"Hey, May, I'm back!"
Peter carefully carried the cake box into the house, afraid that any jostling would ruin the frosting. This time, he had not swung home on webbing—between keeping the cake intact and enjoying a high-altitude New York swing, rookie Spider-Man had wisely chosen the former. Luckily, the bakery was not far from home, so walking back had not been much trouble.
Aunt May was busy in the dining room, where fine tableware had already been set out. She looked up and smiled at Peter. "How was your first day of high school?"
"It was great!" Peter set the cake box on the table. "I made two new friends, and the clubs were super interesting. The school even has its own TV program, and... anyway, everything was great."
In truth, aside from the two classmates he could barely count as acquaintances and the Detective Agency, he had hardly made any particularly deep impression of school life—after all, when most of your energy went into being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, high school seemed far less exciting. But he obviously could not tell Aunt May that.
"Is today some special occasion?" Peter deliberately changed the subject, pointing at the cake. "You actually splurged on ordering a cake?"
Aunt May took the cake and checked it over. "Oh, nothing special. It's just that my old friend Anna has a birthday today. She just moved back to New York. She had moved to Pittsburgh to take care of her niece after the girl lost her mother." Her gaze softened as she took the cake into the kitchen to cut it. "Ben went to pick them up. They should be here soon."
Peter nodded. No wonder Aunt May cared so much—a friend who had looked after an orphaned girl who had lost her closest family... that experience was practically identical to the Parker family's. He went into the kitchen to help, and as Aunt May arranged the dishes, she added, "Oh, and that girl is a freshman at Midtown High School too, just like you and Gwen. Maybe you've met her."
"Uh, I don't really pay much attention to girls." Peter scratched his head awkwardly. "Even if I had seen her, I probably wouldn't remember. Not many people exchange names with me."
"You child." Aunt May shook her head helplessly. "You've barely had any friends since you were little. You should be more outgoing."
"I think I'm plenty outgoing!" Peter immediately argued. "I made two friends on my first day of school. They even said they'd come over to build LEGO together."
"Really?" Aunt May's eyes lit up as she placed freshly baked muffins on the table. "Then you have to tell me in advance, so I can prepare dinner for you all."
"They'll definitely fall in love with my aunt's muffins—"
Before he could finish, the roar of Uncle Ben's old car came from outside the window. Aunt May took the plate from Peter's hands. "Could you go welcome our guests, Peter?"
"No problem!" Peter headed for the door. His super-hearing had already caught a light set of footsteps rapidly approaching. He immediately pulled the door open at just the right moment, before the knock sounded.
The red-haired girl standing outside had clearly not expected the door to suddenly open. She wore a white T-shirt and light denim shorts, her fiery red hair like a burning sunset beneath the evening glow. The hand she had raised froze in midair, and her brilliant smile was still fixed on her face.
But the next second, she regained her composure. Bracing one hand against the doorframe, she winked at Peter.
"Face it, Tiger." A sly curve lifted at the corner of her mouth. "You just hit the jackpot!"
Gwen Stacy was leaning over her computer, searching for drum tutorial videos. Touring the school's rock club that day had excited her immensely—Midtown High School had several student bands performing in the gymnasium, and unlike ballet, which she had practiced since childhood, rock music's unrestrained feeling was simply captivating.
"Dad's definitely going to call it 'good-for-nothing hippie stuff' again. He doesn't understand rock's free spirit at all." She muttered as she closed the webpage. Just as she was considering whether to bring dinner to her father at the police station, where he was working overtime, the sound of the front door opening came from downstairs. Gwen ran down in surprise and discovered that her dad, George, had actually come home early. He had even taken off his uniform jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa.
So New York had actually had a peaceful day today? Captain George Stacy had actually gotten off work on time?
"Thanks to Spider-Man. He stopped a bank robbery in time this morning, intercepted a truckload of robbers carrying high-tech weapons this afternoon, and he also saved my daughter." George opened his arms, intending to give his daughter a hug, but Gwen stood frozen in place without moving.
"Seriously? A bear hug?"
Captain Stacy awkwardly added, "What? Can't Dad ask for a hug? You fell asleep as soon as you got back from London last night, and I was up before I had a chance to wake up this morning. We've been apart all summer."
Gwen smiled helplessly and hugged her father. Mentioning Spider-Man suddenly reminded her of that morning. "Why does the Daily Bugle always smear him? He was clearly doing good things, and he saved us too."
