Peter Parker (radioactivebite) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-29 13:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, peter parker (spider-man), vanessa cleveland |
Who: Peter and Vanessa
When: Backdated to their first meeting
Where: A little coffee place
Ratings: Probably low
Status: Complete
Vanessa had spent more time than she wanted to admit trying to figure out what to wear to meet Peter for coffee. It wasn’t really a date - it was just meeting someone from the valar network for coffee and to talk more about the dreams. Nothing to be nervous about but she was still kind of nervous as she sat at a table waiting for him to show up. She’d never agreed to meet up with someone she’d met online for anything and not only was she meeting a stranger - she’d asked him if he wanted to get together for coffee or something. She’d picked a table where she could see the door so she’d see him when he got there and she glanced up from her phone after texting her brother back that she’d call him later.
She saw Peter coming through the door, recognizing him from his icon pictures on the network and gave him a friendly smile as she sat up a little straighter, letting out a breath.
***
Peter was fashionably late, or perhaps just a little passed that as well but it had taken him a wrong turn on his skateboard to realize he’d gone down the wrong block….after five blocks and had to turn around and GPS his way there. Meeting people off the network had only really happened one or two other times for him, and it made him extremely cautious and hesitant. Gwen was a...well she was weird and he was pretty sure she might also be just a little crazy. She scared the hell out of him honestly but he tried not to think that everyone on that network was like that.
With that in mind, he had dressed in his normal attire, which typically was also his work attire and in fact was just what was clean that day. A pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt with some random saying and logo on the front had matched with the mess of bedhead he sported rather well for not really doing more than a quick run through his hand. He still dressed like a teenager in the 90s a little bit, even at his age but it was his style and he never really cared before. A backpack and now board slid through the back held all his camera equipment since you never knew when you’d find the perfect picture. Or got called in for some work.
Walking into the coffee shop he was a little anxious to meet Vanessa, they’d hit it off pretty well and though he was shocked any woman would want to talk to him, she might regret it when they met. His dreams were taking a toll on him, but he was optimistic about everything but his own self confidence...he was just good at hiding it behind jokes and smug behavior at times. It was a quick glance around before he noticed her from those tiny little pictures and his lips tugged into a grin. “Hey!” He called out with a nod as he made his way over to the table.
***
“Hey! Did you have any trouble finding the place?” Vanessa asked as he reached the table. “It can be easy to miss but I think that’s part of why I like it. Most of the people that live in this area seem to like Baxter’s or Mellarky. Which are great but - this place just seems to be a little better to me. Kind of busy but not so crowded.” Perfect place to get to know somebody better - they could talk without worrying about having to talk louder to be heard. Or their conversation being overheard. The dreams...for some people they could be a touchy subject, not everybody wanted the world to know about the bad things that happened in them.
And it was just crowded enough that she was sure Peter wouldn’t try anything because there were witnesses. Not that he was giving off any definite creeper/danger vibes but better safe than sorry right?
***
All the conversations, he could pinpoint what everyone was talking about. He smelled the tuna breath on the guy in the store across the street and it was kind of disgusting, but he was doing his best to block all of that out now. Seemed like things always became super tiny in his world whenever he was around groups of people, it felt like they were all invading his personal space and he knew damn well he barely had a bubble of space because it just wasn’t who he was. Focusing though, he knew he had to focus.
“Yeah...yeah, no problem.” Okay so that was a little white lie but he wasn’t about to tell her he’d skated the wrong way for a good portion before realizing it. Pete was sure that he’d make plenty of an ass of himself without the added help of misguided self-direction. Looking around the place he glanced back to her, she was a little prettier than he was anticipating. Was that a bad thought to have, to assume someone is less attractive? Maybe it was because of the whole internet thing, he wasn’t sure but now even his thoughts were babbling to try and keep focus on just her and her words. Hopefully this would get easier with them, the senses. Not talking to her, that already seemed easy enough.
“Did you order anything yet? Did you want me to go grab something for us maybe?” He motioned with a hand as it wrapped behind him a little and he’d pointed to the counter. He did like that it wasn’t ridiculously crowded or anything. They would be able to relax here he figured, his life had been lacking that as of late.
***
Now that she could see him a little better, Vanessa had to admit that he was cuter than she’d been expecting. She hadn’t thought he was bad looking in his pictures but the ones on the network were tiny so didn’t really help very much when you didn’t know the person. They’d shown her just enough to help her guess it was him coming in but that was it.
