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“Are sure you can do it?” Miles was practically pushing Peter into a portal.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure. Now go, be with your wife. I promise to call you if anything happens.” he put one hand to his chest and the other one up to his head. Peter just rolled his eyes and stepped into a circle, disappearing. Once he was gone Miles turned around at Mayday who was sitting on his bed.
“So, what’s our plan for tonight?” Today was Peter and Mary-Jane's anniversary and Miles volunteered on his own to look after their baby daughter so that the two of them would have a free evening. He had the whole flat to himself as his parents were visiting Rio’s old friend.
Miles took a bag with Mayday’s stuff Peter left. Inside there was some baby food, toys, crayones, books for little kids and diapers. Miles pulled out crayons and a plushie and showed them to a girl to let her choose what she wants to do. Little redhead pointed at the plushie.
“Alright.” he hid the crayons and pulled out the rest of the toys. Miles expected they were going to play a tea party or something similar but quickly the play turned into “Spider-Girl vs Sinister Six”. Except Mayday only had four plushies. Frightening four? Mayday would swing around while Miles puppetired toys, two of them reenacting a battle between a superhero and villains. It turned out a little girl was much more clever than he expected because after a while he got hit in the face with a web, lost his balance and fell on his bed. Mayday landed on his chest, laughing victoriously.
“Ahhh, you have defeated me!” He tried to sound as dramatic as possible which only made the little girl laugh louder. “Laughing at your enemy's misery. Not a good idea. It is easy to get distracted.” He grabbed her and started tickling her.
“Are you sure acting isn’t your true calling? I almost shed a tear.” Both a babysitter and the baby freeze upon hearing a new voice. Gwen was sitting on the windowsill.
“When? How? Why?” Miles was completely disoriented.
“About 2 minutes ago. I opened the portal outside. I called you and you weren’t picking up. You always pick up so I came to check on you, to see if you were alright." She answered all three of his questions. Miles only now noticed that his watch was ringing.
“You were worried about me?” He touched his chest theatrically. Mayday copied a gesture.
“Maybe.” Tease Gwen. “So, what is she doing here?”
“It’s Peter and MJ’s anniversary and my parents are out of town so I volunteered to babysit.”
“That’s nice.” Blond girl sat next to him on the bed.
“Why did you call?”
“My dad and I finished earlier today and I thought we could hang out, but I see you are busy.”
“Wanna help?” Apparently Mayday understood what Miles said because she started clapping and jumping.
“Of course. I thought you would never ask.” She picked up Mayday and raised her above her head. “Don’t worry Spider-Girl, Spider-Ghost came to the rescue!” She ran toward the doors. “Catch us if you can, villain!” she ran out.
“Get back here!” he screamed after them. Mayday was laughing, happier than ever, now that she had help in defeating her foe. After half an hour all three of them collapsed on the rug in the living room.
“I’m hungry. You?” asked Miles. Two girls nodded. “Okay.” He stood up and clapped his hands. “I’m going to order a pizza for us and you go check in the bag in my room what food Peter left for her.”
Peter left baby rice for Mayday. Miles helped her eat while he and Gwen debated which topping they should order.
“We could order three separate ones.” proposed Gwen after five minutes of listing pros and cons.
“The two of us won’t be able to eat all of that. That’s enough to feed four.” point out Miles. As if on the cue Gwen’s watch started beeping.
“Pav, what’s wrong?” She picked up the call. The issue with being a superhero with a bunch of superheroes friends is that when they are calling you, you can never tell if it’s an emergency or if they just want to hang out.
“Hobie was bored in his dimension so he came to mine looking for entertainment and now the two of us are bored.” The boy complained over the call. “What are you doing?”
“I’m in Miles’s dimension. We are babysitting Mayday.” explain Gwen.
“You two wanna come over?” Miles added himself to a conversation.
“To look after a little spiderling? Always.” Hobie’s voice came from the other side.
“Give us 5 minutes.” Pav hung off. Five minutes later a portal opened inside the kitchen and two boys came out of it.
“We are trying to decide which pizza to order.” inform Gwen to two new guests. They debated for a moment before settling on three different pizzas like Gwen suggested earlier. Miles called the pizzeria while the other four migrated back to the living room.
“Can we play a movie?” Hobie asked as soon as Miles hung off.
“Sure. Pizza should be in 20 minutes.” They returned to the living room. Pavitr was holding Mayday, making funny faces at her. She was laughing but as soon as she noticed that Hobie was back she jumped out of Pav’s hands and swung into Hobie’s.
“Traitor.” the boy fussed. Hobie just chuckled.
“It’s not my fault she likes me more.” This made Pavitr gasp out loud.
“You…”
“Okay.” Gwen stopped him from talking. “What are we watching?” They listed a couple of ideas, movies that all four of them would enjoy while also being suitable for a little one.
“How about Shrek?” suggested Hobie.
“You like Shrek?” asked Gwen.
“Of course. Who doesn't love a good love story that ends with a member of the royal class getting eaten by a dragon.”
“Of course.” Gwen whispered to herself. “Wait, I have an idea. Miles, where and how many blankets are here?”
While Miles looked for a movie, the rest of the gang gathered as many blankets and pillows they could find. They created a comfy nest in front of the TV. Pizza finally arrived. The five of them sat down on pillows and started watching the movie.
“Weird. Shrek has a Canadian accent in my dimension.” said Gwen after hearing the first line of dialog.
