//------------------------------// // Around the dinner table // Story: The Amazing Spider-Man: Wrath of the Night // by Themagicspoderman //------------------------------// Peter closed the door to the convertible he had been driven home in before looking back into the car. "Thanks for the lift Your Majesty" Peter said to Cadence. "No problem Peter, and please, call me Cadence" the pink alicorn said with a smile. "Alright, Cadence it is then" Peter nodded "See you tomorrow Twilight" "Sure, you too Pete" Twilight said. Peter waved goodbye as he walked up the steps to his door and entering his house as Twilight and Cadence pulled into the driveway next door. "Aunt May, I'm home!" Peter called out as he kicked off his shoes next to the door. "I'm in the kitchen" May called back. Peter walked through into the kitchen to see his aunt sitting at the table with two unicorns around her age. The first was a woman with purple and white hair who had a striking resemblance to Twilight and the second was an all blue unicorn wearing a regular business suit. "Oh, hi" Peter said, bringing his hand up in a quick wave. "Star, Orion, this is my nephew Peter" May said as she gestured to Peter. Peter walked over and shook hands with the two of them and introduced himself. When he shook hands with Star she seemed to notice the bruising on his knuckles. "Your hands are bruised" she said. "You haven't been fighting have you Peter?" May asked. "I didn't start it if that's what you're trying to say" Peter said, holding his hands up in defense. "I never said it was" May sighed "How many was it this time?" "Four or five I think" Peter estimated. "How old were they?" May continued. "Early twenties at the least" Peter answered "They weren't really much of a problem" "Don't start talking like this isn't a problem" May scolded "I thought you said you were going to be on your best behavior at school now?" "I was" Peter insisted "This happened outside of school" "Don't get smart Peter" May said, trying to be serious but being unable to keep a small smile off her face. "Sorry" Peter chuckled "I'm a loudmouth" "If you don't mind me asking Peter" Orion said "Did you meet our daughter at school today?" "Twilight?" Peter asked "Yeah, she's pretty cool" "Pretty cool Peter?" May interjected as she opened the fridge "Is she cool like Gwen was?" "I do not have a crush on her" Peter snapped "If we're going to start this again I'm just going to go upstairs" "Go ahead, you're boring me anyway" May said with a chuckle. "Come one Aunt May, the edgy attitude just doesn't suit you" Peter sighed "You're too kind a person" "You're too sweet Peter" May laughed. "I know, I'll talk to you later Aunt May" Peter smirked before looking at Twilight's parents "It was nice to meet you" "You too Peter" Star said with a smile. Peter nodded and left the kitchen, turning right and bounding up the stairs before diving into his room, closing the door with a flick of his foot. He threw his bag onto his bed and took off his jacket, hanging it on the hooks attached to his wardrobe before he lay down on his bed with his hands behind his head. "Well... I think it's time for a nap" Peter said, feeling extremely tired all of a sudden. He stared at the ceiling for a long moment before he closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep. Peter woke up when he heard a knock at his door. "Mmmph!?" he grunted as he opened his eyes. The door swung open and his aunt stuck her head in. "I'm going over to Star's house for dinner with her family in a few minutes, do you want to come?" she asked. "What time is it?" Peter asked, rolling over and looking at his clock "Nearly nine o'clock... yeah, I'll come with you" "Good, I'll meet you there" May said as she exited the room and closed the door. Peter pushed himself off his bed and back onto his feet, stretching his arms above his head with the movement making his joints pop. He looked in the mirror on his desk and ran his fingers through his quiff to get it back to it's usual shape and volume before clicking his tongue and winking at his reflection. He grabbed his jacket and pulled it back on before sorting out the hood of his hoodie to sit properly on his back before poking his thumbs through the holes in his cuffs. He opened his bedroom door and thudded down the stairs. He stuck his shoes on and lazily tied the laces before heading out of the house and over to Twilight's. The sun had begun to set and was now low over the horizon, giving the streets a golden glow. He knocked on the front door of the house and waited a few seconds before it swung open. "Hey Peter" Cadence said with a smile "We're all in the dining room and everything's just about set up for dinner, come on in" "Thanks" Peter said as he walked in, kicking his shoes off at the doorway and placing them against the wall. "Good to see you're well trained" Cadence chuckled. "Yeah my Aunt May used to go crazy when I wore my shoes in the house" Peter nodded. The two of them walked through to the dining room where the family was sitting. Peter smiled at Twilight as she pushed a seat out next to her. "Peter can you help Cadence with the food?" May asked as Cadence struggled with the plates. "No, no I'm alright thanks" Cadence said. Peter walked over to her but just as she went to protest again her foot struck the edge of the kitchen unit and she tripped forwards, dropping the plates. Peter's enhanced reflexes quickly sprung into action as he ducked forward, grabbing Cadence by the waist as she fell before pivoting around her and lashing out