Sure. It's -- a little more complicated than the short version, but I got accused of plagiarizing my doctorate, which got revoked, and apparently it's a little embarrassing (who knew) for a newspaper to employ a science editor who's got a plagiarism scandal hanging over his head AND no doctorate.
The outcome wasn't undeserved.
Which means: jury's out on handsome and charming, but a guy's ego can only take so many blows.
I didn't take responsibility for something that I should have, which led to the accusation. So, honestly? It doesn't matter if I did or didn't, I still messed up.
[ doc ock completed peter's doctorate whilst in his body. it wasn't peter's doctorate at all :( so, not plagiarised but still NOT EXACTLY HARD EARNED. ]
Oh, man... That means I've got to try and be charming in person. I might have set myself up for failure, here.
Maybe, maybe not. Here I guess it’s more a case of acknowledgement, but even so I don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking the things that are important back home no longer matter.
My usual trick is to offer coffee as a distraction from the company, but unfortunately the coffee here can be best described as 'hot' comma 'liquid', further comma 'mildly caffeinated', so...
[ peter's not expecting a knock at his door, even if the question and ensuing silence implies that maybe, just maybe allie too lives in the invincible — which is the long way of saying that the knock makes him jump. he doesn't tend to spend a whole lot of time in his room, which means that he he either doesn't get that many visitors, or often isn't there when anyone comes to visit him.
there's a slight delay before he gets to the door — habit has him checking to make sure that anything that might give him away as spider-man is hidden out of sight (suit? shoved unceremoniously at the back of a drawer; webshooters? well, he's wearing those, underneath a long-sleeved t-shirt, and they're small enough that if someone does catch sight of them, he can laugh, awkwardly, and wave them off as fitness trackers he wears out of ... sentimental value? sure, maybe.)
blonde — teenager? young adult. shorter than he is, petite. does he recognise her? maybe, in a vague 'in passing' kind of way. his expression shifts from surprise to confusion to thought and then, possibly, realisation— ]
[ It had been a long time since Allie had done anything without agonizing over what could go wrong first. She didn't trust people, not because she was paranoid by nature but because her life leading up to Beacon had taught her she couldn't. There's no hesitation when she sees the room number on her device, however, Allie not even bothering to run her fingers through her long wavy hair in an attempt to look presentable. She simply acts, and it's only when she's standing outside his room that she begins to second guess herself.
Notably however, it's not Peter that has her shifting uncertainly at his door. It's the silence that immediately answers that knock. The movement she thinks she might hear in the room beyond but the lack of door opening has her thinking she may have crossed some invisible line. Especially in a place where things get weird before you have a chance to establish sense of normalcy.
Her weight shifts as she rocks from her heels to the balls of her feet. Allie glancing up the hallway then allowing her gaze to flit to her device. A grimace beginning to form and just as she's about to disappear back to her room? The door opens and a vaguely familiar face is staring at her.
Pulling in a steady breath, Allie opens her mouth to speak. The words stalling on her tongue as it sticks to the rood of her mouth. ]
After. [ The lines of anxiety that twisted her features smooth at as she exhales. The bare hint of a smile playing across her lips as she forces the tension out of her shoulders. ] If you add the milk first then the tea doesn't have a chance to steep.
[ That would be a yes. ]
I'm... in 206. So. [ Just in case you think she's a stalker now, Peter? She's not. Really. She swears. ]
[ there's a breath of a pause and peter eyes allie for one second, then two, and then he laughs — it's good-natured and not directed as her so much as all of it: the explanation about the tea, the slight hesitance and then the clarification that they're basically neighbours.
(what're the odds?)
he stops and runs a hand through his hair — it errs on the naturally messy side, something he'd, as a teenager, tried to combat with a little too much vigorous styling before eventually giving up on that venture. (there was no winning against mask hair.) ] Right. That makes sense. [ a beat and a quirk of a smile, and he shifts his weight to lean against the doorframe, expression shifting into something that manages to sit between self-awareness and mild consideration. ] I'm a scientist, I probably should've been able to figure that out — but maybe that's why I'm minus a doctorate and gainful employment.
[ another pause, and he looks almost sheepish, before: ] So, hey, I guess. I'm Peter. It's good to meet you in person. I think this is where I'm supposed to invite you for tea, but I'm going to guess you're well-acquainted with the offerings, so I don't know if it's an offer you're going to want to take me up on. Instead, I'll just segue into admitting I mostly drink the coffee because if I don't, I get grouchy.
