Stepping off the bus, Peter turned in the direction Eddie and Anne's house was supposed to be. It turned out that Eddie commuted from Queens, a place all too familiar to him, having been raised there almost his whole life. Even though he had moved to Manhattan after college, Peter could still walk the streets of Forest Hills in his sleep. All it took was one glance at the address Eddie had given him earlier for him to have a solid idea of where he needed to go.
Peter was really hoping whatever Eddie's wife was making for dinner helped remove a bit of the sting of his unsuccessful Spidey outing earlier. He was still chastising himself for not going in with a better plan. Basically, he was going to go in, ask nicely, and if that didn't work (he hadn't exactly counted on it), then he would find another way to get it out of him. Unfortunately, Blackie had called his bluff before he'd even had a chance to actually try it. Peter could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever tried to intimidate someone into giving him information, and only a couple of those times had it worked.
He'd probably gotten lucky in those instances, as they had likely just wanted to get out of spending too much time in jail. Anyone willing to take a moment to think likely knew better though: Spider-Man was not one to resort to brutalizing or torturing people. In short, Peter was going to have to find someone with a little less spine to give him the information he needed to get his first true lead in this mysterious case.
But that was enough about that, at least for now. Peter finally came up to the house, recognizing the number he'd been told to look for. From the outside, the home appeared to be the same as most other houses in the neighborhood: a modest but still well put together two-story home, with what he guessed was at least two bedrooms, maybe three, in the upstairs area. It was a little bigger than the home Peter had grown up in with his aunt and uncle, though not by too much.
Right now, however, it felt like a far cry from anything he could afford.
Walking up to the front door, Peter reached up, pressing the button to ring the doorbell. He took a step back, waiting patiently for someone to open it. When nobody answered after a moment, he decided to give it another try, pressing the button a second time.
"Coming!" came a woman's shout from inside. Peter could hear rapid footsteps as the individual approached the door, and it finally opened to reveal a woman with dark blond hair and brown eyes.
"Ah, you must be Peter," the woman said. "I'm Anne, Eddie's wife. Please, come in."
"Thank you," Peter responded politely, stepping into the home.
"Eddie, our guest is here!" Anne exclaimed as she moved past Peter after closing the door. "You'll have to excuse us; things have been a little crazy today. I got home late from work, so Eddie had gotten the food going, but in doing so, he missed his precious early evening workout, so he tried to squeeze it in quick before you got here. He's in the shower now, but he should be finishing up."
"It's fine," Peter assured her as he followed her into the dining room. "I understand Eddie was a great athlete in high school."
"Yep, and he's made sure to stay in shape ever since, even though he doesn't play anymore," Anne replied. "I'm pretty sure he hasn't missed a workout in at least a year."
"Wow, that's impressive," Peter said. He didn't exactly have a lot of time for hobbies like working out, but even if he did, he couldn't imagine having the discipline, much less the opportunity, to keep up such a rigorous endeavor.
Suddenly, some quick but hard footsteps could be heard descending down the stairs, and Peter turned to see Eddie pop out from behind him, wearing a casual pair of jeans and a New York Knicks t-shirt.
"Peter, so sorry for the delay," the man said. "No offense, but I was counting on your tendency to be a bit late to things."
"Eddie!" Anne spoke up from the kitchen. "At least try to be nice to our houseguest, please?"
"It's really fine, ma'am," Peter responded.
"By the way," Eddie added, "whatever she's told you about me while you guys were down here, it's probably right. To be honest, I still don't know what I did to end up with this beautiful woman."
Eddie then walked over to the kitchen, giving his wife a kiss on top of her head, prompting a close-lipped smile from the woman. The couple then finished gathering the food, soon bringing out a MASSIVE lasagna and other Italian style foods. If it was all as good as it looked and smelled, Peter felt he was in for a treat.
They all sat down at the table, and Eddie, in keeping with being the devout Catholic everyone at the Bugle knew him to be, said a quick prayer of blessing of the food, and they all dug in soon afterward. Peter was initially getting a smaller piece of lasagna, fearing being rude and getting too big a chunk, even despite the size it was.
"Peter," Anne spoke up, "please, there's plenty. I'm sure you must be hungry."
Giving a small nod to the woman in affirmation, Peter decided to oblige her, recutting a larger piece of the lasagna and setting it on his plate. He then took his fork and cut out a modest but still decent bite, inserting it into his mouth.
It was delicious.
"Wow," Peter said as he finished chewing, swallowing before adding, "this is really good."
"Thank you," Anne replied, "I've been working on the recipe for a long time actually."
"See, I told you," Eddie chimed in before taking his own big bite. He closed his eyes, appearing to savor every bit of it.
For a while, the three continued eating, before Anne spoke up again.
"So, Peter, tell us about yourself. Eddie mentions you here and there, but mostly just about work."
"I'm afraid there's not much to tell really," Peter said before taking another bite of the delicious cheesy goodness.
