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“And here’s Mayday trying on her first pair of shoes! Isn’t she adorable, Miles?”
“Yep, she’s adorable,” Miles replies, genuinely meaning it—she’s cute!—but this picture of Mayday looks exactly like the other ten pictures of Mayday, and he’s starting to run out of compliments. Although it’s almost like Peter just wants to show her. “Very cute, Peter.”
“I know! You gotta check this one, this is the first time I got her a little Spider-Man t-shirt—she’s so cute!”
“This is what you were excited about,” Gwen tells him, which largely goes ignored by Peter. He’s too into it. “This is what you wanted to join, Miles. Just him talking about his daughter.”
“This is when she started to use her baby bottle. I was worried ‘cause you can breastfeed babies until they’re one year old or so, but—”
“Esto es lo que él hace,” Miguel says, not even looking up from his screen. “Todo el día. Todo. El. Día. Es mejor no darle cuerda porque nunca va a parar.”
Miles looks up, shocked. Oh! They’re bonding over Spanish again! Miles racks his brain for all the Spanish he has. He raises one finger. “No… no está… ¿mal? Me gustan los bebés.”
“This is her party for her first month. Mary Jane and I got matching Spidey onesies so we could take this picture, and guess what—”
“Tuvo que pagar el doble porque nadie creía que era Spider-Man,” Miguel rolls his eyes. It sounds like he’s heard this story a bazillion times—which, judging by his reaction, he’s been through this before.
“I had to pay double for these suits. No Spider-Man discount! I even tried to prove to the owner that my costume was the real deal, but no luck.”
“Why didn’t you just take the pictures with your Spider-Man suits?” Miles finally asks him. “I mean, you must have spare costumes?”
“Esperas mucho de él, chico. Peter es un idiota.”
“Hey! I recognized that last word!” Peter glares at him. “If you must know, Miles, I didn’t because all my suits are uncomfortable and I would never put Mary Jane through that.”
“Right,” Miles says, as Miguel shakes his head again. It’s a little amusing. “You guys all look cute.”
“Thank you!”
“Deja de darle cuerda,” Miguel says again, gesturing at the screens. “Tenemos trabajo. Tenemos un universo por salvar, pero Don Papá no va a parar de hablar de Mayday a menos que le digas que pare. Dile que pare.”
“Pero me voy a sentir mal,” Miles complains. “Bebé… ¿tierna?”
“Nadie dice que no es tierna,” Miguel looks offended. “¿Acaso dije que no es tierna?”
“N—no, señor, you didn't—I mean, no, I—” Miles blanks a little. “I skipped some Spanish lessons.”
“Miguel, relax,” Peter puts a hand on his shoulder. “We got all the time in the world! Just this last week we—”
“We don't have all the time in the world. We don't! You're the only one who ever says that!”
“I've been Spider-Man faar longer than you, pal, I know a thing or two about timing things just right. Anyway, Miles, don't ever be fooled by him. He's a softie. All those fangs are just an act.”
“Fangs?”
“Don't worry, it's a whole thing. We don't really talk about it, it's fine,” Gwen waves her hand, which is not comforting, like at all.
“He looooves Mayday.”
“Es tierna,” Miguel agrees with the most serious expression. Peter slaps his chest playfully.
“Sure. Whatever he said sounded so grumpy, but he loves her. I mean, who doesn't? She's a little bundle of joy. I mean, all parents must think their kid is the best, but mine is. Tell him, Miguel.”
Miguel pinches the bridge of his nose. He sighs. “Usualmente soy el que saca todas esas fotos que acabas de ver.”
Miles' eyebrows raise up. “Really? You?” And then so as to not break the sanctity of Spanish-speaking, he searches his brain for something else: “Lindas fotos.”
“Mayday is a lot more reasonable than her father,” Miguel concludes. Peter doesn't even look offended; he nods in total agreement. And then, as if he didn't want to admit it himself: “Me recuerda a mi hija. Creo que se hubieran llevado bien.”
Miles softens a little. Loss always humanizes people. Suddenly, it's like he doesn't tower over Miles and everyone else—suddenly, Miles can sympathize with that grief.
He thinks back of the right expression again.
“Lamento tu pérdida,” Miles says sincerely. Miguel nods. He beats up his brain for another small heartfelt Spanish sentence. “Mis… ¿pésames?”
Finally, a twitch of a smile. Miles counts it as a win.
“You guys better be talking about how cute she is. Has everyone seen this video where she just learned how to crawl? She's so adorable.”
“Dios mío, este tipo me da vergüenza ajena. Siempre interrumpiendo en momentos importantes. ¡Nunca aprende!” Miguel complains, but for some reason, his voice loses the angry edge it always has. Miles laughs a little. And then Miguel finally relents, probably realizing this mission will go absolutely nowhere: “Show him the one where Mayday has Spidey diapers.”
“You're a genius and I love you,” Peter says excitedly, dropping his hand from his shoulder and manically scrolling through his phone. Miles is once again next to Peter as he brings up a billion photos. “This one was crazy, Miles. Look how adorable she is. And the diapers were so cute! But then it all went to hell anyway. Turns out the material wasn't actually all that safe for kids. Huge lawsuit happened, blah blah blah, I had to apologize for endorsing Spidey-diapers, got canceled on Twitter even though I'm forty—”
“Me too! But like, over baby powder.”
“I liked some of the tweets canceling Peter,” Gwen says, grinning.
“They canceled you? You're an angel! Not like Gwen here. Anyway, here's Mayday with her new diapers, but this time they're based on the Fantastic Four 'cause Reed developed a nice little formula—”
Miles stops listening, not sure whether he wants to know what a Fantastic Four is—but when he looks over his shoulder, Miguel is listening intently, hiding a smile.