[ It's funny how he manages to both be nothing at all and yet also exactly like what she expected. Everything from the messy hair to the easy way about him, despite her sudden appearance. ]
If it makes you feel better? I didn't know that. My sister - Cassandra? She knows everything. [ There's a beat that passes, a slight change in her features. ] Knew. [ Her correction followed by a too bright smile as if to distract from her words. ]
No! No... [ Grimacing a little over the fact that she's put him on the spot. ] You don't have to - invite me in - I.... [ It's not often she's in the position of feeling awkward or flustered but she can't help but consider how this might be. If situations were reversed? ] You know. When you said your room number. It felt like it would be weird to keep texting you when I was so close and at the time coming over seemed like it would be less awkward?
[ Her face wrinkles as she scrunches up her features, half squinting at him as she rocks back on her heels again.]
I'm starting to second guess that one right about now.
[ If she's being honest, however, it's not him that makes her feel off balance. It's more the simple act of meeting somebody new in a place like this. She's spent a little too much time up in her room, reaching out to others mainly through their tablets. She thought she'd shed the last of her social awkwardness back when they'd ended up in New Ham. Apparently not.
Exhaling a gust of air; ] Would you believe I'm usually much better at this?
spoilers for asm: family business / zdarsky's peter parker: spectacular spider-man
[ sister, she says, and peter almost asks if allie's older or younger, but then she catches herself and her expression shifts with the change in the tense. peter finds himself thinking, quite suddenly, of teresa and wonders if she's been made aware of his death-slash-disappearance — johnny had met her, but he can't imagine they shared contact details (after all, he'd left karnak in charge of watching her), and the fantastic four hadn't exactly been easy to reach of late.
maybe shield had—. (hngh.) ] From what I've managed to gather, I think that's a sister thing. [ pause; flash of consideration. ] Or a sibling thing, I wouldn't really know... [ he trails off, lifting a shoulder in a light shrug. the situation with teresa was odd in that they were both adults, in that they'd both grown up without their biological parents — teresa entirely, whilst peter had only been left with a handful of memories. they were siblings, but they knew so little about each other that the dynamic wasn't quite there. he can't imagine what it must be like for allie, being here and presumably having lost someone she was close to. ]
Oh, boy— No, I— [ he cringes when she grimaces, and he holds his hands up. (real smooth, parker.) ] I meant downstairs. [ he points, vaguely, at the floor, as if 'downstairs' isn't quite clear enough, because he absolutely did not mean for his first comment to have come across like that.
(oy.) ]
I'd say I'm normally much worse, but all else being equal, inadvertently inviting you into my room has got to have lost me some points on the thumbs-up thumbs-down charm rating, so...
Want to start again? [ he holds a hand back up, and waves it, ever so slightly, the corners of his lips quirking up in a smile. ] Hi, Allie, I'm Peter. My three favourite things are: the Mets, wheatcakes, and those little fruit rolls that you can only find in bodegas; yes, my username is my surname because I do miss hearing the dulcet tones of my former boss saying my name in a tone specifically designed to ask why I want another advance on my salary, and my aunt says I'm charming and handsome, so it's gotta be true, right?
So, yours was an overachieving perfectionist as well? [ There's nothing but warmth in her words, however. Her smile sincere despite the slight wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth brought on by an emotional strain she can't fully conceal. The shadow cast by Cassandra may have been long, but she never felt less than for standing in it. She doubted anyone felt that way when they were sure they were in the presence of greatness. If Cassandra were here, they wouldn't be worrying about how to make it through with fewer supplies. She would have already created and enacted a plan and the incident with the Ferry would have been stopped before it even began. Even at eighteen, she was that great a leader.
Understanding causes her features to slacken, Allie cringing this time for her own stupidity and she's beginning to wonder if this friendship might have been easier if they agreed never to meet in person. ]
Technically I think I just inadvertently invited myself into your room, so? I'm firmly in the negative.
[ They're both so smooth. ]
Yes. [ So much yes on the starting again.
It's his easy way of being able to roll with it that has any unease at her own awkwardness melting away. Allie smiling in spite of herself as he 'starts again' and despite the way she pulls her sleeves over the heels of her palms like a little kid trying to lose herself in her sweater? It's hard to imagine she's anything but charmed with the way her smile widens the more he speaks...
and yet. ]
Mets? [ Her nose wrinkling again. ] If you'd said Yankees not only would you have earned an immediate thumbs down but we never could have spoken again, so I guess it could have been worse - but still. I might have to start calling you Parker in protest.
