Work Text:
"Looks like that time of the year again." Robbie states as he looked outside the huge window of the Daily Bugle building, the snow building faster than the people can shovel it off their small properties.
"Humbug."
Robbie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, humbug. Boss, you bring the goods?"
Jameson paused his pacing in the middle of his as he turned and stared at the man. "What are you referring to? Drugs? You make it seem like I brought-
"Donuts."
"Well, they’re very high in sugar intake. In that case, yeah. Call it that. Who brought the hot chocolate?"
"I did sir!" Betty strolled in with Peter who was bundled in a jacket far too large for him, if anything it looked like the jacket itself was ingesting him. He also had an old jansport bag hanging from his shoulders. "I found Parker."
"About time! What were you doing son?” Building snowmen in the shape of Spider-Man? Hiding temporarily in the Arctic’s?”
Peter shifted on the balls of his heels. "No sir, I-
"Good good. Pictures. Gimmie.” Jameson interrupted, holding his hands out while he looked for a cigar to light up.
Peter sat in the chair and pulled out a new red folder, inside he had stacks of pictures. If anything, Jonah almost visibily gasped. "H-here sir. I was able to get more of him this month. He was very… insistent about it."
Robbie coughed.
Jameson quickly snatched the folder, a look of pride and nodded surprisingly at the stacks of photos that could last for months or other "promos" for Spiderman, the wall crawling menace in JJJ’s opinion. "Clear. Concise. Could last me for months. If I was physically able to I would cry. HOFF-
Hoffman's head popped in the office before Jameson called. “Yes sir?"
"Should I invest in a small violin to keep in my office whenever I want to weep of joy?"
The young man held up his hand and answered like these questions as if they were normal. "Well if I were you sir-"
"Exactly. That's what I think too. Get out." Jonah made a shooing motion with his hands as he set the pictures down and lit the cigar, "Go get the stuff ready for tonight, Hoffman. Save me 2 glazed or you’re fired."
"Did you get me sprinkles, sir?" Hoffman asked hopefully.
Jonah bit down a snarky remark, he can thank Peter for his slightly uplifted mood. "Yes. Now go. Shoo!"
Betty and Hoffman left, leaving Robbie, Jameson and Peter alone in the room.
Jameson was now having a mental fiesta on all the potential headlines he could use on the wall crawler. He quickly left his office to go have a grand discussion with the other editors.
Peter gently put his mannila folder back into his backpack, sitting there awkwardly. For once, Jameson didn't kick him out ; did he need another favor or is he free to go? He wasn't sure.
Not knowing whether to leave and feeling weird on asking, Peter gently tugged on his backpack and pulled out his notes and a book. He quickly started working on his homework. Robbie, who was kinda surprised at Peter doing his homework on Jameson's desk peered at the boy's work. Sometimes he forgot Peter was a college student and had other things to do than taking pictures of his alter ego.
"Whatcha working on Peter? Looks pretty difficult."
"Oh." Peter looked up with a small smile. "Bio-magnetics. It was difficult at first but I think I semi got it down." Peter then frowned and shyly mumbled. "I've been slacking a bit though so it seems.."
Already knowing damn why, Robbie decided not to pry in.
Instead had an idea to help the kid out.
"Hey, you'll have more room if you use that desk in the corner of the room." Robbie gently patted Peter on the shoulder, pointing to said small desk with a small chair. He honestly did not know is Jameson would blow a fuse but he didn't have the heart to tell Peter he couldn't do his homework on Jameson's desk. "The weather is really bad out here if you go home now, did you walk all the way here?”
Peter coughed, tugging on his large jacket to hide a bit of the red and blue spandex. "Yeah. It was really cold." He confirmed.
Robbie laughed wholeheartedly. "Then by all means you should stay for the overnight party, kid. Pretty sure Betty has told you a bit about it."
He was referring to the overnight party the Daily Bugle had whenever the weather would get particularly bad and everyone would stay overnight at the office, bringing their makeshift beds, food , hot drinks and snacks. It was a tradition they had every year or so!
Peter nodded, remembering how Betty was excitedly telling him it would be his first office party. Robbie continued. "I can guarantee you, this office isn't as chaotic as it seems during Christmas time."
Peter seemed to think a bit. “Jameson wouldn't really mind if I did my homework in here?"
"Nah. He's too busy figuring out headlines for the upcoming paper. As long as you don't mumble while you work or sniff loudly, you're in for the clear Peter."
