III
I sat on Peter's bed whilst he went through the contents of the briefcase. He had laid them out perfectly on the floor in front of him: A glasses case, his dad's OSCORP badge, an ungodly amount of pens, an old calculator, a sidekick, a quarter and a subway token, and the newspaper clipping.
I watched Peter pick up the glasses case and open it carefully. I was surprised to actually see a pair of glasses sitting in there. He pulled them out and showed them to me, smiling in astonishment.
I reached my hand out to grab them from him, "Can I see them?" He gave them to me and carried on examining the items.
I put on the glasses carefully and felt my eyes strain just as I put them on. I squinted my eyes as a way to try to adjust to the corrective lenses. I turned to Peter with my warped vision and watched him glance at me for a second. He did a double take and just looked at me.
I tried to squint again to see if it was better but to no avail. I took them off and blinked a couple of times, readjusting to my normal vision. I looked around the room, trying to refocus my eyes before looking at Peter again. I noticed the way his lips were ever so slightly parted.
"I guess being legally blind runs in the family," I joked, handing them back to him. He didn’t move to reach for them. Instead, his lips morphed into a soft smile. I laughed awkwardly the longer I kept my hand out for him to take the glasses.
Then he finally took them back, clearing his throat. "I wonder if we have a similar prescription then." He stood up and carefully stepped around the items on the ground, padding to the bathroom. I followed behind him, shuffling my feet to catch up to him.
I silently watched him open his medicine cabinet and pull out his contact lenses case. He gave me the glasses to hold whilst he tediously took out his contacts. I grimaced at the sight of him touching his eye and pulling out the clear lens.
He looked over at me and chuckled, thrusting forward his finger with the contact on it. I squirmed and stepped back, my face contorting into one of disgust. He laughed, gently putting the contact in its case. He repeated the same process with the other eye and washed his hands.
When he cut off the water, I expected him to dry his hands on the non-decorative decorative towel. But instead, he flicked the water at me not unlike how I did to him earlier. I stood there stunned for a second and glared at him.
"Okay, truce," I said with a pout as he took the classes from me. He grinned, keeping his eyes on himself in the mirror, unfolding the arms of the glasses. "Truce… right, Peter?"
He just hummed with that stupid grin and slid on the glasses carefully. He looked at himself a little bit longer and pushed them up again before turning to look at me.
I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach again when I finally saw him straight on. The grin on his face and the way the glasses fit on his face was almost too much for me to handle. He stepped closer to me, raising his eyebrows as a way to ask for my opinion.
"How do I look?" He asked me, crossing his arms and looking down slightly at me. I couldn't help but let my eyes dart around his face and admire how he looked. It was attractive.
"More like a dork than you did before," I said, crossing my arms to match his stance. He scoffed and pushed past me, heading back into his room. "Do they work?"
"Yeah, actually, they do," he said with me following behind him. "They're old, but they work."
I hummed and both of us returned to our previous spots in his room. He picked up the Oscorp badge silently. He sat there looking at it for a while, biting his lip, deep in thought. Then he set it down and reached for the briefcase, lifting it gently.
"Why are you sitting like that?" I asked when I noticed he was sitting on his skateboard and looking at him weirdly as he turned the briefcase. He looked at the leather, puzzled, and turned it in the other direction. A shuffle came from inside of it.
We looked at each other confused. He opened it up again, running his hand through the interior. He turned it over and unzipped the pocket on the back, looking inside and running his finger along the edges of it.
Then there was a click, he looked up at me as he pulled something off of the lining of the bag. I leaned forward and noticed that past the lining, there was a filing folder with what looked to be documents inside.
"How did you even find that?" I questioned curiously.
"I dunno…" Peter stretched forward and closed his door quickly, hitting the switch on his desk that connected to the lock on his door. The door locked and he settled down back on his skateboard and pulled out the files.
I grabbed the briefcase when he went to put it down. He gave it to me with no complaints due to his attention being drawn to the documents. As he gently pulled out the papers, I looked at the pockets of the briefcase.
I ran my fingers along the edges of the inside of the briefcase, looking for anything similar to what Peter happened to find.
"What is this?" I heard Peter mumble. I looked up and noticed the scribbling of equations on yellow graph paper. "Zero-zero decay rate algorithm." I furrowed my eyebrows and bent forward to read the equation.
Then, there was a knock on the door. I gasped in surprise, cursing myself immediately for it. Peter turned to look at me oddly.
"Yeah, one sec, one sec," Peter called out, reaching his hand out and shaking it. I, panicking, waved my arms around before realizing he wanted the briefcase. By that point, he reached over and snatched the leather bag away from me.
He placed it over the files under his bed and scattered the other miscellaneous items around on the floor. He got up and sat on his chair, flicking the lock switch and moving his mouse to wake up the computer. That's when I noticed the debate team's picture on the screen, but it was zoomed into Gwen's face. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and looked down to look at my slightly bruised knuckles.
