CHAPTER FOUR
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It hasn't been longer than a week since Mae started living with Gwen for the following month, and it went by fruitfully. Mae slowly got used with her temporary new 'family' but she can't deny that they are good company. In a family like the Stacy's which is a joint one-- it's hard to ever get bored. Gwen's parents, her three brothers and Gwen herself have proved to become Mae's greatest source of entertainment and she simply couldn't get enough of them. Back at home, Mae had always felt a little lonely, with her family being busy at almost all times. And especially since Sarah has been busy with her training at S.H.I.E.L.D, and she doesn't think she has laughed like this in ages. 

    "So all you have to do is be hygienic." Simon Stacy, Gwen's younger brother implored. "I see nothing wrong with that." 

    He did have a point, if only Mae thought that way. "There really isn't. Except that everything is wrong." She replies, raising her shoulders. She watches as Simon creases his ashy blond eyebrows in confusion. "That doesn't make sense!" He ridiculed, looking at Mae like she said something stupid. 

    Mae leans forward, ruffling his golden hair. He groans in protest, trying to shove away her hand but it only makes her do it more. "It is what it is." Mae preaches, confusing the eleven year old again. She sighs, reaching out her hand for the bowl of popcorn on the table in front. Seems like all of Gwen's brothers and Mae are huge fans of the Star Wars franchise as A New Hope plays on the television screen. Howard and Philip Stacy are way too invested in it, as they watch the movie with their jaws drop, whereas Simon is still inclined to learn more about Mae's CVID. He is the only other member in the Stacy family ( other than Gwen ) who has a keen interest-- hence, automatically becoming Mae's favourite.

   "Mae!" A familiar voice calls irritably. Mae turns around to find Gwen, her snow hair left loose. Her green eyes widen gladly when she spots her almost blonde friend chilling with her brothers. "I need to show you something." She reveals, slight urgency tainted in her soft voice. Mae whines in protest, eyeing the TV. This causes Gwen to raise her eyebrows in dissatisfaction. "Now, Evans."

    Judging by the demanding tone of her voice, Mae's it's something important. Frowning, she walks towards their shared bedroom where Gwen just left to. She closes the door behind her and finds Gwen sitting cross-legged on the bed, nibbling her nails as she looks intently into her laptop's screen. Mae positions herself curiously, squinting to get a better look of the screen.

   What she sees, or at least what she thinks she sees, is a person dressed in the strangest attire Mae ever saw. She is about to laugh at his terrible sense of fashion, but then catches the mask that covers his entire face. He wants it to be that way, she realises. The red and blue mask does manage to keep his identity safe but his skill-- Mae has never seen anything like it. The moment he swings his own body effortlessly when another man (a mugger, most likely) tries to attack him grabs her entire attention, and he's hanging. . . by a web? The more she watches the more intrigued she becomes. "Who is this?" Mae's jaw dropping when he uses his webs to swing from building to building. "Dunno." Gwen muffles with an equal awe in her eyes, her teeth still grinding her nails. "Is he even human?" Mae carries on, growing more and more curious. Gwen takes away her hands from her mouth, her chipped nails pointed at the masked man on the screen. "He has to be. But look at those webs!" She pauses the video and zooms into one of his wrists, where his webs appeared to come out of. "It's just producing by itself?" Mae uselessly ponders. Gwen scowls annoyingly. "No you dummy, look." She zooms into his wrists even more, and finally, Mae spots what Gwen already has. "It's man-made." She notes, her scientific driven side of her brain marveling at his genius mind. A small device is attached to his wrist, a device that produces the webs already contained in them when pressure is put on it. Consider Mae's mind blown.

   "That's-- that's so genius." Mae's sings in wonder, eyes wide as the video resumes and after sticking the mugger to the brick wall using his webs, he swings away from the camera and the video ends itself just like that. 

    "I know, right?" Gwen has an equal amount of wonder in her eyes.  "How did he even make those?"

    "What makes you so sure he made it?" Mae asks smartly, arms folded in thought. "Maybe he has a sidekick, a genius one at that?" Gwen teasingly raises her eyebrows at Mae's specious theory. Mae raises her hands in defense. "What? It could be possible. He couldn't have done all that by himself. . . right?"

    Gwen thoughtfully shrugs her shoulders, staring at the now empty screen. "It can be."

     "What is he supposed to be?" Mae further questions, her mind revolving around the masked man. What is he supposed to be doing? Stopping bad guys? But there are cops for that. 