-
"No, he's absolutely not in the clear. Shoo him out of my office or I'll do it myself, Robbie."
"Jonah." Robbie hissed quietly in the press room. "Kid has his knees up in homework because of the extra and may I say great quality photos he gets of Spider-Man for you?” He crossed his arms, not really phased by Jameson at this point. "Plus what harm is there? Peter is quiet as a mouse! Probably even quieter!”
"I like to be alone in my office while I work."
“No you don't,” Robbie gave him the look. “You subtly complain how we stay at our cubicles too long.”
Jonah looked at the oncoming printing papers as he looked outside. Snow was covering every inch of New York. Even if he wanted to he didn't have the heart to send Peter or anyone home in this weather mess.
"Can't he just do his work anywhere but my office?"
"There's no room. Everyone has set up their makeshift beds for the night."
Fine. Jameson didn't feel as gray on Christmas as he usually did. "Alright, fine. My only exception is today. But he so as makes an annoying peep I'm sending him to work in the break room!"
"The closet?"
"Yeah, the break room."
-
Jameson returned to his office, physically withholding himself from making any rude, snarky remarks. He saw a mess of sandy brown hair engulfed in whatever the man in question seemed to be reading at the abandoned desk he had in the corner of his office. Parker didn't even glance up when he walked in! Huh.
***
The day went by as usual, Jameson was yelling at his employees or shouting suggestions for the paper, while Peter continued to work on the copious amount of homework he still had to do for college, especially Dr.Connors class. To say he wanted to fling his textbook out on the street and never see it again was an understatement.
While Jameson sort of had a break from his yelling rampage, he spared a few glances at his freelancing photographer. A little short for his age, a bit of baby fat coming out of his teenage years, and the tired swollen look under his eyes. Yup college students in a nutshell. Or for the most part.
No, Parker definitely did not remind Jonah of his own son. Hardworking, persistent and responsible. His son worked hard to be an astronaut and he was damn proud of him.
Although he's seen Parker come in about everyday or a few days a week, Peter always meets deadlines and despite what JJ comments about the photos. They were damn well pretty good to get their paper selling. The freelancer had very good photography skills!
Jonah was quiet for a few minutes, not liking the quiet. He didn't like to think in silence. He needed some noise to distract him.
"Parker, you're killing me. Straighten up that slouch will you?"
Peter looked up with a baffled look. He looked too entranced from his homework to be paying attention. "W-what?"
Jameson sighed. "I said straighten up. Your back is making me physically feel like I have scoliosis."
Peter subconsciously straightened up, to Jameson's surprise a little smile appeared on the photographer's face, the kid almost seemed amused with his comment. "M' sorry sir, I just got really invested in finishing this English paper. Never enjoyed English." He rubbed his eyes harshly with his fists. Yikes, he felt bad for Parker's retinas.
Jameson also titled his head in surprise for the man to opened up or not even stutter. Parker usually just apologized and moved on, sometimes daring to explain himself when it came to pay. Huh.
He thought about Parker's last comment, "You're telling a newspaper editor in a newspaper building that you don't enjoy English?"
Peter blinked. He frankly didn't expect Jameson to continue the conversation. "That's why I take photos." He said innocently and cautiously, expecting Jameson to interrupt him. When he didn't, he fished out his camera and continued. "Photos don't require you to find the symbolism and a motif. If your interpretation isn't right then your whole paper is wrong, gotta go back. Stupid Kafka. Stupid metaphors." He muttered to himself, going on a tangent about why the whole English curriculum was garbage and he only needed to know the proper grammatics. He then muttered something about not needing to know the motifs for his science analyis papers.
Jameson didn't want to admit he was amused and slightly intrigued by the kid's lack of professionalism. Yes, he did ramble but to voice an opinion that didn't involve his pay! Huh!
He gave Peter a look of "are you done yet?" until Peter noticed he was in fact rambling, his cheeks started to dust a very bright red.
"Sorry-
"If you apologize for a tangent I 100% agree on I will fire you Parker."
Peter stopped mid sentence, processed that Jameson wasn't mad with him and if Peter didn't rub his eyes so hard maybe he could see an amused smug grin on Jameson's face. The boy nodded his head in understanding and went back to working on his homework without a peep and hey, the kid straightened his back.
Okay, maybe having him here isn't so bad. The pencil scratches and the occasional book thumps were a minor inconvenience but,
It wasn't bad.
