I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 10 Aunt Mei's Guests

“Hey, Mei, I’m back!”

Peter carefully carried the cake box into his home, fearing the bumps would cause the cream to warp. This time, he chose not to swing back on his webs—after all, between keeping the cake intact and experiencing the New York Skydrifters, as a novice Spider-Man, he wisely chose the former. Fortunately, the cake shop wasn't far from home, so walking back wasn't a problem.

Aunt May was busy in the dining room, the table already set with exquisite tableware. She looked up and smiled at Peter. "How was your first day of high school?"

"That's great!" Peter put the cake box on the table. "I met two new friends, the club is super interesting, the school has its own TV show and... In short, everything is great."

In fact, apart from the two classmates he was barely familiar with and the detective agency, he had no particularly deep memories of school life - after all, when you spend most of your energy being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, high school life will seem a lot less impressive. But obviously, he couldn't tell Aunt May this.

"Is this a special occasion?" Peter deliberately changed the subject and pointed at the cake. "Why did you spend so much money to order a cake?"

Aunt May took the cake and examined it. "Oh, nothing special. It's just my old friend Anna's birthday today. She just moved back to New York after moving to Pittsburgh to take care of her niece who lost her mother." Her eyes softened as she took the cake to the kitchen to portion it out. "Ben went to pick them up; they should be here soon."

Peter nodded. No wonder Aunt May was so concerned—a friend caring for an orphaned girl whose experience mirrored the Parker family's. He went into the kitchen to help, and Aunt May added as she prepared the dishes, "By the way, that girl, like you and Gwen, is a freshman at Midtown High. Maybe you've met her."

"Well, I don't pay much attention to girls." Peter scratched his head awkwardly. "Even if I've seen one, I probably wouldn't remember it. After all, not many people exchange names with me."

"You kid," Aunt Mei shook her head helplessly, "you've had very few friends since you were little. You should be more sunny."

“I think I’m very sunny!” Peter immediately retorted. “I made two friends on my first day of school, and they agreed to come over to my house to build Legos together.”

"Really?" Aunt Mei's eyes lit up as she placed the freshly baked muffins on the table. "You should tell me in advance so I can prepare dinner for you."

“They’re going to love my aunt’s muffins—”

Before he finished speaking, the roar of Uncle Ben's old car came from outside the window. Aunt Mei took the plate from Peter's hand and said, "Would you please go and greet our guests, Peter?"

"No problem!" Peter walked towards the door. His super hearing had already picked up the sound of brisk footsteps approaching quickly. He immediately opened the door just in time before the knock sounded.

The red-haired girl standing outside the door had clearly not expected it to open. She wore a white T-shirt and light-colored denim shorts, her long, fiery red hair blazing like a sunset glow in the setting sun. Her hand, raised mid-air, froze in place, a bright smile frozen on her face.

But the next second, she regained her composure, supported the door frame with one hand, and winked at Peter:
“Face it, Tiger.” She raised her lips slyly. “You just hit the jackpot!”

Gwen Stacy was hunched over her computer, searching for drum tutorials. She was thrilled by her visit to the school's rock club today—Midtown Middle School had several high school bands performing in the gymnasium. Unlike the ballet she'd practiced since childhood, the uninhibited feel of rock music was simply captivating.

"Dad's going to call me a 'hippie who doesn't really work,' and I don't understand the free spirit of rock 'n' roll," she muttered, closing the webpage. Just as she was debating whether to go to the police station and deliver dinner to her father, who was working overtime, she heard a door open downstairs. Surprised, Gwen ran downstairs to find that her father, George, had returned home early, even taking off his uniform jacket and placing it on the back of the sofa.

So, today is a peaceful day in New York? And Sheriff George Stacy can actually leave work on time?

"Thanks to Spider-Man, he stopped the bank robbery in time in the morning, stopped a car of robbers armed with high-tech weapons in the afternoon, and saved my daughter." George opened his arms, intending to give his daughter a hug, but Gwen froze there, motionless.

"Seriously? A bear hug?"

Sheriff Stacy added awkwardly, "Why, Dad can't you have a hug? You fell asleep the moment you got back from London last night, and I hadn't gotten up yet this morning. We've been apart all summer."

Gwen smiled helplessly and hugged her father. Speaking of Spider-Man, she suddenly remembered what happened that morning: "Why does the Daily Bugle always smear him? He's obviously doing good things and saved us."

