As Peter stood among the sea of bundled-up New Yorkers, packed like a can of sardines along the barricades, he pulled his scarf up and wrapped it tighter around his cheeks to stop the morning air from nipping at them.
Even with the cold, the city buzzed with excitement and anticipation as New York City's annual Thanksgiving Day parade was underway. Giant balloons floated along the street, enormous cartoonized faces smiling down at the crowd while marching bands from every corner of the country blasted music that could be heard for blocks.
"Now this, this is tradition!" said Richard, clapping his gloved hands together. "You don't get more New York than this. I mean, just the pure craftsmanship behind rigging entire harnessing systems to keep the balloons from drifting off is just amazing."
"Ah, yes, nothing says Thanksgiving like looking at giant polyurethane balloons float by." Peter said, rubbing his gloved hands together to warm them up.
"Don't be such a turkey." said Teresa with a caramel apple in hand.
"I'm not a turkey. I'm freezing." he said before muttering. "What does being a turkey even mean?"
"You'll survive." Mary said as she sipped hot cocoa from a paper cup. "It's nice to have everyone together out here. Besides, your father's right. The parade is part of what makes this city so great."
Zatanna stood next to Teresa, wearing a stylish black coat with a blue knit hat pulled over her ears. She leaned slightly closer to Peter as she smiled. "I think it's kind of magical." she said. "All these people gathered just to watch giant balloons float by. It's like a spell over the whole city."
Peter looked at her, then away, pretending to focus on the balloons, but he couldn't help noticing her. He had always seen her as bubbly yet shy, the kind of girl who batted her eyelashes and fumbled her words whenever he talked to her. After all, she'd been a normal middle-school girl with a crush: loud giggles and nervous energy.
But she had slowly been changing over the past few months; it was as if putting everything out in the open had freed her from a cage. She carried herself with more confidence; less awkward, more assured. He could tell she still liked him, but she didn't need to hide it behind awkward stammering or over-the-top antics. Her change left him feeling strangely aware of her.
Peter didn't know what to do about it, and he was certainly in no rush to figure it out. She was still younger than him and in middle school, and he had no interest in making things weird. So he acted like he always had, friendly and joking.
Still, it was impossible not to notice. Even if he didn't feel anything like that yet, he could see the change in her, and it made him more aware.
"Yeah, a spell that makes everyone forget that they're practically freezing themselves to death." he said.
"Don't let the sourpuss fool you, Zee. He loves this stuff. He's just playing the Grinch because he's a little cold." said Teresa, elbowing him.
"That's okay, every Grinch needs a Cindy Lou Who to keep him honest." said Zatanna, laughing.
Peter glossed over her comment and muttered to himself. "I could so ruin the mood right now, but I won't because I know better."
While he wouldn't go so far as to call it PTSD, Peter had definitely picked up an aversion to the cold after his fight with Killer Frost. It's why he was so bundled up, and why he had insulated his suit; as much as he loved the city, swinging around New York in the dead of winter while wearing a thin spandex suit was not fun. Not fun at all.
"Ugh, again with that card." Teresa said, rolling her eyes. "You're not the only one to be almost killed by a superpowered criminal. There's a whole city a few hours from here where every person living there probably has a similar or worse story."
"Teresa, maybe don't bring up traumatic near-death experiences while we're trying to have a nice time full of holiday cheer." Richard said, looking disapprovingly at Teresa.
"I'm just saying Peter doesn't have the monopoly on dramatic close calls. Gotham has, like, a two-for-one deal on them every Monday." Teresa said, holding up her hands defensively.
"Enough bickering. Let's enjoy the parade like a normal family, please." said Mary with a tone of finality before turning to Zatanna. "Sorry, Zatanna."
"Not a problem, Mrs. Parker. I'm just happy you let me tag along on a family outing." Zatanna replied, smiling. "Besides, it's nice to see a different side to the ever-happy Peter Parker."
"I'm sure it is." Mary replied, smiling as she looked at Peter with a knowing look.
