A Little Thing in the Marvel Universe

Peter and Belle discussed it and decided that it would be just fine to let Aunt May continue to live at home.

Although the safe house prepared by Belle is not as equipped as Iron Man, it cannot protect against nuclear bombs.But seriously, that kind of thing, who would want to nuke Manhattan Island except those guys on the World Security Council whose butts are in charge of their heads?

Well, at least in Hollywood movies, that's what a lot of people want to do.But that's not important. What's important is that they didn't succeed.

Putting aside safety issues, if Aunt May is really sent to Iron Man's safe house or even the Avengers headquarters, a reasonable explanation will have to be given. For this kind of thing, it is difficult to get away with ordinary reasons.

If she found out that Belle and Peter were both members of the Avengers, poor Aunt May would probably have a heart attack on the spot.

In fact, she had almost had a heart attack several times in the past few days.

"Watching the attack on Los Angeles on TV scared me."

During dinner, Aunt Mei took a few sips of wine, and she couldn't hold back the conversation anymore.

"Tell me what this is all about. You just went to Los Angeles for exchange, and this happened within a few days. I see that place is not far from where you live, and you don't answer my calls. Do you know how anxious I am! If you have any problems, let me..."

Peter quickly took over the conversation and said according to the words he and Belle had colluded with in advance: "It's not that we didn't answer, it was a lot of chaos around us. For some reason, there was no signal on the phone at all."

"Yes, yes," Belle agreed, "when we heard the noise, we ran away quickly. There were people everywhere on the street, and we almost got separated. Thanks to Peter for always protecting me, otherwise Who knows what will happen.”

Aunt Mei also calmed down a little, and said: "Fortunately, you are okay. Remember, if you encounter something like this, don't join in the fun, and hide as far away as you can."

During this meal, Aunt May kept talking about topics such as paying attention to safety, which made Peter feel deeply guilty, but he couldn't show it.So he had to forcefully change the subject.

"Why did you come home so early today?"

"Guess what?" Aunt Mei didn't feel that Peter's change of topic was too abrupt at all, but started talking enthusiastically: "Not long before you came back, we suddenly received a notice saying that the office was going to be renovated. , we must use [-]% clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Everyone will go home directly, those who can work from home will work from home, and those who cannot work will directly take paid leave. Isn’t it interesting?”

No need to ask, it must be Tony Stark's handiwork again.

Aunt May works for Gray Panthers (a real organization), a well-known non-profit human rights and charity organization across the United States.Such an organization has no reason to reject the donation from the super-rich Iron Man, and is very happy to fulfill the additional conditions of the donation-giving employees holidays.

"If you ask me, this is pure nonsense." Aunt May continued, "Funds are already tight, and we have to spend money on renovations! I heard that the person who made the donation was Tony Stark. I think this is because he wants to publicize His own new power generation technology! He doesn’t look like the kind of person who cares about the vulnerable.”

Peter and Belle tried their best to maintain polite smiles and echoed Aunt May's words.

"But just in time, you are back too. We can go out for a walk tomorrow. I think it's time for Peter to buy some new clothes."

It was almost after dinner when Aunt May finally mentioned Peter's sudden growth.Surprisingly, she didn't seem to care much about it.

Maybe it's because growing taller is a good thing after all, especially for Peter who was bullied for his short stature in middle and high school. Although his height has "only" increased by ten centimeters, his self-confidence has exploded many times.

Or maybe it’s because weird things happen every day in the Marvel world, and even aliens can come to New York.In comparison, the mysterious potion that can make people grow taller does not seem to be a big deal. After all, it was something that existed during World War II.

What's more, for Aunt Mei, the best result is that Peter can come back from that dangerous ghost place safe and sound.What's the big deal if you're taller or shorter.It's just a matter of buying a few clothes.

Unfortunately, Peter didn't appreciate it too much.Regardless of whether you are a boy or a man, at a certain stage, you will firmly believe that, in addition to your girlfriend or wife, it is very shameful to be taken shopping for clothes by a female relative, including but not limited to your mother.

Not to mention that the guy who Peter thought "shouldn't be embarrassed in front of her no matter what" was sitting right next to him.

"I'm already in college. I can do this kind of thing by myself. You don't have to take me with you all the time." Peter muttered.

Aunt Mei understood immediately and said "I understand" on her face, but she still said strange things like "the children will become disobedient when they grow up".

According to American standards, Aunt May's love for Peter was a little too much.In Western society, although children will not be kicked out by their parents when they reach their age, appropriate independence is still necessary.

