Harry awoke to the sound of a blaring alarm clock. The sound made his head throb. Groggily, he forced himself to sit up and turn off the stupid thing. Pain shot through his back like spikes. As quickly as he felt it, he remembered what had happened last night. He made a mental note to find some way to keep Peter from showing up so often.
He usually could dress himself, but today he knew he needed help with the countless stinging cuts on his back. One of Harry's butlers helped him get dressed for his meetings while the other brought him some pills for his pain. He kindly reminded Harry that they were not to be taken with alcohol. Harry took them with a glass of water, knowing that a large part of his headache was from Peter punching him and not a hangover.
The chauffeur drove him to Oscorp in his fancy limo. It bugged Harry how he kept glancing at him in his mirror. He hadn't bothered to look in the mirror this morning so he had no idea how he looked. Once he arrived at Oscorp, Felicia gave him her typical knowing look. He trudged over to the elevator with her.
When she began to glance at him he grumbled, "I don't want to talk about it."
"I know," she sighed. "I just wanted to point out that you're late."
Harry smirked and asked, "Are the investors getting antsy?"
"You're only late by a couple minutes. I have someone stalling them like you asked."
"And who might that be?"
Felicia waited until they entered the elevator to answer, "His name is Jordan. He's an intern who can go on for hours about Oscorp's research."
She then told the elevator which floor to bring them to. Harry leaned against the railing as it started to move.
"Perfect. That should make them disinterested."
"Harry-" she began, before he glared at her.
"Mr. Osborn," she corrected herself. "Are you sure you want to go through with this plan of yours?"
"I'm positive," he replied coldly, turning away from her.
Neither dared interact with the other the whole ride up. Felicia exited the elevator first once the doors opened. Harry took his sweet time pushing himself off from the railing and following her.
"How long have I been late now?" he asked, wishing he had a watch.
Felicia pulled out her phone and replied, "Just over ten minutes now."
He cursed under his breath. Maybe he should have set his alarm clock to wake him up late. It didn't matter now. His plan wouldn't work unless he arrived questionably late.
"That's not enough," Harry groaned while pinching the bridge of his nose, his painkillers barely starting to kick in.
"I know, that's why we're at your office. I'll update you on our newest breakthroughs, research, and such," she informed.
"Actually, I'll check it out myself. You go check on the meeting and come back in no less than half an hour to tell me what's happening. Look as nervous as possible."
"All right, I understand," she agreed, before walking back to the elevator.
Good, he thought. He didn't need Felicia to stare at him for half an hour with that look in her eyes that resembled a one-way mirror. She could know everything about him from just a look, but even when she joined his super villain group as the Black Cat she still remained as mysterious as she was as Felicia. He was glad that she hadn't been caught. If he didn't know any better he would've guessed that she was a secret agent of sorts.
He nodded to a couple guards as he entered his office and made his way to his desk. Pulling out the key from his coat pocket, he smiled as some of his pain started to subside. Even so, he carefully sat down so that his back didn't touch the chair.
"Let's see, what do we have here?" Harry mumbled to himself as he opened up a folder on his desk/computer screen.
A few pictures and logs came up on organic liquid-metal alloys. Hardly any experiments had been tried at this point. The alloy could theoretically be used as armor, but so far it was just a manipulatable puddle of metal. Apparently, the metal had been found in a meteor from an unknown (or rather undisclosed) location. It was possible that it could be a new element, but Harry wouldn't get his hopes up. He figured it was something that was normally produced synthetically, but that his scientists had managed to get their hands on the real deal.
Lost in his work, he hardly noticed the door to his office open. By the time the person approached his desk, Harry finally looked up. The first thing he noticed was beat up jeans, then a tee-shirt obscured by an olive green jacket, and lastly a face he wished he could forget.
"Peter? How did you-? Why are you here?" he asked, completely baffled and caught off guard.
Peter grinned and replied, "I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I'd drop by."
"Yeah, right. What do want?" Harry asked, not buying the excuse.
"I'm running low on web fluid and I've been taking it from Oscorp all this time. You guys must have moved the stash because I cannot find it anywhere," Peter claimed, walking around the desk to see what Harry was looking at.
Harry pulled off the key and stuffed it into his pocket. The screen went blank and the desk appeared like normal glass.
"You do realize that we had to kill the spiders, right? That means no more web fluid," he sighed.
"I know, but there's no way I went through all that was left that quickly. You had crates full of that stuff last time I checked."
"I don't know where it went, Pete, and I honestly don't care. Don't you have better things to do? Go take pictures of yourself, sell them, and use the money to make your own damn webs," Harry whined, standing up.
"You aren't even using it so why are you hiding it from me?" Peter asked, cutting Harry off.
The gesture angered Harry and as much as he wanted to push Peter out of his way, he knew better.
"Why should I help you after what you did to me? I had to find my own cure so go find your own webs," Harry shot.
"I did cure you in the end, Har. Did you forget that? I'm not asking for forgiveness or for you to be nice to me or even a thank you. I just want my web fluid and I'll go."
Harry groaned and backed away from Peter. He knew Peter wouldn't leave him alone either way. And Peter couldn't touch him here. Guards stood outside his door. There were cameras everywhere. If Peter tried any spider stuff he'd get caught easily.