[ Sure. Let's talk about Baseball. And when they're done with that they can move onto the weather! Whatever saves her from having to either agree with his Aunt's assessment of him or lie. ]
I—. [ he starts to reply before he's had chance to think about his answer. it's complicated isn't really an answer; it definitely isn't an answer anyone normally gives to questions like that (do they?). "we actually only met for the first time fairly recently, I don't know" is an answer, but that's just a longer version of 'it's complicated.' ] Yeah, I guess she is. [ a breath of a pause, and he's aware, quite suddenly, of the slight edge of evasiveness (nothing new for him), but— ]
She's followed in our parents' footsteps, [ he admits, after a moment. it's accompanied by a flash of hesitation, like he's about to leave it there, but then— past tense, allie had stuck with past tense for her sister. there's an honesty in that, and he doesn't miss the way that allie's expression tightens just a little bit. so— ]
We didn't know them. We didn't know each other until recently, but she's— [ a quirk of his lips; it's a warm smile, with genuine fondness. the way that he says that they didn't know them is just a statement of fact, like it was that long ago that it's stopped bothering him. for as much as he can, he's moved on from the hurt and the anger and the confusion — he'd had ben and may, and for whatever else, he'd also had a degree of closure. ] —she's really great, you know? And she's managed to avoid becoming a national disgrace, so there's that.
—I think I'm a pretty low bar, in all honesty.
[ but then allie mentions the yankees and peter pulls a face. ] —If we're sticking with the theory that this is purgatory, supporting the Yankees would definitely be the sin that'd get me sent here. I don't know if I could live with myself, let alone... My uncle would've been so disappointed. Disgusted, even. I think I'd've been disowned.
[ none of that. none of that would have actually happened, but that doesn't mean he's not going to pass up an opportunity to air his offence at the mere thought of being a yankees fan. at the thought of being called parker, though, he laughs. ]
Oh, man, all of my exes call me 'Parker' when they're annoyed with me, or when I'm spacing out and not really... [ 'listening' is what the look of sheepishness says. mj had gotten pretty good at recognising the difference between generic 'peter has his mind elsewhere' and the slightly more-frequent 'oh, great, that look of distraction is thanks to his spidey-sense'. one would be accompanied by his full name, the other just his surname. it'd taken him a while to cotton on to, and he's still not sure he always notices, because he's pretty sure there's occasionally a 'peter' thrown in for good measure.
maybe it'd mostly been when things had been difficult between them? ] I'd say you'd be in good company calling me that, but that sounds a little weird, so I'll go with: you'll be in frequently exasperated, but I totally get why company.
[ A million questions all fight for dominance in her head but she knows better than to give them voice. There were just some things you didn't ask about, instead allowing them to come up when the other person was ready. Perhaps there was also the knowledge that in asking questions, she'd be opening herself up to the same and as much as Allie liked Peter already? There were just some subjects she'd avoided, for even longer than she'd been here.
Her mouth opens, Allie immediately wanting to argue with him when he slips into self-deprecation. The words dancing on the tip of her tongue before she can smother them by pressing her lips together. She didn't know him well enough to be able to argue that he was wrong but she knows her own choices well enough to know one thing for certain. ]
I don't think anyone would look great if we judged them by their worst mistakes. [ Maybe he was, as he said, a national disgrace but she didn't need to talk to him for too long to see he was a good person. The kind of person who actually spoke well of ex-girlfriends, something she could honestly say she'd ever encountered before. ]
You mean, throwing me in with your exes before you even know my last name? [ The widening of her smile and playful tone hopefully assuring him that she's teasing. ] What do you prefer to be called?
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[ In other words. Yep. She'd been joking. Clearly it had backfired. ]
Can I ask what happened?
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The outcome wasn't undeserved.
Which means: jury's out on handsome and charming, but a guy's ego can only take so many blows.
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[ It's not a question because for whatever reason, she doesn't automatically believe he did. ]
For what it's worth? The charm translates through text. I can't speak to the other but I'm happy to pretend I can for your ego's sake if that helps?
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[ doc ock completed peter's doctorate whilst in his body. it wasn't peter's doctorate at all :( so, not plagiarised but still NOT EXACTLY HARD EARNED. ]
Oh, man... That means I've got to try and be charming in person. I might have set myself up for failure, here.
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[ She's catching on with a lot of things that seem out there by her worlds standards but even that would be a leap for her to comprehend. ]
I guess you better start practicing then.
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That sounds like you’re going to score me.
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[ Look. Tone is hard in text but emotes help. She hopes. ]
I'll make it easy. A simple thumbs up or thumbs down. How about that?
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...Maybe it's part of my ploy to seem relatably self-deprecating on top of handsome and charming?
[ don't call him out like that! GOSH. ]
Hoo boy, that's very cutthroat. No 1-10, with room for improvement?
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Maybe she just thinks you need to take a compliment. ]
I'd offer to grade on a curve but I think that's making it too easy for you.
