The small main room consists of a small kitchen area by the door and a living area near the window on the end of the room. There is a desk to the left of the window with a sewing machine, an empty coffee cup, a laptop, and a stack of books and notes on it. There is a futon against the right wall, and a coffee table in front of that. In front of the left wall, there is a small shelf/TV stand with a small TV on it and a PlayStation 3 inside the shelf, along with a few games and DVDs. To the right of the TV is a door to the bathroom.
Kate looks around at the very few items in the living room. The sewing machine catches her attention; it is unusual to her. "You have a sewing machine?" She asks. She sees red fabric left on the desk by it.
"What are you making?"
"Please, sit down on the futon," Peter says. "It's not much, but it's what I got."
Apprehensively, Kate sits on the far side futon, putting her sandwich on the coffee table. Peter sits beside her. Answering her question, he says, "I make clothes." Technically, this is true.
"Cool," Kate says.
Being both gentlemanly and a homeowner, Peter points to the door to his bedroom. "That's the bathroom, if you need it," Peter says.
"Where do you sleep?" Kate asks, looking around for a door to a bedroom.
"It's… New York," Peter chuckles, pulling a blanket out from under the futon. "No space for anyone. I just sleep on the futon."
"How much did it cost you?" Kate asks, leaning back on the futon, feeling a little more comfortable around Peter. "It's pretty high-quality for a futon."
"Oh, come on now," Peter laughs, leaning back too. "No futons are high-quality."
Kate laughs.
"No, but for real," Peter says, "I got it for like 20 bucks from some guy off the highway."
"That's not bad," Kate replies.
"Can't beat it," Peter says, grabbing his sandwich. "No pickles, huh?"
"Yeah," Kate says, taking her own sandwich. "The pickles with the cheese on this thing, they just don't mesh well." She takes a bite and says with her mouth full, "It's a lot better without."
"Oh, hang on," Peter says, getting up and going to the small fridge in the small kitchen area in the small apartment. "Okay, do you want water or apple juice?"
"Apple juice?" Kate reacts, surprised.
"You got a problem with apple juice?" Peter responds.
"No…" Kate says.
Peter gets a couple of cups out of a cabinet and pours himself and Kate a glass each. "Straw or no straw?" He asks Kate. "Seriously, it's all disposable, or I could just wash it anyway, so it's really no trouble."
"I'll take a straw," Kate says.
"Regular or squiggly?" Peter asks.
At this point, Kate is completely amused. She laughs, "Squiggly, please."
"Coming right up!" Peter responds, bringing back to the futon two glasses of apple juice with squiggly straws. When Peter sits back down, he says, "I'll bet you think I'm a complete dork right now."
"Actually, the opposite," Kate says, picking up the glass and taking a sip of apple juice through the squiggly straw. "I respect it. Someone who doesn't care what society says about him and hangs onto things commonly thought of as childish."
"Ohhh, come on, you think I'm childish," Peter reacts. He's feeling comfortable, he's feeling the moment, completely forgetting his responsibility to keep people away from him. He can have one friend, right?
"No," Kate corrects, "I said that it is commonly thought of as childish. I don't think it's childish."
"You don't?"
"I think it's actually kind of manly," Kate says. "The way you obviously don't care about society's common standards. I don't care about society, either. I am not a common girl."
"I can see that," Peter replies.
Kate takes a bite of sandwich. With a lull in the conversation, she remembers Clint's advice. "What do you like to do?" She asks Peter rather bluntly.
"Learn," Peter says. "Study. I want to go to an Ivy League school, so I have a lot to read up on."
"What do you want to study there?" Kate asks.
"I don't know," Peter shrugs. "Math. Science. Physics. I haven't completely nailed down what I want to do yet. What about you, are you in school?" Before Kate can answer, Peter realizes, "Sorry, you're 22, you're probably not in school unless you're going after a master's or something."
"Actually, I am," Kate says. "I'm trying to get a master's in math at NYU."
"Whaaat." Peter reacts. "Daaamn. You go, girl."