"Look, here comes Snoopy!" said Richard, drawing everyone's attention to the giant balloon.
The crowd cheered as the massive smiling Snoopy balloon drifted into view, and the band accompanying it played a jazzy tune. Peter was enjoying the balloon when he felt the faint tingling sensation at the base of his skull that he knew not to ignore.
Immediately, he was on alert. His eyes darted upward, searching the rooftops. When he saw nothing, he moved on, looking at the balloons, the bands, the crowd, until he saw something that made his spider-sense tingle.
A delivery van was parked awkwardly, half on the curb with its side doors open. Two men in matching parade staff vests slipped inside a jewelry store, but he noticed their movements were off. They didn't move with a casual stride like the other staff, but instead with urgency as if they were on a clock. And judging by how nervous and furtive they looked, and thanks to his spider-sense, he knew that was where the trouble was.
Peter looked back at his family. He noticed that they were all too focused on the Snoopy balloon to notice anything amiss, and he saw an opportunity to act.
"Gotta go to the bathroom. Be back soon." he said, leaving before anyone could question him.
Zatanna looked at him with an indiscernible look in her eyes as he slipped through the crowd, and Teresa smirked as she took a bite of her apple. "Bet you ten bucks he's chickening out from the cold."
"Or he really had to go." said Mary, taking a sip from her cocoa.
"I wouldn't go to a parade bathroom even if you paid me a million dollars." said Richard with a look of disgust. "I'd rather pee myself in front of everyone."
"I know, dear. I know." said Mary before sighing.
Meanwhile, Peter ducked into an alley bereft of people, and in record time, he had changed into his outfit.
A minute later, Peter was perched upside down on the jewelry store's awning. Inside the store, he could see the two thieves shoving handfuls of necklaces, watches, and anything else of value they could grab into duffel bags.
"Come on, hurry up! The alarm's only going to be down for a few more minutes! We're supposed to be in and out before anyone notices!" said one of the thieves.
"I know they say crime never sleeps, but not even taking a few hours to celebrate the holidays is ridiculous." Peter said, dropping down and blocking the doorway. "Even if you don't celebrate, the least you could do is volunteer at a soup kitchen to help out your fellow man."
The two thieves froze in the middle of grabbing some diamonds and slowly turned their heads to look at Peter.
"Aw, nuts." muttered one of the thieves, hanging his head.
"Who the hell is this joke? When did New York get a mask?" asked the other thief.
"What? Have you been living under a rock? I've been doing this for a few months now. Second of all, joke? Me? I'm the hottest thing in New York right now. I've only been the reason for the massive uptick in newspaper sales in the city and the most common Halloween costume. I mean, it's no big deal or anything, you know. Just a day in the life." said Peter, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's the guy!" said the first thief.
"This is the guy you were talking about? The guy you were comparing to Superman?" asked the second thief, looking at the first thief while pointing this thumb at Peter. "This guy's a joke. The only thing this dude has in common with Superman is the color scheme. Superman clears this dude."
"Okay, I don't know if he clears me per se. I-I think I'd put up an okay fight." countered Peter.
"Nah, he wipes the floor with you." said the second thief. "Have you seen him move? He's like the Flash, but he flies. Can you fly?"
"Not exactly. I've been working on some web wings to glide in the air."
"Do you have heat vision? Or do that thing he does with his breath? Can you lift up cargo ships without breaking a sweat?" continued the thief.
"N-no." said Peter, shifting on his feet.
"There you go. He clears you."
"Alright, dude, are you a moderator for his wiki or what?" Peter said, crossing his arms.
"All I'm saying is you're in the wrong weight class, pal." said the second thief, smirking. "Superman's the big leagues, you're junior varsity at best."
"Junior varsity?! Okay, now you're just being hurtful for the sake of being hurtful. Do you know how hard it is to swing around the city like I do? Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can do what I do. Give a guy some credit."
The first guy snapped, clearly more nervous than his partner. "Can you quit talking with him so we can get out of here?! He's just trying to stall us!"