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I'm sure you're going to do just fine.
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So: thanks for the compliment-slash-tip. I guess we’ll see how much of this turns out to be an insidious ruse.
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I look forward to it. I think? ;)
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Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
I'm in the Invincible if you need anything.
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[ Just. Give her a moment here. ]
What floor?
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2nd. 208.
How could I not?
L A U G H S
there's a slight delay before he gets to the door — habit has him checking to make sure that anything that might give him away as spider-man is hidden out of sight (suit? shoved unceremoniously at the back of a drawer; webshooters? well, he's wearing those, underneath a long-sleeved t-shirt, and they're small enough that if someone does catch sight of them, he can laugh, awkwardly, and wave them off as fitness trackers he wears out of ... sentimental value? sure, maybe.)
blonde — teenager? young adult. shorter than he is, petite. does he recognise her? maybe, in a vague 'in passing' kind of way. his expression shifts from surprise to confusion to thought and then, possibly, realisation— ]
—Allie?
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Notably however, it's not Peter that has her shifting uncertainly at his door. It's the silence that immediately answers that knock. The movement she thinks she might hear in the room beyond but the lack of door opening has her thinking she may have crossed some invisible line. Especially in a place where things get weird before you have a chance to establish sense of normalcy.
Her weight shifts as she rocks from her heels to the balls of her feet. Allie glancing up the hallway then allowing her gaze to flit to her device. A grimace beginning to form and just as she's about to disappear back to her room? The door opens and a vaguely familiar face is staring at her.
Pulling in a steady breath, Allie opens her mouth to speak. The words stalling on her tongue as it sticks to the rood of her mouth. ]
After. [ The lines of anxiety that twisted her features smooth at as she exhales. The bare hint of a smile playing across her lips as she forces the tension out of her shoulders. ] If you add the milk first then the tea doesn't have a chance to steep.
[ That would be a yes. ]
I'm... in 206. So. [ Just in case you think she's a stalker now, Peter? She's not. Really. She swears. ]
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(what're the odds?)
he stops and runs a hand through his hair — it errs on the naturally messy side, something he'd, as a teenager, tried to combat with a little too much vigorous styling before eventually giving up on that venture. (there was no winning against mask hair.) ] Right. That makes sense. [ a beat and a quirk of a smile, and he shifts his weight to lean against the doorframe, expression shifting into something that manages to sit between self-awareness and mild consideration. ] I'm a scientist, I probably should've been able to figure that out — but maybe that's why I'm minus a doctorate and gainful employment.
[ another pause, and he looks almost sheepish, before: ] So, hey, I guess. I'm Peter. It's good to meet you in person. I think this is where I'm supposed to invite you for tea, but I'm going to guess you're well-acquainted with the offerings, so I don't know if it's an offer you're going to want to take me up on. Instead, I'll just segue into admitting I mostly drink the coffee because if I don't, I get grouchy.
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If it makes you feel better? I didn't know that. My sister - Cassandra? She knows everything. [ There's a beat that passes, a slight change in her features. ] Knew. [ Her correction followed by a too bright smile as if to distract from her words. ]
No! No... [ Grimacing a little over the fact that she's put him on the spot. ] You don't have to - invite me in - I.... [ It's not often she's in the position of feeling awkward or flustered but she can't help but consider how this might be. If situations were reversed? ] You know. When you said your room number. It felt like it would be weird to keep texting you when I was so close and at the time coming over seemed like it would be less awkward?
[ Her face wrinkles as she scrunches up her features, half squinting at him as she rocks back on her heels again.]
I'm starting to second guess that one right about now.
[ If she's being honest, however, it's not him that makes her feel off balance. It's more the simple act of meeting somebody new in a place like this. She's spent a little too much time up in her room, reaching out to others mainly through their tablets. She thought she'd shed the last of her social awkwardness back when they'd ended up in New Ham. Apparently not.
Exhaling a gust of air; ] Would you believe I'm usually much better at this?
spoilers for asm: family business / zdarsky's peter parker: spectacular spider-man
maybe shield had—. (hngh.) ] From what I've managed to gather, I think that's a sister thing. [ pause; flash of consideration. ] Or a sibling thing, I wouldn't really know... [ he trails off, lifting a shoulder in a light shrug. the situation with teresa was odd in that they were both adults, in that they'd both grown up without their biological parents — teresa entirely, whilst peter had only been left with a handful of memories. they were siblings, but they knew so little about each other that the dynamic wasn't quite there. he can't imagine what it must be like for allie, being here and presumably having lost someone she was close to. ]
Oh, boy— No, I— [ he cringes when she grimaces, and he holds his hands up. (real smooth, parker.) ] I meant downstairs. [ he points, vaguely, at the floor, as if 'downstairs' isn't quite clear enough, because he absolutely did not mean for his first comment to have come across like that.