Kate giggles.
"But seriously, though, that's impressive," Peter compliments. "Maybe you should tutor me in math, if I can come up with the money."
"Do you work?" Kate asks.
"On… commission," Peter says on the spot. It's a technical truth; he makes money turning in wanted criminals to the police for cash rewards.
"What do you do?" Kate asks innocently.
"Social work," Peter answers. "Making the world a… a better place."
"That's awesome," Kate says. "You're sort of an anti-me, because you're doing good for the good guys, and I'm doing bad for the bad guys."
"Yeah, I guess so," Peter agrees.
"Being an anti-me, though," Kate teases, "that's not a good thing, because I'm pretty awesome."
"So, I'm not a good person?" Peter responds slyly.
"I never said that!" Kate pretends to be offended.
"Then what did you say?" Peter asks.
"I'm saying that it's not a good thing that you're not me," Kate states, "because I'm awesome."
"You… kind of are," Peter mumbles shyly, looking down. He fears he is falling in love too quickly, wondering if he likes Kate for Kate, or if he likes Kate because she is a person to socialize with.
"I heard that," Kate reacts, "and… I… am." She wonders if Peter is just saying that, or if he means it. She guesses that he is just saying that as part of the conversation, but his tone makes her question this assumption.
Both confused, both knowing nothing about what any of anything means, they quietly eat, not talking, feeling awkward yet hopeful. When they finish, they sit their for a minute, not looking at each other, not doing anything.
Peter speaks up and asks Kate, "I have a PS3, do you wanna play a multiplayer game?"
"What games do you have?" Kate responds.
"I have Beast Slayers," Peter says excitedly. "I have… had a friend who did some stuff to it so we can play it on my… really tiny TV using the controllers. It's an AWESOME mod."
"I didn't even know such a game existed," Kate replies. "You could teach me to play."
"Okay, awesome," Peter says, getting up and grabbing the controllers from the shelf his really tiny TV is on. He goes back to the couch and sits right beside Kate, putting his own controller on the table and putting Kate's in her hands. He puts his hands on Kate's to show her what to do.
"Okay," Peter explains, his hands on Kate's, his fingers over hers. He guides Kate's fingers over the buttons as he explains what each button does, speaking enthusiastically, "this button is basically fight. Just mash it if you're being offensive. Retreat is this button, press that to take a step back. Okay? And this one is jump. This one makes you change out your weapon. You'll want a different weapon depending on what kind of beast we're slaying."
Even if Peter was not talking, Kate can feel his excitement. He is giving off a vibe of exuberance and fun, and she can feel it as the palms of his hands move over the back of her own hands, warming them in the New York cold. But as passionate as Peter is, he is moving his hands gently, his fingers pushing hers lightly and delicately, as if her fingers are the most fragile things in the world. Yet he is firm, holding on as if he has never held before, and as if he has no intent of letting go.
Peter finishes, saying, "That's all there is to it." He lets go of Kate, picking up his own controller and starting up the game.
When the game starts, Kate dies in the game almost immediately, both inexperienced and still in a daze from Peter helping her learn the controller.
Peter reacts, "Are you serious right now?"
Kate shrugs. "Iii… don't play video games."
"Well," Peter replies, "now's as good time as ever to learn. Here, we'll start on an easy level, get you used to the game."
Because of the ease of the level, Peter gets off to a hot start in the game.
"How are you so good at this?" Kate asks, still struggling to get anything done.
"I play a lot," Peter says, eyes glued to the TV, in the zone.
Kate realizes that this is something that Clint had talked about: find out what the cute guy likes. She asks Peter, "So, how often do you play?"
"Almost every day," Peter answers.
"By yourself or with other people?" Kate asks.
"By myself," Peter says. "I'd do multiplayer more often, but I want to unlock everything first. Besides, I don't have anyone to do multiplayer games with."
Kate questions this last comment: does Peter have no one to play with because no one he knows likes video games like he does, or is it because he literally has no one?
