Nate Pritts, ENDLESS SUMMER

Ghosts do not forget. Neither does Loveday "LD" Teuling. Once the Girl Wonder of Queens, New York, LD was an amateur detective with the skill and sheer intuition of someone far beyond her years, using her natural intellect to solve neighbourhood crimes with her best friend, Jess. That was until he disappeared without a trace, leaving her completely and utterly alone—alone, save for her "gift".

Her gift—a blessing, depending on whom you asked, or a curse—is psychometry: to touch an object and recreate, relive, any significant event it has witnessed. In a way, this allows LD to return to her beautiful childhood, to bring back the memories, the feelings, she thought long gone.

But to bring back her childhood is to bring back her past. To bring back her past is to bring back her ghosts.

She tries to move on. She is eighteen when she loses Jess forever—years later, she waits for summer to end so she can finally leave New York City for law school interstate. In the interim, she's tried to be good; really, she has. But old habits die hard and before she can stop herself, LD finds herself starting a true crime podcast to pass the time—putting her skills and experience to good use, she begins to solve mysteries across the city, with a growing audience bearing witness to her sharp wits and sharper mind.

Part of this audience is Peter Parker—or, more accurately, the hero Spider-Man who has found himself at a dead end on one of the cases he's picked up when patrolling the city. When he tunes in to LD's podcast Kill Time, he discovers that the former wonder-kid has begun an investigation of her own into the same case—an investigation he has to admit has surpassed his. So he seeks out the part-time girl detective, hoping to form a partnership.

LD is not the girl she used to be. She is not the good, golden Loveday of her childhood; she has her whole life ahead of her and frankly she has no reason to help Spider-Man. Other than to alleviate her boredom, of course.

Because that, truth be told, is what LD is, what she always has been. Not good, not golden, but brilliant—and bored. And yes, she has her whole life ahead of her—law school, which leads to a law degree, which leads to a position at her district attorney daddy's office—but if she knows anything from her years of playing detective, it is that eventually, everything comes back to the past.

The past does not forget. Neither does LD Teuling, neither does Peter Parker, and neither do the ghosts that haunt them both.

TIMEFIGHTER

Suki Waterhouse  /  Loveday "LD" Teuling.
TIMEFIGHTER

it's a ghost story. is it frightening?
no, but it's a bit sad.

⌕

Adam Brody /  Peter Parker.
SPIDER-MAN

⌕

Jonah Hauer-King /  Jess Hunt
Billy Crudup / DA Wes Teuling
Halston Sage / Gwen Stacy
Ritu Arya / Jessica Jones
Will Sharpe / Harry Osborn

KILL TIME
with LD Teuling

featured in The New York Post &
The Daily Bugle

⌕ welcome to TIMEFIGHTER. this fic is set on EARTH-120703 / post-the amazing spider-man 2. it features an older!peter parker, who at this point in time is about twenty four or twenty five years old. 2023 edit: my older!peter is played by adam brody (BECAUSE! ADAM BRODY!) and the canon is more loosely based on the tasm movies as opposed to being a continuation of those movies. i will explain more later i guess?

⌕  first of all, i have to thank as well as acknowledge the lovely stxrmborn, whose fic inspired me to write an older version of peter. JAWBREAKER is an amazing (haha get it) story, and if the idea of an older peter appeals to you you should definitely check it out. the story hooks you almost immediately, and trust me it does not let you go. thank you again victoria for allowing me to take inspiration from you 🥺❤️

⌕  back to TIMEFIGHTER! this story is a love letter to the characters i loved growing up: nancy drew and the hardy boys. it's also a love letter to other media i've come to love, namely jessica jones and only murders in the building. the movie the kid detective was also a major influence on this story. i know nancy drew in the way i know her (the books/games, not the CW show) is relatively unknown on wattpad, but LD is very much modelled after her. the podcast aspect of her character is of course heavily inspired by omitb.

⌕  the development of lots of my characters, i've found, focus on the loss of childhood friendship and the grief that comes with it: sierra of CRUSH, lark of WITCH BURNING, spencer of AMERICAN ANIMALS. we don't have time to unpack that (or why it's such a reoccurring theme in all my writing) but it's again the focus of TIMEFIGHTER. LD's relationship with her past as the "girl wonder" is tied almost directly to her relationship with her missing best friend, jess. her era as offbrand-nancy drew ended the day her friendship with jess did.

⌕  peter's arc is slightly different, but it follows the same vein. he too is trapped in the past following the death of gwen. unlike LD, though, he has some extent of closure regarding gwen. LD still has no idea what happened to jess, and she's still too affected by her grief to make an(other) attempt to find out.

⌕  but peter and LD *will* help each other figure things out. their relationship is a little hard to describe; i would say it's inherently romantic even though they don't address it until later in the story. for now, all i can describe it as is coworkers-with-benefits. we'll figure this out as we go along.

⌕  LD's powers will also be explored throughout the story. she has psychometry, which allows her to relive the events witnessed by an object when she touches said object. although this of course gives her an advantage when solving cases, she still possesses the intellect and ability to solve them without her power. think of the ability as a hint hotline for when she's struggling in an investigation; it helps her along, but it doesn't undermine her skill.

⌕  the psychometry is of course, another excuse for me to include time travel-esque elements in my stories. time and the passage of it—as well as the trauma of it—is a major theme in TIMEFIGHTER. LD is out here beefing with clocks 🤜💥⏰ but yes, in seriousness, it is. peter of course has the root of his trauma tied to The Clocktower and LD's entire identity is linked to her ability to revisit the past. it's not quite BERENSTEIN, but it's close.

⌕  other dedications: elfaouly, for listening to me prattle on about this idea and endlessly supporting me (read: enabling me) when it came to it. the gotham knights (sweetjawregui / elysianfieId / metalbenders) for being amazing friends who support me in everything i do (or don't do, because i also have beef with clocks, but in the sense that i am chronically unproductive and they chronically rub it in my face.) to purehcroine, for endorsing our folie á deux. to soulofstaars, whom i'm so grateful that i've gotten closer with and pelides—love you longtime!

⌕ this is also dedicated to of course victoria (as mentioned above!) and shadowbxer whose character cast layout inspired mine. love you teddy!

© 2024 BAYPORTS