Foggy wasn't lying about how 'exciting' the law firm was.
Not 5 minutes after Peter got settled at his desk and figured out the calendar did another fight break out, though in the hall instead of the office. Foggy told Peter to stay seated while he went out to deal with it, and he returned with a fresh black eye. He trudged in his office and all but collapsed at his desk, only moving to make a quick phone call.
After that, Peter looked at the calendar for the rest of the day, and took the liberty of rescheduling Foggy's morning appointments for the afternoon. Foggy sent him a quick message (they still IMed here?) thanking him. Peter sent him a thumbs up and tucked back into the calendar, answering a couple of quick phone calls in between. In all honesty, the job itself wasn't too hard, at least, not yet. It was only his first day. And judging by Karen's lecture this morning, it could get way worse pretty quick.
When Karen and Mr. Murdock - "There's no need to be so formal, Peter, just call me Matt." - came out of their meeting, Foggy finally joined them in the main room.
"Foggy, are you alright?" Matt leaned against his cane.
"Where the hell did you get that shiner?" Karen smiled as she pointed at his eye.
Foggy rolled his good eye. "Oh, our lovely neighbors across the hall had another 'domestic incident'." He leaned heavily against the wall.
"Have you iced it yet?" Peter asked. "If you need, I can run to the corner store and grab some."
Foggy brushed him off. "Don't worry about it, Peter. I've got it covered," He brushed some hair out of his face. "By the way, we're catering lunch today, courtesy of Nelson's Meats."
"So you called your brother for help?" Matt cracked a smile.
"Theo's on his way with the biggest T-Bone he could find in the freezer." Foggy rested a hand on his face.
"Next time, Foggy, let me handle it. They'd never hit a blind man." Matt chuckled.
"Or I can handle it for you." Peter interjected casually. The other three in the office shared an odd look. "They, uh, they made me take some pretty rigorous self defense training at Stark Industries, since I worked directly with Mr. Stark. Never really had to use it, but I still know how."
Matt tilted his head, as if he was confused. Karen narrowed her eyes curiously, but said nothing.
Foggy carried on like nothing was wrong. "I might have to take you up on that next time. If you got that training at S.I., it must've been good." He laughed and walked back into his office. Matt followed him in while Karen turned back into her own office.
Lunch arrived not long after, and damn, Peter had to admit it was a pretty good sandwich. Almost as good as Delmar's. The next few hours were blissfully quiet as he tried to get the ropes of his new job.
At 3, Matt, Foggy and Karen were all due in the same meeting with a hair salon owner from the upper east side, so they all crowded into Matt and Karen's office, closing the door behind them. Peter would never get a better opportunity for this.
He found the right folder earlier, but he stopped himself from opening it until he was certain he wouldn't be caught. Peter opened it up with his mouse, and information spilled over the screen, all of it concerning The People v. Spider-Man.
That was a good sign. Originally, the case was called The People v. Peter Parker, and that name never failed to send a shiver down his spine.
Back when the trial happened, better was treated like absolute shit. People protested his very existence, not to mention his friends, his history with the Starks, and worst of all, May and FEAST. Just the simple fact that he would volunteer there with May led to some homeless people avoiding the place all together. It totally sucked.
But Nelson, Murdock & Page had been a godsend during that period. Peter only met Karen once, when Matt reached out and offered to be his lawyer. The three of them showed up to May's apartment and listened intently as Peter explained everything. Almost as soon as he was done, Karen made her exit while Foggy and Matt stayed to discuss strategy.
The two of them were a dynamic duo in the courtroom. They both had different ways of arguing that could convince literally anyone of anything, and it was only thanks to them that Peter had a fighting chance. Once Karen brought in evidence of Beck's termination from Stark Industries and an affidavit from a forensic video expert that swore up and down the video Beck released was heavily edited, the charges were dropped and Peter walked away a free man,
Well, somewhat free; like Matt said, the court of public opinion was pretty strong, and a lot of people weren't convinced of his innocence. It's what led him to Dr. Strange, and…
Anyway, Peter just wanted to take a peek at their documents, see if everything relating to him was well and truly purged. He'd rather his employers - actual freaking lawyers, mind you - figure out that he lied about his age, and that that was only the tip of the iceberg.
For the most part, it was what he expected to find; interviews from him, MJ, Ned, May and Happy were all sitting in a massive, annotated document. He scrolled through, scanning everything he didn't already know. There were different colors for each note; blue for Karen, red for Matt, and orange for Foggy.
