Peter Parker is Spider-Man (![]() ![]() @ 2021-04-14 12:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | spider-verse: peter b parker, tvd: caroline forbes |
"Coffee?"
Who: Peter and Caroline
What: A job interview
When: Today, April 14th, around 3:00ish
Where: Caroline's office
Rating/Warning: Low/none
Status: Complete
Caroline’s office wasn’t huge. It was basically just a reception area and then a door to Caroline’s office. Although she was thinking of expanding soon, especially if she did end up promoting Violet to an event planner and hired a new assistant for herself. But for now it was enough. Peter was greeted by Violet and then sent into Caroline’s office.
Caroline was sitting at her desk, a comfortable chair for Peter on the other side. There was a large smile on her face. “Nice to see you again,” she said cheerfully and she honestly meant it. She had no idea if she would actually hear from him after he left the coffee shop. She gestured for him to have a seat. “You have your portfolio?”
Peter had, by some miracle, managed to find a clean shirt and pair trousers that had been hiding away in one of the moving boxes that Peter had still not managed to unpack. He wasn’t often on time, let alone early - like he’d been today - but this was it. A new leaf to turn over. Or something. He’d even managed a tie.
“Nice to see you too,” Peter said, sitting. “I did,” he said, pulling the goober out from his front pocket before he took a seat across from Caroline. He’d been a photographer, professionally, for 22-years, when he’d first got a job for the local newspaper at sixteen as a way to start saving for college, and so choosing his portfolio hadn’t been a question so much of if he had the photos as it had been which photos to choose.
He’d stayed up most of the night going through them, deciding to limit his portfolio to photos he’d taken in the last ten years, and particularly of the kind of events Caroline was likely looking to him to shoot. She didn’t need photos of cordoned off streets and police cars and broken windows, she wanted photos of high end events and award shows and Broadway, and he, luckily, had those. They were decent photos too. In the last two decades, Peter had mastered most of the tricks of the trade, even if most of his photos had a more news photography bent to them than anything that could be considered artistic.
“Great,” Caroline said, taking the portfolio from him but not opening it quite yet. “Can I get you anything? Water?” A pause then a knowing smile formed on her face. “Coffee?”
“Only if it comes in a sippy cup,” Peter joked back, though he really could use a coffee and he was half worried that his joke might make Caroline think that he was refusing the offer of coffee. “Or without a sippy cup. I’d take it in a normal cup too,” he added quickly.
“Good,” Caroline said with a grin. “Because we’re fresh out of sippy cups.” She pulled out her cell phone to text Violet. She didn’t have a fancy intercom thing. She didn’t really need one either when cell phones were a thing.
As Caroline looked through the portfolio, Violet brought in a fresh cup of coffee with some cream and sugar for Peter. In a mug.
Caroline was slightly surprised at the photos Peter brought it. She was expecting more news story photos like crime scenes and car crashes. But he actually had a good selection of award shows and even some stuff from Broadway. She couldn’t help but notice the photo of the redhead smiling at the camera, or well the person taking the photo more likely. It was more an intimate smile than something posed. Caroline had a feeling there was more to the story there but she wasn’t here to judge his personal life.
“You’re from New York?” she asked as she continued flipping through his portfolio. All the Broadway shots were a dead give away.
Peter’s heart clenched at the sight of MJ on Caroline’s computer screen. He probably shouldn’t have included it in the photos he’d added to the goober, but he couldn’t help himself; it was a good shot, and leaving MJ out of it… well, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He nearly raised a protest when Caroline scrolled on to the next photo, just so he could stare at her a little longer, but he held his tongue and let her continue.
“I am,” he said, coming back to himself when she asked him about New York. “Born and raised. I just moved out here a couple months ago.”
“I went to college there,” Caroline replied. Well not in the city. But she had traveled to the city often enough. Mostly for shopping, or yes to see a Broadway show. Caroline did love theater.
“Why’d you decide to move here?” Caroline questioned still looking through his photos.
“It just… felt like I needed a new start,” Peter said. He was not going to get into it. Not here, in the middle of a job interview. No way. Not at all.
