Finally arriving at his childhood home, Peter strolled up the familiar steps and to the door, giving a few gentle knocks to alert anyone inside to his presence. He then grabbed and turned the knob, opening the door slowly. Instead of the warmth of a well-lit home, all he was greeted by was darkness, his aunt nowhere in sight.

"May?" Peter questioned as he stepped inside gingerly, slowly closing the door behind him. "You home?"

Suddenly, the lights all came on.

"SURPRISE!" came the voices of May, Mary Jane, her Aunt Anna, and Harry Osborn. "Happy birthday!"

The group then all came up to him; his girlfriend reached him first, planting a quick peck on his lips followed by a hug, followed by a hug from his aunt and the others, all of them greeting him warmly and congratulating him on his big day.

"Alright, now that that's out of the way, anyone up for some cake?" Harry teasingly questioned.

"Not until birthday boy here makes his wish!" M.J. replied.

"Fine," Harry pretended to whine, and soon, everyone started migrating back into the kitchen, with Peter lingering behind with M.J, each with an arm wrapped around the other. He then leaned in close to her ear to speak to her more discreetly.

"Thanks for the heads up about this by the way; you saved me from a spider sense-induced headache."

"You're welcome," she replied just as discreetly as they rejoined the others just in time for them to all sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

"Now, make a wish, but don't tell us what it is!" Anna instructed.

Shaking his head lightly, Peter then leaned down, blowing out the candles. From there, the cake was finally cut up, with everyone putting a slice on a plate and digging in as they enjoyed pleasant conversation with one another. Naturally, the birthday boy of course received most of the attention, which Peter didn't mind, since it was all those he cared about most in life.

"Thank you so much for doing this, May," he thanked his aunt at one point.

"Of course!" she greeted him warmly. "I'm just sorry we couldn't spend the whole day all together!"

"Me too," Peter said. "I just really had to make sure everything was just right before my big presentation on Monday; I still need to go in tomorrow to make some last-minute tweaks, actually."

"I'm so proud of you dear, and I know your uncle would be too," May assured him. "You're going to help so many people."

"Thanks, May," Peter said. "That is the hope at least."

Anna then came over to get May's attention about something, the ladies excusing themselves. Peter then glanced over towards Harry, he and M.J. going over and sitting down on the couch next to him.

"I have to say: your aunt is still the best chef I know," Harry said as he chewed through another bite of cake, swallowing before continuing: "and that says a lot too, since I grew up being cooked for by some of the world's top chefs!"

"I've always said I'd put her up against anyone even on her worst day," Peter said, glancing back at his aunt before returning his attention to his friend. "Hey, how are things going with your dad?"

Harry sighed, setting his plate down on the table in front of them.

"He's still not very receptive," he explained.

"I still can't believe it," Mary Jane interjected, "especially after all those years where he was on you about 'taking your place in the Osborn legacy.'"

"I don't know what it is," Harry said with a shrug. "He always seems stressed these days, and I keep offering to take a load off of him, but he won't let me."

"That does sound really unlike him," Peter concurred. "I mean, your dad always seemed to be the type that would be the one stressing people more than the other way around."

"Exactly," Harry said. "I did run into Wilson Fisk in my dad's study before I came over here, and my dad didn't seem too happy when I saw him."

That got Peter's attention.

"Did he say anything about what they were talking about?" he asked, leaning in a little more.

"No; he wouldn't tell me anything," Harry said, looking more and more dejected.

"I'm sure it's just a phase," M.J. interjected. "Your dad will come around, right Peter?"

The slight nudge his girlfriend gave his side didn't go unnoticed by Peter.

"Yeah, definitely!" he said. "I'm sorry if I was pressing you too much."

"Nah, it's fine," Harry replied. "If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry for taking your job and being all mopey on your big day."

"Excuse me?" Peter challenged. "If anything, I prefer to be called broody. It just sounds cooler."

"No offense, Pete, but you're the last person I would call that," Harry said. "You have to be scary to be considered broody."

"I can be scary!" Peter insisted. All he got for his troubles were both Harry and M.J. chuckling at him. "What? I can!"

"Stop it, Tiger," M.J. said, "before you make me start crying and mess up my makeup!"

Peter just sighed, shaking his head.

"Unbelievable," he said. "You try to get someone to take you seriously..."

"Come on, Pete," Harry said. "Being mopey isn't a bad thing; I mean hey, it didn't scare M.J. away!"

Peter glanced over to his girlfriend, who just shrugged.

"He has a point."

"Yeah, I guess he does," Peter said.

"Thanks again for helping with tonight," Peter said as he and M.J. stepped down the stairs and turned onto the sidewalk. "May said you were big with planning tonight."

"Anything for you, Tiger," Mary Jane said, squeezing his arm and leaning in against him. "You deserve it."

"Still disagree, but I'm working my way there," he replied. "So, is my favorite star actress ready for her big Broadway debut next week?"

"Oh, more than ready!" Mary Jane assured him. "I'm still just really bummed that they did us dirty by having us debut on a Monday. Most Broadway shows don't even run on Monday at all!"

"The people in charge of that must be crazy to not have the same faith in you and your castmates as I do!" Peter asserted.

"I mean, once I thought about it, I kind of understood," Mary Jane explained. "It is an original play after all; it's not like we're doing something already popularized like 'Wicked' or 'The Great Gatsby,' but still, it feels like they're hardly giving us a fair shot."

