boyutpedia Chapter 504 Spider-Man: Year 1
Chapter 504 Spider-Man: Year 1
Chapter 504 Spider-Man: Year One (The End)
"Good afternoon, New York! We just dealt with a carload of criminals, what's next?"
As Peter spoke, he swung on his web past a familiar street corner and landed next to a familiar hot dog stand. The hot dog stand owner saw him, took a hot dog from the top of the parasol, and handed it to him.
"You haven't been here in ages, buddy."
"Uh, I've been pretty busy lately." Peter scratched his head and then asked, "You keep hot dogs for me every day?"
"Who knows when you'll come, so I prepare it for you every day. If you don't come, I can eat it myself."
After taking the money Peter handed him, Miller, the hot dog stand owner, glanced at him and asked, "Having trouble lately?"
"Well, you can't really say that. It's just that I feel very busy and tired..."
"Did Tony Stark give you money?"
Peter was stunned by the boss's words, almost not understanding: "You mean salary? Oh no, the Avengers are vigilantes, they don't get paid..."
"Then why do you make being a superhero feel like going to work? It's like a regular job."
Peter ate his hot dog while pondering Miller's words, finally concluding, "Yeah, it seems you're right. It feels like there's been a while since I've felt happy being Spider-Man."
"Hope you have a good time. Oh, that kid's here again."
"Oh, little spider!"
The guy the shopkeeper was talking about was, of course, Flash Thompson. He came here as always to buy "the hot dog that Spider-Man loves." Although Spider-Man hadn't been here for a while, making him wonder if there was something wrong with the shop, Flash still persisted.
And today he saw Spider-Man again in front of this store.
"I know you. Your name is Lightning, right?"
Peter had to pretend he didn't recognize Flash, while Flash was quite excited that Spider-Man remembered him, nodding repeatedly: "That's right, Spider-Man, I helped you before, do you remember?"
"I remember you bumped into a fire hydrant and helped us fight a spider monster."
"Oh my god, you still remember me...!"
"Uh, I have to go, Lightning." With no time for further conversation with Lightning, Peter launched his webs to leave: "Goodbye, Lightning."
Flash watched Spider-Man leave, took a deep breath, and grinned foolishly. Meanwhile, the boss remained silent, only calmly asking Flash a question.
Do you want another hot dog?
"Yes! Of course I want it!"
Peter's wandering continued until he came to a rooftop where an elderly man named Laurie was tending to his pigeons. To his surprise, he saw Spider-Man swinging over on his web and landing beside him.
"Good afternoon, Laurie. How is Carl?"
"Ah, Spider-Man, it's been so long!" Laurie smiled, then took out a pigeon from the coop—a pigeon Peter couldn't tell the difference at all: "Look, Carl's here."
"It looks very energetic... I'm glad it hasn't run away again. It hasn't come back for a while, and it wouldn't be good if it didn't come back because I wasn't around."
"That's not true, Spider-Man." Laurie seemed completely unconcerned. "If that were the case, perhaps Carl himself simply didn't want to come back. Even if you weren't very busy, you couldn't possibly be there every day, with time to help me find them."
Peter and Laurie chatted for a while longer before saying goodbye. On the way, he bought a hamburger at KFC and returned to his favorite spot for daydreaming, the top of the Empire State Building. Once again, he sat there, eating his hamburger and overlooking the city.
The Avengers didn't need his help for the time being, and he wasn't sure about anything else either. It was a rare moment for Peter to sit here and look at the city.
The communicator was receiving all sorts of messages, some of which were reports of crime or gang fights, but the Defenders or other superheroes would quickly intervene, sometimes without Peter even needing to get involved.
He finished his entire hamburger atop the Empire State Building and then stood there in a daze for a while. Then he looked to the side and saw another figure swaying on spiderwebs approaching, so he moved slightly to the side to make room for Cindy.
Cindy was a little surprised, but she still sat down next to Peter and hesitated for a moment before asking, "I noticed you've been here for quite a while, so I came to ask if something's wrong?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm just here because there's nothing wrong, to rest for a bit."
Peter closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then continued talking to Cindy: "For a while, I thought being Spider-Man was just about being a friendly neighbor, but then I realized it wasn't like that. More and more things happened, the enemies became stronger and stronger, and it seemed like there wasn't even time to be a friendly neighbor anymore."
"are you tired?"
Cindy hugged her knees and turned to ask Peter. After thinking for a moment, Peter shook his head. Rather than being tired, it was more like what the hot dog stand owner said: Peter had simply made saving the world sound like a choreography, nothing more.
The two sat on the top of the tower for a while, then Peter and Cindy jumped down together. They swung among the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and Peter asked Cindy a question as they moved.
"You've been to a few New York landmarks, Cindy?"
"I don't travel around the city very often... I haven't been to many places."
Cindy, seizing the opportunity, asked, "Could you show me around?"
"Of course, no problem."
So the two spiders floated around in the sky above New York, stopping at various landmarks to look at the surrounding scenery.
"I'm not sure if I've found the answer to my question."
Finally, Peter landed on the roof of a 24-hour convenience store, bought two sandwiches, handed one to Cindy, and started talking to her.
"Maybe it's because I'm not really suited to be the Avengers, maybe Spider-Man should be a friendly neighbor, or maybe... I just simply prefer being Spider-Man in New York City."
"I remember you once said that you never felt happy being Spider-Man."
"Well, at least I'm quite happy in New York."
Peter laughed. "At least here, I feel like I'm... well, living. Not being driven by an endless cycle of crises."
Peter began to talk to himself, half-jokingly.
"Welcome back to New York, Spider-Man."
(End of this chapter)