Most children from poor families, represented by Peter Parker, must finance their own tuition if they want to go to college, either relying on scholarships or applying for student loans.Living expenses generally have to be subsidized by your own work.Even if the school is not far from home and people are obviously living a tight life, they would rather live in a slum-like place than at home.

People like Peter, who live with his family and are occasionally taken by Aunt May to buy clothes, can be regarded as a very unpopular mama's boy in American values.The only person worse than him is Howard Wolowitz, a weirdo who is not only a mother's baby, but also has a very weird mother-son relationship.

Peter was determined to escape this life, and joining the Avengers gave him a chance to truly be independent.

That's right, being an Avenger pays a salary.The one who can pay wages to the Avengers is the Maria Stark Foundation, which is under the name of Iron Man's father and named after his late mother.

Since it was the sponsor's father who provided the money, the salary level was naturally not low.According to the information that can be verified in the comics, as early as 1983, the Avengers' weekly salary reached an astonishing $1000.

And 33 years later, in 2016, the Avengers' salary has become so high that even the Bay Area coders are envious and jealous.

Even in 2015, some coders launched an online petition hoping to increase wages.Their reason is: They are all exchanging lives for money. Why are the Avengers' salaries so high?What's more, we are worse than the Avengers, and we are bald!

The final result of this petition was that Internet companies decided to set up a new allowance called "Hair is Dollars." On the one hand, it poked fun at the reasons why coders asked for a salary increase, and on the other hand, it also consolidated the average level of the Internet industry. The company ranks first in the world in terms of salary and benefits.

Sorry, I'm going off topic again.

All in all, although Peter is still the lowest-paid among the Avengers (everyone else has other incomes), the Avengers' salary alone is enough for him to be promoted to the middle class.

Of course, in front of Aunt Mei, he only said that this was the salary from his internship at Stark Group.This generous salary also made Aunt May less critical of Stark.

…………

New York, Upper East Side, Peter's small rented apartment.

He's been moving here for a while.

He originally wanted to find a place to live in Hell's Kitchen. The rent was relatively cheap and it was not far from Midtown where Belle lived (she moved after her previous house was bombed by Hydra) and Greenwich Village where Aunt May lived. Not so far.

However, this proposal was jointly opposed by Aunt May and Belle.

Aunt Mei's reason is naturally the commonplace safety issue.Belle's reason is obviously a security issue, but in fact, it is due to another consideration: the entire Hell's Kitchen is under the surveillance of a blind lawyer, and there is no privacy at all.

In order to solve Peter's troubles, Belle first proposed that she could rent one of her bedrooms to Peter.Anyway, her house is big enough for two people to live in without even touching each other.

However, for very complicated but obvious reasons, this proposal was flatly rejected by Peter.

So Belle did the next best thing and asked an agent for help. She actually found a house in the Upper East Side with a reasonable price and good conditions, and Peter happily moved in.

Although Belle helped find this house, she has never been there before.

Because the Avengers or SHIELD staff would come over every now and then to hang out when no one was home.

Belle is very concerned about this kind of thing. She has too many secrets, but she can't help but these top agents come to investigate when they have nothing to do.

Peter felt that this kind of thing didn't matter. On the one hand, he felt that this was the price he had to pay to become an Avenger. On the other hand, when these people came, they would leave some good things for him from time to time.

For example, today, as soon as Peter entered the house, he saw something on the table.

It was a metal suitcase full of technology, exactly the same as the box he first received to contain the Spider-Man suit.

On top of the box lay an envelope with Peter's name handwritten in black ink.

"Wow, I was so excited last time that I didn't even have time to record the unboxing video. This time I finally have the chance!"

He jumped up to the box, resisted the urge to open the box, and opened the letter first.

Peter:

Maybe I have set a bad example for you, but you have to understand that most of the time, indiscriminate use of medicines to transform the body will not have good results.

Just like this time, when you grow taller, Tony has to make you a new set of equipment, which is more expensive than the last one.

But don't be nervous, this is just a test product of new technology, and it can only be made with the important materials provided by Belle this morning, so he decided not to charge you money this time.

Tony doesn’t want you to have too much pressure, so recently, you and Belle are staying in New York to settle down Mei and ensure her safety.

Don't act rashly, but if Belle has any plans, try to help her as long as it's not too excessive.

Stay in touch anytime.

We'll need you soon.

good luck,

Steve Rogers.