"Well first of all, he's the Bugle's resident genius," Eddie bragged. "He actually has fixed my computer a couple times when our IT guys couldn't figure it out. If he wasn't such a good photographer, I'd tell him to just take their job."
"I don't know if I'd go that far," Peter said. He appreciated what Eddie had to say, but he had never been one to want a lot of attention brought to him, even if it was about good things.
"So, you're good with technology?" Anne asked for further clarity.
"I'd say so," Peter conceded. "I've been messing with computers and stuff for years, so I learned through trial and error a lot."
"Didn't you say that your degree was in some area of science too?" Eddie asked.
"Biophysics," Peter clarified.
"Wow," Anne said, "what does one do with such a degree?"
"Still trying to figure that out to be honest," Peter admitted. "I just know I want to do something that will help as many people as I can."
"That'd be nice," Eddie remarked, "since it seems like, outside of Spider-Man, most science related things in this city seem to do nothing but create megalomaniacs and doomsday weapons."
Peter didn't respond verbally, but he had to agree with Eddie's sentiment. It seemed like even those with good intentions ended up on the wrong side of history in this city when it came to trying to make scientific breakthroughs. Even a lot of the people he would consider more on the side of "normal" still had technological enhancements to aid them in their crimes, which they had to either make themselves or get from somewhere. Sometimes, it almost felt like New York City was just cursed to be this way.
"You said earlier you got home late from work," Peter spoke up to Anne, "where do you work at?"
"I'm an assistant District Attorney actually," Anne responded.
"Wow, what's that like?" Peter asked. "I have to imagine being in a position like that in this city would be crazy."
"I've definitely seen a lot," the woman replied.
"She's got plenty of good stories," Eddie added. "It seems like she comes home every day with something new. I keep telling her that she should go back to trying to open her own firm, but she insists on staying."
"Working in the DA's office is my way to help the city right now," Anne explained. Her voice was a sterner than before, giving Peter the impression that this wasn't the first time these two had had a conversation on this topic.
"I know," Eddie replied before turning to Peter. "You'll have to excuse me, sometimes my overprotective husband tendencies spontaneously surface."
"How did you two meet anyway?" Peter asked. "I know you guys met in high school."
"Yep," Eddie confirmed. "I was the starting quarterback of the football team, and she was the spunky school journalist who was NOT impressed...at least at first."
"He seemed like exactly the type that my dad warned me about at first," Anne admitted. "He always told me to avoid the jocks in school because they 'only think about girls and sports', and especially football players. But then, Eddie did something very unexpected."
"What was that?" Peter asked.
"He joined the school journalism club," Anne said.
"Yep," Eddie confirmed. "It wasn't easy trying to balance doing a school sport AND another extracurricular activity, but I had to do SOMETHING to get her to come around."
"We started dating late senior year, and during our college years, he finally won my dad over enough to get his blessing to propose," Anne said. "I'll admit, even when we started dating, I thought there was no way that was ever going to happen."
"You always did underestimate me, dear," Eddie said with a cheeky smile.
"Uh huh," Anne replied, each of those little words dripping with sarcasm. She then turned back to Peter. "What about you? Anyone special?"
Peter's voice caught in his throat in response to the question. Really, he should've guessed that this topic would come up, but instead he found himself caught off guard.
"No," he finally replied. "No one special."
"Have you talked to that pretty redhead neighbor of yours yet?" Eddie asked, before turning to his wife to explain. "We met this store owner while we were doing interviews one day who recognized him from living in the same building as him."
"I talked to her once, but haven't seen her much otherwise since," Peter admitted.
"She seemed nice man, you should try and get to know her a little," Eddie urged. "You never know what can happen."
"Leave him alone, Eddie," Anne said. "Maybe he's already in love with someone else."
"No, nothing like that," Peter replied, chuckling nervously, "it's just that, well...I haven't had the best luck with girls in the past."
"You?" Eddie questioned. "That's hard to imagine. You're nice, you always hold the door for the ladies at the Bugle, and everyone there seems to at least respect you. What, did you have a rebellious streak in high school?"
"Kind of," Peter conceded, "but that's not...there was a girl once, but uhm...I lost her."
"What happened?" Anne asked, "that is, if I may ask. Did she move away for school or something?"
"No, I was actually going to go with her, but she...she died," Peter answered.
Silence fell over the room; one could've heard a pin drop even without super hearing.
"Peter, I'm sorry," Eddie finally spoke up, "I didn't mean to be pushy or insisting, I just..."
"It's okay," Peter assured him, "you didn't know. It happened a long time ago, but it's still not exactly something I talk about that much."
"Of course," Eddie replied.
The night continued nicely, and, of course, every bit of food Peter was served was delicious. Even more than that though, he really enjoyed getting to know Eddie better outside of the workplace. He was very much the same person, but much more relaxed. His relationship with Anne was sweet, but also very real. They were two people who clearly weren't afraid to be their true selves or express their thoughts or feelings around each other.