Robbie, Betty and Hoffman looked through the blinds in utter amusement and surprise. No one is able to talk to Jameson that long without being interrupted. They even raised their eyebrows seeing him smug smile.
Maybe it was the Christmas spirit or the Peter factor, because it seems everyone becomes fond of him at some point.
***
It was about 7pm right now, however outside it looked around 2 in the morning already. The wind was strong, the snow was pounding on the windows and the breeze was quite loud. Peter was super grateful for no power outages, for heaters and hot chocolate.
The floor was buzzing now, some people were still working on their work and others were gathered by the donuts, food or hot drinks area, chatting about domestic things, Christmas, what they were betting about the upcoming Super Bowl in February. Contrary to what people may think, this is what exactly Peter needed to finish his studies.
Not only that, but he got sad knowing he found more comfort at WORK than the comfort of his apartment- which, he was grateful for a roof over his head and food but he was very lonely. Yes, he had Mary Jane and Harry, but they didn't live with him. So most of the time he stayed alone at home and did his homework and woke to the sounds of the police scanners or the radio. Sadly and pathetically, he'd even pretend he was in on the conversations the hosts had over the radio sometimes.
He did get out of the office (with some coaxing from Robbie and a bit of threatening from Betty if he didn't get himself hot chocolate and a donut) because he's gonna (need all the sugar he can get) to finish his work. Also, to feel super warm because he only brought a big jacket and his backpack to sleep with.
It was nice making small talk outside, some of the elder co workers asked about college, life, son even shared their experiences how they got to work form college to the daily vigils.
"You got skills, son." One fellow elder gentlemen patted Peter on the shoulder. "Would ya work here full time right outta college?" The fellow workers spared a glance at their youngest member.
Peter gave a small unsure shrug, blushing under all the attention. " I'm not sure about full time, but I plan to go to grad school after I get my B.A in Science, sir. I would like to work here even during grad school."
The man whistled along with a few others. "Wow, we're getting a future scientist on our hands. You're gonna go places Peter, you managing school and work. Phew!"
Peter felt a warmth flutter from these compliments, blushing again by the smiles from his co workers. "Thank you." He shyly said, his eyes suddenly widened from what he was thinking.
Crap! My history homework! He subtly, not really, rushed back into Jameson's office and started pulling out papers from his backpack. That history report was due tomorrow. He had to get it done!
He didn't even see the amused shocked face Jameson was pulling as he was eating his donuts and coffee while continuing on his own work.
Jameson for some reason, felt the need to do something…genuinely nice. It was a bit distracting now to see Peter's face now distorted into frustration and exasperation, compared to the smiles he got out of him earlier when he was completing more assignments
Jameson was gonna get up and do something when Betty rushed in, scooting a donut and another cup of hot chocolate towards the young man.
Peter looked up from his work and his eyes suspiciously observed the chocolate and bread too long. He then shook his head and frowned at getting distracted. “Thank you Betty really, but-
"Pete, you can't deprive yourself from proper nutrition." Betty tried to tease to get Peter to loosen up.
Peter's frown continue to deepen. "But that's Hoffman's donut, he likes sprinkles. I can't wait his sprinkle donut. He was looking really forward to it."
Man, this kid. How does he remember this stuff? Jameson wondered as he tried to pretend not to listen to the interaction.
Betty seemed like her heart was gonna jump out of her chest.
"He says he doesn't mind." She said softly as he moved a but, gesturing to a now waving Hoffman as he mouthed to Peter. (You need it more than I do! Go on!)
Peter's big baby blue eyes blinked at them, a suspicious watery smile played on his pressed lips. He continued to eye the two, grabbing the donut slowly and biting into it, he instantly melted into the vanilla sugary goodness. His eyes instantly brightened.
"Tank’ you." He said with his mouth filled with donut, his cheeks puffing out causing Betty to laugh and wipe a bit of frosting off of Peter's cheek. He wasn't even embarrassed of talking with his mouth full!
Hmm. Maybe there’s more to Peter Parker than beats the eye.
**
9pm. It was 9pm.
Jameson yawned and stretched, reading into some articles and maybe, just maybe trying to find out who that menace spiderman was. He was even hoping that menace took a break from his big alone antics during the holidays!
He sighed, not coming close to his or her... identity. It's been tempting even, to threaten Parker to give him an identity, sometimes in the past he slipped in a "well you know who spiderman is huh?" And Peter would say "no I just take his pictures."