"Who knows? Jameson is actually very respectful to the Avengers." George took a beer from the refrigerator. "Come to think of it, in the early days when Spider-Man couldn't write with his webs, he used notes to communicate with the police. I thought his handwriting looked familiar at the time, but then I thought about it and couldn't match it to anyone else's."

Does the handwriting look familiar?
Gwen thought of the same sneakers that Spider-Man and Peter wore.

"Could it be Peter?"

"Peter? Peter Parker?" George was stunned for two seconds, then burst into laughter. "Impossible! Even though it's written in the childish handwriting of a middle school student, it's definitely not his. I recognize Peter's handwriting."

"Would you mind letting me take a look? Perhaps I could recognize it as one of your forgotten friends—"

"The evidence has been filed away long ago," George said, his face suddenly serious. "By the way, I'm planning to visit the Parkers. Should I change my clothes?"

Gwen looked at her father, frowned, and pointed at herself: "Should I ask you why?" "We went to express our gratitude, Gwen. You were in that place this morning... My God, it's a good thing Ben was there and you were fine, but we always have to say thank you, don't we?"

"To be more precise, it should be Spider-Man who saved us."

"But I can't find Spider-Man to say thank you. I forgot about it this afternoon."

So Gwen had no choice but to comfort her father: "Well, I didn't have dinner, maybe I can get Aunt May's signature pancakes. Don't dress too formally, we are just going to have dinner."

George Stacy offered exaggerated praise.

"Oh, May's muffins, I love May's muffins."

As Stacy and her daughter spoke, they stood up and came to the Parker's door and knocked. George knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. After a while, Ben Parker opened the door. George was about to say something, but he seemed to hear the lively laughter coming from behind Uncle Ben.

"George? I didn't expect you to leave work so early." Uncle Ben patted the sheriff's shoulder enthusiastically. "Mei just said we should invite Gwen! Plenty of pancakes, come on in."

"Looks like you have a visitor, Ben, so maybe I should just…"

"It's all right, it's all right. No one ever thought it was right to entertain only one friend instead of two."

Are there guests at the Parker's? Gwen followed her father curiously, ignoring her father's thanks and Uncle Ben's polite response. She poked her head out to see who the Parker's guests were, but she saw an unexpected figure in the dining room.

“Mary Jane Watson?!”

This classmate she met in the rock club today was actually the Parker family's new guest?! Gwen's scalp tingled instantly - they had talked about so much, but she hadn't mentioned her father's objection to her playing rock music! If Mary Jane let it slip, wouldn't she be doomed?
In comparison, Peter, who was at a loss after being "interrogated" by the social butterfly Mary Jane, seemed less miserable.

How should I remind Mary Jane not to tell anyone about this?
"Hey! Gwen!" Mary Jane's cheer made everyone turn their heads. Peter took the opportunity to make way for Gwen, placing her between him and the red-haired girl.

Aunt Mei looked at them in surprise: "You already know each other?"

"We're classmates," Mary Jane said with a bright smile, and the awkwardness shifted from Peter to Gwen, who had to awkwardly respond with a "yes." Then Aunt May started complaining about why Peter didn't make more friends.

"It's so wonderful today that all the friends can get together. I'm even happier that the children have already gotten to know each other. George, this is my Anna, my good friend from middle school. Anna, this is George, our neighbor, an honest and friendly sheriff."

Sheriff George also politely expressed his friendliness to Aunt Anna.

"I'm glad to meet you all, especially Gwen's friends. I'm glad she's made some good friends..."

Gwen felt like a sword of Damocles was about to fall from her head, and it was inconvenient to communicate on the phone about such things. Helplessly, Gwen had to choose to start the conversation first.

"We are recruiting new members for the club today—"

"We met at the entrance of the dance club!" Gwen interrupted Mary Jane first, while Peter chose to continue to be a quail, lowering his head and cutting his muffin.

Mary Jane was stunned for a moment before quickly answering, "Yes, that's right."

The adults didn't seem to care much about the children's little secrets and continued chatting. Gwen leaned close to Peter's ear and said proudly, "See, I'm better at making friends than you, right?"

“And then let new friends lie with you?”

Gwen's white sneakers stepped firmly on Peter's instep. Peter forced a smile and nodded, then sighed deeply.

Mary Jane's lines are also the lines she said when she first met Peter in the comics.

I don't know why Marvel is writing such crap plots for Mary Jane...

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(End of this chapter)