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“Okay, so like- what’s your name?”
Shang-Chi stopped. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Peter paused and lowered his fork, a bite of french toast left to grow cold. “Katy calls you Shaun, but you said your name was Shang-Chi? Do you have a preference?”
He smiled awkwardly, “Oh no, I don’t have a preference, Katy calls me Shaun because that’s how I introduced myself, but technically my birth name is Shang-Chi.” He explained.
“Birth name…? Oh,” He hummed, “Do people give you trouble because of pronunciation? My classmate Xiuying has that problem whenever we have a substitute, so she always just says her name is Sue.”
“Oh! I have an answer for this one!” Katy cheered, pausing to take a sip of her milkshake before continuing. “So, Shaun was actually like a trained assassin when he was a kid, but he ran away when he was like fourteen, and got a whole new identity. So, instead of going by Shang-Chi, he went by Shaun instead.” She animatedly explained, ignoring Shang-Chi’s frantic cutting motions.
Peter blinked. “An assassin?”
Shang-Chi inhaled, “Peter, I know that may sound dangerous, but I can promise you I’m not going to hurt you in any way-”.
He was interrupted by Peter’s excited gasp. “So do you have a superhero name too, like Black Widow and Hawkeye?! Oh my gosh, you have so many names that is so cool.”
Katy hopped aboard the train of conversation, ignoring Shang-Chi’s confused look. “Shaun, you should totally get a superhero name that would be awesome. It needs to be cool! What about SIlver Dagger?”
He glanced at her. “Okay, one, Silver Dagger is an awful name, most daggers are silver, so why would the silver part even be necessary? Secondly, I’m not even a superhero, it’s not like I have magic powers.” He emphasized the end of his sentence with dramatic circular motions, reminiscent of the magic they had seen Wong use on occasion.
“Alright, superpowers ? No. You do, however, have magic jewelry that helps you fly and shoot energy beams and stuff.”
“You have what,” Peter stared in awe.
Noticing the looks their table was starting to gather, Shang-Chi was quick to shut it down.
“‘ Magic jewelry ’ is offensive on so many levels I don’t even know where to start, but also keep your voice down Katy. I already get looks from being ‘Bus Boy’, I do not need more attention on top of that.”
“Oh my god right, I can't believe I almost forgot about that! My friend Ned made an edit of you to a Britney Spears song!”
Ignoring Shang-Chi’s mildly horrified face, Katy immediately pulled out her phone. “On what? Twitter, or Tiktok? I need this in my life, Petey.”
Waving over their waiter as quickly as he could without being rude, Shang-Chi simultaneously tried to reach for Katy’s phone. “Katy, no, absolutely not, I refu- Oh, yes, thank you, could we get the check, please?” He begged the waiter, whose face looked mildly awed, as well as confused as he looked at Shang-Chi. Whether it was because of his internet fame, or because of the impressively aggressive bullets of sweat streaking down his face, he wasn’t sure.
“Yes, of course, right away.” The waiter nodded, and turned quickly, to avoid being a witness to anything happening at their table. Whilst he was distracted, however, Katy had already obtained not one, but several edits through various platforms.
“Hey Shaun, look! This one is to Toxic… huh, it’s surprisingly good…” She pursed her lips thoughtfully.
“ Katy Chen, are you watching thirst traps of me in front of a teenager?” He hissed, ignoring Peter’s offended look as the boy finished his chocolate milk.
“Hey! Don’t say it like that, besides, this edit was made by a teenager! A very popular one, too. NumberOne_BusSeat has like…56 thousand followers.” Her face blanked before she started laughing. “ Oh, the username is that because they want you to sit on th-” .
Katy was silenced by the ring that flew out from Shang-Chi’s arm to hit her in the shoulder, similar to a remote control frisbee. “ Hey!” She protested.
“It’s really okay!” Peter rushed to assure them, “I mean, I’ve even watched a couple of me, which is weird, but also like…super cool.”
