Matt self-consciously adjusted the knot of his tie before knocking at the apartment door. Ā From everything that Lily had mentioned in her text messages, Matt expected Peter to be nervous and he knew from past experience that new clients took some kind of comfort in their lawyers looking professional and business-likeā¦ or, failing that, he at least hoped that confident and relaxed would do the same job.Ā
Living out of their office these past few weeks hadnāt exactly helped Matt to maintain even his usual lackadaisical approach to personal grooming, and he hoped that heād somehow managed to fall somewhere in between āexperienced legal professionā and āmoonlighting hobo-slash-bumā.
The faint-yet-familiar smell of pizza and chemicals that heād come to associate with Peter Parker since their first meeting crept out from behind the door. Scent was so often the first (and most subtle) indicator that Matt picked up, often before he was even aware of it himself. Ā He knew Peter was on the other side of that door before he heard the young manās breath or heartbeat, in the same way that he knew Lily was coming up the stairs behind him, having missed the elevator that Matt had ridden up in.
āHi Peter,ā Matt said, offering the photographer a smile in return for the greeting.Ā āItās good to meet you againā¦ Iām sorry if Iām a little late, the cab driver took the scenic route.ā
āIs Lily here already?,ā the lawyer asked innocently as he folded away his white cane, fully aware of the red headed journalistās heavy breathes approaching from the emergency stairwell.
It was 100% Not Lilyās Fault that she was running late. Firstly, Brenda at work had dumped a bunch of stuff on her at the last minute, and then she hadnāt been able to leave early like sheād planned to, so sheād got caught up in the rush hour commuters. Basically, she hated Brenda. And businessmen. And people in general. And especially the authorities.
As if to make things worse, sheād just missed Matt going up in the lift. She was really, really tempted to wait for the damn thing but maybe this was the universe telling her she should get some exercise. So, she decided to take the emergency stairs. It was always good to know where they were, especially in times like this.
Having thought that, it became clear that climbing the stairs had been a really stupid idea about halfway up. She could feel her cheeks burning. The curse of the ginger strikes again. Spectacular. Letting herself rest for a few seconds, she got going again - and made it up there after what felt like climbing a whole damn mountain.
āYES Lilyās here. Goddamn, I am never taking those stairs again in my entire life. Iām literally dying here. If I ever think about climbing stairs when I donāt 100% have to, you have permission to slap me. Jesus Christ.ā
She passed both men and collapsed into the sofa, sighing heavily. What even was her life. She had to get her sort-of-boyfriend to be her actual-proper-lawyer, and now she was also going to be dead by stairs.
āWhat? This is practically, like, my second home sometimes. Iām making myself comfortable. This is polite Lily. Iām wearing shoes and everything.ā
āYeah, I almost never use the stairs here,ā Peter said, leaving out the part where he had another way to leave: by web-slinging out the window. āThough the wait on that elevator is killer. Like, you wouldnāt think so, but it always takes forever.ā
He grinned when Lily just sat right now and plopped on his couch like she owned the place. āCome in,ā Peter said, and then went to the kitchen. āAnyone want anything?ā he called back to his guests. āI have Mountain Dew, coffee, orange juice and water.ā
Peter used the brief period of being away from the others to try to center himself again. He knew, from all of the Law and Order he binged on his healing days, that it was best to tell his lawyer everything, so they didnāt get surprised in court, and that there was lawyer-client privilege, and that Matt couldnāt go running to the Bugle over his identity without being disbarred, but it was the secret of his life. Literally, protecting this secret had likely saved his life a number of times, making it so that it wasnāt easy for his enemies to find him unawares.
He took out a few glasses to start filling them with ice ā Peter was gonna need Mountain Dew if he wanted to get through this ā and brushed past the place where he usually made his webbing. Heād spilled one of the batches as he was pouring it into his webslingers last night, but the kitchen still smelled slightly of his webbing. The webbing being a very unique smell, it didnāt bother him too much, but now he wondered if he needed to start going over his counters with the same solution that heād used in Tonyās labs.
If he could get any of it. He hadnāt been to the Avengers Towers in weeks, not since the government started announcing its active support for rounding the street heroes up. Heād wanted to reach out when Tony had been arrested, but Peter was trying to stay away to protect them both from legal consequences if Peter was brought down, and heād made sure Tony knew that before Peter left.
āOh, hey, I also still have some pretty-sure-itās-not-flat-yet Coke if anyone wants it!ā
