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Spider-Man had gotten himself into quite a pickle, as he sat perched on the top of a street lamp.
He had just hung up his phone from talking to Aunt May, who’d just happened to ask him to get some shopping as they were low on food and did not have the right ingredients to make whatever extravagant meal she’d decided to cook up this time. But he was out as Spider-Man, and his street clothes were in his bag, which happened to be halfway across the city, not far from his house - where he’d left it earlier.
‘Dang. Now what?’ he thought to himself, as he looked down at his costume.
Aunt May had specifically asked for the shopping, now! And if he went for his clothes, he’d then have to get changed and travel all the way back again, therefore wasting time.
Ugh! And could he even go shopping as Spider-Man? Would that even work? And what if Aunt May saw? It would definitely look a bit suspicious.
But then he saw the small shopping centre just down the road, catching his attention in the corner of his eye, open doors tempting him in.
He groaned. ‘Oh what the hell,’ he thought, as he stretched up on the lamp, and swung himself down in front of the automated glass doors. He’d just have to risk it, that or face Aunt May’s wrath and further suspicion as to what he was really doing. He had some money tucked away safely in the belt of his costume; he would just have to use that to pay.
As soon as he touched down on the ground, many people gasped in shock and awe, some stumbling back a little at his sudden presence in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Well, so much for going quietly,” he mumbled.
All the people stared, as Spidey casually strolled into the grocery store.
The gasps and reactions increased when Spidey’s unmistakable, brightly coloured red and blue clad form entered the doors, with one of the ladies at the cash register even dropping something when she saw him.
They all looked scared for a second, flitting their eyes around, half expecting a burglar or criminal to jump out of nowhere, but were surprised when Spidey simply ignored this, and calmly walked over, picking up a shopping basket.
What happened next was quite intriguing, as Spidey had never really done this before - at least not in a popular place - and the people’s reactions were quite surprising.
‘Right, what’s first?’ he thought, as he remembered what his Aunt had asked for. ‘Organic eggs, of course, always eggs. Ah, milk, bread, butter, tomatoes, cheese, mince, basil, err, carrots and spaghetti. Yes I think that’s it, oh and cereal,’ he recalled, as he listed off all the things he had to get. He hadn’t realised he’d been standing there with his head in his hand as he’d been remembering this. And the people were surprised at seeing Spidey look so, normal.
Oblivious, Spidey immediately looked up, (taking his hand away from his large bug eyes), and strolled right towards the first isle.
Quickly reaching the eggs section, he searched for the cheapest organic ones before moving forward to take one off the pile, but started as a man who had also been looking at the eggs jumped and yelled out when he turned to see Spidey standing practically right next to his face.
Spidey instantly yelped and dropped the eggs he’d been holding. But instead of shattering, the man who’d startled him moved at lightning speed (for a human), and caught the delicate eggs before they hit the ground.
“Oh Spidey I’m so sorry, you just startled me is all, I didn’t see you there. I’m so sorry!!” the man desperately apologised, looking terribly sorry for scaring the hero.
“No, no it’s alright, you have every right to be shocked, it’s not your fault,” Spidey babbled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
“No, no it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have scared you. Here, here’s your....ah, eggs?” the man replied, in a desperate rush, before properly realising that he was holding a carton of eggs, a carton of eggs that Spider-Man had just been trying to take from the shelf a minute ago. “Wh...?” he mumbled, before Spidey gently reached out and took the eggs from him, carefully leaning over and placing them in a red shopping basket that the man hadn’t even noticed he had draped over one arm.
“Ah, thanks,” Spidey said, shifting nervously, as the man looked into his large goggles.
“No problem,” the man replied absentmindedly, before watching Spidey with a slightly slack jaw, (his hands still up in the air from when he’d held out the carton of eggs), as he walked past him.
“Phew,” Spidey breathed, as he continued on, his unique walking style obvious as he went, with shoulders hunched slightly and the tiniest of loose swaggers or lilt to his step. He felt slightly awkward from his confrontation with the shocked man, but he had to get this over with for Aunt May.
Without wasting much time, he moved through the store, quickly gathering mince, cheese, milk and butter. But he had to pause for the spaghetti, for a slightly short woman was standing in front of them, trying to reach something on the top shelf. He watched her for a minute, as she struggled to stretch for the desired item, huffing and puffing as she did, looking from side to side every now and then to see if anyone was watching her.