"I can play with you," Kate offers. "If you want. I need to learn how to play the game, though."
"Okay, so, here's the thing," Peter says. "Because this is a mod, the actual Beast Slayers game is on a PC, so you'd be using a computer or a laptop, preferably a gaming one."
"So, laptop," Kate summarizes.
"Yes," Peter answers. "Only if you want to, though."
The next hour flies by. They sit on Peter's futon, playing Beast Slayers. Kate gets more experienced as time goes on and gets better at the game. Peter is an expert, completing his tasks in the game with skill and speed.
Outside of the actual gameplay, they have a good time. They laugh with each other. They laugh AT each other. They talk while they play, about life in general, preferences about anything, and likes and dislikes. They talk about experiences they've had (outside of Avengers work). The conversation topics are all fairly superficial. They only talk about things that one would see posted online, nothing serious at all. They know each other on the surface, but nothing deep.
The time is 9:00PM when a stopping point in the game is reached.
"Okay," Kate says, "I should probably go. I don't wanna overstay my welcome or anything."
"No, no, no, you're not overstaying anything!" Peter responds. "I literally never have people over, so."
"Well, I should get going, anyway," Kate says, getting up. "I've gotta walk home to my own apartment, and you don't know the kind of crazy people that are out there in the streets."
"Oh…" Peter reacts, remembering his duties as Spider-Man, "I can imagine." He realizes he is getting close to Kate, however superficially. Becoming afraid for Kate's own safety, to prevent himself from getting any more attached to her, he is ready to kick her out the door. "So," he says, getting up and going to the door, opening it, "I'll see you around, I guess."
Kate is offended at Peter's sudden desire for her to leave, but she doesn't want him to be offended by her being offended. So, she walks out the door. As Peter shuts it, she turns around and says, "Thank you for having me, Peter."
Peter half-smiles at her and shuts the door, mad at himself for having to cut the evening short that way, mad at himself for not exchanging contact info, mad that he could not exchange contact info even if he wanted to. Yes, he enjoyed his time with Kate. He wishes it never ended. Again, he does not know why he liked Kate; whether he liked her for her, or whether he liked her because she is the first person he really socialized with in weeks. He really does want to go on an official date with her, but he does not want to risk harm to her. The recurring theme of his life.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Meanwhile, Kate is still outside the door, wondering if she should try to get Peter's contact info, see if he'll let her follow him online. For her, everything went really, really well once things got going. She thinks Peter is a cute boy, awkward at times, but a man. He doesn't care what society says about him, in the way she doesn't care what society thinks of her. She finds that respectable. Besides that, he is easygoing and energetic, just like her, matching her energy. No one is able to match her energy like that, being childish while still being an adult, a near-perfect mix of the two. Peter is just a fun guy to be around.
Still, though, the way he helped her learn how to play the game resonates with her. His hands on hers was euphoric; that was a feeling Kate had never felt before. He was both firm and gentle with her, showing her what to do, but not wanting to overstep boundaries. Kate realizes that that is the kind of person she wants to be with, romantically speaking. It feels like that was a symbol of Peter, an extension of who he is, and Kate liked it, and hoped that it WAS such an extension. The way his hands touched hers was, in a word, loving. It was a type of love Kate had not experienced.
She decides to knock on the door and try to get Peter's phone number, or his permission to follow him online. She knocks. "Peter?" She asks. "It's me. Still Kate."
There is no response.
"Peter?" Kate knocks again.
No response.
She decides that he is probably in the bathroom and cannot hear her, or he is listening to music. Enough time has passed that it would feel weird for her to knock again, so she just leaves, walking for her own home.
The reason Peter did not respond is because he isn't even in his apartment; he has donned his Spider-Man suit and left through the window, swinging through the city not to fight crime, but to clear his thoughts. Should he pursue a relationship with Kate or not? If yes, romantic? Or a friendship? If no, how does he let her down? He just wants to run away and forget everything, but he obviously cannot do that. He wants advice. He wants someone to confide in. But right now, he has no one, really. No one besides Kate.