I silently thank whatever gods may be watching over me when Jaune, Nora and Ren arrive so I don't have to sit with Ruby's team alone. I turn around to see them. Wait, what's MJ doing with them. She's looking a little shocked at the sight of me. But I'm a little more concerned with whether or not she's over my choice to be a Hero. She looks away from me and approaches Ruby's teammates.
"It's nice to finally meet you all," her voice suggests that she's still mad at me, "I'm Mary Jane Watson. I was friends with Pyrrha when she was a child."
The girls stare at MJ. They look like they had just seen a ghost. Why would Mary Jane register a response like that? Unless... It hadn't dawned on me until just now.
"You look like her," the blonde girl with a robotic arm, who Ruby said is her older sister Yang, says, "did you know that?"
That's right. When I first met MJ and Pyrrha, I thought they were twins because they looked so much alike. I had to be told several times that they weren't related because I couldn't believe that they looked so similar and weren't family. The idea of doppelgangers hadn't been introduced to me until after after I moved in with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Mary Jane looks at me, a little frightened, and I give her a look that tells her to stand tall and not run away. I look at Ruby and nudge my head towards her team and she gets the idea.
"So," she says as unawkwardly as possible, "the one with the robot arm is my big sister. Her name is Yang. That cool cat there,"
"Not funny," I say on instinct.
"At least we know it runs in the family," Jaune says quietly.
"is Blake," she continues, giving us sour looks, "and this is Weiss. I think she already met Peter."
I'm not even paying attention anymore. In fact, I think I might actually be falling asleep. Ah crap, I'm gonna look like a complete jerk for this. But I can't keep my eyes open.
"Dad! What are you doing?" Is that Summer? Oh no, I'm back here again, "You need to figure out who the Goblin is, not having dinner with mm and her friends."
I open my eyes and see her looking down on me. She definitely looks like Ruby. A brunette Ruby, with red eyes, but still.
"So Ruby is your mom!" I call he out.
"Well duh. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. But this dinner means nothing. Mom told me that she didn't really fall in love with you until after she saw you in action. So get out of there and do what you need to!"
"It would be a lot easier if I knew when I would first encounter this guy."
"The festival. He attacks at the festival and kills hundreds. If you're not careful, mom could be one of the casualties."
"So that's why you want me to figure this out quickly. You're worried about Ruby. Well don't worry, she's a warrior. If she goes down, she'll go down fighting."
"I just hope she doesn't go down at all."
"Hey," I put my hand on her shoulder, "it'll be ok."
Purple mist surrounds me. Looks like time's up.
I snap awake, smelling steak. From the looks of everyone else's plates, it just got here.
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Ruby's POV
Peter stays relatively quiet everyone else voices their opinions on his Hero persona.
"Honestly," Weiss scolds him, "Spider-Man? Could you he any more on the nose?"
"Well I appreciate it," Blake says, "he may not be a Faunus, but he'll no doubt be called one. Hopefully this will help ease everybody's opinion about us after the White Fang tainted the name of our people."
"Actually," Nora chimes in, "he's being grouped with Mutants because he's been spotted helping them escape from government robots. No one even considers that he might be the sole survivor of the Atlas attack. It's stupid."
"It's better off that way," Jaune says, "I'm sure that kind of attention is the last thing he wants. He's just doing what's right. He shouldn't care about what everyone says about him."
"I just can't believe he chose that old persona he made up we were kids," Mary Jane shakes her head, "it just shows how much of a dork he is." I look at her, confused, "He made up this whole story about Spider-Man and asked us to help him act them out when we were bored with fairy tales. He even went so far as to make a theme song. Ugh, it was so dumb."
"Excuse me," Peter leaves the table. I can see a hint of a smirk on his face.
"So," I make sure Peter is out of sight before I continue, "what was this theme song?"
"I'm not singing it if that's what you're asking. The last thing I want is to hear it again."
The speakers around the restaurant let out a high pitched squeak as they turn on and everyone is shocked a t the voice that speaks.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Peter's voice rings through the restaurant, "by now, you already know who I am. I want to tell you that my identity as Spider-Man originated as a fictional character I thought up as a child. And now, thanks to Miss Mary Jane Watson, I would like to share the old theme song I made for the character. So sit back and enjoy."
The band starts playing an upbeat, jazzy tune and I see Peter jump onto the wall between the booths. He lets the music carry his movements and uses a web to bring the microphone over to him as most of the instruments stop, leaving only a cello and a snare drum.
"Spider-Man, Spider-Man,
Does whatever a spider can," there's a short trumpet flourish,
"Spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves, just like flies. Look out.
Here comes the Spider-Man." The trumpets flourish a little longer, with other brass instruments joining in.
"Is he strong, listen bud,
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread,
Take a look overhead. Hey there.
There goes the Spider-Man." The brass kicks in once more, joined by several other instruments as well.
Peter jumps down and dances with the flow of the jazz music. He spins and slides over to our table and pulls me out. He swings me along to the rhythm. I can't believe it! I never knew Peter was such a good dancer. I mean, everyone is leagues better than me, but still. The way he's making my body move, I think I might look like a competent dancer to the other patrons. He spins me away as another flourish plays.
"Ooohh, in the chill of night, at the scene of a crime,
Like a streak of light, he arrives just in time. Yeah," he jumps back onto the wall.
"Spider-Man, Spider-Man,
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,
Wealth and take, he's ignored,
Action is his reward. To him,
Life is a great big bang-up,
Wherever there's a hang-up,
You'll find the Spider-Man!" The band plays a big finish while Peter bows.
"Thanks guys," Peter says as he tossed the mic in a way that lets it land perfectly back on its stand. He jumps down amid the applause of the other patrons and leans in by Mary Jane, "We're gonna laugh about this someday."
How did you guys like that little jazz number? I just wanted a way to fit the theme into the story and saw this as a perfect opportunity. Let's all just be honest, if Peter hadn't sung it, Deadpool would have in a later chapter. Hell he still might.