with his hand. His fingers caught the edge of one of the plates and with a flick of the tips he made the plate jump forward so he was holding the center. Once he had a grip on the plate he moved his hand underneath each of the plates as they fell. A loud clink sounded as each plate landed on top of each other before Peter stood up straight with a stack of seven plates on his fingertips and Cadence resting in his other arm. "Wow Pete" Cadence said with an amazed chuckle "You're full of surprises" Peter released Cadence and smiled gratefully. "I try" he shrugged. He walked around the table and gave the plates out to those sat around the dinner table before sitting down next to Twilight and handing her the plate with her food on it. The meal was a delicious looking, albeit slightly squashed, roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings, steamed carrots, peas, broccoli and great smelling beef all nearly drowned in warm gravy with a side of mashed potatoes. "Thanks Peter" Twilight said as they all started to eat. "So Twilight, is Peter your boyfriend or something?" Shining asked from across the table. "No, he's not" Twilight snapped. Shining chuckled to himself as he fed himself a slice of the beef mixed with mashed potato and peas. "So where are you from Peter?" Shining asked once he had finished his mouthful. "I've just moved from Manehattan a few days ago" Peter answered. "I trained there a few years ago with a guy called George Stacey, you know him?" Shining asked. "Yeah, I was dating his daughter for a while" Peter nodded as he cut himself a slice from the beef. "Gwen wasn't it?" Shining asked. "Yeah" Peter answered. "How was she when her father was killed?" Shining asked. "She... uh, she didn't take it too well" Peter said with a guilty tone, remembering his part in Stacey's death and the guilt he had felt after watching him die. "But you were there to comfort her weren't you?" Cadence asked "No one should have to go through something like that on their own" "I tried to but... she didn't really want to talk to me that much in the first few weeks" Peter shrugged. "Why?" Shining asked, taking a drink of water from his glass to wash down the food. "Shining, don't pressure him" Orion scolded "It might be something he doesn't want to talk about" "Right, sorry Peter" Shining said. "No problem" Peter said, putting a layer of mint sauce on his beef before eating another piece of it. "Did you get up to anything interesting at school today?" Shining asked Peter and Twilight. "Well Peter got into a fight" Twilight said. "Nice, did you win?" Shining chuckled. "Don't encourage him" Star said sternly. "Yeah, Peter absolutely demolished them" Cadence nodded "Snapped one of the guy's arms at the elbow and I think he might've broke one of their spines" "Peter!" May snapped "You never told me you went that far!" "What?" Peter asked with a calm demeanor "They attacked me first" "That doesn't give you the right to hospitalize them" May said with an angry growl "You're not some rouge vigilante" When Peter smirked slightly at the comment, finding it ironic how clueless his aunt really was, but one thing he didn't notice was that Twilight caught the grin but didn't say anything about it. "I know, I know" Peter said. "I'm serious Peter, you could get arrested for doing something like that" May continued. "Not really, as long as it was in self defense he hasn't done anything illegal" Shining said past a mouthful of beef and mashed potato "How many hits did they land?" "None" Cadence said "But they were the ones who swung for Peter first" "Give me their names, I'll book them in for aggravated assault" Shining chuckled. "Shining, don't get involved" Orion cautioned. "Dad, I'm a police officer remember?" Shining asked with a grin "It's my job to get involved" After that the conversation faded away as they all focused on finishing their food. After they were all finished eating Twilight and Peter began to clean up the table and load the dishwasher with the plates and cutlery when Orion turned the TV on where a newscast was playing. "And this is the seventeenth night in a row we've had a complete full moon this year and ones that are brighter than normal" the news anchor read "Experts are still trying to figure out the cause of this anomaly but preliminary investigations may point to it being down to an increase in light from several other stars reflecting off our moon, this is Hound news at nine thirty" "Huh, I didn't know we were that desperate for news stories these days" Shining sighed as he sat down on the couch. The group sat and conversed for a long time until May decided that it was time for Peter to go to bed because he still had school in the morning. After Peter had said goodbye to everyone Twilight offered to show him out and as they were at the door Twilight asked Peter a question. "Peter, Princess Celestia invited my family to a fundraiser ball this weekend at the Canterlot Royal Hall and I was wondering if... if you wanted to be my date?" Twilight asked with an awkward expression. "Uh, sure" Peter nodded "I'd love to" "Really?" Twilight asked with a wide smile "Thanks Pete" "No problem, so, Saturday evening I'm guessing?" Peter asked. "Yeah, you can meet me here at ten that night" Twilight confirmed. "I'll see you then" Peter nodded as he walked down the steps on the porch and back over to his house. Once he was back inside his own house he rested against the door and sighed loudly. "Yeah, totally not another Gwen" he sighed as he headed up the stairs "Way to consider her Petey"