CARDIGAN, jegulus spider-man! au

"he's second best in his class."

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james has absolutely no idea what he's doing.

"excuse me, sir?"

james stops looking around the seemingly never ending building he's in and snaps his head forwards to where the receptionist is speaking to him.

"er, yes?"

"can i help you?"

"i'm here for dr. riddle," james says, fingers tapping against his leg.

"right. you'll find yourself to the left," the receptionist replies boredly, gesturing over to a pile of badges. when james stands there for too long, she adds, "you are here for the internship, aren't you?"

"oh! yes, i am," james hurriedly replies, moving over to leaf through the badges and picks one at random.

"okay, mr. guevara," the receptionist says, eyebrow raised as he looks down to see that yes, his name is apparently rodrigo guevara.

"gracias," james says, backing away before she can question him more.

"de nada," she replies, shaking her head a bit before going back to work.

james looks around again, going up a flight of stairs to where the actual interns are. he clips his badge into place, not paying attention to the people around him until he hears a familiar voice.

"welcome to oscorp. my name is regulus black. i'm a senior at midtown science and the head intern to dr. riddle. i'll be guiding you through your visit and you are expected to follow me. break that rule and...," he trails off, looking over the railing to see someone being dragged out the door by security.

"please! my names rodrigo! i'm rodrigo! please-," his frantic yelling gets cut off as he's fully pulled outside the building.

poor rodrigo.

"well, that happens," regulus finishes, bringing his gaze back up to the interns in front of him. james ducks behind the person in front of him as regulus sweeps his eyes over them, "shall we?"

regulus turns, and the interns follow obeyingly. james trails behind a bit, trying to avoid regulus for as long as he can.

"good afternoon, regulus," a man says, suddenly appearing right beside regulus.

"dr. riddle," regulus greets.

ah. of course.

"welcome. my name is dr. tom riddle, and i'm the worlds foremost authority on herpetology. that's the study of reptiles, if you didn't know. im very aware i only have one arm, but i'm a scientist, not a cripple, and i expect to be respected as such," riddle introduces himself. it's not unkind, but it's definitely sharp.

"i long to fix myself," he continues, "i want to create a world without weakness. a world free from parkinson's and other relations to it. anyone want to guess how i'll go about doing that?"

a boy upfront raises his hand, "stem cells?"

"promising, but not as radical as i have in mind."

the interns look around, lost as to what it could possibly be. before james can stop himself, the words he read from yesterday are spilling out of his mouth, "cross species genetics."

all eyes turn to him, some surprised to see him there since he's basically been hiding for all of it. james holds his breath as regulus finally sees him. they hold eye contact for a few seconds before regulus looks down, no doubt scanning the registration list of interns he has in his hand.