"I totally had him, by the way," Mirko said, tapping her foot as Peter dragged the webbed-up criminals out onto the street.
"I bet you did! But if it makes you feel better, I'll refrain from knocking out people about to shoot you in the future." He laughed, rolling his shoulder as he faintly picked up the sound of sirens approaching.
Huh, guess someone called the cops! Saved them the trouble of doing it!
But still, normally he wouldn't be here by this point but Mirko said something about having to give the cops a report or something like that.
Pretty sure then came a ton of paperwork but that'd be for later.
"Don't get all cocky cause you knocked out some asshole with a gun! Wouldn't have sent you an offer if I knew you'd be a prick." She mumbled that last part, making Peter chuckle and roll his eyes behind his lenses.
"Whatever you say, dude."
Turning back to the store, he could see the old woman behind the counter let out a small sigh as she inspected the damage. Glass shards everywhere, and most of the things on the shelves were knocked to the ground.
A small bit of guilt shot through his heart at seeing her pull out a broom.
Can't have that!
"Hey, let me know when the cops come to get these guys," Peter asked Mirko, making the woman raise an eyebrow at him. "Gonna help the lady running the store clean up a bit. Gotta keep my friendly neighborhood motif going, you know?"
Walking into the store again, Peter waved at the woman and gave her an apologetic smile behind the mask.
"Hey! Sorry for kinda getting your place trashed like this, ma'am. Do you mind if I help clean up while the cops get here?" He asked, leaning over the counter at the surprised woman.
Did… Did heroes really not offer to clean up after stuff like this?
"Oh! Uh, you… really don't have to! Making sure I wasn't robbed is already enough!" She waved him off, stepping out from behind the counter and beginning to sweep the shards of glass.
"Seriously, it's the least I can do for getting your place to look like this." Peter protested, already in the process of putting the things on the ground back on the shelf.
That's what Peter did for what felt like less than ten or so minutes, simply helping the old lady tidy up the store while putting everything back where it once was.
Still, couldn't really do anything about the broken window.
Maybe they should've gone through the door? Would've been less cool, though.
As Peter put a few cans back onto a shelf, he smiled at seeing the store back in a more ordered state.
"Uh, is that it? I don't know if y-" Before Peter could finish asking if she needed anything else, he felt the old lady give him a big hug.
Aww! That was so nice!
"Thank you, young man! You are that Spider-Boy, correct? The one that's going to UA?" She asked, pulling back and pointing to the spider on his chest.
"Spider- Man, and yeah! Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I'm actually on my UA internship with Bugs Bunny over there." He laughed, quickly motioning with his head out of the store and at Mirko, who was talking to some cops.
Huh, the cops already got here? Guess he lost track of time.
"Oh, sorry! Spider- Man, got it! Oh, I knew you weren't a menace!" She gave him one more hug before thanking him again.
You know, he missed that part of being Spider-Man.
Even if it didn't happen often, he missed when people thanked him for helping out.
It just… those were the moments that reminded him to keep doing this whole Spider-Man thing.
Back out on the street, Mirko showed the webbed-up criminals to the police before turning back to the store.
"Oi, brat! C'mon, we gotta get going!" She called, making Peter perk up where he was standing.
Oh, right! They still had more patrolling to do, huh?
Giving a small smile to the woman in the store, Peter jogged out onto the street and stood next to Mirko.
"Uh, the webbing doesn't dissolve in 2 hours! So… just like, throw them a cell or something." Peter shrugged, one of the cops began dragging the criminals away.
Wait, did they even have enough space for the four of them in a car?
"Thanks again for the help, Mirko." An officer smiled, tipping his hat at the woman, completely ignoring Peter before walking off and giving him a weird look.
Aw, what! He basically did half the work! C'mon, man! How come Mirko gets thanked by the cops and he doesn't?
Sighing, Peter looked to see Mirko already hopping away onto a rooftop before he shot a web at a nearby building.
At least the old lady thanked him, though. Guess that was all he could ask for.
With that thought, Peter pulled himself off of the ground and into the air before swinging after Mirko, going deeper into the city.
