CHAPTER THREE!
peter parker x journalist ! reader
― summary : you're a new investigative journalist at the daily bugle who's been paired up with its star photographer: peter parker. j. jonah jameson wants you, the new hire, and peter to catch spider-man for an interview; but the catch? peter's spider-man and you don't know! can peter manage to thwart the interview with the help of some friends, or does your big break come to end?
― chapter three word count : 1605
― author's note : guys, i think this might be my favorite chapter so far?! i feel like i flew through writing this (note that this chapter is a bit dialogue heavy)! it's def a step up from chapter two, at least i think so LOL so, without further ado here's chapter three, and here's the series masterlist, and chapter two ♡
chapter three : spider-man. . . and spiderman?!
You might be jobless soon. The interview with Spider-man was the only thing on your mind; that, and hunting for a new job. There were a hundred cafes in Manhattan alone, maybe one needed a barista? Because after this failed stunt, there was no way you could ever show your face at a journalist company ever again. Or even around New York. Holy shit. . . did that mean you'd have to move? You can't afford another apartment, let alone a house—
"Stop thinking so hard, I can hear your brain running on fumes from here," Peter chuckled to himself while he fiddled with his camera lens.
"It's kind of hard not to when I'm about to lose my job," You said pointedly. You didn't catch how Peter flinched at the tone of your voice. Harsh, but honest. And he was the cause.
The guilt ate him up inside, but he couldn't risk it. Not even after he took you out to dinner the other day to make it up to you for flaking. . . as Spider-man. It was a nice date— Nope, not a date. Just a totally normal meal between coworkers. Nothing suspicious going on over here. The tips of Peter's ears flushed red and he hunched his shoulders to try and hide them, not that you even noticed his dilemma; still completely oblivious to the goings on in his mind about the not-date-date you two went on. You were still grumbling under your breath about your job.
"Listen, I'm sure everything's going to be fine. We'll stop Spider-man and ask him some questions. How hard could it be?" Peter felt like an asshole. He was the one making it hard. On you. On him. On his reputation. On the company. If the hole he kept digging got any bigger, it'd turn into his grave.
You stopped suddenly and turned to him with a curious tilt of your head. "What do you think of Spider-man?" "Me?" Peter pointed at himself stupidly. There was a hoard of people on the sidewalk that bumped and shoved into him every passing second he stood there like an idiot. Ah, good ol' New York. "Yeah, you." You crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. . ." "You don't know?" "I mean! I think he's fine." Peter kept his gaze locked on the concrete below his sneaker clad feet. He was sure that if he looked up right in this moment, you'd figure out who he was. "Just fine?" "I think he's cool! Okay?" "Just cool?" "Fine. I think he's a great hero who's misunderstood," Wow, way to be subtle, Peter. "I think the public gives him too much slack when the Avengers definitely destroy much more property than he has in his entire career. It's a little unfair, no? Not that I think the public hates him, but I think they can stand to give him more grace."
It was almost comical the way your eyes grew twice in size. "Someone's opinionated. I just wanted to get a feel for the guy. But, yeah, I see it now. . ." You trailed off, looking into the distance.
Your walk went on for too long it felt like. Every time you craned your neck up, the sky was empty. There was no webbed hero swinging from building to building.
"Yo! Pee— Random citizen! Hello!" You and Peter both stopped in your tracks when a voice called out behind you. Turning, you saw Spiderman in his signature black and red suit. Your eyes widened and you quickly took out your notepad.
"Spiderman! It's a pleasure to meet you. We're from the Daily Bugle, is it okay if we ask you a couple of questions?" You eagerly sidled up next to the young hero as you barely tried to contain your excitement.
Unbeknownst to you, Peter looked Miles in the eyes with a questioning look on his face. It screamed urgent as Miles jerked his head behind him. Great, another problem when he had a job to do.
Peter looked at you, whose attention was still on Spiderman, then back to Miles who quickly understood what he needed to do.
"Actually, it seems like I do have some time to answer your questions." Spiderman took a small step back and gave over his attention to you, as Peter quietly disappeared from the scene. Sure, Miles knew Peter could handle the problem just fine, but he was still worried. He'd have to do this interview, and fast.