“It’s just…have you ever met the love of your life, and married them, and been happy with them until everything goes wrong and you file for divorce and then you move two-thousand miles away so you can stop thinking of them every time you pass something that reminds you of them, which is everything in the city you both lived in?”
Caroline certainly hadn’t been expecting that answer. “Can’t say that I have,” Caroline replied. She’d never been married. And she certainly hoped she hadn’t met the love of her life yet. Considering the only time she’d been in love was in high school and well as much as she still cared for Tyler their lives had taken them in different directions. “But that seems like a good enough reason to move,” she settled on saying instead. She had a strong feeling it was the red-head in the photo she had seen earlier, but decided against asking that question.
“Oh, well, I don’t recommend it,” Peter said, a little awkwardly, well aware that he’d probably overshared. He’d be surprised if he got the job. He’d definitely screwed up, but then again, what else was new? If Peter was good at anything, it was screwing up.
He sank a little deeper into the chair, wondering if he should take this opportunity to say thanks for the opportunity and make his escape.
“Yeah,” Caroline agreed with a small but reassuring smile. “Doesn’t sound ideal,” she paused as she reached the end of his portfolio. “I have a wedding coming up in a few weeks,” Caroline went on. “I already have a photographer for it,” she added. “But the bride requested multiple photographers for all the angles.” She had been intending to ask Henry if he could cover, but this was an even better opportunity. “You interested?” It wasn’t that she thought he would fuck up the job, but at least if he wasn’t up to events then she had other photos to chose from as well.
Peter blinked, a little surprised, and straightened up in the chair. For a minute, he was pretty sure he’d misunderstood, or misheard, or something, but no matter how many times he tried to turn over what Caroline said in his mind, he couldn’t find any other interpretation other than the one that involved her offering him a job at a wedding.
“Sorry, could you say that one more time,” he said, this time determined to listen more carefully.
It probably wasn’t the best idea to offer a wedding to someone who had just talked about divorce. But that was the only job she had with multiple photographers at the moment. And well if she was going to test him out she wanted him to be more of a back up than the main photographer. “Sorry,” Caroline said, realizing her faux pas. “Would that be too difficult for you?”
Peter blinked. Maybe he hadn’t misheard. “No!” he burst out, and then a little calmer, “No. That’ll be fine. No sweat.”
“Great,” Caroline said with a large smile on her face. “I can email you the details.” She found that was always easier than just telling them to someone. That way they had something to look back on for reference.
“Great,” Peter said, again, beginning to feel a little like a parrot. He definitely would make sure not to say great again. “Yeah, great. I’ve got all my contact information saved on the drive there. So just… e-mail away.”
“Got it,” Caroline said with a reassuring smile. “Have you worked with many event planners before?” she asked. Even though she had already decided to give him the job, she did want to get to know a bit more about him.
“Not too much,” Peter admitted. “I mean, I’ve gone to events to take photos, obviously.” It was there in his portfolio. “But usually it’s for the news. I’ve worked with a couple though. I’ve been doing this for over twenty years; you wind up working with a lot of different kinds of people when you do something for long enough.”
Caroline nodded as he spoke. She assumed something along those lines already. Well not the twenty years part. But that he did more for the news than flat out event photography. Still she liked to have a number of photographers she could call for different events. Plus twenty years was a good amount of experience… that was almost as long as she’d been alive.
“I guess you do,” Caroline said with a smile even though she obviously didn’t know from experience. “Do you have any questions?”
“Right now, not really,” Peter said. “Other than dress code, but I assume all that information will be in the e-mail you send me?”
“Of course.” The email would be very thorough and detailed. That was one of the many things Caroline was known for. But she could still give him an idea now. “I generally like the photographers to wear black. Preferably in dress pants and a shirt. No jeans or t-shirts.”
If there was one thing Peter could be absolutely certain he didn’t own, it was a black dress shirt. Well, there was nothing for it; he knew he’d have to buy new clothes eventually. He might as well start now.
“I can manage that,” he said.
“And of course,” Caroline went on. “If you have any questions from the email, don’t hesitate to contact me.” But hopefully all his questions would be answered there.