Disclaimers:
All Spider-Man and all its related characters belongs to Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Walt Disney Company, and the Sam Raimi Original Trilogy belongs to Sony Pictures Entertainment. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and not authorized by copyright holders.

Peter was riding his way to his old home in Forest Hill, Queens. It was already late at night for his arrival when he already promised Aunt May he was supposed to be there earlier.

As Peter made to the front porch, he switched off his moped and set it down on the side, right next to his late Uncle Ben's 'special' 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. When Peter was sure it's locked into place, he opened the front door to the house. As he walked his way into the living room, he got startled by a surprising, uplifting greeting.

"SURPRISE!"

Peter saw that the house was already filled with colorful party banters, balloons and food on the dining table, all of which no doubt planned his aunt. He then noticed his girlfriend, Mary Jane, and her mother with their hands shaking in the air excitedly, Harry with a party blower in his mouth, and finally Aunt May, who was upfront to excitedly welcome his arrival.

"Well, say something," Aunt May urged her nephew.

"Uh, what's the occasion," Peter asked with a confused smile, completely forgotten what the special day was today.

"Oh, really, Peter," May teased, as she gave him a kiss on both his cheeks. "It's your birthday, whether you want to remember it or not."

"He's just too busy living another double life," MJ said jokingly, subtly referred to Peter's alter ego without giving it away. "Don't you, Pete?"

"Hi, MJ," Peter greeted his girlfriend.

She smiled back. "Hi."

"Mrs. Watson," Peter greeted his girlfriend's mother, Madeline, with a nod.

"Peter," Madeline nodded back with a smile of her own.

Peter turned to his best friend. "Hey, buddy."

Harry smiled back as he offered him a friendly handshake. "Hey."

"How've you been doing?" MJ asked happily.

"Doing great," Peter replied, not wanting to worry her with his difficult day. "So, uh, how's the play? I read a great review."

"Oh, it's fine. It's going good," MJ said in a soft, humble tone, not feeling like bragging about it, especially in front of her boyfriend, who was teasing her with his funny grin.

"Oh, my beautiful little girl's spectacular," Madeline praised.

"Yes, she's brilliant in it," Harry agreed.

MJ waved off their compliments. "They just kept sending me roses."

Peter chuckled and smiled in awe to see his friends still going on well.

"So, where you've been, pal?" Harry asked. "You haven't returned my calls."

"I've... been busy," Peter wavered over his words, not wanting to entirely lie to his best friend.

"Taking pictures of Spider-Man? How's the bug and his missing girlfriend these days?" Harry said with a hint of snarkiness and loathe in his voice.

Peter and MJ frowned slightly upon hearing Harry's distasteful mention of their alter egos, despite being oblivious to the fact he was actually talking about his two best friends right in front of them.

May broke up the awkward tension. "The less you seen of those two, the better. Now let's all go into the other room and have something to eat, hmm?" She said, offering Harry and Peter each a cup of juice.

"Mom and I will get the hors d'oeuvres," MJ said.

The Watsons then moved to the kitchen, leaving Peter, Harry and May by themselves in the living room.

"What about you?" Peter turned to Harry with a curious look. "How are things at Oscorp?"

"Oh, they're great," Harry said, sounding very enthusiastic. "I'm a head of Special Projects. We're about to make a breakthrough on fusion."

"Oh, how lovely, Harry. Your father would be so proud of you; God rest his soul," May said, before joining the Watsons in the kitchen.

"Thank you," Harry muttered, appreciating May's kind words. He then turned to his best friend. "We're actually funding one of your idols, Peter; Otto Octavius."

Peter's eyes lit up at the mention of his idol. "I'm writing a paper on him."

Harry gave a teasing grin. "Want to meet him?"

Peter's expressions brightened even higher, almost awestrucked by the possibility of meeting his idol. "You'd introduce me?"

"You bet," Harry said with proudness in his voice. "Octavius gonna put Oscorp on the map in a way my father wouldn't even dream of."