(oy.) ]
I'd say I'm normally much worse, but all else being equal, inadvertently inviting you into my room has got to have lost me some points on the thumbs-up thumbs-down charm rating, so...
Want to start again? [ he holds a hand back up, and waves it, ever so slightly, the corners of his lips quirking up in a smile. ] Hi, Allie, I'm Peter. My three favourite things are: the Mets, wheatcakes, and those little fruit rolls that you can only find in bodegas; yes, my username is my surname because I do miss hearing the dulcet tones of my former boss saying my name in a tone specifically designed to ask why I want another advance on my salary, and my aunt says I'm charming and handsome, so it's gotta be true, right?
spoil away always <3
Understanding causes her features to slacken, Allie cringing this time for her own stupidity and she's beginning to wonder if this friendship might have been easier if they agreed never to meet in person. ]
Technically I think I just inadvertently invited myself into your room, so? I'm firmly in the negative.
[ They're both so smooth. ]
Yes. [ So much yes on the starting again.
It's his easy way of being able to roll with it that has any unease at her own awkwardness melting away. Allie smiling in spite of herself as he 'starts again' and despite the way she pulls her sleeves over the heels of her palms like a little kid trying to lose herself in her sweater? It's hard to imagine she's anything but charmed with the way her smile widens the more he speaks...
and yet. ]
Mets? [ Her nose wrinkling again. ] If you'd said Yankees not only would you have earned an immediate thumbs down but we never could have spoken again, so I guess it could have been worse - but still. I might have to start calling you Parker in protest.
[ Sure. Let's talk about Baseball. And when they're done with that they can move onto the weather! Whatever saves her from having to either agree with his Aunt's assessment of him or lie. ]
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She's followed in our parents' footsteps, [ he admits, after a moment. it's accompanied by a flash of hesitation, like he's about to leave it there, but then— past tense, allie had stuck with past tense for her sister. there's an honesty in that, and he doesn't miss the way that allie's expression tightens just a little bit. so— ]
We didn't know them. We didn't know each other until recently, but she's— [ a quirk of his lips; it's a warm smile, with genuine fondness. the way that he says that they didn't know them is just a statement of fact, like it was that long ago that it's stopped bothering him. for as much as he can, he's moved on from the hurt and the anger and the confusion — he'd had ben and may, and for whatever else, he'd also had a degree of closure. ] —she's really great, you know? And she's managed to avoid becoming a national disgrace, so there's that.
—I think I'm a pretty low bar, in all honesty.
[ but then allie mentions the yankees and peter pulls a face. ] —If we're sticking with the theory that this is purgatory, supporting the Yankees would definitely be the sin that'd get me sent here. I don't know if I could live with myself, let alone... My uncle would've been so disappointed. Disgusted, even. I think I'd've been disowned.
[ none of that. none of that would have actually happened, but that doesn't mean he's not going to pass up an opportunity to air his offence at the mere thought of being a yankees fan. at the thought of being called parker, though, he laughs. ]
Oh, man, all of my exes call me 'Parker' when they're annoyed with me, or when I'm spacing out and not really... [ 'listening' is what the look of sheepishness says. mj had gotten pretty good at recognising the difference between generic 'peter has his mind elsewhere' and the slightly more-frequent 'oh, great, that look of distraction is thanks to his spidey-sense'. one would be accompanied by his full name, the other just his surname. it'd taken him a while to cotton on to, and he's still not sure he always notices, because he's pretty sure there's occasionally a 'peter' thrown in for good measure.
maybe it'd mostly been when things had been difficult between them? ] I'd say you'd be in good company calling me that, but that sounds a little weird, so I'll go with: you'll be in frequently exasperated, but I totally get why company.
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Her mouth opens, Allie immediately wanting to argue with him when he slips into self-deprecation. The words dancing on the tip of her tongue before she can smother them by pressing her lips together. She didn't know him well enough to be able to argue that he was wrong but she knows her own choices well enough to know one thing for certain. ]
I don't think anyone would look great if we judged them by their worst mistakes. [ Maybe he was, as he said, a national disgrace but she didn't need to talk to him for too long to see he was a good person. The kind of person who actually spoke well of ex-girlfriends, something she could honestly say she'd ever encountered before. ]
You mean, throwing me in with your exes before you even know my last name? [ The widening of her smile and playful tone hopefully assuring him that she's teasing. ] What do you prefer to be called?
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