SpideyDevil

Like Real People Do

Matthew refused to really take it easy, he still went out on patrol over the weekend, stopped by the office Saturday to finish out discoveries he had not completed during the week, and went into church on Sunday morning.
All without much anxiety on his part.
It was only when his alarm began to read him the time and weather, when his radar flickered to life with all the input of New York city, it struck him with full bodied jitters.
Today was the day he went on a date with Peter Parker.
He was like a kid on christmas eve, all day he fidgeted and tapped and squirmed in his seat.
Eventually his poor cane, groaning under the stress of his wringing fists drew his legal friends attention.
"Hey Matt...thinking of changing your cane to a curve over there?"
"Wha- oh... yeah, sorry sorry..." but he was smiling, almost bashful in the way he turned cheek.
This made Foggy raise a brow, Matt hadn't been very forthcoming in the last week about details on Peter, Foggy poked a bit but figured his friend would come around on his own time, that he wanted privacy in the early stages of their relationship.
"Nervous about tonight?" His friends voice was a little softer, knowing, and red lenses glinted as Matt turned to him.
"A bit..." he admitted, "I haven't been on a real date in...a long time."
"It will be easy Matt, you are already dating him, just make sure you stay yourself."
hah...stay yourself
But Matt found himself mumbling the advice like a mantra as he smoothed his suit beneath the button up shirt, his back up armor actually fit nicely under his clothes, it wasn't that bulky because it wasn't a lot of actual armor but his hood was another matter entirely, the horns didn't travel well and kumber wraps and under armor could do in a pinch but face cover had to be improvised in an emergency.
He tucked in the shirt and pulled a suit jacket on and took a slow breath in, holding it in and closing his eyes as he ran his fingers over the front of his attire to assure it was align to the best of his ability.
Peter was due any minute and Matt diligently listened for the incoming sound of his thrumming heart.
-
The following two days had been about the busiest as they could have been for the scientist slash superhero.
After he had left Matthew's apartment, happily blissed out of his mind following their night of sweet exchanges and heated, carnal activities, it seemed like time had suddenly compacted on itself and was threatening to crush him with just how little room he had left to finish everything he needed to get done before Monday.
It also wasn't helpful that there had been an uptick of criminal activity all week long, which had so generously carried over into the weekend too and managed to occupy the majority of his Saturday.
Peter privately joked with himself that there was something in the early February air - not romance, but something else that made criminals more antsy than usual, adding onto of all the usual city emergencies that kept his daily routine busy.
Saturday night he counted 4 different robberies, 2 fires, 3 injured civilians, one of them a kid who had fallen into a manhole after jumping on a loose cover, a car thief, and last but certainly not least, a man who had lost his pet Burmese python in Central Park.
So by the time the sky's dark obsidian colors morphed to the softer, warmer tones of early morning, the friendly neighborhood Spiderman was well and thoroughly exhausted.
However, he didn't have the luxury of making up for all those precious hours of lost sleep. But what else was new?
Sliding the rickety window to his humble Queens apartment open, Peter climbed through and immediately flopped forwards onto his duvet and buried his face into the soft mattress with a loud groan. Not even bothering to change out of his spandex that clung to every inch of his sweaty skin, the mutate closed his eyes and fell fast asleep... for an impressive grand total of 3 hours.
One quick shower later, Peter was rolling his chair up to his makeshift "lab", which in actuality, all it was was a bunch of tech and equipment cluttered together on one large desk that took up half of his tiny bedroom.
In the center of all of the clutter were two heavy metallic rods, magnetic pieces, wires and an old velvet box.
Brow furrowed in concentration, Peter worked carefully yet diligently on the finishing touches of his project. Although he had an idea of what he was doing, the process of putting it together was an exercise in trial and error and then brainstorming a new method of assembling the components all together again.
So hard at work, Sunday slipped by just as quickly as Saturday did.
And maybe it was a good thing he was so occupied over the weekend. It left little room for him to anxiously think about his Monday dinner date.
Because he had indeed looked up their reservation spot. And the price tags attached to their menu was probably the equivalent of what he paid for for a few days worth of food.
In all honesty, he thought he'd feel more at ease throwing down against an entire criminal syndicate, 1 v 50, than waltz through the ostentatious doors of the five-star restaurant.
But this is what couples did right?
Grown, adult couples.
He was barely a young adult when he had last dated and 19 year olds didn't exactly wine and dine at the Ritz on their nights off.
Completely out of his depths, but desperate to impress Matt, Peter tried to ignore the feeling of sticky molasses in his stomach as he adjusted his bowtie and the cuffs of his black suit, that fit just a bit too big on him but had been well maintained over the years (not that he had many occasions to wear it).
Picking up the velvet box, an envelope, and a bouquet of fresh flowers he had purchased earlier that day, Peter left the small apartment to make his journey to Hell's Kitchen on foot, not wanting to ruin his carefully groomed appearance or the delicate flowers.
He had learned his lesson a long time ago: flowers do not transport well via webs.
So instead of knocking at Matt's rooftop entrance as he normally did, Peter quietly rapped at his front door and anxiously ran his fingertips through his generously-gelled, pushed back quiff.
As soon as the door opened and Peter laid eyes on the handsome devil before him, all the words he had prepared on the subway ride over had suddenly vanished from his brain and all he could do instead was gape at him in wonder for a moment.
Blinking, he snapped himself out of his daze and an embarrassed smile graced his face.
"Umh" He nervously licked his lips. "You look great in that tux." His eyes widened slightly and he continued with a stutter, "Umh, n-not that you don't look great all the time. You just look handsome in- uh.." he nervously rocked forwards on his feet and held out the fresh ensemble of pink peonies and white gardenias that came together to make a heavenly scent that was not too pungent. "Happy Valentine's Day."
-
Matt figured if he rechecked the alignment of his garments even once more it would be classified as obsessive compulsive. He had gone so far as to make Foggy video chat him just for the purpose of looking him over.