the spider whisperer

People [chapter 18]

Peter shook the large man in front of him's hand. His heart was beating so much faster, so much louder, than normal. He had been given limited information on this guy. There were only pictures and Aidan's words to go off of. But the giant was so much bigger and so much stronger than what he'd been told.

This plain guy was sure as hell going to give him a run for his money if they were to fight right then and there.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, sir," Peter gave an award winning smile. He had that power to give the most confident of grins even in compromising situations. Such as the very one he was in now.

The man squeezed Peter's hand just the slightest bit tighter, making the teenager flinch slightly, "The pleasure's all mine."

There was a hostility in his voice. This man knew so much more than he was letting on. Maybe he knew Peter lied about not having a clue as to what this company was really behind. Or maybe it was that he knew about Peter's other identity. But as far as Peter knew, only one other person knew, and that was the girl who was telling him exactly what to say and do in the present moment.

"I should really get going now. Have a nice day, sir," Peter charmed his way out. He was given a curt nod before he made his way out of the room.

Any normal person would've left and then evaluated their performance during their interview. But since when was Peter Parker normal? He, instead, went straight to the bathroom on that level. He slipped out of his clothes and pulled his mask over his head. Peter then jumped up into the vents, pushing his clothes to the side and making a mental note to go back and get them later.

"Still able to see, Sunshine?" Peter whispered as he silently crawled his way through the ventilation system. He was headed straight back to the office he'd just left a few seconds ago.

"Yeah," she mumbled, her eyes darting in between the three girls that had just entered the café and her computer screen. "Listen, Peter, I might not be able to talk to you at all for the next few minutes. I'm leaving the place I got lunch and relocating back to my apartment."

Peter furrowed his brows, "Why are you leaving so suddenly? Can't you just wait until our mission's over to go back?"

"'Cause," she started to answer, eyes never once leaving the group. "People."

"People..." Peter murmured. Underneath his mask, he was rolling his eyes. Even he, the least social of them all, wouldn't have been abandoning his partner on a mission because of people. "Wow, such a great reason."

"Shut up," she mumbled, crumbling up the napkins and whatever else she used onto the plate she was given. "It's people from our school. And besides, I can still hear you. Not much can go down in the four or five minutes that I can't see you." He was being irrational over this whole thing.

...Right?

Peter sighed, "Yeah, yeah. Do whatever you want."

So she did. She closed the lid to her laptop and slid it inside her bag. There was now voices wherever Peter was watching them from in the vent. One was obviously King Pin's, but the other— no, others, she had trouble making out. But it wasn't important. If it was anybody who was a somebody to her, Peter would tell her.

She threw her bag over her shoulder and made way straight for the door. She didn't even bother to wave goodbye to the employees like she normally would. Cairo had taught her to do that. He said it was a little rude if she didn't. Instead, her eyes were to the ground, and she was subtly covering her face with whatever she could.

"Oh, y/n!" a sweet voice called her over.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. She forced a smile onto her face, angling her head so it was level, "Hey, Liz! Funny seeing you here, huh?"