“Really?” Miles asked between bites. They continue eating and watching. They also gave Mayday corn puffs so she wouldn’t feel left out. After a while Miles brought out some paper and crayons so Mayday could doodle while watching. He himself started sketching, Pav also grabbed a sheet. Once a movie was done Miles and Gwen collected plates to take them to the dishwasher. Mayday crawled to Hobie to show him what she drew.
“Wow, now this is a work of an artist.” he let her sit on his laps and show each of her drawings. There were few inspired by the movie, other by a play a little girl acted out earlier with Miles and Gwen. “This is better than any of those mediocre drawings Miles has in his notebooks.”
“I heard that.” Just in that moment Miles and Gwen returned to the living room. “Actually, wait. You might have a point.”
“I do?” Hobie did not hide his shock.
“Yes. I mean look at this.” Miles picked up two drawings from the ground and sat next to Hobie. “I mean look at this. If we take age into consideration, Mayday draws slightly better than a typical toddler. We have a real artist in the making.” Pav looked over his shoulder.
“I drew that.” he pointed at one of the drawings. “You think my drawing style is slightly better than a typical toddler's.” Gwen had to cover her mouth to not burst with laughter.
“What, no, that’s not what I meant at all, I mean… Guy, little help.” Hobie and Gwen were too busy trying not to laugh to actually help. Second movie started playing itself on the TV.
“Do we have any plans or shall we watch the second part?” asked Gwen.
“You can bully me more. That sounds like a plan.” Pav crossed his arm and stared daggers at Miles. Hobie chuckled.
“Pause it. We need popcorn and chips.” He stood up and started walking toward the kitchen.
“Cupboard above the stove is where we keep snacks. Bowls are exactly below it.” Miles gave instruction.
“You can just show me.” Hobie looked at him confused.
“I can’t. Legally.” He pointed at Mayday who moved to his laps.
“Jeez. They only law you are not allowed to break no matter what. Even I wouldn't dare.” he grabbed Pavitr by the collar of his shirt. “Come on. You and Miles should not be in the same room and I’m going to need some help.” They left. After a while Miles and Gwen heard the sound of corn popping.
“A law Hobie wouldn’t dare to break. I have officially seen it all.” joked Gwen. Miles chuckled and continued making faces at Mayday. “You are really good at this. Taking care of her that is.”
“Thanks. She is so adorable. Not gonna lie, she makes me wonder what it would be like to have a little sibling. Can you imagine that?”
“ You as an older brother? I can see that. You would absolutely kill it.”
“And what about you? As a big sister?”
“Nah. There is no way. I mean I know I would be good at it, there were other Gwen Stacy that have siblings. But no. It’s always just me and my dad, I can’t imagine someone else as well.” She stopped for a moment. Technically there was someone else, but it was still painful to think about it sometimes. Mayday must have felt Gwen was feeling down because she crawled to blond girl’s laps and hugged her. Gwen smiled. “Besides, I don’t need siblings. I have her.” she returned a hug. “And Pav, he is a little sibling size.
“I’m not that short.” Two boys picked the worst moment to come back with snacks.
“Of course not.” Hobie handed Miles two bowls of popcorn and chips. “You are just a travel size.” He hugged Pavitr from behind, resting his chin on top of the smaller boy's head as if to add more salt to a wound.
“I hate you. I hate you all.” he crossed his arm and attempted to escape his best friend's grasp. Hobie only held him tighter and tackled both of them on the pile of pillows.
“Play the movie.” order Hobie after laying himself comfortably on the ground, Pav still in his grip. Miles pressed play and they started watching another movie. Well, most of them started, Pav was still fighting for his freedom. He gave up once Funky Town started playing, seeing as there was no use. He ended up resting on Hobie’s shoulder for the rest of the movie, Hobie’s arm still around him.
At some point Gwen put her head on Miles’s shoulder. He in return rested his head on top of her. They didn’t even notice when they started holding each other's hands. Pav however noticed.
“I told you they like each other.” He whispered. Mayday apparently also noticed because she crawled out of Gwen’s laps and joined Hobie and Pavitr in their cuddle pile, leaving to love birds semi-alone.
Second credits of that evening started rolling and a soft cover of I Need a Hero started playing.
“Well, now I legally cannot move.” Hobie pointed at Mayday, who fell asleep on his chest. Pav was also minutes away from falling into Morpheus’s arms.
“All those pillows around and they chose you.” joked Gwen.
“Very funny. You could actually put one of those pillows under my head. I’m afraid I won’t be able to move till morning.” Miles picked one of the pillows and completed the task. As soon as the pillow was placed Hobie grabbed Miles and forced him to rest on his other shoulder.
“You almost broke my neck!” Miles whisper-screamed. He did however not protest and just got himself comfortable. “Gwen get over here.”
The blonde girl thought for a moment, debating who was the best option for her. Finally she spooned around Miles, both her arm and leg around him.
“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.” Said Hobie. Four people were practically laying on top of him.
“You are Spider-Man. You have super strength.” Pav yawned.
“Super strength has its limits.” Hobie yawned as well. Gwen and Miles also yawned. Soon the four teenagers joined their small companion in dreamland, empty pizza boxes, almost empty bowls and pieces of papers covered in doodles all around them. At some point, either right before or right after they fell asleep, fingers of Gwen’s right arm and Miles’s left one intertwined. They forgot to turn off the TV and the third movie started playing. A good hour of the movie passed before a man stepped out of the portal in front of the apartment’s door.