Work Text:
If you had told Karen that morning she would go into work to find a teenager on the ceiling, she would have laughed.
She wasn’t laughing anymore, though.
There, in the back top corner of the office, was an at most eighteen year old with messy brunette hair clinging to the ceiling and playing something on his phone.
Now, Karen had seen a lot of weird shit. When you work with Matt Murdock, who simultaneously worked as a lawyer and a vigilante who beat people within an inch of their lives, you see some weird things.
But this? This took the cake.
…On second thought, Wade had made quite the introduction when she walked in on him reciting Shakespeare while holding his own severed head.
But this was an easy second place.
“Uh… Hello?” She asked, immediately catching the attention of the kid. He had wide brown eyes and freckles scattered around his cheeks. “I uh… I assume you're one of Matt’s friends?”
The kid obviously panics, looking around before jumping from the wall onto the ground below. “Yup- yeah, I- sorry, I thought I'd just wait until he got back. He uh- had to run an errand. I’m sorry.” He stutters out.
“Don’t worry about it.” Karen says with a sigh. As she grabs some paperwork out of her desk before holding out her hand. “I’m Karen Page, one of Matt’s co-workers. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh! Uh- Peter. Peter Parker. Nice to meet you too, ma’am.” He says before shaking Karen’s hand.
Karen huffs out a laugh as she lets go. “Please, just Karen works.”
Even though she insisted, Peter continued using Ms. Page instead. Which honestly was still a step up from just ma’am.
As she sat down at the desk with her papers, she looked to Peter who was now awkwardly standing in the corner. Looking down at the sheet, she sighed and looked back up at him.
“Well, I have paperwork to do for now. If you still want to stick around- sorry, pun- that was not intended- Matt should be back soon. Just make yourself at home.”
Peter silently slid into a waiting seat across the room as Karen got to work.
“So… you work with Matt?” Peter asked quietly.
“Unfortunately.” Karen laughed. “Yeah, I started off as their- Foggy and Matt, that is. I started off as their secretary- well, technically I started off as their client, but that's a
really
long story. Anyways, eventually I got promoted. So now I work more in the field as a reporter.”
“Oh, that- that’s really cool. I actually have a- a friend. He worked as- well, technically he was a photographer, but he was a photographer for a newspaper.” Peter said, idly tapping away at his phone.
“Oh, cool.” Karen remarked as she looked up.
Instantly, Peter froze. He was obviously trying to play it off, but Karen knew better after having the job she did. “Uh- Tobey. He’s uh- he works pretty far away though so…”
“Ah, I see.” Karen said, not sure what to make of Peter’s reaction. Eh, it wasn’t any of her business anyways.
They went on for a while like that, making small talk despite the very… odd circumstances. After a couple of minutes, Karen’s curiosity finally got to her.
“So uh, I don’t really know how to ask this, but what were you doing up on the wall when I walked in. Actually- scratch that,
how
were you up on the wall when I walked in.” she asked as she looked at Peter.
If this were a comic, Karen was sure Peter would be sweating. He spent a moment just staring at her with wide eyes before answering. “You uh- I- well you see-”
Karen just cut him off with a sigh. “Look, I know about Matt’s… secret , if you will. I'm gonna guess that's where you know him from. I won’t pry if you don’t want-”
“I’m Spider-man.” Peter choked out, effectively cutting Karen off and making her question any life choices she’d made up until this point.
“... You ? Are Spider-man? Wha- how old are you?” She asked dumbfoundedly as she held Peter’s gaze.
“Nineteen.” he replied without missing a beat.
“Bullshit” Matt said, walking into the office with perfect timing and scaring the two other occupants of the room.
“Jesus- Matt, a warning . A warning would be nice.” Karen breathed out. And great, Peter was on the wall again.
“Wait- bullshit ? Peter, how old are you?” Karen asked again as she looked him dead in the eyes.
“...Seventeen.” He muttered, though both Matt and her could hear.
“Seventeen? Spider-man is seventeen ?” She asked, mouth wide as she realized that the famed spandex clad hero was a highschool student.
“Yup.” He said, popping the p as he awkwardly looked around the room. Finally, Matt saved him from the situation by putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Sorry I kept you waiting, Pete. I can help you with your legal stuff now.” He said as they made their way to the part of the office they usually interviewed clients in, mouthing an ‘I’ll explain later’ to Karen before shutting the door.
Yeah, Karen definitely wasn’t laughing anymore.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“So, what was that all about?” Karen asked. Peter had left a few minutes ago, offering a ‘Goodbye, Ms. Page’ as he left. Matt spent a little longer in the room before he too eventually opened the door and walked into the main part of the office.
“I don’t think that’s really my area to say.” Matt said as he sat down in a chair opposite Karen at her desk. “Long story short, he needed to check his legal documents.”
“Alright.” Karen sighed, going back to the work she had been procrastinating on for almost a week.
God, she hated paperwork.