MJ walked out of the kitchen, happy to see two best friends talking like old times again.

Ever since the day Harry stumbled upon herself holding Peter's hand and nearly kissing him during Aunt May's hospitalization two years ago, she noticed how their friendship's been on a rocky slope from time to time.

Sadly, MJ couldn't really blame Harry for it either, especially since the day he loathed the one man responsible for taking his father away, even though that's far from the truth. All Peter did was to respect Norman's dying wish to his son, after all, not to mention it'll likely compromised her boyfriend's secret, as well as her own.

MJ would know, because she was also there the night Norman died.

"Hon, can you give us a hand?" Madeline asked.

MJ blinked back to reality when she heard her mother called out to her. She turned around, walking back into the kitchen to help.

After Harry gave a quick glance at the redhead, he turned back to Peter with a slight grim look as he sat down on the dinner chair. "Why you do it?"

Peter was confused by what Harry was implying. "Do what?"

"After all that time, why? Why did you make a move on MJ, then?" Harry asked seriously and curiously.

"I... don't know. I guess something tells me it's just felt right in the moment," Peter answered sheepishly, not wanting to hurt his best friend for 'taking his girl'. "I didn't mean to hurt you that way, if that's what this is about."

Harry's stern expression turned slightly grin. "Seeing that you're the one she wants to be with for two years now, I hope you're really treating her well," He said. On the surface, he may seem okay with Peter being with Mary Jane, but deep down, he still felt a little contempt for stealing the person he loved away from him.

"Well, I tried making the time for her as I can, despite being a little busy myself," Peter said.

Harry's expression turned back to his stern look. "Like taking pictures of your friend?" He referred to Peter's secret alter ego.

Peter's lip turned to a frown at the mention of the same tiring topic again that was being mentioned so many times over the past two years. "Can we get off that subject? I want us to be friends, Harry. I wanted us to trust each other."

"Then, be honest with me. If you knew who he was, would you tell me?" Harry asked grimly. "Peter, don't you understand how I feel? I want this guy dead, the same way you want the guy who murdered your Uncle Ben dead."

Peter looked down, saddening when he was reminded of his Uncle Ben's murder.

Harry stood away from the dinner table, regretting his poor choice of words, especially on his best friend's birthday. "I'm so sorry, Peter. I didn't mean to rag on your birthday."

Harry then walked towards a cabinet table and picked up a framed photo of his father and Peter himself smiling together at the Midtown High Graduation Day. "You're my buddy, you know that. You're family, Pete. My father loved you; you're like a son to him."

Peter slowly walked to Harry's side, giving him a reassuring touch on his best friend's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Yeah... " Suddenly remembering something that could at least cheer both himself and Peter up a bit, Harry took out a small birthday postcard from his pocket. "Oh yeah, I got a little gift for you from our brilliant girl in Oxford. I managed to pay a visit the other week."

When Peter was handed the postcard from Harry, he instantly recognized the handwriting when he opened it, especially the signature.

To my fellow genius

Never stop being who you are

All the Best Happy Birthday.

-G.S

"Even when she was busy with studying overseas, she still somehow makes time to remember us," Peter said fondly.

"She always the more forward-thinking type out of the three of us," Harry agreed with a similar smile of his own.

"No doubt about that," Peter chuckled. "I hope we get to see her with all of us together again."

"Me too, Pete," Harry wholeheartedly agreed, as he placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Me too."

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Aunt May and the Watsons were prepping for Peter's birthday cake.

"How's your relationship with Peter?" Madeline asked her daughter.

"Oh yeah, we've been doing very good, Mom," MJ said.

Madeline gave a knowing look. "Honey, something tells me it's more to it. It's been two years since the two of you first started dating."

"Mom, it's not a big deal," MJ sheepishly answered, feeling her cheeks blushing when they brought up her romantic relationship with Peter. "We're just taking things a little slow, considering we've been busy with our jobs."