"I don't know where they are and I don't have time to check. I have a meeting, remember?" Harry stated as he made his way to the door.
"A very convenient meeting that you keep mentioning yet not going to, right? I saw it on the way up. Everyone is there except you, even Felicia. That surprised me. Why are you avoiding it?" Peter asked from behind Harry.
"It's none of your business."
Harry walked out the door and went straight for the elevator. Peter casually strolled beside him.
"Why would the CEO of Oscorp miss such an important meeting? I know about zilch on business and even I know that's weird."
"Is annoying me another way of getting revenge?" Harry asked as the elevator door closed.
"Revenge? No… I was just curious," Peter replied, almost sounding genuine.
The two stood in silence for a while after Harry gave the elevator a floor number.
"It's not like you to be late to meetings," Peter mumbled.
"How would you even know that?" Harry shot.
Holding up his hands, Peter replied, "You're being overly defensive about this, Har. Plus I know stuff."
"We're not friends anymore. I don't have to tell you anything," Harry said, glaring at Peter.
"Okay then," Peter sighed, finally giving up.
Another moment of silence passed between them. Peter then began to giggle silently.
"What?" Harry asked, looking over at Peter.
"I was just wondering if you and Felicia were a thing," Peter stated casually.
"Why would you think that?"
"You two are around the same age, she's attractive, and she's single. There's no way you don't have your eyes on her. She works for you and you see her a lot. How can you not think about her? So tell me, is there something going on between you two?"
"Peter, she's my personal assistant," Harry stated, before putting on a mischievous grin. "Of course there's something going on between us."
Peter gasped and covered his mouth. There were so many questions to ask, so many jokes to make.
"What? Really?" he asked, hardly able to contain himself.
"No," Harry replied, losing his grin and gaining his glare.
"You little—you really lead me into that one," Peter grumbled, crossing his arms.
"I'm not going to pull a Tony Stark and date my personal assistant just so I can dump the company on her so that I can go do whatever my billionaire heart desires. I might be a jerk sometimes but definitely not to that degree."
"All right, all right, that's what I get for bugging you about your personal life," Peter kind of laughed off. "Still no web fluid?"
"Drop it," Harry groaned, rubbing his temples.
So much for those painkillers. They hardly lasted, he thought to himself. The elevator doors opened to reveal Felicia clutching a tablet to her chest.
"Mr. Osborn," she greeted, completely ignoring Peter. "The investors are waiting for you."
"I'll be right in," Harry assured and then added, "Could you escort him out?" he gestured towards Peter.
"Of course," Felicia replied, glancing at Peter.
Harry made his way around her and walked towards the boardroom. Felicia entered the elevator with Peter and told it to bring them to the ground floor.
Peter awkwardly looked down at his shoes before asking, "So, how has Harry been?"
Felicia didn't shift. She had expected a silent trip down.
"He's fine," she stated bluntly.
Both knew that wasn't true. Peter eyed the back of her head and then her reflection on the glass of the elevator. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. Her lack of body language and actual talking were really off-putting to him.
"That's good," he mumbled.
Maybe she knows where the web fluid is. She's Harry's personal assistant, of course she knows where everything is, Peter thought to himself.
"It's a real shame you guys got rid of those spiders," he said in a slightly sad manner. "My dad helped make them, you know?"
"You don't say?" Felicia replied, either sarcastic or uninterested.
"Yeah, when I was little I always dreamed about coming here to work with him. He worked so hard on making those spiders and now—poof—they're gone. It's like all his work was for nothing."
Felicia stayed silent. He couldn't straight up ask her for the web fluid. If only he could get her to bring it up. Unluckily for him, she didn't seem to be a talker.
"You don't happen to have any of the spiders left, do you?" he asked, looking up at her.
"No. They're all gone."
"Even their venom and webs and whatnot?"
Peter tightly gripped the railing in the elevator. He hoped she wouldn't find that question suspicious.
"What are you getting at?" she asked, looking back at him with a glare starting to form.
"I-I just wanted something to remember him by. To know that he actually did something," Peter replied, surprised by a new expression on her face.
"You'd have to ask Harry," she sighed and turned back around.
Peter mentally cursed to himself. Loyal to Harry, huh? Would he really fire you for giving me web fluid? he thought.
"We're not exactly on great terms," Peter stated, looking down at his feet again and leaning against the side of the elevator.
"Are you the one who punched him?" Felicia asked, turning to half face him.
Caught off guard, Peter kept his gaze down. He hated how she figured him out so quickly. Just as he was about to form a response the elevator doors opened.
"I have to go," he forced, darting out the elevator and slowing down once he reached the entrance.
A sigh escaped him. His running probably answered Felicia's question. She had to have wanted to punch Harry before, too. She was just smart enough not to.
He knew he couldn't try to enter Oscorp again anytime soon. It didn't surprise him that Harry refused to give him the web fluid, though it didn't frustrate him any less. Maybe Harry didn't care about him, but what about the people he saved as Spider-Man? How could he do his job without it?
Peter looked back at the grand building for a moment. All of his troubles originated from there. He began to remember how Gwen worked there, but quickly shoved the memory out of his sight. All he wanted was the web fluid.
