#1 STOPWATCH

Chapter 19

Wade had forced Peter to leave. Literally, forced, having shoved him out the window which complicated Peter's internalized questions. It had been unclear exactly what had triggered his cut-short welcome but he hadn't questioned it. He knew he'd been intrusive.

That had been two days prior, and Wade had done little more than push Peter back in the days since. He'd considered the idea that he'd scared the man, triggered him somehow with the severity of the situation and the unwelcomed intimacy that had followed Peter's involvement. It wasn't concerning intimacy, but it was a lot between two people who hardly knew one another. But the question of whether the reaction was triggered by past experience had become obsessive in Peter's mind and all he could wonder was if Wade was afraid of him, if this reaction was a conditioned instinct brought upon by whatever abuses the man had lived through. 

This idea ate at him. He had nothing to back it but for whatever reason he couldn't help the uncontrollable desire to push forward and earn that trust he didn't have or deserve. He wanted to help, he had to help his soulmate. His soulmate. 

He could sense the tense and muddled emotions as easily as he could sense the danger surrounding his soulmate. He wanted answers, he wanted things to resolve, he wanted perfection. He was responsible for this rescue, he had to do it. He needed it. His eyes had been opened to a new pain that he hadn't ever really felt before but had been lingering in him for years, loneliness. He wanted to eradicate it. 

He sighed, regrouping his concentration as he passed the threshold of the Bugal building. He wasn't feeling the whole getting yelled at trend today. Not that he ever really did. He had more things to think about, more concerning things, but inevitably he had a job.

Per usual, Peter's mission was to capture of the spider.  And If he could get a picture of Spider-Man with ' his hand in the cookie jar' Peter would get paid top dollar... Meaning he might get decent compensation for the picture if he was lucky . . . but he was tired and didn't have the mental capacity to deal with getting new shots so he did something that he personally thought quite funny. Rather than setting a timer and running and jumping in front of his camera and hoping for the best he'd gone in for something a little more on the nose.

He captured himself with his hand shoved into cookie jar while sitting on the roof of the building across the street from the news building so that the Bugle's grand label was over his shoulder while he smiled at his camera, nice and big for Jameson. He'd made extra sure you could see his grin through the mask.

He'd gotten carried away though. He'd brought in a few other shots that were a little less aggressive but comically obnoxious. He'd made actual cookies for teh jar, so he needed to show off the props somehow. So he'd made a small narrative with his portfolio, Spidey with the jar, taking out cookies, one with his mask half up to show off that the cookies tasted good and a final upclose shot that consisted of mostly the lenses of his mask and the cookies. Despite not having directional gestures with his lenses, it still gave a cross-eyed affect over the treats. 

He had a feeling he was going to be asked to never come back. Which he would come back because he was the only one who could get the pictures his boss wanted but he'd be fired for a few minutes or days at least. 

Honestly, maybe he was looking forward to getting yelled at. 

"Parker, you're late!"

The usual welcome. 

Peter glanced at the clock behind the man's desk as he shut the office door behind him. "Two minutes early actually."

J.J. Looked down at his wristwatch. "Late!" He declared showing Peter the upside-down time. The man set his time five minutes ahead so naturally he was late by the idiot's standards. Peter didn't have the energy to argue with stupid though, so he reacted by offering over his print proofs.

The envelope was snatched out of his hands with little ceremony, his boss plopping back into his chair as he unfolded the paper to reveal its contents. 

He remained unmoved to begin with, but the longer he stood there staring at the man the harder it as not to slowly tilt his lips into a smirk as he watched the emotions flash across the obnoxious man's face. One by one Jameson slowly slid one photo under the last, making his way through the small stack. 

Eventually, the man slapped the stack down onto his desk

"Are you pleased with yourself Mr. Parker?"

Peter grinned. "Fucking pleased sir." he nodded. He hated this man.

"You're fired. And I mean it," 

"Sure. Thank you, sir." he stepped forward to take his proofs. "I can't wait to see what you have arranged for the next front page." he turned after he had this things grouped into the envelope once more. He wasn't sure he wanted to come back when he was called back. He needed the money, realistically but he also just didn't want to deal with the disrespect. 

Outside, he found the nearest safe alley where he could strip down and shove everything into his backpack, in a significantly better mood as he sprinted up the nearest wall pondering what he'd do with his day. Maybe he'd take after Wade with the confidence still flowing through him. 

 

Special thanks to Patron Poiuytr23 for their pledge. Their support has brought to you this edited edition of Stopwatch. If you would like to see more of Stopwatch edited in the future, consider pledging $1 to my Patreon or any of my commission tiers. Also, note that future fanfiction releases on Wattpad as I fully transition over to Ao3. If you want updates on what is coming out, follow me on tumblr, all links in bio. I also update new works on Patreon for free before I post anywhere else. 

(Originally published 2016, officially edited 2023)

Until next time~ Shadow-Assassin)

Original Note:

I personally loved this. Because I so would have done this the second I was asked for a picture of Spider-Man with his hand in the cookie jar from which ever movie that was from.