Before you could turn around, Spiderman wrapped an arm around your shoulder and lead you down the block, ranting about his latest baddie take down.
"And that's how I kicked the Prowler's Barney lookin' butt!"
You walked five blocks as Spiderman continued to talk. Sure, he wasn't the Spiderman you wanted but at least you got something, right? Surely J.J.J could make do with what you have; but even you knew how ridiculous that sounded. You finally stopped and turned around, ready to see Peter trailing behind you but just like last time, he wasn't there.
"Uh, where's—" "Oh! You mean that guy with the camera? Yeah, don't worry about him! He told me he was. . . getting you guys coffee! Right, coffee. . ." Miles didn't sound so sure and you weren't sure you believed him either.
"He told me we could take pictures later. There's a really cool graffiti wall nearby, don't worry!"
You were worrying. This was the second time in a row Peter went missing when something 'magically' came up. Where did he always run off to?
Right as you were about to text him, the other Spider-man crashed at your feet; and not too far away was the Rhino.
"Ahaha, two Spiderman. . . Spidermen? Whatever. I will get you both." Rhino laughed and started to scrape his feet against the sidewalk, ready for a fight.
"Okay civvie, time to get out of here." Spiderman quickly hoisted you up on his webs and swung out of the vicinity just Rhino attacked Spider-man.
"Wait, but I have questions!" You were silenced as soon as you got into the air. When Johnny Storm carried you into the sky yesterday, it wasn't all that scary since he was mostly stationary. But Spiderman swung wildly to get you out of the Rhino's destructive path.
You only just realized Peter left his camera with you. As Spiderman swung, you tried your best to capture photos of the ongoing fight. To keep your job, you'd do anything at this point. The photos were blurry but you could make out Spider-man and the Rhino trading blows, or Spider-man bouncing off of walls. It was worth it, and you hoped J.J.J would like it too.
Spiderman dropped you both down in a secluded alley way. It seemed like you ended up here too often since starting your job. You rested your hands on your knees and caught your breath. You didn't even do any of the heavy lifting, but clinging onto dear life and being swung about Manhattan wasn't an easy job. You looked through Peter's camera roll to see the pictures you took of the fight, and smiled to yourself. It wasn't a half bad job. Even if J.J.J didn't like them, maybe someone could use them in the next round of publishing. . .
You were snapped out of your thoughts when Spiderman spoke up, "Sorry about that. I'm usually much more careful about carrying citizens. My bad." he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and you just laughed.
"It's okay, really. And thanks, for the 'interview'." You held your notepad up with a smile, happy you have something to show for even if it wasn't something your boss wanted in the first place.
Spider-man eventually showed up, and he thanked the other Spiderman for helping out; for getting this 'innocent' civilian' away from danger. And, just as you were about to ask Spider-man a question (just one, because one would be enough), Spiderman stopped you. But you didn't let his deterrence get in the way of doing your job.
"Spider-man, please! Just one question. I'm from the Daily Bugle, and I know you're probably not a big fan of ours right now, but I'd like to just ask you one question," You ran a frustrated hand through your hair and huffed. "Look, I don't care that I sound desperate right now, but I'm about to lose my job and I just need to ask you one question, please?"
Spider-man turned back to you and his masked eyes shifted as he 'sized' you up. From behind the mask, Peter's face fell as he saw your desperation. He knew you needed this job; needed it to escape your isolated uptown life, to explore the big city and finally get away from your parents. But he couldn't risk his identity being found out. So he sighed, shook his head, and webbed off.
"Dude, you lowkey sucked back there." Miles mumbled as he squatted on the edge of a rooftop. He looked down at the city and hoped that you'd make it through.
Peter groaned and his head fell into his suit-covered hands, "Yeah. I know. But I can't exactly tell them who I am. Do you know how much danger I'd be putting them in? You remember what happened to MJ." Miles cringed inwards. Even though he wasn't exactly there to see it, the way Peter recounted the tale, it wasn't good. He didn't want you getting kidnapped on account of their secret identities. Then, an idea popped into Miles' head.
"Dude! Okay, hear me out. . ."
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