Spidey cocked his head slightly, before taking a quick stride forward and reaching up to grab the item, pulling it down and handing it to her.
She gasped. “Oh thank you..., Spidey? What are you doing here?” she asked, as she took it from him and noticed who her helper was.
“Well, yeah, unless there’s someone else dressed up like a spider around here,” he joked cheerily.
“What are you doing here?” she repeated, confusion on her face.
Spidey looked at her. “Oh, well, shopping, bit low on food,” he said, pointing to his basket.
She stared at him. “You? Sh-shopping?” she stuttered.
“Umm, well, yeah,” Spidey replied, shifting his feet slightly and leaning his head on one side, wanting further explanation.
“You eat?” she asked, appearing genuinely interested.
Spidey laughed. “Well of course I do, wouldn’t be able to keep this strong spidery figure if I didn’t,” he said in a joking manner.
The woman let out a small laugh, looking at him with fascination in her eyes. “Wow, just didn’t think you’d be so, human,” she said. “Always thought you’d be more, I don’t know, inhuman,” she elaborated, her eyes staring deeply into his insect ones, her head moving from side to side slightly as she studied him up close, his movements following hers to the exact inch.
“Really?” he asked her curiously, straightening his head.
“Yeah,” she said in reply, sounding like she was in a faraway place.
“Well,” Spidey piped up, breaking the mood, and grabbing his spaghetti. “Better get going, food’s not gonna buy itself,” he said, before raising his hand as if to shoot a web and swing away, only to realise he was still in the store and it had a low ceiling. “Oh,” he said, staring down at his wrist, before looking back up at her. “Ah well, ah, cya,” he said awkwardly, with a tiny wave, before walking away, like any normal person would.
“Bye,” the woman said, spellbound, to his retreating back, looking at the large spider symbol stretched over his lanky form, as if she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
The rest of the shopping trip went quite the same, Spidey having lots of confrontations with many pleasantly surprised shoppers. Most seemed quite happy and cheerful to see New York’s resident hero shopping in their local store, some trying to show him the best products or their favourite foods/brands. He had to discreetly remove an object he didn’t want, every now and then, that someone had over-excitedly placed in his shopping basket.
He was just collecting the last few items when a child started screaming nearby. Out of curiosity, Spidey turned his head to see what was going on.
A little child of about three or four was having a tantrum, sitting up in a shopping trolley.
Spidey placed the basil in his basket, before looking on the situation.
The child appeared to want a toy that was hanging up on one of the shelves, (like any child would), and was kicking up a fuss. The poor mother seemed quite flustered and distressed, trying desperately to calm her screaming child and move on, getting a few stares from other shoppers. That’s when Spidey got an idea.
Slowly, he walked up to the pair, before placing his basket of food down on the ground behind them, and then quickly stepped into the kid’s view, leaning down close and wrapping an arm around their shoulders.
He saw it was a little girl. She had pink ribbons tied in her short, dirty blond hair, and a frilly yellow dress on, making her look quite adorable, even in her distressed state.
“Hey there, do you know who I am?” he asked, in his usual soft, kind voice.
Something crashed to the ground on the other side of the trolley, as the mother turned and instantly dropped something at the sight of Spider-Man, leaning over her child.
The little girl nodded at Spidey - now silent, big blue eyes staring widely at his bug ones.
“Well then, what is it you’re so unhappy about?” he asked her, “...because it saddens me to see you so sad.”
“It does?” the little girl asked, genuinely curious, little red face surprised at his words.
“Yeah, yeah it does. It’s always sad to see someone else sad,” he answered, before placing a gentle, gloved finger under her chin. “How about we see a smile there, hey? You look so much prettier with one,” he coaxed, and, as if by magic, she broke out into a big, toothy grin, accompanied by a little giggle.
“Now, that’s more like it! What is it you wanted? Maybe Spidey”- he pointed to his spider themed chest- “can make it for you out of pure silk. Would you like that?” he asked, with a slightly cheeky tone to his voice.
She instantly shifted upwards in her seat in extreme excitement, as she grinned up at him from ear to ear, eyes shining with absolute glee.