"Relax, will you? He's just some punk in tights trying to act tough." said the second thief, dismissively rolling his eyes.
Peter shot a web, yanking the bags out of the thief's hands and webbing them up to the ceiling.
"I may or may not be in Superman's weight class, but I know for sure, you're not on either of ours."
The first thief cursed and made a break for the back door, but Peter flipped forward, landed in front of him, causing the thief to crash into him and fall flat onto his back.
"You know, I was actually thinking of going easy on you guys today." Peter said, webbing the thief to the ground. "Holiday cheer, goodwill to men, all that jazz. I was even going to offer you a deal, drop the loot, and spend a few hours ladling soup for the less fortunate as a redemption arc. But no, you just had to bring up Superman. Now I have to ruin your Thanksgiving plans and your egos."
"You're dead, freak!" shouted the second thief, lunging with a shard of broken glass.
"Why do they always lunge?" Peter sighed as he sidestepped, grabbed the guy's arm, and spun him around like a top before throwing him against the wall and webbing him. "Bet Superman can't do that."
"This isn't fair." groaned the first thief.
"Life isn't fair. You two thought you'd spend the day swimming in money like Scrooge, instead you're going to be spending it in a holding cell with guys who think gravy counts as a beverage." said Peter.
As he dusted off some glass shards, the sound of police sirens could be heard. Outside, the crowd's cheers carried into the store. He looked and saw that people had spotted him through the windows, pointing and waving, while their phones snapped pictures.
Peter was waving back as two cops burst in, weapons drawn. Before they could shout any orders, they spotted Peter, and their fire died down.
"Morning, gentlemen. Today's Thanksgiving special is two thieves, one more mouthy than the other. And coming from me, that's saying something." said Peter, pointing back at the two webbed-up thieves.
The two cops, slightly stunned, put their guns away. "Guess this Spider-Man guy's not a myth."
"You too? I'm going to need to hire a PR manager at this rate." muttered Peter.
He stepped out of the jewelry store and jumped up to a streetlight, waving at some kids pointing at him.
Peter was about to swing away when his spider-sense tingled again, this time coming from above. He looked up to see a man, but not just any man, a man wearing a full-body green outfit strapped to a big, bright green diamond kite, wobbling unsteadily as he swooped down.
"Make way, losers! This score belongs to Kite Man! Hell yeah!" the guy shouted, his voice cracking as he struggled to stay balanced in the choppy winds.
Peter blinked. "... who?"
The crowd gasped as they pointed upwards while the cops instinctively reached for their radios.
"Tremble in fear, citizens of New York, for there is a new class of criminal from today onward!" shouted the self-proclaimed Kite Man, sounding a little panicked as he tilted.
WHUMP
The kite was blown off course by a strong wind, smacking into a giant Batman balloon, and tangling in its rigging. The crowd roared with laughter as Kite Man flailed, hanging upside down.
"Uh ... little help here?" said Kite Man.
Peter looked down at the cops, who looked up at him and then back at Kite Man. "We'll ... we'll deal with him, Spider-Man."
"Good luck with that." he said before swinging away.
A few minutes later, Peter slipped back into the crowd, back in his civilian clothes, and rejoined his family just as a giant Garfield floated into view.
"Long line?" Richard asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe." he replied. "Did I miss anything?"
"The Justice League balloons and some everyday New York antics with Spider-Man." said Teresa.
Zatanna gave him a little side glance and smirked. "Have you ever seen Spider-Man in action?"
"Me? Y-yeah, tons of times." said Peter, not making eye contact with her. "Good guy. So I've heard."
"It's nice to know the city has someone watching out for it." Mary said, taking a sip of cocoa as she glanced at Peter.
"Lucky us." Peter said, forcing a grin.
Before they could say any more, the crowd cheered as Odie floated by, drawing everyone's attention. Peter internally let out a sigh of relief and enjoyed the parade.
~~~
AN
A little more of that Zatanna and Peter stuff, and some Thanksgiving shenanigans featuring a more jokey character.
Up next is the Christmas one and then YJ canon.