...
Swinging through the air, his lenses landed on a masked woman frantically running through the streets with several purses in hand.
"Hey! I bet you don't have a receipt for those!" He quipped, seeing the woman try to run away faster.
Landing on a lamppost, he launched off after the woman before shooting a web that stuck to her ankle and yanking on it.
As she fell onto the pavement, Peter couldn't help but wince at the impact as the purses hit the ground around her.
Yikes, maybe he shouldn't have tripped her!
With a small flip, Peter landed on the ground just as Mirko dropped from whatever rooftop she was running on.
"Damnit, I was gonna get her." She scoffed, Peter rolled his eyes as he picked up the purses from the ground.
Were they seriously gonna compete for who could catch the most criminals?
"Man, I'll let you get the next one! Didn't you already beat up those carjackers like 10 minutes ago?" He asked, already walking down the street and noticing a few women jogging at him to get their purses back.
Oh, they were still nearby! Sweet! He really didn't want to leave them at a store, you know? Last time he did that he had to get them back a second time.
Most of the people that came up to him for their purses ripped them out of his hands before walking away, the only one that seemed even remotely thankful was some invisible lady.
At least he thinks she was thankful, he wasn't too sure given how she was invisible but he felt like she was smiling.
Well, he hopes she was thankful. Most people he's helped today just thanked Mirko and gave him a dirty look before walking away.
Or straight-up called him a criminal before leaving.
Which hurt.
"Damn, I kinda forgot a lot of people don't like you." Mirko chuckled, Peter groaning as he reloaded his web-shooters. "Anyway, wanna grab a bite? That food truck over there looks good."
Looking over to the other side of the street, Peter's eyes landed on a random food truck that was advertising the best hotdogs in Hosu.
Eh, why not? Peter could appreciate some American food.
Been a while since he found a place that made stuff he could get in New York, anyway.
As Mirko ordered their food, Peter couldn't help but notice how everyone looked at her with admiration as they walked by. It wasn't like how people looked at All Might or Captain America, but it was still noticeable.
It was as if when she was around… they felt safer, you know? As if her sheer presence calmed them down no matter what.
Deep down… Peter wanted that. Having everyone know he was helping and smile when they saw him swinging by.
Still, that thought made him feel a bit selfish. Spider-Man wasn't about getting recognition! Being Spider-Man was about responsibility and doing the right thing!
Even if people didn't like him, he helped! Because that's what he did, that was the whole point! To help people no matter what!
But… was it selfish of him to want what Mirko had? That level of respect and love that people showed when she was around?
Mirko didn't get called a menace when she hopped by, and people didn't look at her as if she was a criminal when she caught some mugger.
They looked at her like a hero, because that's what she was! Someone fighting the good fight and doing the right thing cause it's right.
But Peter also did that, and a lot of people still hated him.
He knew there were people out there who liked him, of course he knew that. It became a lot more apparent during the fallout from his fight with Endeavour.
But it was obvious after a while that most of the people supporting him during that time just did it because they didn't like Endeavour.
Which really sucked, all things considered. By now, all that support was long gone now that the fight wasn't as recent anymore.
Next to him, Mirko grabbed two hot dogs from the man running the truck and handed one to him, quickly motioning to follow as she hopped up to a rooftop while waving at people below.
No matter what Peter wanted to think… The fact that a lot of people didn't like Spider-Man got to him. It wasn't enough to make him quit, but still.
It hurt, you know? It hurt a lot.
It made him think that maybe he wasn't doing things right.
Shooting a web, Peter launched up into the air and landed on the tall ledge that she was sitting on, quickly sitting down and sighing.
"You know, you haven't been that bad so far! Kinda expected you to be a bit more incompetent." She handed him a hotdog and patted him on the back, Peter pulling up his mask up to his nose.
"Uh… thanks? I think that was a compliment." He shrugged, looking down below and seeing a cop put the purse snatcher in cuffs and drag her away.
Man, he had kinda forgotten about leaving her on the ground for a minute.
...
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