“I was waiting for you to get here to order,” she told him. That had been partly being polite and partly remembering what he’d told about how it would go with him - ladies choice and his treat was what he’d told her over the network. “It’s not a lot of fun to get coffee with somebody if you’ve already started on yours before they join you,” she added after a moment. “I normally get one of their cinnamon lattes when I come here. If you don’t mind ordering I can hold our table.”
***
“Hey….my treat, remember. Cinnamon latte, I think I can handle an order like that.” He smiled, feeling a little more comfortable as the moments passed. Peter wasn’t exactly a love or hate kind of guy but he could come off a bit eccentric or like an asshole depending on the day sometimes. Hopefully today was a better day for him, and what with company and coffee it seemed like it could easily be a good day at the moment. “Did you want me to order it any specific way or anything like that? I know this isn’t Starbucks, but some people have a specific order they like.”
Grinning he couldn’t help but push his hand through his hair, knowing he was being at least a little flirtatious at the moment. It was natural for him, not to mention she looked a lot...more...she was just very attractive, basically. Waiting to make sure there was any way she’d like it before he told her that he’d go get their drinks and saving a table sounded like a good idea. It might not have been packed at the moment, but he knew how quickly that could change around here.
Walking over to the line he’d wait, glancing to his phone briefly just to check the time and make sure he didn’t have any missed calls from any of the jobs he had going on with work as well. A glance over his shoulder and his eyes felt like they’d zoomed in on where she’d managed to find a table. He had to squeeze them shut so it didn’t give him the splitting headache he knew was going to come if he kept letting his eyes play those tricks. “Dammit, not now.” He grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose, second guessing if he should have just worn his glasses instead of contacts.
***
“I remember Peter,” Vanessa said, giving him a smile back as she felt the last of her nerves calming down. He seemed nice and having coffee with a nice guy? Definitely wasn’t a bad way to spend her day off. Especially when he was flirting with her. That hadn’t happened in a while for her - not with someone outside of the diner and she definitely didn’t want to go on a date with anyone from the diner. Was this with Peter a date? She wasn’t sure and she didn’t know him well enough to ask. Not yet at least. His question pulled her out of her thoughts, focusing her attention back on their conversation. “Extra cinnamon. That’s the only special thing I do to it - extra cinnamon.”
She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out, hoping it wasn’t Rogue asking her to call in, letting out a relieved breath that it was one of her friends. She’d call them back later, explain she’d been with somebody at the time. It would be fine. She started singing along with the music quietly waiting for Peter, not really paying attention to what was playing. Even when the song changed over to Charlie Puth’s Marvin Gaye. She almost always had the radio on in her car, when she was doing stuff around the house so it was just a habit - singing along with the radio.
***
It had come up to him placing the order, and he’d make sure to mention the extra cinnamon before ordering himself a caramel hot coffee with extra sugar and cream before moving over to the other counter where things were handed over after being paid for. There was still an ache in his head from when his eyes had super focused in on her and the table, but he was doing whatever he could to try and come up with a means of distraction, and this included nodding his head and tapping his foot to the beat of the song that was playing over the radio inside the cafe.
Grabbing two cups he’d not worry about his phone anymore, if it went off it would just have to wait till he was done...hanging out? With Vanessa. A slightly new set of nerves settled in as he wondered what this was. Were they just hanging out, did this count as a type of date? Peter was honestly used to paying for the one night stand that held him over as his luck with women was shitty at best.
“Extra cinnamon, like you asked.” He winked as he sat down across from her sliding the cup over to her as he did so. “Hopefully they didn’t mess up the order cause I order extra sugar and cream with mine...I know that’s a lot for people to handle, rattles teeth and all.” He sounded nervous, and cheesy. Great.
***
Vanessa felt her cheeks heat up slightly at that wink and she reached for her cup. “If they did - you’ll just have to live with extra cinnamon because extra sugar and cream is not something I will ever give up if I get my hands on it.” She told him, unable to resist trying to tease him a little bit when she heard that nervous tone in his voice. She could smell the cinnamon in her cup as she lifted it to take a sip, blowing across it first so that she wouldn’t burn her tongue too badly.