It was really weird, because sometimes there was a question like How long have you known that Spider-Man was Spider-Man? and the answer would be like I want a lawyer. (MJ) or Longer than MJ has. (Ned). Peter chuckled; next to Ned's answer was an orange note that said Do not call this kid as a witness, ever.
In his own interview notes, there were things like Mr. Spider-Man is being completely honest. in red, and Can we call Pepper Potts as a witness? in orange, and Beck is suspicious as hell in blue. He idly wondered if someone else transcribed Matt's notes here.
And while the document looked super weird with the way questions were rephrased, so far, none of it gave out his secret identity. Even in May's section, nothing gave away who he was. Every time the document probably once said nephew or family or my kid, it said spider. Which, again, super weird, but as long as nothing drew any connection back to Peter Parker, it was fine.
He opened another document. This time, it seemed like this was full of Karen's notes and leads she pursued while she hunted down evidence that saved Peter's ass. There were a surprising amount of leads she proposed, and it seemed like she followed every last one, fruitful or not. Looks like Fury denied to comment, the bastard.
At the bottom, she compiled a list of the evidence she did manage to collect and figured out which ones would exonerate Peter. She had the termination record and the affidavit alongside things like testimonials from civilians in London, security footage from the Tower of London (how in the hell did she get that?), correspondence with Stark Industries about the situation, and even photos from Beck's childhood. Karen really gave this her all. Peter really appreciated it.
For the most part, the rest of the documents were pretty bland and boring, and nothing related back to him in any way, shape, or form. The closest it got was talking about May, but there was a documented connection between Spider-Man and FEAST long before the Europe trip, so it could make sense if no one looked at it too hard.
The last document was one labeled For Matt's Ears Only, P v. S-M. Peter opened it up, and had to keep himself from panicking. It was lengthy, detailed descriptions of everything in the case, from evidence, to people on the jury, to what happened in London, to Peter Parker.
Spider-Man is a caucasian man, 17 years of age. He's about 5'8" in height and 145 in weight. He has brown eyes and short, wavy brown hair. He tends to wear geeky t-shirts and jeans. His costume - which has now been stained green by a protester - was red and black, with a spider emblem on his chest, and a larger one on his back. His mask covers his whole face and has wide, upturned white lenses.
Yep. If any of them bothered to look at this file, right there was a blatant description of their receptionist, who they unknowingly cleared of murder. Not good.
Peter looked back at the office. The meeting was still going strong, but it looked like they might wrap up soon. He shut the document and deleted it from the shared server, praying that it hadn't been uploaded to a cloud. He would bring some software to check that tomorrow. For now, at least he was out of immediate danger of being found out.
The phone rang. Peter breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the phone, grateful for a distraction from his thoughts. That could've been bad. Really, really bad.
He looked at the caller ID and felt blood drain from his face. A. Batalon. Okay, this was also really, really bad. There was a decent chance that the person calling was Ned's grandmother, or much worse, actually Ned . Peter took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, and answered. "Thank you for calling Nelson, Murdock & Page. This is Peter, how can I help you?" He tried to keep his voice from shaking.
"Oh, hi." Fuck. Oh fucking fuck. It was Ned. Peter tried not to break down on the spot. "Is Mr. Nelson available? We hired him for our case, and my Lola and I wanted to discuss something we were worried about."
Peter scrunched his eyebrows together. What was wrong? Was Ned okay? "Are you both safe?" He blurted without thinking.
"... I don't know." Ned's voice shook. "I'd really like to talk to Mr. Nelson, please, Mr. Peter."
Peter released a shaky breath. "Um, sorry, but he's in a meeting. I'll see if I can grab him, but if not, it'll be 5 minutes, tops," He picked up his cell and sent Foggy a text about Ned's case. "Ned, if you don't feel safe, you should call the police and get somewhere you two will be okay at."
"How did you know my name?" Ned asked. He sounded even more worried.
Shit. Shit shit shit. He shouldn't have said that, now he's making Ned suspicious after he's already afraid for his life. "Caller ID?" He tried awkwardly.
Ned was silent for a moment. "Oh, duh. Dumb question. Anyway, can you please have Mr. Nelson call me ASAP? It's really important."
"Of course. I already let him know, he should be free shortly." Peter looked through the window again. Foggy looked at him and gave him a quick, jerky nod.
"Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Peter. I have to go, have a good day." Ned sounded a little relieved. Hopefully he was somewhere better.
