Great, I’m sitting here comparing my life to a happy meal. That’s the very definition of pathetic. Who: Peter Parker and Pansy Malfoy When: January 18 Where: McDonalds What: Random Encounter Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Trying to get back into the swing of things was proving easier for Peter than he had thought it would. Stark Japan and the main Stark campus operated in vastly different ways. He’d enjoyed the efficiency of the Japanese and they’d made some great progress on several projects.
He’d just finished his first day back and was making a stop at Mcdonalds to refuel. The Burger was greasy, the french fries were undercooked and oversalted and really, that was his life.
If the burger was his job it was filling but not quite what he’d ordered, and if the fries were his social life, well. Yeah.
“Great, I’m sitting here comparing my life to a happy meal. That’s the very definition of pathetic.” At least the toy was cool.
Pansy wasn’t in the McDonalds for the Happy Meals. She was drowning her own, personal sorrows in McFlurrys, which was kinda awesome because they only cost a dollar. While waiting for her order number to be called out, she heard the voice and it made her jump. She quickly turned around and saw a very, very familiar face on a familiar body sitting at one of the tables. Her heart started thundering in her chest.
“...Peter?”
Peter's spine stiffened. That voice sent a shiver down his spine. It wasn't entirely a bad shiver, but it wasn't entirely a good one either. It was a 'oh shit it's the ex' kind of shiver, which Pete was actually pretty familiar with at this point, all things considered. He turned around and blinked at Pansy, then lifted up Finn and made the toy wave at her.
He might still be a bit of a goofball. "Hey. Pansy. Hi. I said hi. Hi."
Pansy moved around another table, taking a couple of steps closer to where Peter Parker--her ex-boyfriend--was sitting. She was in shock. “...hi.” She repeated after him, somewhat lamely. “...I thought you were in Japan.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Got a transfer back once the project was done. You should see the pictures I took while I was there. Uhm." Peter gestured with Finn. "Have a seat?"
The project was a safe thing to talk about. Rather than them. Not that there was a them anymore. He'd royally screwed that pooch. "Or you could stand. You know. If you wanted. No pressure or anything."
Good one, Parker. Good one!
“Uh… My thing’s not ready--” Pansy said, motioning over her shoulder at the counter as she stared at Peter. He looked… different. Good, but different. Like a lot more time had gone by than actually had. But just as she was saying it, her order was called at the counter. She glanced back at the gal who was holding out her dessert, gave a little smile and wave, and then turned back to Peter.
“I’ll… go get that? And then… um.” Did she have to go? Should they stay and catch up?
“You can sit. I’m not … I don’t have anything better to do.” Peter blinked, then pinched the bridge of his nose and flailed a hand at her. “I mean I have time to talk, not that there’s anything better to do than you.”
He started to sink into his chair. Maybe if he died right now things would be better.
Pansy gave a little nod. She turned to head back over to the counter and grab her dessert, unable to stop the little smirk that crossed her features. It was Peter. He was awkward and geeky, and just like she remembered him from early on in their relationship. But that was long ago. A long time ago.
She turned back around, holding the McFlurry, and walked slowly back to his table to slip into the seat opposite his. “...so. You don’t have anything better to do than me?”
He stuffed a fry into his mouth to give him a moment to think of an appropriate response. It didn't really help. "There's no safe way for me to answer that. So I'm going to plead the fifth before I dig myself in deeper. Uhm. So how are you?"
Pansy gave a little laugh. She lifted the spoon from the Flurry cup and licked some of the ice cream off of it as she considered him. Her eyes lingered on his face for a moment. “...good. I’m good. Good enough. How long have you been back?”
Peter stared down at his drink. “Three days. Settled into a new apartment, just finished my first day at work…So...Good. Been good.”
“Wow.” Pansy said, giving a little nod. She watched him carefully as he spoke, then turned her attention back to her Flurry. “Welcome back, then.” She said, softly. “I had no idea you were even coming back. How was Japan?”
"Japan was interesting. Crash-course in learning the language. Luckily I'm a quick learner." He lifted his eyes from the drink and looked at Pansy. Had she gotten prettier? She'd gotten prettier. "There's uh...I spent a lot of time downtown."
Looking into Peter’s eyes made Pansy distracted. “Downtown? Wow. That must have been… I dunno. Hard? Since… all that Japanese.” Great, Pansy. Eloquent. “Domo Origato Mister Robato.” She said, then took another scoop of the ice cream into her mouth.
Peter laughed, then looked like he wanted to pretend that he hadn't laughed, and looked around the Mcdonalds hoping no one else noticed that laugh. Subject change! "Stark Japan was kind of like working at Disneyworld?"
The laugh reminded her of… well, him. Peter Parker. The guy she’d fallen for, hard and fast, then lost. she cleared her throat. “How was it like working at Disneyworld? Was your boss some creepy old dude in a rat suit?”
“Yeah. He’d make me sit still so he could paint me like his French mice.” His lips quirked as he tried not to smile. She was still Pansy. As awkward as this was. He still couldn’t believe he’d run into her. That was either good luck, bad luck, or both. Sometimes you really did want to see your ex until you saw your ex and then everything hurt again.