“You got lucky this time,” she said, setting her cup down on the table and just looking at him for a moment before the words came spilling out of her. “I’m not sure how this is supposed to go. I’ve only met one other person off the network and that was when she hired me to work in her cafe. We’ve never talked about the dreams or any of the other crap that goes on here.” She bit down on her lip to stop any more words from bursting out of her as she looked at him, the nerves she’d thought had dissipated earlier coming back.
***
Did he mention the sticky stuff coming out of his arms now? Was that a thing he should even be mentioning here? He looked down at his sleeves, wondering if it had ‘leaked’ a little and he would be left trying to get his shirt off with a lot of issues to come from it. Why was he suddenly thinking about taking off his clothes when he was sitting here with Vanessa. Why was his mind now deciding it wanted to think about taking his clothes off with Vanessa? He needed to stop, he was spiraling for a moment and he cleared his throat as if a means to yell at his own brain.
“You’re guess is as good as mine. The few that I’ve managed to meet from the network are somewhat normal. Except one, I have an ongoing bad relationship with this strange girl that insists we were friends in her dream but I have….I dunno. I don’t know her at all so it’s kinda weird.” He’d mentioned Gwen but that was the furthest thing from mind at the moment.
Maybe it was because she said he got lucky.
“Well I know I promised to show you some of the things that I could do…” He snickered, his senses coming back to him and becoming less paranoid of every thought that ran through his mind now. “I’m not going to be one to be all talk...just not sure here is the best place. I mean, not saying we should go somewhere…” He stopped and put his own hand over his mouth and shook his head as he spoke through his fingers,”Sorry.”
***
“I think most of the people on there are okay. Normal for the most part. They just got stuck in this weirdness with the dreams and everything else,” Vanessa said, taking another sip of her latte. She frowned a little when he brought up the girl he had a bad relationship with. She didn’t like hearing about anyone having to deal with someone they didn’t get along with. Especially when it sounded like the other person was trying to force a relationship that the other person didn’t want but she might have been misinterpreting what he was saying. “I’m guessing avoiding her isn’t really an option she’ll let you get away with?” she asked him. “I haven’t run into anyone from my dreams but I’ve heard from a few people that it can be awkward.” Nasir and his odd romantic situation - his lover in the dreams had been dating his boyfriend’s lover in the dreams. It hurt her head to try and figure that out. But Dorian and Agron had seemed nice at the party Nasir had taken her too. She pulled her thoughts back from that as Peter started talking again.
“Sounds to me like that’s exactly what you’re saying,” she said smiling when she saw the way he covered his mouth. Why did he have to be so cute? Even as he seemed to stumble over his words and get nervous himself. She felt her nerves starting to threaten to get the best of her again as she looked at him and she looked down at the table for a second, thinking. She wanted to see the abilities he’d mentioned and he was right that this little coffee shop might not be the best place for him to show them to her. She swallowed before looking back up at him. “And I think you’re right. Here probably isn’t the best place so why don’t we go someplace a little more...private,” she suggested, her cheeks heating up again as she finished. She knew how it sounded but she had to trust that Peter knew she didn’t mean it that way. And if anybody else heard and thought she did: who cared about their opinion? She and Peter were both adults and could do whatever they wanted.
***
Had he been drinking, he probably would have spit his coffee out all over the front of him, and quite possibly her as well. He knew he had heard her correctly, so he wouldn’t even think about asking her to say that again. It would just probably make things worse. Though it did help that the conversation had moved away from the way that it had gone for a few with talking about Gwen. That wasn’t something that he wanted to really talk about, or deal with.
Brows raised and he’d nod a little looking around. He was half waiting to hear some kind of snide remark from someone around them, someone that could have heard what she said to him and taken it the way...well the way that he did at first. Peter knew better though, and given their conversation he knew which way to actually take it when he was making attempts at being serious. Those were rare moments to have for himself.
“Alright...let’s get out of here then.” He smiled, he was finding himself being more comfortable when he was able to just use his abilities, like they were meant to be his and not some weird and strange thing that had happened to him out of nowhere - which is what it felt like right now. Waiting a moment he’d grab up his board and slide it in his backpack straps and look back to her again, his hand held out for her to take. Coffee in the other now…
***
Vanessa was glad that Peter didn’t ask her to repeat herself because she wasn’t entirely sure she could say it again. Not right now at least. She gave him a smile back as she reached out to place her hand in his, sliding out of the booth with her coffee in her other hand. “Lead the way. Where do you feel most comfortable doing this?” she asked quietly.