"Oh? By the way you two been going on, something tells me it's more than your typical boy love," Madeline said cheekily.

Aunt May even nodded in agreement.

MJ couldn't help but give a sly grin on her face. "I just love him very much, that's all."

"There's no shame in hiding your deeper feelings for Peter. If anything, I'm very glad you found the right person for you," Madeline said with a smile.

"So do I..." MJ's words trailed off, feeling deeply glad to be somewhat free from the abusive her deserted father inflicted upon her and his own family. It was because of him he was forced to be in a relationship with Flash, the relationship she couldn't break herself out of until after the school graduation.

May turned to MJ with a dreamy smile. "Oh, you and Peter are just like me and my sweet Ben on a sunny beach years ago."

"What do you mean? Did you guessed we would always end up being together?" MJ asked.

"Oh, more than guessed, my dear. I very well knew the moment Peter saw you outside of that kitchen window," May reminisced. "Did you know when you both were six years old, Peter grabbed me and said "Aunt May, Aunt May, is that an angel?" "

MJ's eyes started to glister with surprised tears upon hearing May's story, realizing Peter had always been crazy for her ever since he was just a kid himself, right before either of them had their powers. "He actually thought I was an angel?"

"Oh, yes, he did," May gave a fond chuckle with a bright smile widening on her face, as well as Madeline. "I remembered how sweet that little boy was. Although he was either too young to remember saying it or maybe he doesn't want to admit it."

"Even before we knew each other, he always saw the best inside me," MJ muttered to herself. She gave May a heartfelt hug as her tears still lit up in her eyes. "Thank you, Aunt May."

May smiled back as she returned the hug. "You're welcome, Mary Jane."

"Now, c'mon. Don't want Peter's cake to melt away too soon," Madeline reminded with a smile.

MJ nodded as she quickly broke up the hug and quickly had her finger ready on the light switch to the living room.

Peter and Harry turned towards to the kitchen when they saw the living room lights switched off. MJ and Madeline walked out first as Aunt May was holding the delicious birthday cake with several candles illuminating on its frosted top.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you," They sang a cute birthday song to Peter as Aunt May placed the cake down on the living room table. "Happy Birthday to Peter," Harry then joined in on the singing. "Happy Birthday to you."

With a single inhale of his breath, Peter blew out his birthday candles, shrouding the living room out in peaceful darkness.

Words: 2021

A/N: And now we have the whole cast, asides from the missing one(which I can assure will return in the third film) making a full gathering together in one place at last, even better with Peter and Mary Jane still committed to their relationship for each other, despite not being around 24/7.

While the next chapter will go over Peter's dilemma that'll set the events in this part of the fanfic, just like its OG counterpart, better be ready for MJ's as well, as it'll explain why she hanged up her suit in the first place.

While still currently going over my drafts for Spider-Man 2, I'm also trying to get some writing done for Spider-Man 3 as well, just to hopefully get most of it done before this 2nd film concluded in God-Knows-What time, just like how I did during the writing process for the first film.

With that said, any constructive criticisms and comments would be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

Reviews:

Rivet94: Thanks, it's great to be back.

And yeh, I can't even blame the fandom, to be frank. Heck, even from the previews OF THE VERY FIRST ISSUE, I knew, despite all the buildup in the Spencer's run, they'll throw away all that development somehow. Just never expected it end up this embarrassingly bad. Anyhow, I'm at least glad for Hickman to fill that void with his USM run, with Peter and MJ finally living their lives together and as a family with their two kids, even in good twists we never expected. Heck, maybe I'll even gain some more inspiration from that run to use in my Raimi Universe

meowspi1702: Ahh, cheers, dude.

I never expected any to honestly return after a long absence from posting, but the fact some of you guys were still willing to anticipated in this fanfic means a lot to me, no matter how small. Again, greatly appreciated

Heath Johnson: Wouldn't say it fully deserved a 9/10, but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless

DCDGojira: Most appreciated for your review again

TW: Thanks, man. Your words is very kind