up his shirt and the other curled firmly around his waist. Peter’s hands are tangled in his hair, and he’s moving his hips in a way that should be illegal when-

“Wait, Tony,” he breathes, lips red and cheeks flushed-

Tony peppers kisses up his throat. He’s painfully hard already- it’s been so long since-

“Tony,” Peter says again, and he pecks Tony’s nose with a sweet little kiss. Tony bites back a groan. How can this boy be so Disneyesque? Like a little princess, but at the same time he’s so flexible and- “Tony,” he whispers again, and his hands are on Tony’s belt and Tony feels his brain fry a little. “I know we said we wanted to wait, but- I- I want you,”

He can’t hold back his smile, and lets his teeth graze over Peter’s pulse point- already thinking about hoisting him up and carrying him to the bedroom when-

“That’s why you need to make the decision,’ he finishes, and Tony frowns.

He pulls back a little in confusion. “Wait, what?”

Peter half sits up, sweet and trusting, “if you think we’re ready, Tony, I trust you. If you think our relationship should get stronger first- I’m with you too. I just can’t be impartial anymore.” He leans up to nuzzle Tony’s scruff. “You’re too sexy.”

“Well, hell, Pete,” Tony mutters, flushed warm all over by the compliment, and awed by the trust. “I can’t- have you seen you? I can’t- I want it too and…”

Peter blinks up at him, adoring and sweet and-

“Fuck,” Tony sighs, pulling away. Because Peter is different. And Tony doesn’t do relationships- he dates models and actors and singers, the occasional porn star, but Peter is- Peter- “We should wait.” He decides, even as his cock calls him a traitor.

Peter beams, “we can make pancakes and then you can show me who you bet on!”

tony stark:

There is no “pre-patriarchal” version of the Persephone myth where she rules the Underworld on her own and Hades isn’t present.

There is no “pre-patriarchal” version of the Persephone myth where she rules the Underworld on her own and Hades isn’t present.

Please stop spreading this crap and misinforming people.

http://tehomet.net/persephone.html

Oh wow, you read a website.

Now can you tell me the ancient sources that this story is referring to. Or at least some sources that are peer-reviewed and written by Classics PhDs.

The only source that states a “Persephone wonders down to the Underworld” tale is written by Charlene Spretnak in 1992 who, by her own admission, rewrote the myths so that her four year old daughter could read them and gain an interest in mythology. The tale is in itself a beautiful tale, but is a modern invention.

The actual tale of “Hades and Persephone” is found in Hesiod’s Theogony and The Homeric Hymn To Demeter.

Persephone’s empowerment came from the fact that her husband loved her so much that, despite living in a patriarchal society, he ensured that the would be his equal in everything. Besides this, the tale was written for women as it details the struggles that women faced then.

Persephone was quite often the goddess that many would call upon for aid. The tale of Orpheus is an excellent example of how they ruled together and made decisions together, with Persephone being able to persuade him to change his mind.

Ancient Athenian wedding preparations began under cover of night with the bride being ‘abducted’ to the groom’s house in a chariot. The groom would give the bride gifts, and the families would feast together. During the ceremony, the bride would eat a piece of fruit given to her by her husband, typically an apple or pomegranate, to signify that her needs were now going to be provided for by her husband. Later, after the ceremony, the marriage was consummated.

In the myths, Zeus had earlier promised Hades his choice of wife since he was given the Underworld as his lot. Hades desired Persephone as his bride and arranges the marriage with Persephone’s father. 

He presents a gift to her (the narcissus flower in the field of Nysa) and after Persephone accepts it by pulling it from the earth, he takes her into his chariot to bring her with him to her new home. 

He gives her further honours once she gets to the Underworld to show his commitment and love for her Persephone eats pomegranate seeds given to her by Hades, signifying that she is bound to Hades as his wife. 

Scholars believe that it was after the seeds, that Hades and Persephone consummated the marriage before Persephone went to see Demeter to assure her that she was all right. 

The stretch of time between Kore’s transformation into Persephone is anywhere from a couple months to a year in the hymn— nine days between Demeter’s search and finding out from Hecate and Helios that Aidoneus had carried away her daughter, and the few months to a year she spends in Eleusis at her newly-built temple the Telesterion refusing to speak with the Olympians.

Even when Persephone is recounting her stay to her mother, she says nothing about ravishment, or rape, or seduction.  Not a single word, whereas the writers would have made that abundantly clear in other texts about the abductions of other women. Basically there is no real evidence that she was ill-treated, abused, raped or in general badly treated by Hades; in fact, the HHTD directly mentions that Persephone was a guest of honour in Hades’ household.  

Hades gets the bad rap in modern society even though he was the only Greek god who remained faithful to his wife because he became a Satan analogue after the rise of Christian monotheism and trinitarianism.

The original myth was a warning parable and morality tale of sorts, meant for its ancient audience… a morality parable that no longer resonates with modern society because women are no longer the property of their father or husband. 

The moral of the story is this: you should respect and consult with your wife and speak with your daughter before marrying her off, otherwise life at home will be a living hell, not just for the father, but also the new husband.

Demeter makes Zeus’ life very difficult because he did not consult her in his choice of husband for Persephone. She sends a blight on all of Zeus’ worshippers until he fixes what he did without her consent. 