      Gwen sighs, beaming so brightly. "He's called Spider-Man." Her wholesome voice echoes in Mae's brain. "Oh," She marvels once again, Spider-Man. "Makes sense, with his webs and everything."

     Gwen pouts in contemplation, biting her lips every-so-often. "Who do you think this is?" She asks, meeting Mae's eyes. "Any guesses?"

     Mae shakes her head, surprised by her questions. "You want me to guess? Do I have to remind you that we are in New York?" Gwen doesn't seem to bother of her complaints, only ponders even more. "What if he's from Midtown High?"oc    Mae wilts her eyebrows, utterly bemused by Gwen's obliviousness. "Do you honestly believe that?"

   Gwen ignores her again, divulging into her own imaginations. "I think it might be Flash. . ." She turned to meet Mae's face, still thinking. "Might." She later exaggerates on seeing Mae's amused expression. Mae chuckles. "Flash Thompson? I think that would definitely be a possibility," Mae humours Gwen, ". . . if he knew the littlest thing about creating web-like cartridges."

   The golden haired girl turns her mouth into an oh in realisation. She thinks some more before passing Mae a look of satisfaction, coming up with a new theory. "Maybe he has a sidekick like you suggested?"

   Mae arches her eyebrows, shifting her sandy hair behind her ears. "It might be possible. Might." She imitates Gwen, hugging her knees on Gwen's soft mattress. "There is a genius behind every hero. . . or so I've heard."

  Gwen rolls her azure eyes, shutting the laptop with a click sound. "Hero?" She scoffs, tying her hair into her usual high ponytail. "I would hardly call him that." She concludes and just after tightening her hairstyle, widening her eyes uncommonly. She slowly turns to Mae (who has her eyebrows raised questioningly), her mouth hangs open to. "Mae. . ." She murmurs, sounding so faraway. In pretentious shock, Gwen whispers. ". . . what if it's Peter?"

  Mae angrily throws a pillow at her. Gwen scowls back. From the background, the boys are screaming like barbarians and Mae is sure that they have come to the scene where Darth Vader kills Obi-Wan Kenobi. Well. . . she did warn them.

  "What was that for?" Gwen vengefully throws back the pillow at her, which Mae manages to hold feasibly. Mae hugs the pillow closer to her, arching an eyebrow with a teasing shimmer in her eyes. "I almost believed you," She says, "until you mentioned Peter."

   Gwen gives her a look. "And why do you care suddenly?"

   Mae unexpectedly finds herself blushing. She hides her bronze locks behind her ears. "What do you mean why? We are friends, remember? Just like you guys are"

  Gwen chuckles, pulling the sleeves of her sweater so they are covering half her palms. "Friends." She repeats, bringing a bit too much exaggeration to her tone. Mae raises her eyebrows questioningly again. 

  "So friends allow each other to wander around a a multibillion-dollar multinational corporation without legal entry." She smirks slyly, content with the redness that fills Mae's face. "Interesting. . ."

  "You saw that?" Mae exhales awkwardly, hiding her face in her palms. This causes Gwen to chuckle once more, yanking Mae's hand away from her face forcefully. "I did. You were very subtle though, I'll give you that. Too bad I have eyes of a hawk."

   Mae throws the pillow again at Gwen, giggling uncontrollably herself while her face turns ten shades of red. "You should've told me!" She protests. 

   Gwen frowns, chewing her lips nervously. "I was going to. But then Peter's uncle died so the timing wasn't right."

   Silence follows between the two, the only sound now is of the Star Wars movie Gwen's brothers are watching in the background.

   "How is he?" Mae softly whispers, heart throbbing at the memory of his broken face. Gwen shrugs her shoulders. "Fine, I guess." She admits, lips pouting sadly. "I haven't spoken to him properly since then."

    "Me neither." Mae sighs when suddenly her face lifts with delight. "Why don't we call him home or something?" She suggests, smiling in anticipation. 

     Gwen's face brightens as well, bobbing her head gladly. "That's actually not bad." She picks up the calendar from her desk, scanning it intently. "It's Wednesday today, we can call him for today on Friday?" She looks up at Mae for confirmation and the latter nods gleefully.

   "Let's do it."

     She doesn't know that the dinner isn't the only thing that will happen Friday night.

A/N:

this was a filler chapter, so there isn't much to say about this. and for the star wars references...i couldn't help myself oops, 

let me know what you think!