Spider-Man & Lois

How it all changed

Lois was on the phone about a story when the door opened, and Peter came walking over. He sighed as he placed his camera down on the table near the doorway.

"Hey." Peter greeted her as he walked over and pecked her cheek. "How's it going?"

"I got to get Foswell copy in the morning," Lois reported in. "Your plate is in the fridge, Mayday has some news, and April is a little upset."

"She okay?" Peter suddenly got worried.

"She's fine," Lois said as she was answering the phone. "But if you wanna go check on her?"

Peter wondered what was wrong when he looked at the calendar and realized the day and knew why she was upset.

"Yeah, I might," Peter said, making his way up as Lois walked off to take it.

As he made it up the stairs, he heard talking in Mayday's room and knocked. "Mayday?"

"Yeah, dad?" Mayday asked as Peter opened the door and saw she was on a Zoom call with her friend Eliza.

"Hey, just getting home. Mom said you had some news." Peter said to her.

"Oh, yeah!" Mayday seemed to get excited at the thought. "E, one second." She then turned to face her dad. "I got into cheer!"

"You did?" Peter asked in surprise.

Mayday had been excited about getting into cheer practice since she and April would be starting high school. Peter encouraged them both to try, but it seemed April wasn't interested in that type of stuff. She was more of a bookworm as Mayday was the athletic one of the two.

"Oh, honey." Peter cheered as he walked over and hugged her as Mayday laughed. "I knew you would!"

"Dad!" Mayday laughed at her dad's behavior. "Okay, okay, we get it. You're proud of me."

"Okay, I'm gonna stop humiliating you in front of your friends," Peter said as Eliza laughed at their interaction. "Hi, Eliza."

"Hi, Mr. Parker." Eliza greeted through the screen.

"Okay, go!" Mayday started to beg as she tried to hold in laughter.

"Fine. One last thing." Peter said as he leaned in and pecked Mayday's cheek, getting her to blush. "Now I'm done being embarrassing."

"Get!" Mayday said as Peter laughed and left his daughter.

Hearing what sounds like fighting, Peter opened April's door and watched her play a game that's been around for a while. It was a fighting game that he and a bunch of other heroes signed their rights to use in a video game to fight.

"Hey," Peter called to April and watched her fight Chun-Li vs Spider-Man. "Wow, you make a good Spider-Man."

"Spider-Man's lame." April scoffed. "I'm Chun-Li."

"Oh," Peter commented no idea what to say to that. "So...mom said you were a little upset. Are you okay? I kinda know what this day represents to you."

"You mean the day those freaks tried to kill us?" April asked, referring to this day just five years ago.

"They're not freaks, it was just a freak accident." Peter defended it.

"Whatever." April sighed, never likening to discuss it.

Peter sighed and wished he could help her see those people as he does. "So...high school starts tomorrow. Nervous?"

"No, not really," April replied.

"Because if you are, it's okay," Peter promises. "I remember my first day of freshman year was tough. Spent most of it stuffed inside my locker."

"Yeah, well, life's a little different in Metropolis than in New York," April commented.