Work Text:
Anya stands before the door. She checks her bag for the final time. The matching Fantastic Four sweaters for Annie and Benjy. The new cooking knife for Mr. Parker. New headphones for Ms. Watson-Parker. And the necklace for Mayday. All the presents are there, all surrounded by her spider-suit that she just put in after she came here swinging.
She's been standing here for five minutes, too scared to knock. It’s not her first time here, but she usually comes here to study, or…”fool around” with her girlfriend. It’s the first time she comes for such a formal occasion, and she’s frozen before that stupid door. She has met all the members of that family already and they’ve shown nothing but respect and kindness towards her.
Gathering up her courage, she knocks two or three times. In a second, the door opens, with Ms. Watson-Parker standing behind, greeting her. As soon as she enters, Benjy and Annie rushes towards her, taking her coat and bag from her hands before racing to put them on coat rack and near the Christmas tree respectively. She hears Mr. Parker saying hello from the kitchen, he must still be working on tonight’s dinner. Anya makes her way towards the dinner table but she gets interrupted when her girlfriend’s head appears out of nowhere before her. Mayday was waiting for her on the ceilling all along, waiting to surprise her. Anya shakes her head and smile as her upside down girlfriend laughs. They kiss before May jumps back on the ground. Then they kiss some more.
A few hours later, they are all sat around the table, waiting for Mr. Parker to bring the meal he was cooking up. The twins are chatting loudly as usual, the girlfriends are talking about when they should begin to search an appartment to live together, and Ms. Watson-Parker can’t help but watch them all with an happy smile.
Mr. Parker soon arrives, he first brings some salade and other vegetables to start the meal, then later comes back with the main dish.
When he puts it on the table, everyone praises him for how good it looks, except Anya. She’s frozen, unable to speak. What he prepared was a plate of Arañitas, which was what her mom would always do for her when she was little. Mr. Parker explains that he wanted to try something new and that he heard from Mayday that this was her favorite meal, and since this was her first time coming to eat here…
Anya is still at a loss for words when everyone starts eating, not wanting to make them uneasy she finally moves again and tries it. She hasn’t felt that taste in ages, it brings back memories, good memories that were sadly soured by time. After she finished eating, she sees Mr. Parker eyes fixed on her, probably trying to understand how she feels, he obviously did that to make her feel at home. She says that it was very good, but not as good at her mother’s, making everyone around the table laugh. Then the dessert comes, a homemade tiramisu that Mayday baked the day before so it could be perfectly ready for today. As usual from Mayday’s cooking, it’s excellent.
After they finished, the whole family is chatting and laughing. But suddenly Anya stands up, saying she has to go the bathroom, she leaves the table. After ten minutes since her departure, May, worried, follows her.
When she opens the door, she sees her girlfriend near the sink, trying to wash away some tears from her cheeks, but since they’re still flowing, it’s nothing more than a futile effort. Knowing Anya’s story, Mayday expected this to happen. She asks if she’s fine, she answers yes, then spits out her usual nonsense about not deserving any of this, not being worthy of all their kindness and some other variations of the same idea. Mayday gets closer to her, telling her loving and caring words before holding her in a tight embrace. She cries some more, letting out her sadness over what happened to her parents, what could have been if they were still here there to meet May and the Parkers, how much they would have loved them.
After a few minutes, Anya stopped crying but it’s not before annother five minutes that they break their embrace and get back to the table. Nobody asks any question, they all have an idea of what happened, but they all have too much respect and care for Anya to even risk making her feel uneasy.
Later in the evening, they hold a vote to elect the ugliest sweater of the night. Obviously, Mr. Parker won by a landslide.
Then, it’s time to open the presents. They’re all extremely happy with what Anya offered them. She herself, received a scarf that Ms Watson-Parker made herself, personalised Web-Shooters from Mr. Parker in case her bola fails her, and a beautiful bracelet from Mayday.
After this, the whole family went to bed, with tomorrow’s diner being with the whole family, they had to have enough energy to survive it.
As May falls asleep in her arm, Anya can't stop thinking about how quickly and lovingly the Parkers accepted her. How lucky she was to have them, and how thankful she was for it. They didn’t replace her parents, nobody could, nobody will. But they did fill a void. And this christmas eve, for the first time in a while, wasn’t Anya dining with ghosts. It was just Anya having fun with her family, and nothing else.