"Come in," Peter called out. Uncle Ben walked in shortly after, his eyes looking between the both of us.
"You okay?" He asked Peter.
Peter nodded, "Yeah, what's up?"
"My god… you look just like him." Ben said, astonished. I couldn't help but smile at the way he seemed to be taken back. Peter just nodded. "Um… can I come in?"
I puffed out my cheeks and took the hint, getting off of Peter's bed. "'Scuse me," I said quietly, pushing past Ben after I made eye contact with Peter and gave him a look. "I'm gonna go call my dad."
"Hey dad," I said into the phone as I stepped out of the house through the front door.
"Hey, baby. How you holdin' up?" His gruff voice asked me through the crackle of the phone. I smiled, sitting on the bench on the porch.
"I'm alright. I'm at Pete's right now," I told him. "We just had dinner."
"What did you guys have?" He asked, sounding a little distracted. I pursed my lips, hoping I hadn't caught him at the wrong time.
"Spaghetti and meatballs. I helped Aunt May make the sauce," I recounted to him. He hummed on the other end and then a silence fell between us. "Dad?"
"Hey, AJ, um, I think I'm gonna have to be in San Francisco a little longer," He said, the cautious tone crackling through the phone.
"Oh," I muttered disappointedly. "Why?"
"There's some serious shit going on over here," he said quickly. I sat there stunned by his bluntness. "Look, I don't want you to worry. You know that, right?"
"Well, yeah. But are you-"
"I'm alright, baby." He sighed. "Look, I'm gonna call you from Anne's phone tomorrow and I'll tell you what's happening then."
I just sat there confused and looking out onto the street. He was going to tell me about what he was investigating.
"You can't tell anyone, do you understand?" He asked me sternly.
I nodded before realizing he couldn't see me. "Yeah… but why… are you telling me?" I asked cautiously.
"Alina, you just have to trust me," He said with a sigh. "I will be home in maybe more than a week, okay? Stay with Peter."
"Wait, what?" I questioned loudly. "You want me to stay with Peter? During the week? Dad, what is happening?"
"Alina, if I don't explain tomorrow, I'll tell you when I get home." He said in a calming tone. "I already talked to May and Ben about it, relax."
"Dad, that's not what I'm worried about," I scoffed humorlessly. "You're going to tell me what's happening? And did you say Anne? As in Anne Weying?"
I heard him sigh heavily, "Babygirl, I will be okay," He said slowly. "I'm staying with Anne while I'm here."
I took in a breath as I processed everything he was telling me. He was in some sort of danger. He was staying with the woman he's had a crush on for years. He wants me to stay with Peter until he gets back. And he's going to tell me that something was happening.
"Okay…" I said slowly. "But you're okay?"
"I'm fine. We're fine," he told me reassuringly. I nodded to myself until he spoke again. "Look, tomorrow, I want you to go by the apartment to get your stuff to stay over, take Pete. And I want you to take my bike too."
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion once again. "Your bike?" He hummed with confirmation. "I only have a permit."
"As long as you don't speed, you follow the speed limit, don't rev it, and you dont panic, you will be fine," He told me clearly. "I trust you to not fuck up my bike."
I snorted, shaking my head. I ran a hand through my hair. This was too much to take in. But I trust my dad. There have definitely been times where maybe I shouldn't have. But at the end of the day, Eddie Brock is someone I will always trust.
"Yeah, I won't ‘fuck it up’, promise," I sighed out. "I love you."
"I love you more," He responded immediately. "Be careful. I'll call you tomorrow and if I don't, I will when I get back."
"Okay, be careful."
"I will," he said in such a sincere tone. It reminded me of when I was a kid. "Bye."
"Bye."
I laid on the floor next to Peter's bed. He was laying on his stomach, staring off into the distance. I looked up at the ceiling, staring at the terrible looking red light shade. He kept it off whenever he could. It was a terrible warm toned light that never looked good and we had never been able to change.
"Peter?" I asked quietly. I diverted my attention to his face that peaked over the edge of the bed. He hummed, gazing down at me. "My dad said I need to stay with you for the week."
I watched how his eyebrows furrowed and he looked away from me, thinking. "He did? Why?"
"Honestly… I have no idea. But he told me to get my stuff from the apartment and drive back with his bike. So, I was wondering if you could go with me."
"Yeah, definitely," he nodded. Then his face contorted into a grimace.
"What?" I asked, getting unnecessarily worried. "It's okay if you don't want to, I just didn't want to go alone-"
"No, no, no, it's fine, AJ," He said. "I just need to go to Oscorp tomorrow."
He must've seen the way I just looked at him curiously because then he started explaining. His dad knew Dr. Conners and he wanted to talk to him. There were internship openings and he was planning on sneaking in. He found that all out while I was talking to my dad.
"But I think I can take you there and make it to Oscorp on time," He said surely. He grinned at me tiredly. "I got you, don't worry."