If You Need Me

Ch. 3: Words

Her eyes were a warm brown that caught the light as she smiled. "Well, regardless, it's nice to finally meet."

"It's really nice to meet you too, Cindy," you told her as warmly as you could, "It's an honor to meet you, honestly. I've also heard tons about you from everyone."

"Yeah she's a real saint," Peter snorted, pouring the champagne into the tumbler in his bag just as he said he was going to.

"You're not actually going to drink that at work, are you?" you asked, raising an accusatory eyebrow.

"No," Peter laughed, "I'm just going to slowly add it to Harley's thermos whenever he's not looking and see how drunk I can get him throughout the day."

"Genius," Cindy beamed as you gapped at him.

"You can't do that," you reminded him while Peter took your hand and the two of you headed to the door with Cindy in tow. "You're kidding ... right?"

"Of course I'm kidding, peaches," he laughed, "I mean, I'd really love to and maybe I would have at one point, but I know how to be professional."

"Sounds like you're being boring," Cindy mused, putting on her sunglasses.

"I think the pink hair actually looks nice," you told her, noticing how it caught in the light, "That wig is really real looking."

"Thanks, I swiped it from MJ," Cindy tossed some of it over her shoulder, "I never would have thought she and Harley would start dating."

"They bonded over their mutual hatred," Peter grumbled.

"Hatred for...?" Cindy asked.

"Peter," you smirked, watching as Peter grumbled under his breath.

It was a crisp fall day as the three of you walked back towards Stark Industries. Cindy whined about why you all couldn't just stop there so she could get into her lab and you mentioned that you'd be happy to help her do so, but Peter reminded you that he had to drop off the new papers for May first thing or else she'd be mad.

"You know how she gets about this stuff," Peter reminded you, "College is the one thing she's still paying for that she feels responsible for, so she takes it seriously and wants all new files and bills to her the second I get them."

"You're going to pay her back for college once you graduate, aren't you?" you said, gripping his arm as you crossed the street.

"It's already put aside," Peter nodded, "I'll just drop it into her account and she'll be none the wiser."

"You also thought she'd be none the wiser when we snuck out for Flash's pool party junior year," Cindy reminded him, "And how did that go?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Peter bit his lip.

"How did it go?" you asked, egging Cindy on.

"Well, first we thought we were in the clear, and then halfway through the party May showed up to the party herself and literally dragged Peter by the ear back towards the car. But not before she decided that pushing him into the pool would probably be a good punishment in front of all our classmates."

"Oh my God," you stifled your laughter as Peter's jaw set in an annoyed fashion, "And what did you do?" you asked her.

"I jumped in after him," Cindy sighed, "I felt bad for him."

As you rounded the corner to approach FEAST, you pulled your hand from Peter's. "I'll take Cindy to get some coffee while you talk to May," you told him.