Spidey let out a giggle at her reaction, his head mere inches away from the side of hers, due to his position leaned around her.
“I wanted that unicorn,” she said, pointing up at one of the toys in packaging, hanging along the edge of the shelf. “But mummy won’t let me have it,” she continued.
Spidey looked up at the designated toy. It was only a simple thing, a basic plastic unicorn form.
Spidey hummed to himself, shifting so he was leaning over the girl from behind to get a better look at the toy, moving his hands round in front of her, as he began to work.
The process was fascinating. The girl’s eyes widened (while the mother also broke out of her shocked state to stare closely at his hands with fascination) as he began to weave with his web. His fingers moved in an oddly expert way as they worked delicately around the silky strands he was carefully shooting from the web shooters attached to his wrists, which not many people ever saw. They transitioned from pressing down on his palm to shoot the web (in his famous hand position), to delicately weaving and spinning.
Before long a shape began to appear - a body forming, with legs and a tail. Then its neck and head emerged, with a swirled horn protruding from the top. The next thing they knew, there was a white shimmering unicorn held in Spidey’s hands.
“Here you go,” he said, handing it to the little girl and leaning his chin down over her head, “just for you,” he added.
The little girl was shocked, and took a second to take it from Spidey’s hand, but when she did, she clutched it gently, treating it with extreme care, before pulling it in close to her chest in love.
“I guess you like it then,” Spidey chuckled, before moving back and patting her hair. “There you go,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble,” he then addressed the mother, who was still staring.
“Have fun kiddo,” he said to the girl, before quickly retrieving his shopping basket, and walking off, leaving one very happy child, and one very shocked mother behind.
“Now,” he thought, as he worked out the last things he needed.
Before long, Spidey had finally finished his shopping, and quickly stood in line to pass through the register to pay for his items, getting many stares as he did so.
Soon enough, it was his turn to move through.
“Umm, hello,” he said to the cashier, who was looking (as usual) rather shocked to be serving Spider-Man. “Ahh,” he said, when he didn’t get a reply, instead placing the items on the counter.
The man mindlessly started bleeping through the objects, while Spidey stood there, looking around awkwardly.
“That would be $38 and 95 cents,” the man announced, startling Spidey slightly.
“Oh right,” he said, reaching into his belt and pulling out the correct money. He quickly handed it to the cashier, who took it with a shaking hand, before fumbling around in the cash register, fetching his change and dropping it in Spidey’s hand.
“Thanks,” Spidey said, replacing it in his belt, before he went to pick up his bags, only to realise he hadn’t thought how he was going to get them home. “Ughh,” he mumbled, but quickly got an idea, as using the same technique as before, he began to weave several strong bags of webbing.
He placed the plastic bags within his web ones, (extra padding for the eggs), and then proceeded to attach them securely to his back, sort of strapping web around his middle to make sure they didn’t come loose, the action causing lots of stares.
“Right, cya,” Spidey said, waving at the cashier and the rest of the shoppers, before walking out the door with his precious load. But before he could swing away, he noticed the short woman from earlier struggling to carry all her shopping bags to her car.
Acting quickly, he ran over to her.
“Here, let me help,” he said, as he took the bags from her and held them all with ease.
The woman sighed with relief. “Oh thank you,” she said, before looking at him there for a second holding her shopping, along with the cocoon on his back. “Ah, car’s this way,” she said, pointing, before leading the webbed wonder towards her small vehicle parked a little way up the street. She fumbled with her keys for a minute before pressing a button, the car unlocking with a satisfying beeping. “Here,” she said, as she opened the boot, and Spidey quickly deposited the bags inside.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No problem,” Spidey replied, before leaping away on a web.
The swing was quite an awkward one, as he felt a bit like a turtle with a shell on its back, but soon enough he made it to his backpack, quickly severing the strands of web and placing the bags on the floor, before changing into his normal civilian clothes, which consisted of his usual jeans and a dark hoodie.
After spending quite a while ripping all the bits of webbing off the shopping bags, Peter made his way home, and that evening they had quite a meal, as Aunt May made a delicious masterpiece.
But unbeknownst to Peter, she saw the news footage of the phenomena of Spider-Man going shopping, a small smile stretched across her kind face.