Chapter 16: Intern
Peter's eyes brightened, though a hint of uncertainty followed. He'd never worked as a reporter, so he had no idea what a reasonable price should be.
Ben Parker noticed his dilemma and stepped in with a warm smile. "Jonah, the kid takes excellent photos. Just give him a fair payment."
"Don't worry, I'm not planning to shortchange him," Jameson replied with a dismissive wave.
"How about fifty dollars?" Jameson asked.
Peter felt the offer was a bit low, but he didn't know how to counter it. He could only turn to Ben with a helpless look.
"Jonah, that's on the low side. Those pictures would go for much more at any other paper."
"Fine, fine. Ben, you always have to undercut me. How's a hundred fifty? That's my final offer," Jameson said after giving Ben a pointed glance.
Ben gave Peter a small nod, signaling that the price was fair.
"All right," Peter agreed.
Jameson studied the photos in his hand. To be fair, they were outstanding. Even the texture on Spider-Man's suit showed up with remarkable clarity.
"What camera are you using? These prints are unbelievably sharp," Jameson asked with genuine curiosity.
As the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, he had handled plenty of cameras through the years, but none had ever produced photos this crisp.
"Uh... I modified my camera myself," Peter mumbled.
In truth, he didn't have a camera at all. Every shot came from the Iron Spider Armor. With Tony Stark's engineering fused with S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, its imaging capabilities outclassed anything on the market.
"All right," Jameson replied, noticing Peter didn't want to elaborate.
He glanced back down at the photos and an idea formed.
"Peter Parker, how would you feel about working for the Daily Bugle?"
"Absolutely! I'd love to work for the Bugle. It's a great paper and it has a great boss... I mean, the Bugle runs really well under your leadership," Peter blurted in his excitement.
"Enough, I get what you're trying to say. I'm not offering this for free. I need you to photograph this mysterious figure every month, and you'll only be able to join the Daily Bugle as an intern, with an intern's salary, naturally."
"Of course, I'll still pay separately for every photo of the mystery man you bring me," Jameson added.
"That's not really fair," Ben protested.
To him, Jameson was basically hiring a fully capable photographer for the price of an intern.
"Ben, it's settled," Jameson cut him off with a raised hand.
He looked at Peter, clearly confident that a kid in worn-out clothes wouldn't refuse.
After a moment's hesitation, Peter agreed. He needed a job badly, and photographing suited his lifestyle perfectly.
"Good choice, Peter Parker. Keep up the good work and I might just consider promoting you to a full-time reporter someday." Jameson couldn't resist painting a big promise for him.
"I'll do my best," Peter responded earnestly.
"Ambition is good. I hope you bring me something impressive soon." Jameson gave him an approving nod.
"Now, we need a name for this mystery man. What should we call him? Wall-Crawling Freak? Spider Menace... Ben, any suggestions?" Jameson mused aloud.
Listening to that lineup of terrible names, Peter already pictured the headlines calling him the Wall-Crawling Freak.
"That's horrifying," Peter muttered, shaking his head. He couldn't imagine how awful it would be if one of those labels stuck.
He realized he had to speak up if he cared about what people called him in the future.
"I think—"
"Spider-Man."
Before Peter could finish, Ben offered the name.
"What?" Jameson didn't catch it.
"Spider-Man. Why don't we call him Spider-Man? What do you think?" Ben suggested calmly.
"Spider-Man? That's actually good. We should register the rights to it and make it the Bugle's exclusive name for the mystery man," Jameson declared, already drifting into profit mode.
"Ahem." Ben cleared his throat pointedly, reminding him other people were in the room.
Peter and Jameson's assistant stared, stunned by his behavior. Peter especially couldn't believe the serious, stone-faced man he'd seen on television could act like *this*.
If I recorded him just now, it would go viral in seconds, Peter thought.
Jameson froze for a heartbeat, then forced his expression back to its usual sternness.
"Anything else, Peter?" he asked, regaining his composure.
"I… I wanted to ask if I could get an advance. A month of pay." Peter forced the words out carefully.
He knew it was a long shot. After seeing how money-minded this universe's Jameson was, it felt almost impossible. But he desperately needed cash. He didn't even have a place to stay.
Jameson stopped cold, wondering if he'd misheard. Someone actually dared to ask him for an advance? And that someone was a brand-new intern?
Ben shot Jameson a look. As a long-time friend, he knew how difficult it was to pry money out of Jameson.
"Peter, do you have any idea that no one in the history of the Daily Bugle has ever asked me, J. Jonah Jameson, for an advance? You're the first," Jameson said in a low and weighty tone.
"Can I retract what I said? Or… will I still have a job at the Bugle tomorrow?" Peter asked weakly.
I'm about to lose my first job. Didn't expect my first job and first firing would happen on the same day, Peter thought gloomily.
Jameson stayed quiet. He should've thrown Peter out to maintain his fearsome boss reputation. But when he glanced at the kid's worn clothes, the words stuck in his throat.
Forget it. He brought me the Spider-Man photos and interns don't cost much anyway, Jameson reasoned to himself.
"Peter, today's your lucky day. I'm in a good mood. Go with my assistant to accounting and get one month's pay," Jameson instructed.