"Peter?"
Peter glanced up from his computer screen to find Glory Grant standing at his desk, which basically meant only one thing.
"What'd I do?" Peter asked, holding his hands up.
"I don't know," Glory replied, "but Mr. Robertson wants to see you and Eddie in his office as soon as possible."
Oh great, Eddie too. This was likely to be good.
"Well," Peter said, rising from his seat, "if this goes south, I'm charging you with calling my aunt and my girlfriend to tell them I loved them and I wished I could see them one last time."
Glory donned an expression of faux seriousness.
"It won't be easy," she said, "but I'll find the strength to do it."
Peter offered the secretary a genuine smile. Glory seemed to have the unique ability to adapt to anyone's sense of humor and roll with it, a feature he had come to take advantage of more often of late, especially during more mundane workdays like today.
"Seriously though, any insight as to what it's about?" Peter asked as they walked, his tone more genuinely curious than before.
"No idea," Glory answered, "you know how Mr. Robertson is; he always likes to be the one to break the news."
"Yeah, I know," Peter replied. Really, he rarely got called into the office to be told bad news, but there was always a section in Peter's mind reserved for the words "but what if..."
He finally came to Robbie's office, with Eddie already there, of course. The man had a lot further to come than he did to the Editor-In-Chief's office, yet he always seemed to beat him anytime they both had to arrive there. It was almost like the man just looked forward to seeing his boss or was just so eager for some special assignment that he went running to him like a child who heard his parents say, "ice cream!" Granted, Eddie's enthusiasm was what had won him a Pulitzer Prize recently, so it was hard to argue with the results.
"Peter, please, come in," Robbie responded in his usual friendly greeting. Despite being a larger man, Robbie had made sure to cultivate a sense of warmth for his office space, always seeming to make sure that his employees never felt tense or nervous as if going to the principal's office in school.
"What's going on?" Peter asked as he walked up beside Eddie.
"I don't suppose you two have heard about what happened to Jeff Mace last night did you?" Robbie asked.
"The new sports reporter?" Eddie questioned. "What happened?"
"Oh, I think I heard Phil talking about it earlier actually," Peter said. "Didn't he get hit by a flyball at a baseball game or something?"
"Yep," Robbie replied. "It turned out to be worse than he initially thought; he has a concussion, so he's not able to cover the big Mets game tonight."
"Oh yeah, aren't they playing the Cardinals tomorrow night?" Eddie questioned. "That's a big game; their fighting for the top spot in the NL right now I think."
Leave it to Eddie to be the one up to date on all the sports stuff. Peter knew the basics from going to baseball and basketball games with Ben growing up, but his coworker/friend was like a walking encyclopedia on all the major sports, even though he'd only grown-up playing football.
"Exactly," Robbie replied, "and our new sports photographer, Victor, went home sick today, so I told him to get his rest and make sure he gets healthy. Listen, I hate to do this to you boys on such short notice, but I was hoping you could cover for them?"
Peter turned to Eddie, shrugging.
"Sure," he replied.
"Only if I can expense the food on the Bugle's account," Eddie added.
"You mean like that one time when you covered the Knicks game?" Robbie asked. "I still haven't recovered from when I saw that number."
"Oh, come on, boss," Eddie pleaded, "I can't help that I still have a ridiculous metabolism."
Robbie still looked a little skeptical, and this whole conversation was becoming amusing to Peter. If only Eddie knew that his metabolism paled in comparison to his own.
"I don't know, Eddie," Robbie said.
"I'll tell you what," Eddie stated, preparing to make his case, "I'll eat something before we go, so all I'll get at the game will be a snack or something. I promise."
Robbie narrowed his eyes at the man, and Peter found himself enjoying seeing his coworker sweat out the suspense a little. He then noticed a smile coming over Robbie's face.
"I'm just kidding, Brock," he said. "Yes, you can expense any food you get...but seriously, don't go crazy, or I might actually have to start thinking about revoking such privileges."
Visible relief came over Eddie's face.
"Thanks boss," he said. "I promise, you won't regret it."
"I'm going to hold you to that," Robbie assured him. "Listen boys, I just want to thank you both for being so flexible. If you both keep playing your cards right, well, let's just say that you might be able to treat your ladies to some fancy dinners soon."
"Mm, I like the sound of that," Eddie replied, "and I'm sure Anne will too."
"Just glad we could help, Mr. Robertson," Peter added. He couldn't help but admire Robbie's generosity. The Bugle had been doing about as well as it had in the many years that he'd worked there, partially due to them better utilizing the digital world. It had been quite the rebound year for them, and his boss had made certain that his employees were compensated properly and then some for their efforts.
After that, the two of them excused themselves from the office.
"I don't know about you," Eddie said, "but I think we're in good with the boss."
"Eddie, EVERYONE is in good with Mr. Robertson," Peter countered, "as long as you do the work, at least."
"Maybe so," Eddie replied, "but he does seem to ask stuff like this of us a lot."
"That's probably just because you don't know how to say no," Peter suggested, "and once you say yes, I have to say yes, because if I don't, you won't leave me alone about it until I change my mind."
"That's not true," Eddie insisted, "you've told me no before."
"Yeah, when you ask on days like M.J.'s birthday," Peter said.
