Family Dinner

"Do you like lemon sea bass? My mom made lemon sea bass today."

At dusk, Bumblebee slowly drove away from Midtown School of Science and Technology.

"Of course! I can't think of any reason not to like it!"

Lee chatted with Gwen while driving with focused attention.

Gwen's home was also in Queens, not too far from school, so they arrived at an apartment building in less than ten minutes.

"Apartment 2016. Sounds like a year!"

Looking at the number on the door, Lee couldn't help making a quip. After all, the year he'd been transported to this world in his previous life was 2016.

"20 is the floor, and 16 is the apartment number. It has nothing to do with the year!"

Gwen explained in all seriousness as she rang the doorbell.

"Wait, you don't even have a key to your own place..."

Lee couldn't help making another quip.

The door opened. Gwen's mother stood there, a beautiful blonde woman.

Behind her were Gwen's two teenage brothers, both staring at Lee with curiosity.

"This is my classmate, Lee Stein. And this is my mom!"

Gwen spread her hands, first gesturing toward Lee, then toward the blonde woman.

"Uh... should I call you Mrs. Stacy?"

Lee wasn't sure how people addressed one another in this situation in America, but finally braced himself and said, "Good evening, ma'am. I'm Lee Stein!"

"Hello, Lee!"

Gwen's mother smiled and nodded, then led Lee to the sofa in the living room. After warmly inviting him to sit, she poured him a glass of water. "Just sit for a bit. Dinner will be ready soon."

"All right!"

Lee awkwardly held his glass and took small sips. Now he finally understood how Max had felt when he went over to someone's house: completely ill at ease.

"Hahaha, I didn't know you could get nervous, too."

Gwen couldn't stop giggling at the sight of Lee.

"I told you I wasn't ready for this. It was so sudden, I even forgot to bring a gift. How rude of me!"

Lee set down his glass and rubbed his forehead in distress. With the parents out of sight, he was finally able to relax a little.

"It's just a simple family dinner, not some big gathering."

Gwen grinned as she introduced Lee to her two brothers.

The boys were nine and fourteen. It was clear that Gwen's father was strict with his children. Even though they were at the age when kids could be little troublemakers, both were well-behaved.

Lee knew how to handle kids. He casually chatted with them about superheroes and such, making the boys shriek with amazement. Gwen couldn't help feeling jealous. She wasn't even this close with her own brothers.

A short while later, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the front door. A middle-aged white man with a stern face and a no-nonsense air walked in.

"This must be Gwen's father, Captain George Stacy."

Lee took a brief look and recognized his future father-in-law. It wasn't the same actor, but when he'd watched the movie, he'd thought the actor looked a lot like Governor Schwarzenegger, so the face had left a strong impression on him.

"You must be Lee, right?"

After entering, George Stacy tossed his keys onto the coffee table and casually sat down on the sofa next to Lee. He held out a hand. "I'm Gwen's father, George Stacy!"

"Hello, Mr. Stacy. I'm Lee Stein."

Lee hurriedly shook his hand.

George Stacy could be considered quite amiable, but his years of experience as a police captain, combined with his stern demeanor, still made him rather intimidating.

Of course, for Lee, most of that intimidation came from the fact that he was Gwen's father.

What followed was nothing short of a gruesome interrogation.

Captain George Stacy, with his strong police-officer manner, immediately started asking Lee about his studies and work. If he hadn't stopped short of asking whether Lee owned a car and a house, Lee would have thought he'd walked into a matchmaking session in China.

Gwen, who was a little afraid of her stern father, couldn't get a word in. She could only shoot Lee a look that was somehow both helpless and encouraging. Already feeling guilty about stealing the man's daughter away, Lee could only grit his teeth and make awkward conversation until Gwen's mother called everyone to dinner. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

But unexpectedly, dinner turned out to be another disaster.

Lee considered himself well-versed in the art of being a gentleman, and at first he managed to behave appropriately. He was also quite skilled with a knife and fork. But when it came time to actually eat, he was at a loss.

They'd said lemon sea bass, and lemon sea bass was all there was. Everyone had one plate, with a fish, a few green peas, and a serving of rice that was nowhere near enough for more than a few bites.

Eating this with a knife and fork was practically inhuman. He could handle steak and the like, but how was he supposed to spear round green peas with a fork? How was he supposed to spear flaky fish?

By the end of the meal, he was utterly defeated. He'd barely managed to eat some of the fish, mostly by pretending to know what he was doing.

Fortunately, Gwen's mother seemed to sense that the mood at the table had grown a little awkward. She broke the silence, which also let Lee breathe a sigh of relief.

"George, tell us how your day went!" Gwen's mother said.

"Yeah, Dad, did you catch Spider-Man?" Gwen's younger brother eagerly chimed in with a follow-up question.

"Not yet, but we'll catch him. He's not a professional criminal. He left behind plenty of clues when he attacked citizens."

George Stacy put down his knife and fork and gave a brief answer.

"Actually, I ran into him last night. It looked like he was catching a car thief."

Lee picked up the topic, relieved that he finally didn't have to wave his knife and fork around while eating nothing.

"You ran into him? Lee, you should stay away from him. He's a dangerous thug."

As a serving police captain, George Stacy clearly had no fondness for a street vigilante like Spider-Man. He even branded him a thug outright.

Lee nodded to show he understood, then said, "Actually, he doesn't attack civilians. He just catches criminals. But I have to say, his way of thinking is pretty immature."

"Immature?"

Everyone turned to look at Lee.

"Yes. He's fighting crime, but his methods are clearly unacceptable. Even though he catches a few criminals, he seriously damages the credibility of the police and other judicial institutions."

To earn his future father-in-law's approval, Lee didn't hold back in criticizing Spider-Man. "The result is a vicious cycle: criminals become even more brazen, the public puts all its faith in vigilantes, and the vigilantes' existence further undermines the credibility of the justice system."

He wasn't just making this up. Gotham, the city of crime, was the best example. Otherwise, Batman wouldn't have worked so tirelessly to foster a White Knight.