"Who knows? Jameson practically worships the Avengers." George took a beer from the refrigerator. "Come to think of it, back when Spider-Man couldn't write with webbing yet, he used notes to communicate with the police. I thought his handwriting looked familiar at the time, but after thinking about it, it didn't match anyone's."
The handwriting looked familiar?
Gwen thought of Spider-Man and Peter's matching sneakers.
"Could it be Peter?"
"Peter? Peter Parker?" George froze for two seconds, then burst out laughing. "Impossible! They both have that childish middle-schooler handwriting, but it definitely isn't him. I know Peter's handwriting."
"You could let me see it. Maybe I can tell if it's some friend of yours you've forgotten—"
"The evidence was archived ages ago." George suddenly turned serious. "By the way, I'm planning to visit the Parker family. Should I change clothes?"
Gwen looked at her dad, frowned, and pointed at herself. "Should I ask why?"
"We're going to thank them, Gwen. This morning, you were in a place like that... my God, thank goodness Ben was there. You weren't hurt at all, but we have to thank them properly, don't we?"
"More accurately, Spider-Man saved us."
"But I can't find Spider-Man to thank him. I forgot this afternoon."
So Gwen could only helplessly comfort her dad. "Fine. I haven't had dinner yet anyway. Maybe I can mooch some of Aunt May's famous muffins. Don't dress too formally. We're just going over for dinner."
George Stacy gave an exaggerated sigh of praise.
"Oh, May's muffins. I absolutely love May's muffins."
As the Stacy father and daughter talked, they got up and arrived at the Parker family's door. George knocked and waited for someone to answer. After a while, Ben Parker opened the door. George had been about to say something, but he seemed to hear lively laughter and conversation coming from behind Uncle Ben.
"George? I didn't expect you to get off work so early." Uncle Ben warmly patted the captain's shoulder. "May was just saying we should invite Gwen! There are plenty of muffins, come on in."
"Looks like you have guests right now, Ben. Maybe I should just—"
"It's fine, it's fine. No one ever thinks they should only entertain one friend instead of two."
The Parker family had guests? Gwen followed behind her father curiously. Ignoring her dad's words of thanks and Uncle Ben's polite replies, she craned her neck to see what kind of guests the Parkers had—and then spotted an unexpected figure in the dining room—
"Mary Jane Watson?!"
That classmate she had met at the rock club today was actually the Parker family's new guest?! Gwen's scalp went numb instantly—they had talked about so much, except for how her father opposed her playing rock! If Mary Jane let it slip, wasn't she finished?
By comparison, Peter, who had been left flustered and helpless by social butterfly Mary Jane's "interrogation," did not seem nearly as miserable.
How could she remind Mary Jane not to mention it?
"Hey! Gwen!" Mary Jane's cheer made everyone turn around. Peter took the opportunity to flee his seat, arranging Gwen between himself and the red-haired girl.
Aunt May looked at them in surprise. "You already know each other?"
"We're classmates." Mary Jane's smile was dazzling, and the awkwardness shifted from Peter to Gwen. Gwen could only awkwardly answer, "Yeah." Then Aunt May began complaining about why Peter did not go out and make more friends.
"I'm so happy today, with friends all gathered together like this. I'm even happier that the kids already know each other. George, this is my Anna, my best friend from high school. Anna, this is George, our neighbor and an upright, friendly captain."
Sheriff George also politely greeted Aunt Anna.
"I'm very happy to meet you all, especially Gwen's friend. I'm glad she's made a good friend..."
Gwen felt as though a Sword of Damocles hung over her head, ready to fall at any moment. Worse, this was not something she could conveniently discuss over text. Left with no choice, Gwen decided to get ahead of it and bring up the subject first.
"We met at the club recruitment event today—"
"We met outside the dance club!" Gwen hurriedly cut Mary Jane off, while Peter chose to keep acting like a quail, lowering his head as he cut into his muffin.
After only a brief moment of surprise, Mary Jane quickly gave her answer. "Yes, that's right. Exactly."
The adults did not seem particularly concerned with the children's little secrets and continued chatting. Gwen leaned close to Peter's ear and said smugly, "See? I'm better at making friends than you, right?"
"And then you make your new friend lie with you?"
Gwen's white sneaker stomped solidly onto the top of Peter's foot. Peter forced a smile and nodded, then let out a long sigh.
Mary Jane's line was also the line she said when she first met Peter in the comics.
Who knew why Marvel had given Mary Jane such terrible storylines...
Before you continue