Both Katy and Shang-Chi’s faces contorted in outrage. “Of you? Peter you’re a minor that’s not okay! Have you reported them? You could even sue them for it. My sister has a great lawyer,” Shang-Chi offered. “Or if you don’t want a lawyer, we could send Shaun out like an angry hitman.” Katy piped in, ignoring Shang-Chi’s exasperated look.” Hah, you didn't deny it!”
Peter rubbed his neck bashfully. “Well, no, but they don’t know I’m a minor. Secret identity and stuff, right?” Shang-Chi frowned. “I guess, but still , that’s a huge violation of privacy, Peter.”
Katy snorted, “Ok, Dad.” , and Peter’s giggles drowned out the embarrassed sputtering coming from Shang-Chi.
“Miss. Chen, does that make you my mom?” Peter asked teasingly, and Katy grinned. “I feel like I’m more of an irresponsible aunt, Petey. Trust me, I am not mother material. Also, just Katy, please.” She responded, and Peter gasped excitedly.
“You should meet my actual aunt! God, May is amazing, you’d love her.” He smiled wistfully for a moment, before blanching. “Oh no, she doesn’t know where I am! She probably thinks I’m dead in a ditch somewhere.” He panicked, before a small tinny voice piped up from the bag that he’d borrowed from Katy to put his suit in.
“ May Parker has been made aware of your status with the following message. ‘Hello, May Parker. Spiderman is not in mortal danger. He is currently in San Francisco, with two persons you are not familiar with.” Karen finished, and all three of them stared at the bag with horrified faces. “That literally could not be phrased worse,” Katy said.
Peter licked his lips, “Yeah, I should...I should really get back to her.” He whispered.
“Why aren’t you talking to your parents about this? Like I’m all for close familial relationships and stuff, but shouldn’t your mom be worried?” Shang-Chi questioned.
Peter looked down, seemingly awkward. “Oh, uh, I live with my aunt actually. My parents are uh- well, you know,” He finished with a little shrug. Shang-Chi’s eyes widened. “I- Gee, uhm, I’m so sorry Pete, I didn’t mean to bring that up.” He spoke sincerely, hoping his apology got across to the boy.
Peter looked up. “Oh no, it’s okay! Besides, it was a while ago, and like I said, May is fantastic.” He reassured the man.
Shang-Chi gave a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re doing well, and hey,” He paused, reaching up a hand to rest it on the boy’s shoulder. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent, so if you ever need to talk to anyone, I’m here.”
“I’m here too!” Katy smiled, leaning in to ruffle Peter’s hair. “-And, so is your aunt, so let’s get to solving that problem. First of all, is she expecting you to be in SanFran…or?” She left the question open-ended, and Peter sighed, with an air of gratitude. “Thankfully, yeah. I went on a class trip with my mathlete’s team for the weekend, so she won’t be too surprised.”
Katy tried to hide a laugh. “Mathletes?” She questioned, and Peter blushed.
“Oh please, Katy, you were on the mathletes team too, remember? I think there’s a picture on my phone somewhere of you in your uniform with that lovely headgear…” He trailed off, and although Katy reached out an arm to swipe at him, Peter laughed, so Shang-Chi counted it as a win.
He sat at the table, watching Katy and Peter stand up, shucking on their sweaters, both of which were actually Shang-Chi’s, just borrowed, and he sat with his thoughts for a moment. Katy was obviously joking when she called him a dad, and he wouldn’t want to intrude on any feelings Peter hadn't worked through regarding his own father, not to mention Shang-Chi was far too young to be a dad, but…
“Petey! You used this like…weird web stuff last night, right? How strong are they, and can I swing on them? ”
It wouldn’t hurt if Shang-Chi was at least there for Peter, right? A…mentor maybe? Or , he thought, as Peter gave Katy a piggyback ride out of the diner, ignorant of the stares, even just a friend.