Likewise, Persephone unwittingly accepted the marriage proposal of Hades without knowing that she had been given to him and resisted being taken away to be his wife. However, once she realizes how genuine Hades’ love is for her, as seen when he gives her the gift of equality in both rulership and marriage, as well as a portion of his own timai (honor) the honor bestowed upon him by mortals, she comes to the decision to accept the pomegranate seeds, thereby accepting his offer as a husband. The acceptance of the seeds in myth is a code for sexual intercourse since this was the last gift offering by the groom before consummating his marriage with the bride.

Once Persephone is with Demeter again, she lies about the pomegranate seeds, telling her mother that Hades ‘forced’ her to eat them, though we already know that all he did was slip her the pomegranate and she accepted in secret before she was about to be taken away. 

This is despite the fact that Hades gave her the chance to leave and never have to see her again and well, she had plenty of reasons to accept his marriage.

Intriguingly enough, there are Ancient sources that support Persephone loving Hades.

Virgil, Georgics 1. 36 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.)

“Tartarus hopes not for you [Caesar in the guise of Hades] as king, and may such monstrous lust of empire never seize you, though Greece is enchanted by the Elysian fields, and Proserpine reclaimed cares not to follow her mother.”

–> Persephone prefers to stay with Hades than returning to her mother.

Ovid, Metamorphoses, X:

Orpheus singing to Hades and Persephone:

“If able, I would bear it, I do not deny my effort—but the god of Love has conquered me—a god so kindly known in all the upper world. We are not sure he can be known so well in this deep world, but have good reason to conjecture he is not unknown here, and if old report almost forgotten, that you stole your wife is not a fiction, Love united you the same as others.”

–> Just like in Metamorphoses V, love is shown as something that unites two persons. More specifically, it is directly mentioned by Orpheus that Hades and Persephone are united in love.

Lucan, Pharsalia, VI:

The witch Erichtho calls upon the Underworld deities to allow her to bring back a dead person.

“…to Persephone who shuns her mother in heaven…”

“… I shall tell the world the nature of that food which confines Persephone beneath the huge weight of earth, the bond of love that unites her to the gloomy king of night, and the defilement she suffered, such that her mother would not call her back.”

–> Persephone is directly mentioned to have a dislike towards her mother, Demeter, and is specifially mentioned to have a bond of love with Hades. The so-called ‘defilement’ is a direct reference to the pomegrante and the loss of her virginity (In that time period, a virgin having sex was referred to as “defilement”).

Claudian, Rape of Proserpina

The brief summary of this is that while Hades is taking Persephone to the Underworld, a terrified Persephone cries and laments her fate. But Hades feels genuine remorse for the fact that he had to abduct her and comforts Persephone by wiping away her tears and swearing to her a good marriage. Immediately after this happens, Hades is no longer a gloomy and frightening figure to Persephone but is instead a cheerful and kind god. Persephone immediately perks up once she is aware of her situation (she is simply getting married), and a beautiful and joyful wedding is held at the underworld.

It’s a shame that Claudian never managed to finish his tale because it’s a beautiful take and directly hints at the fact that Hades and Persephone had children as this theme is brought up several times.

Lucian’s Dialogues of the dead

A man asks Hades permission to go back to life and he refuses constantly until Persephone gives a suggestion. Persephone addresses Hades as “my husband” and he says “Since it’s Persephone’s pleasure (I grant the favor)” or “I cannot refuse a lady”.

–> Despite the short dialogue, we can easily see that Hades and Persephone are depicted as possessing a peaceful marriage and are presented as a couple who rule with equal power, unlike the dialogues of Zeus and Hera where she actually cries for the things Zeus does to her (cheating).

And we can see generally, from the vase paintings or other texts (like Aristophanes Frogs) that the Greeks were in the belief that Hades and Persephone marriage was ideal. And in several religious cults, and in some cities, they would be the divine parallel of what an ideal marriage should be.

In the depictions (literary, artistic, etc.) where Hades and Persephone are shown together, they are always shown to be happy. Persephone is never portrayed as a miserable wife and Hades is never portrayed as a cruel husband. Hades and Persephone were idealized by ancient Greek women themselves.

lil morgan stark wants to learn ballet and tony, always trying to one-up his ex, enrolls her in a prestige dance school where he meets her teacher, Peter Parker, a former principal dancer with ABT. Tony, being a good dad, takes morgan to all her ballet classes and performances and almost immediately finds himself smitten with Peter, with the way he handles kids - his kid - so well, the way his body moves when he teaches, the way the french terms roll off his lips, how he looks in a pair of tights…. 

So, I normally take around forever to fill a prompt (I have about 20? And I’ve been dead past couple months) but! This one hit me cause I’ve been in such a sad/angsty/fluff mood so here we go.

Notes:  edging, hurt/comfort, praise kink (?) fluff, probably tons of typos cause 5am…

Length: 2.5k

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Peter has had the biggest crush on Mr. Stark since he first lays eyes on him. Inexperienced and a bit naive, Peter never thinks that Tony would reciprocate his feelings. That’s okay, Peter knows Tony’s way out of his league so it’s just nice to fantasize. Maybe just look at the older man and admire everything about him.

His commanding presence. His devil may care smile. Even the hints of silver at his temples makes Peter’s heart quicken and his cheeks flush.

So, he never thinks that while he’s looking at the older man that Tony would ever look back at him.