(Untitled)

[daretodo]

"Masked Menaces!" the headline reads. "Costumed Caperers Could be Kinapping Your Children!!!" A picture of some poor slob dressed up in a frankly terribly Spidey costume takes up a good chunk of the page. The caption? "POISONOUS INFLUENCE: This man is clearly up to no good. Look at him

Comments

[callofkaren]

"What the--" Karen stopped short when she nearly got a face full of paper, and watched it flutter away past her on the path. She looked around in confusion to find where it came from, then finally looked up.

"Peter?"

[daretodo]

Giving Karen a very small and sorta embarrassed looking little wave, I call down, "Hiya. Er...sorry about that."

[callofkaren]

She gave him a wave back, then held her hand over her eyes as she looked up. "So, uh. Probably an obvious question, but...what are you doing on the roof?"

[daretodo]

"Would you believe me if I said it helps me think better?" I ask, blindly reaching behind me so I can hold up one of the books I have piled around me.

[callofkaren]

"Not really," Karen replied, her voice trailing off on a high note that almost made it sound like a question. She'd had that reaction to a lot of stuff during her time at Dunder Mifflin Scranton. "But hey, more power to you."

Honestly, compared to some of Michael's antics, Peter wanting to get a little quiet time on the roof of the compound? Not so weird.

[daretodo]

"Well, it's not a bad view and I don't have to contend with jukebox playing song after song about Spider-Man, so let me tell ya, it's a heckuva lot better up here than in the rec room," I explain, even though I secretly think some of those songs are sorta catchy. "You should try it sometime."

[callofkaren]

Oh. Well, that...almost kind of cemented it. Karen had been about ninety percent sure Peter the Tobey Maguire lookalike was Spider-Man, but it was nice to have her suspicions confirmed.

That was about as far as she let that thought go, though, and considered what he said instead.

"Yeah, okay," she said, then headed for the side of the compound, where she was pretty sure a ladder lived. Why the compound couldn't have stairs going up onto the roof like any normal building, she didn't really know.

[daretodo]

I don't know why, but I start to tidy up a little once she decides to come up, straightening the piles of books as though she's visiting my house for the first time or something and I wanna make a good impression. I once read that people compulsively clean in order to feel in control of at least one small aspect of their life. Maybe it's that.

Or maybe I miss my Aunt May and want to prove I still have good manners.

[callofkaren]

When Karen finally made it onto the roof, it was with a digusted sound as she rubbed her hands together to wipe dirt off them. She didn't want to think of how many dirt crusted shoes had climbed up and down that thing from day to day.

"This isn't so bad," she said when she finally looked around. They weren't so high up that she could see the water clearly, but it was enough of a difference in the view to appreciate it. "I think I've only actually been here once, and that was at night. For a party."

[daretodo]

"You've been missing out," I say, swooping my arm out to the side like I'm showing her some prime piece of real estate. The beach might be beautiful, but here's where I'm most comfortable. "It's nice. There's even the occasional pigeon flying around up here for a little bit of home," I add, pointing in the direction of the empty pigeon coop.

[callofkaren]

"I knew it!" Karen crowed, and moved closer to get a look at the pigeon coop. Why, she didn't really know; it was just full of crap. "I told Nick I saw a pigeon once, but he told me they're not native to tropical climates."

She turned a self-satisfied smile back to Peter, then realized she was probably making no sense to him. "My boyfriend's into the whole bird watching thing," she explained.

[daretodo]

"Well, in all fairness to Nick the Bird Watching Boyfriend," I say, looking at her like she has at least one more than the usual number of heads, "they're not."

[callofkaren]

"I know that," Karen said with a roll of her eyes, "but this totally proves that I saw a pigeon once."

Why it's even important, Karen had no freaking idea. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she liked being right as much as she could.

[daretodo]

"Well, uh, congratulations?" I say, giving her two thumbs up and what I hope is an encouraging smile. Yeah, I got nothing. Pigeons only provide so much material.

[callofkaren]

Karen couldn't help it; she stared at Peter for a few seconds before letting out a burst of laughter. "Okay, yeah, I earned that," she allowed.

Moving on was probably the next best step here. "So, are yo studying up for something?"

[daretodo]

"Little bit, yeah," I say, looking over at the books. "I got nothing but time, might as well brush up on some areas I'm not particularly well-versed in, right?"

That I'm brushing up on it to help Wolverine goes unsaid.