"Thanks for having me," he said as he got ready to leave. "Anne, thank you especially for the food."
"It was my pleasure, Peter," Anne replied. "We're both glad you could come."
Eddie saw Peter out to the door, and Peter thanked him one last time.
"I'm sorry again," Eddie apologized, "Anne gets onto me sometimes about being a bit too pushy in encouraging people to do or go for something, and this reminded me of why."
"It's okay," Peter replied, "I know you were just trying to help." Once Gwen's memory had been dug up in his mind again, it had been hard to truly put it back to rest for the evening. At the same time, it had felt strangely relieving to talk about it with someone other than May, even if it was very brief.
"I guess I just don't want you to pass up an opportunity just because it didn't work out for you before," Eddie suggested. "You never know, maybe you'll strike it lucky yet."
"Maybe," Peter said. "Anyway, thanks again, and have a good night."
Peter walked out of the house, hearing the door close behind him. As he began the walk to the bus stop, Eddie's words repeated in his mind.
"Maybe you'll strike it lucky yet."
If only he knew how Peter's life actually worked.
By the time he'd made it back to his apartment, Peter decided he wasn't quite ready yet to go inside. His mind was full of too many thoughts, and he felt like stretching his legs a little anyway. Web swinging was usually his go to point to clear his head, but occasionally, he liked to mix up with a walk around the neighborhood. In a way, it made him feel a little more down to earth and human to just do something so normal, as opposed to swinging as impossible speeds from impossible heights.
There was a walkway that passed essentially formed a square around his neighborhood that Peter particularly liked to use, and it passed by a small park. It wasn't much compared to other such places around the city, but it had the essentials: a jungle gym (were they still called that?), a seesaw and a few swings. By this time in the evening, when there was just a little bit of evening sun still out, there were rarely if ever any kids still using it though. However, as Peter came upon it this time, he saw not a kid, but an adult on the playground, and a familiar looking one at that.
It was Mary Jane.
She was swinging on one of the swings when she made eye contact with him, using her feet to stop the swing's momentum. She then waved at him, and he waved lightly back. After a moment, he decided to go inside to see her.
"Hey," M.J. said as he approached her.
"Hey," Peter replied. "I didn't expect to see you out here."
"What, adults can't play on the playground?" M.J. asked.
"No, well...I just know most don't," Peter said, trying to navigate the question as best he could.
"I guess it's a good thing I'm not most adults then," M.J. replied. "They take everything too seriously; sometimes you just have to have a little childish fun after a long day."
"Is that what you had?" Peter asked, "a long day?"
"It was fine, just busy," M.J. said. "I enjoy what I do out there, but every once in a while, it gets to be a bit much on the mind."
"I take it that means business is booming," Peter remarked.
"Oh yeah, for sure," M.J. remarked.
"That's good," Peter said. "It's really cool that you and your friend are running such a successful business so early in life."
"Yeah, a lot of it was my idea, but Liz is definitely the one that keeps the ship afloat, so to speak," M.J. replied. "If she wasn't so good with numbers and budgeting and stuff, I don't know how we would've survived our first few months especially."
"Wish I could say I was that successful in something," Peter commented. "I guess I just need find a business partner of my own."
M.J. chuckled at that, and Peter had to admit that there was something incredibly magnetic about her smile.
"Well, what do you say," M.J. said, "you want to go for a swing?"
"What?" Peter asked, his mind racing. Had she seen him swing out the window or something?
He felt a great deal of relief when she nudged her head toward the swing next to her.
"Oh, you mean like...yeah, yeah sure," Peter said, breathing an internal sigh of relief as he took his seat on the swing. He wrapped his hands around the cool metal chains that connected the seat to the bar overhead, and he and M.J. reeled back before taking off in unison.
"I bet I can get higher than you can," M.J. challenged.
"Is that a fact?" Peter challenged back, kicking the ground to make himself go higher. M.J. did the same, and soon they were both going so high that it felt like either one of them might accidentally go TOO high and either fall off upside down or wrap around the metal over top of them. M.J. didn't seem nervous at all; actually, she was smiling and laughing like she was having the best time in the world.
Peter had to admit he was having quite a bit of fun too. He would have thought that, with him being used to a much more "intense" brand of swinging, he would've found this boring by comparison. Instead, there was a simplicity to it that was peaceful and calm. Part of it was likely also due to who he was doing this with. This was only his second extended interaction with the redhead, but in both instances now, he felt happy, fun and free in her presence. M.J. seemed to have an infectiously carefree personality that brought out a similar side in him, a more relaxed version of himself that Peter hadn't felt in a long time.
The two of them continued swinging, laughing and enjoying themselves even as the sun disappeared below the horizon.
Hope you're still enjoying it!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray." Psalm 5:1-2