"That hasn't seemed to stop whoever's in charge of promotion for you guys," Peter observed. "I haven't had a lot of time to be on social media recently, but it seems like all I see is the poster of you as your character with the title overhead."

"I have to give them credit, for sure," she said. "I just hope it's enough to actually get people in the seats; like I mentioned, there's a reason most Broadway plays don't even run at all on Mondays."

"If you perform as brilliantly as I know you can, and if your castmates are even half of that, then I have no doubts at all," Peter assured her. His girlfriend's gaze met his, a wide smile spreading across her cheeks.

"You always know what to say, don't you Tiger?"

"No, I just spit a bunch of stuff out and hope some of it sticks," Peter conceded half-teasingly. He'd really meant every word he'd just said, but he'd been worried it would come off as just some pie-in-the-sky platitude. He was grateful that, so far at least, M.J. didn't seem to be taking it this way.

"I have to admit, it's been fun to dive into a more comedic role for a change," his girlfriend admitted as they continued walking down the familiar street. "Drama will always be my first love, but it'll be fun to really push myself to try and perform in a new way. Hopefully, I'll have a more diverse resume when this thing is all said and done."

"I can't wait to see it; I just know I'll be laughing out loud the whole time," Peter said.

"Of course, I'm not the only one with a big moment in their careers coming up on Monday," M.J. reminded him. "You sounded really excited whenever you talked about your big presentation coming up back at your aunt's."

"I am," Peter replied. "I... for so long, I've been out in the city, helping people as Spider-Man, and it's been great. I've loved so much getting to look out for the little guy all these years, even when it's just doing mundane, ordinary things for people, like helping carry in a delivery of fresh produce or sitting and being a listening ear for someone who needs it. At the same time, I feel like I've been limited to using only half of what I can really do to make a difference in the world. Now, I get a chance to really help people as Peter Parker, which is what I've always wanted more than anything, even before I got my powers."

"You really are going to change the world, Tiger," his girlfriend assured him, "and I can't wait to be there every step of the way as you do."

"And I can't wait to have you by my side the whole time," Peter said. "Anyway, the night's still relatively young, so we can stay out for a bit if you want?"

"I was actually counting on that," Mary Jane said, "because I have one more surprise for you, birthday boy."

"Oh really?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah, and tell that pesky spider sense of yours to relax," M.J. added, "because I think you're going to like it."

His girlfriend opening the door, Peter stepped out onto the rooftop, observing that it was decorated with flowers and a series of flags hanging on a line overhead with letters that spelled "Happy Birthday, Peter" overhead.

"Wow," he said. "How did you get permission to do this?"

"Well, when the owner of the building is a big theater nut, all it apparently takes is a little bribery with some tickets for an opening show," M.J. replied. "Basically, I got really lucky."

"This is awesome," he said. "But, I mean, we just came from a similarly decorated place, so I'm not sure what..."

Peter paused, observing as M.J. went over to a stereo mounted on a nearby table, turning it on to produce soft, romantic music. She then strolled over, her gaze leveled at him the whole way before extending her hand.

"May I have this dance, Tiger?"

Peter knew he was smiling, because his cheeks felt like they were going to burst at the seams from stretching too far, but he didn't care.

"Of course, Madame."

He then took his girlfriend's hand in his own and pulled her in, the two of them soon swaying to the music, gazing into each other's eyes.

"You know, I really must apologize," he spoke up. His girlfriend tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at him in confusion.

"For what?"

"I'm pretty sure I haven't told you how amazing you look in that black dress tonight," Peter clarified. "I don't know how it could have slipped my mind; I'm sure I've lost some boyfriend points already."

"Well, we're here now, so maybe this is your chance to make some of them up," Mary Jane suggested, smiling brightly.

"Okay," Peter said, his voice going dead serious as he continued. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. Of course, that's easy enough for anyone to observe just by looking at you on the outside, but they don't see everything that I see."

"And what do you see?" she asked, seemingly genuinely curious and engrossed in his words.

"I see a kind, caring, determined woman, who goes after what she wants and doesn't let up until she gets it," Peter explained. "I see someone who's loyal, who will stand by me no matter rain or shine, someone who will support me no matter what may come."

M.J. blushed, glancing away for a moment.

"I know for a fact there was a time where you didn't think all of that," she said. "Especially that last part."

"That's the most beautiful part of all," Peter assured her. "You learned and grew into being that kind of person when life gave you every reason not to be. You're not just beautiful only because of your body, Mary Jane, but because of your heart."

His girlfriend just stared at him as they continued swaying, love written in her eyes.

"I must say, never let anyone tell you that you don't know how to sweep a girl off her feet," she spoke up, "because right now, I'm high off the ground and way up in the clouds, Tiger."

"As long as I'm up there with you," he replied.

"Let me help you get there," Mary Jane said. She then stopped, placed both her hands on his face and drew him in, planting a deep kiss on his lips. Peter's arms instinctively wrapped around her back, pulling her in as she threw her arms over his shoulder and the back of his head, the two sinking deeper into each other's embrace, seemingly trying to soak up every passing second together.

Yep, this was by far the best birthday Peter had ever had.

Hope you all are enjoying it so far!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" Philippians 3:20