Jameson, maybe due to his high sugar intake and energy overload,, was gonna ask Peter tonight again if he knew him. Manipulation, if you will, the kid might slip, idk, say something since he's tired as hell. That could speed up this whole process and really figure out who's under the mask!
The idea completely slipped as soon as he turned to the person in question.
Despite the noise outside the office and the bright light hanging above in the office, Peter was sleeping as soundly as a baby.
One arm was hanging over, his hand slightly touching the ground. His hair was disheveled, messy and all kinds of bad bed head. His cheek was pressed against the crook of his arm and Jameson wa heavily reminded how young Parker- Peter was. The kid was what? 19? 20? He wasn't sure. It was hard to tell when the young man practically had a baby face.
To say that the image before him didn't pull his heartstring because Peter heavily reminded him of his own son. Roughly the same maybe a bit older of Peter-
He could wake Peter up, really, his voice was more capable of doing it. Maybe a few rough shoves would do it.
But when he looked at how tired Peter was, the bags under his eyes seemed to gradually darken, his breaths were long and Peter hardly moved during the sounds around them…
He couldn't do it. Dang it, for being a decent person. No one deserves to be deprived of sleep, especially of sad college students who had a small freelancing job and went to college all solely based on a scholarship.
Oh yeah. Jameson was attentive. He listened to the conversation Pete had outside with the other workers.
Dang it, morals.
***
"Parker is out." He made a pillow motion under his hands.
"What? You kicked him out?"
"Yes." Jameson deadpanned. "I kicked him too the curb to sleep in the snow. Humbug."
Robbie rolled his eyes. "Yes, because my boss is heartless."
"He sure is." He shook his head in wondering how really he can deal with his employees. Or more frankly how they deal with him. "Do I just...leave him there?" Jameson asked Robbie unsure, which was super uncharacteristic of him. Legit, only time Jameson was unsure of himself was when his mother in law was on the phone. You do NOT want to cross off that woman.
They both walked back into the office and Robbie instantly gave Jameson a smug look, seeing a mysterious jacket that belonged to Peter draped onto his body. Last time he's checked from the window, Peter didn't have that draped over him.
"What? Not gonna just let it get wrinkled. I actually care about clothes, ya know." Jameson scoffed, turning away from the scene.
"I didn't say anything." Robbie smugged as he got closer to Peter, a fond look on his face. "Poor kid. Hope he finished his homework on time." Jameson frowned as Robbie started to heave Peter off the desk slowly, surprisingly he hooked his arms under the kid's knees and heaved him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"What the hell?" Jameson widened his eyes. "Are you spiderman? Are you a double agent, Robertson?"
Robbie looked at Jameson with an amused face. "Hell no, I'm not that strong like Spiderman." He mentally praised himself for no slips ups. "Peter is super light to carry. Plus, I do my fair share of gym, boss. I have a life ya know."
(Of course you do )Jameson rolled his eyes as he saw Robbie gently lay Peter down on the side couch- oh yeah, duh, could have moved him to the couch. Well, he did he probably would have threw out his back since he's no where near the spring chicken he used to be.
He then wondered if Parker… Peter has been eating. Again, no one in their 20's should be light, especially males.
"He's fine." Robbie snapped him out of his trance, another look and Peter was wrapped in his jacket, all snug like a bug, and his head layed on a throw pillow. Well? Best they had he supposed.
Jameson already had his air mattress set up so he wasn't worried about himself..
"If Parker wakes up with a crick in his neck or gets sick, I mean, this jacket! Come on!" Jameson pulled the sleeve like it was disgusting. "No fur! Nothing! He wakes up sick and unable to perform his job I'm gonna-
"Fire me. Yeah yeah yeah." A small voice spoke suddenly.
Robbie and Jameson snapped their heads to mumbling voice, which belonged to Peter who still had his eyes closed.
"Is he awake? The hell?"
" 'ice job Harry." Peter continued to slur in his sleep. Spilled your wine on my paper. Dr. Connors gonna be pissed...off."
Robbie snorted, which prompted Peter to stir, a distasteful look coming from Jameson.
"Alright, go off to dreamland. I can take it from here. I need my beauty sleep to keep this place running." The stern boss shooed his employee out, giving him a small goodnight to the rest of the office. Jameson sighed as he walked back to Peter, totally not adjusting the jacket when it began to fall off, totally not smiling when Peter let out a contempt sound.
Maybe having company wasn't so bad after all.