***
The more they talked about it the dirtier it had managed to sound to him, and he hoped that maybe it was just him but the guy on the next table had heard enough and chuckled before turning around in an obvious manner to catch sight of ‘those crazy kids’ before he nodded at Peter like he had managed to land himself a prized piece. That wasn’t awkward.
He cleared his throat as he took her hand and started swerving through the tables so they could make a quick exit. Too many people, too many conversations were going through his head at this point anyway. “Comfortable...hah.” He shook his head and looked around for a moment before he seen a good sized alley across the street. “I don’t really think this has anything to do with comfort anymore. I mean...I guess you’ll see?” He wasn’t sure how to explain it.
Keeping hold of her hand he made a dash across the street before the next car could drive by and looked back to make sure she was okay. Once in the alleyway he looked around for a moment and then back to their coffees. “Okay I’m just gonna have to get us somewhere we can leave these without them spilling, or at least my stuff.” He grinned and raised his brows at her in a devilish manner.
“You ready?”
****
Vanessa gave Peter a confused look at that almost laugh as they left the cafe. She was glad she’d decided on wearing sneakers today - she didn’t want to imagine what it would have been like trying to match Peter’s pace in heels. Especially not as they crossed the street, and she ignored the blaring horn of a driver who’d had to stop for maybe five seconds so they could get out of the road after he’d come around the corner speeding. Or at least she thought he’d been speeding.
She looked around the alleyway when Peter said he had to get them somewhere they could leave their coffees so they wouldn’t spill. “Okay I’ll give - how?” she asked, looking up into his face with a look that was half curiosity and half apprehension. The curiosity won out though. “I’m ready,” she said, smiling up at him.
***
She'd said she was ready, and whether she was really or not didn't matter anymore. Once the words were out he was already on the move. His hand slipped around her waist pretty quickly and his eyes danced up toward the sky as he surveyed where they would land first and then second. Without a word said he would stretch out his free arm as the webbing shot straight from the skin of his inner wrist and attached itself like a hook onto the top of the roof. His hand pulling it back and holding onto it as he launched the two of them skybound.
There was a bit of a woo that might have exited his lips as his wrist shot in one direction and then the next as he moved them over the rooftops now, gaining more leverage and swinging them higher and higher into the sky until he'd found where he wanted to set them down for the time being. Landing on what looked like a garden to an upscale loft apartment building he would skirt around it before a full stop landing was able and he'd set her down. He didn't say anything just yet, letting go of the web as it stopped from his wrist and rubbed his palms together. Looking to her coffee and hoping that she hadn't abandoned the cup or anything like that.
"You ok?"
***
Vanessa was surprised when Peter put his arm around her but before she could say anything they were off the ground and a surprised squeak escaped her as she slid her free arm around him to better anchor herself to him. This hadn’t been what she was expecting when he’d offered to show her what he could do. It was a little frightening but also exciting, especially when he landed them on that roof. She stepped back from him a little so she could sit down, not terribly graceful at the moment but hopefully he would overlook it.
She still had her coffee in her hand, although it was the furthest thing from her mind right then. She was looking around the garden he’d landed them in when she heard his question, and she looked back at him, her amazement obvious on her face as she stood back up carefully. “I’m fine just - that was not what I was expecting when you said you could show me.” She realized her coffee was still in her hand and took a sip, mostly for something to do as she tried to figure out how to put what she was feeling into words. What she was thinking into words that made sense. “That was amazing though.”
***
"Told ya it would be better if I just showed ya..." He snickered and winked at her. Looking around the garden now, he let out a heavy sigh and set himself down next to her. Looking to her coffee for a moment and then back to her he'd managed to ask if any of it had been spilled.
Peter was learning more and more about his powers each day. He was leaning how to hone them and figuring out all the things that he could do. Since their first meeting he'd spent maybe days out wandering and getting banged up, nearly hit by cars and falling off of buildings just trying to figure everything out. He had Vanessa that knew about what he could do now though, and it felt a little better having her to be able to talk to things about when they did get together. He wasn't sure if she'd ever want to go building jumping with him again after that first day, but he knew he'd be game for it any day or the week. He just didn't know if he was really ever meant to be..........a superhero.