"You too, Ned. Stay safe." He'd never been more excited to hang up the phone. He almost broke the thing as he slammed it back on his receiver.
Peter knitted his hands together and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. That could've ended really badly. Hell, it did end badly, at least on his end. He'd been hoping that he would be okay with talking to anyone from his past life. He's only messed up once with Betty, and that was months ago. But a minute-long conversation with Ned was enough to unravel him. Sometimes, he wished he could afford therapy, but even then, he couldn't even be honest about his problems. Ugh, everything sucked so hard.
A couple minutes later, when the meeting adjourned and the hair stylist sashayed out the front door, Peter felt somewhat calmer. He was pretty sure he wasn't showing any signs of his mini panic attack. He could get through this.
Matt took one step out of his office before he tilted his head ever so slightly. "Are you alright, Peter?" He asked innocently.
Why couldn't he catch a fucking break? "I guess what they say about blind people having super senses is true." He joked, trying to slow his heartbeat. Matt visibly tensed.
Foggy rushed out of the office behind Matt, walking briskly to his own. "Anything I need to know?" He asked as he passed Peter's desk.
"Ned Leeds needs you to call back ASAP, he and his Lola might not be safe."
"Shit!" Foggy ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks, Peter!" He slammed the door behind him and ran right for his phone.
Peter stared at the closed door. "You were saying, Peter?" Matt broke through his thoughts. Peter turned to face him, and the man offered a small smile. "Are you okay?"
Peter looked at Foggy's office, then back at Matt. "Actually, I think that sandwich from earlier isn't really agreeing with me." His stomach gurgled as if on cue, and he leaned over a little, moaning to sell the lie.
"Don't let Foggy hear you say that," Karen strode around Matt, walking across the room to a filing cabinet behind Peter's desk. "He'll have a heart attack."
"I think he'd just die on the spot." Matt laughed. He leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms. It was the first time Peter's seen him without his cane. "What do we have scheduled for the rest of the day, Peter?"
He looked up at his computer, reopening the shared calendar. "Looks like the rest of the work day is blocked off for something labeled Man in the High Castle," Peter clicked on the hyperlink, which led to just one word; punishment. "... is this about who I think it's about?" He asked, looking between Matt and Karen.
Matt cleared his throat. "Yes, it probably is." He stood up straight and loosened his tie. "You know what, Peter? You're more than welcome to head out for the day since you're not feeling well. Besides, I'd rather not have to get you anymore involved in this than you already are."
"Are you sure?"
A hand rested on his shoulder, and he nearly jumped before Karen stepped into his eyeline. "It's totally fine. All we're gonna do is go through some old files about his original case, nothing exciting or dangerous. But if you're feeling sick, you should definitely head home."
Peter slowly nodded. "Okay, if you're both alright with that." He began the process of shutting down his computer and gathering his things. He could feel his panic attack fade further away from the front of his mind.
Karen gathered a few different files from the cabinet, walking back into her office after giving Peter a brief goodbye. With everything settled, he walked over to the hallway door. He had his hand on the knob, about to turn it, but turned back to Matt.
"I just- thank you, again, for this job. Honestly, I can't thank you guys enough for this. This is…" His eyes scanned around the office again. He looked at his desk, at Foggy on a phone call (with his once-upon-a-time best friend), at Karen rummaging through her own desk, at Matt standing by a door, attention turned towards Peter. "This is everything I needed right now."
He meant that, with every fiber of his being. Yeah, his first day was kind of hard with two violent fights and Ned kinda coming back into his life, but this firm, with these amazing people. It was like a beacon shining through the dark, stormy night Peter's been trapped in for the past few months.
Matt gave him a wide smile. "Of course, Peter. We're happy to have you here. See you tomorrow." He turned and walked into his office, saying something quietly to Karen.
Peter left, practically jogging outside. It was early enough that he could get a solid patrol in and be in bed by midnight. He might actually get a decently long sleep for once, if he wasn't plagued by nightmares, which was a 50/50 chance at this point. The whole 'Ned' thing didn't really help matters. Hopefully he would burn off all that excess energy and emotion.
He looked up at the clear sky. It was a little warm out today; not warm enough to actually be warm, but it didn't feel as cold as the past few days did. There was a surge in his veins to go flying through the air, doing his friendly, neighborly duty.
First thing's first, though, Peter had to get home and change. No way was he going to risk losing this nice suit by leaving it in his satchel in some Hell's Kitchen alley.