He still quirked his lips the way she remembered. God, why did this have to be so fucking hard? Why couldn’t they just go back to… what, being strangers? Being lovers? This exes thing was impossible. It hurt in her chest to see him sitting there… awkward as fuck. Just the way she remembered him. “Well, I hope he paid you well for it. And didn’t paint anything… you know. Embarrassing.” Her eyes flicked from his face down below the belt and back up again.
Parker would have a comment about being remembered for sitting there awkward as fuck, but it was generally the truth. He was awkward and a little gangly and terrible with girls if his track record was any indication. Gwen and Kitty and Mary and Pansy and the one girl in Japan he’d had the guts to ask out. The less said about that the better.
“I got paid in cheese. The good stuff though. Sharp chedder.” He felt his cheeks and ears start to burn and shifted in his seat like he needed to hide his shame.
Pansy giggled. "Well, so long as it was the good stuff and not like, Limburger or something." She said, playfully. It felt... like old times. Strange enough.
"I had to give it all away. You should have seen the cost of trying to get all that cheese past customs! Highway robbery." His hair moved into his eyes as he spoke and he brushed some of it aside. "I should have asked for swiss cheese. I could declare neutrality."
"You were a Japanese, mouse, Robin Hood. " Pansy said, grinning. Funny how she slipped so easily back into old routines. "Yeah, but then you'd have Swiss. Yuck." She pulled a playfully disgusted face.
Peter pretended to look offended. "The Swiss are good, hard working people, it's not their fault their cheese is full of holes."
His fries had gotten cold, but there weren't many left. He put Finn in his shirt pocket while he added. "So how's work with you?"
Pansy's face fell into a lazy, happy grin at the defense of Swiss people. She couldn't argue that.
"Oh. Well. Things didn't work out at Red Planet, so... I'm between jobs at the moment." She said, as sheepish as Pansy ever got about anything.
“Oh. I’m sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck and then realized he’d managed to get ketchup there. Peter grabbed a napkin to swab at it. “Any luck looking?"
"So far? Uh... no." Pansy said, going a little sheepish again. Though, she was grinning, too. "That's okay. I'll find something eventually. What about you? Did they accept you back with open arms?"
He nodded his head. “I tried to do it as an internal transfer but then the paperwork got kind of messed up.” He ducked his head, sheepishly. “But Mr. Stark pulled some strings.” Yet one more thing that baffled him. Peter Parker, genius and easily baffled. “I’m not sure I deserve it but I’m not going to complain. I’d just end up complaining myself right out of a job. Which I did once.”
“Woah, wait… Tony Stark pulled some strings?” Pansy asked, sounding a little surprised and rather impressed. Maybe there were things to Peter she never learned while they were together. She knew there were things about herself that he still didn’t know. “Gotta say, that’s pretty impressive. Wait, wait… you complained yourself out of a job? How come I never heard that story?”
"It's embarrassing," he pointed out. "It was back after-" Gwen left, which was painful in and of itself, "...well when I was seeing this other girl. I was doing photography on the side to help cover some of my college bills. I was complaining about the low pay for the shots I was taking, and they offered me more money and I ended up shooting myself in the foot because I couldn't believe it was real."
Pansy’s face fell a bit. She’d always had terrible jealousy issues where Gwen was concerned. Gwen was so thin, so pretty, so blonde. Pansy had curves. She wasn’t very tall, and wouldn’t be caught dead in a two piece bathing suit. She drank and swore, and Gwen was little miss perfect. Peter’s working at Stark (with Gwen, but in different departments) probably factored in to their breaking up.
“Gwen, right?” She said, breaking into a frown. “Right. I forgot. The world revolves around her.”
“It was after Gwen, actually. But it’s not important.” Peter had always thought that Pansy was beautiful. But then, he thought most girls were beautiful, whether he was with them or not. He frowned at Pansy’s dig. Okay, so Gwen was forever the one that got away but that didn’t mean that everything revolved around her. “I don’t think her gravitational field is quite that strong yet, but I hear they’re working on that.”
Pansy simply nodded, fiddling with the spoon that came with her McFlurry. She wasn’t really thinking about eating it anymore. She was going through all the times in her relationship with Peter when she freaked out about Gwen. When she simply should have just let things go.
“Well, if anyone can do it, Gwen Stacy can.” She said it with not a little amount of sarcasm, then pulled herself up to her feet. “Anyway, I should go. I’ve got… I don’t know. Stuff.”
Peter stared at Pansy, with a Finn sticking out of his shirt pocket, who was also staring at Pansy. He didn’t know how to deal with this. Science was easier. When working a physics or math problems you knew it would at least make sense, but with girls it never made sense. “Good luck with your...stuff. Uhm. And …If you want I could see if the company has open internships?”
Pansy chuckled softly. Almost bitterly. “I don’t know if I’m Stark material. But knock yourself out. I’ll check into anything. You know me.” She said, then turned to head out. She stopped before she got more than a step and glanced back at him. “It’s good to see you again, Pete.”
“Hey, Pansy… Uh…” He trailed off, looking at her as she headed out. “I..yeah. Good to see you again too….”