I know I've been silent for a bit, but that's because this website doesn't really interest me anymore, but I had to come back and add a small bit in light of recent events.

I haven't forgotten about Interaction, just trying to find the best way to move it over to AO3.

Little Guys

-Jin

Ya know, at the end of the day, fighting aliens and stopping a secret terrorist organization is cool and all, but swinging past the skyscrapers of Manhattan and stopping crime that affected the little person was much more fulfilling. Yeah, sure, putting an end to Thanos' and fighting with Thor—freaking Thor—and others to save half the whole universe was great and all, because screw that Thanos guy, but it was always more fulfilling to sit down, wave at fellow New Yorkers; mask pulled halfway up to stuff a churro in his pie hole.

Way more fulfilling.

Because Spider-Man was a hero for the little guy, woman, non binary person or something on a different end of the spectrum. Yeah, sure, people screamed with snot and tears running down their faces when Steve Rodgers walked by, or women would hand their babies over to Tony Stark to have their foreheads signed, and yes, there have been times men and women alike had screamed at Thor to have their children. However that worked.

Black Widow had been on the magazines top ten of sexiest woman alive for five years running, and Hulk always has a section of the convention centers dedicated to him. Falcon got fan art, Hawkeye had fanfiction (smut, lemon filled fiction that he liked to read during "family" dinners), Doctor Strange (no matter how hard he tried to stay on the down low) had kids dressed up as him for Halloween, Bucky Barnes was always the most popular action figure, Scarlet Witch was on multiple kids "what I want to be when I grow up" papers, news on Vision was always more popular than the newest IPhone release, War Machine ("Iron Patriot!" As he kept insisting) was on the propaganda Captain America wasn't (which was a surprising amount), amd Black Panther was a popular tattoo in ghetto and fancy neighborhoods alike.

But when Spider-Man swung by, People would blink, and smile, and wave.

That was always a nice feeling.

So while Iron Man rocketed out to the next big explosion, Spider-Man would be at the apple, exchanging a "secret" handshake he made with some kids, or checking up on some retired drug dealers that finally got out of jail, or helping a girl get home across town before the rain let out, or just doing some good old fashioned vigilantism.

The sun was setting. The hazy sky that could be seen through the skyscrapers had turned a yummy looking orange color (like those orange creamsicles) and the pigeons were finally beginning to leave some of the pedestrians alone—the amount of battles Spider-Man had fought that involved pigeons probably outnumbered all the ones without—and through the windows, if one looked… not like a stalker of course… one would see father's burst into through their doors as children run up while mother's announced dinner was ready.

It was a very peaceful evening.

Crime seemed like a far off thought.

So Spider-Man took a break from creeping through alleyways and peeking in warehouses to stop at a hot dog vendor.

These vendors were more popular in Manhattan than a McDonald's, but this one had always stood out to him. The dogs were far from the best, and the mustard kind of smelled just a little off, but it was still the one Spider-Man always went to first when his stomach started to rumble halfway through a patrol. For many, many reasons narrowing down to the man who ran the vendor was super freaking rad and gave him free hotdogs.

He swung down onto the street and waved at a little girl who whispered up to her mom "Look! It's Spider-Man" and walked in line to the vendor. The person in front of him shuffled awkwardly and blushed when Spider-Man nodded and people would stop in their tracks for a second when they saw the red suit and white eyes waiting in line like a common civilian but then shrug and move on to whatever destination was.

Don't mind Spider-Man, he always is doing weird things, this is completely normal for him. Say hi, wave hello, or keep moving forward, you'll probably see him again tomorrow petting some dog or chasing a runaway ball.

A few minutes passed, and Spider-Man finally came next in line to the vendor. The man, who Peter had never gotten the name of, looked up and smiled widely. Peter was pretty sure the pure happy filled smile reached behind the man's sunglasses and crinkled his eyes.

"Why, Spidey, what a pleasure it is to see you," said the man. His voice was filled with age, but also with a weird sense of youth. It was like he was a grandpa who knew he was old but that wouldn't stop him from being young.

"Hey, man," Spider-Man said, "usual?"

"Of course."

The man reached over and grabbed a hot dog buns and began to dump on enough relish to make anyone cringe. Peter loved relish.

"Did'ya see the news? Some kind of Doom bots just decided to attack NY, I remember when the city was sane," the man said. He sighed and shook his head and laid a steaming hot dog on the bun.

Yeah, Spider-Man was busy fighting Green Goblin when Doctor Doom decided to release his wrath on Manhattan, thankfully Tony and Hulk were able to make quick work before he could jump in and help. It was strange that the battle had been so easy, didn't bode well, but at least no harm had been done.

"New York has always been a little crazy," Spider-Man said.

The man snorted. "You got that right. It's a good thing we have heroes like you and the Avengers." He handed Spider-Man his hot dog. "Defenders of the world and all that. You give everyone hope."

Peter reached up and pulled his mask halfway up before he took a big bite of his dog. "Amazing, once again. And you're giving me too much credit, I'm just a little guy helping out the little people."

The man smiled. "Sometimes the little guys can be the biggest heroes."

Peter smiled and began to walk away, leaving room for the next person in line to give their order. "Thanks again for the dog, Mr…?"

"Lee," the man replied as he started another hot dog, "Stan Lee."

"Spider-Man. Nice to meet you."

The man- Stan chuckled and Spider-Man laughed along.

Seconds later, the mask was once again fully covering Spider-Man's face. He was just about to leap and swing away before he turned once again to the hot dog vendor.

"You know, Stan Lee, you're kind of a hero yourself, these free hot dogs keep me going."

Stan lifted up his sunglasses and winked.

Rest in peace Stan Lee, the greatest hero of them all.