"Will you let that go," Eddie complained, "I had no idea about that, okay?"
"Fine, but still," Peter continued, "I don't know about you, but I like spending time with my lady, you know?"
"Anne's been busy recently," Eddie countered, "there's a bigger gap than you would think between Assistant D.A. and D.A. itself. I'm sorry she doesn't have a business partner like your girl does that can cover for her if she decides she wants to take off early."
"Okay, okay," Peter said, raising his hands defensively. In all honesty, he really didn't envy Eddie's wife's new position. She had taken over as head D.A. after a scandal forced her boss out and had more than her fair share of the workload since she'd taken the job, though last he'd heard, it seemed like her and Eddie both were anticipating that it would lighten up soon.
"Bottom line: you know you can always say no without using your girlfriend as your excuse," Eddie asserted.
"Uh huh, sure," Peter replied sarcastically. Really, he had no problem with working extra, but M.J. had made a great effort over the course of their relationship to find a good work/life balance, and he already had a lot going on between his regular work schedule and Spider-Man that he felt a little guilty anytime he took on something extra, even if he knew she understood.
"Whatever," Eddie said as he turned towards the elevator to head back to his floor. "At least buy one of those foam fingers tomorrow or something for the game. It'll be fun."
"Yeah, and just use one hand to take pictures with my camera," Peter remarked.
"I didn't say you had to wear it the whole time," Eddie clarified.
"How about I just leave the sports spirit to the superstar quarterback?" Peter proposed.
"Former superstar quarterback," Eddie reminded him. "The NFL couldn't afford me anyway."
Peter shook his head and rolled his eyes as Eddie disappeared into the elevator.
M.J. twisted the key to the doors of the shop, effectively locking up for the night.
"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted," Liz said.
"We did have a lot of customers today," M.J. added.
"I'm not sure I'd have survived if we didn't make that coffee run before we got back from lunch," Liz said. "You might've had to drag me out of there, because I probably would have passed out."
"Oh, you would've been fine," M.J. countered. "Really, I'd have thought all your late nights in college studying for exams and finishing up projects would have prepared you better."
"At one point, so did I," Liz concurred, "then adulthood hit us, and I realized that we had it so much easier in college."
"Yes," M.J. agreed, laughing. "A thousand percent yes."
"Anyway, I can't wait to just go home, shower, put on my pjs and put in a good movie," Liz explained. "I'm guessing you and Peter will be seeing each other this evening?"
"Of course," M.J. responded. "Honestly, I'm not sure if we'll stay in or go out tonight. We used to plan stuff when we first got together, but now we just kind of see how the other is feeling when we meet up and just kind of go from there."
"I'm guessing you like it better that way," Liz asserted, "since I've always been the planner between the two of us."
"You've mellowed me out in that way a little bit," Mary Jane countered, an undercurrent of defensiveness in her tone, "but for the most part, yes, I do like the casual nature of it. He does make a point to plan something particularly romantic every so often though just because."
"You are so head over heels for that guy," Liz said, playfully nudging M.J. "I can't believe it's already been over a year since you two first got together."
"Me neither," M.J. remarked. It felt like just yesterday that Peter almost ran her over that first time they met not long after she moved into the building. Other than that he had seemed kind of cute, there wasn't exactly much of a first impression made there, but it wasn't long after that that the two of them had started getting to know each other. Now, here they were, their relationship stronger than ever before.
"I'm happy for you," Liz said, a genuine, warm smile adorning her cheeks. "I've always been content to stay single and focus on work, but I could always tell that you wanted more, and I'm glad you found it. If anyone deserves it, it's you M.J."
"Thanks," M.J. said. "You've always been by my side, even during my more...irresponsible days, and I don't know if I'd even be where I'm at today if not for you."
"Someone had to look out for you, I guess," Liz said. "Besides, you basically taught me almost all the social skills I know, so I guess we're at least close to even."
"Did I teach you sarcasm too?" M.J. teased as they walked.
"I think I just figured out at some point that you're an easy target for it," Liz answered jokingly.
"Uh huh," M.J. said, staring down her best friend. "Just remember, two can play that game."
"I'll be waiting," Liz replied. "On a more serious note, we really do need to sit down together one day and talk through expansion ideas."
"We really do," Mary Jane agreed. Their business had been doing particularly well over the last several months, and the two of them had been tossing around the idea of opening up a second location off and on during that time but hadn't sat down to seriously discuss the idea in greater detail.
"How about tomorrow?" Liz suggested.
"That should work," M.J. replied.
"Cool," Liz affirmed. "A girl's night it is then."
Peter had barely stepped out of the bus when suddenly several police emergency vehicles came blaring down the street, zooming down towards some unknown emergency. It had been a long day, and he wanted nothing more than to see his girlfriend, but that many response vehicles usually meant that something big was happening...which meant Spider-Man's help could make the difference.
Pulling out his phone, he sent a quick text to M.J.
"Will be late. Something came up."
Putting his phone away, Peter took off down the road.
Well, here we go again!
Thank you so much to all who supported The Amazing Spider-Man 3 story in any way, and hopefully this will continue to satisfy you all while doing justice to this world and these characters.
As always, continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty." Proverbs 11:24