Overwhelmed- Spider-Man

First Shift

Pulling into the parking spot just outside the F.E.A.S.T. shelter, Yuri lets out a huff at the sign. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to this. She's never been much good with people, and this many new people, in a situation she doesn't want to be in, can only spell disaster.

The dread only increases as she walks through the door and immediately sees the nearest volunteer go white. The man — definitely young, with messy brown hair and a red checkered shirt — turns tail and sprints in the other direction, looking vaguely like he's going to vomit.

How professional.

She stands in the doorway, watching the organized chaos that is the F.E.A.S.T. shelter while she waits for the promised tour guide.

A group of homeless people huddle in the corner, waiting to see the employee at the front desk. Behind it, the building opens up into a gym, filled to the brim with beds and miscellaneous clothes. She can see a small group laughing near the door.

"Hey!" Yuri turns toward the voice to see a girl with a red ponytail waving in her direction with a disgruntled expression. "Are you Captain Watanabe?"

At Yuri's nod, she motions for her to follow her. "Sorry about the wait. I had to cancel a meeting to fill in since our original tour guide had an," She trails off, glancing awkwardly at Yuri. "Issue to take care of."

"Is he alright?"

"He'll live." The girl replies in a stilted voice, rolling her eyes in a mix of irritation and amusement.

Yuri doesn't get what's funny.

"Sorry, where are my manners?" She holds out a hand. "Mary Jane Watson, I work at the Daily Bugle."

"I've heard of your work," Yuri informs.

"Really?" She cuts herself off, trying to regain some composure. "That's great. Anyway— this over here is the check-in desk."

The rest of the tour goes smoothly. Even if she hadn't recognized Mary Jane from her reports during Devil's Breath, she would've immediately known she worked in communications. Her bright demeanor contrasts sharply against Yuri's reserved one, breezing through tense parts of the conversation and introducing Yuri to each of the shelter members with a grin.

"And this," She marches over to a woman in a neon jacket. "Is Gloria. She's our new director. If you have any questions, you can always ask her."

"Nice to meet you." Gloria reaches out to shake her hand. "It's great to have new people give the shelter a chance. F.E.A.S.T. has a special place in my heart. I lived here for a little while."

Yuri just nods, not sure how to respond to that.

The rest of her first shift passes quickly. Mary Jane — who told Yuri she prefers MJ — had to leave; she could skip the meeting to show her around but did still have to get to work. She ended up working with a boy named Miles in the kitchen, listening to him talk about how weird it is to have school start up again so soon after Devil's Breath.

"I'm just saying," He explains, waving his hands around— while holding a knife, which is not the safest decision "The world almost ended, and now we're just going back, and I still have to turn in the homework they assigned before we left. I don't even have the homework they assigned!"

Yuri hums. "That sounds frustrating."

"It is! But Peter said he'd help me get it finished before next week, so I guess that's nice." He sets the knife down. "Speaking of, have you seen Peter?"

"Who?"

"Brown hair, red and white shirt?" He glances around. "He was supposed to help out in the kitchen."

She snorts. "I saw him when I first walked in, but I think he ran away from me."

"That's weird. Peter's usually really friendly. He was supposed to give the tour."

"MJ said there was an issue," She filled in.

"Oh." He frowns. "Did I tell you that I punched Spider-Man?"

Despite the abrupt subject change, Yuri is more than happy to listen to the teen talk about punching her unofficial partner in the face. Even happier to look at the kid's face when he learns that Yuri works with Spider-Man.

"I think MJ's dating him."

"What?" Yuri stops in her tracks.

"Yeah! He saved us from this fire at the Veteran's Center, but when I went to check on them after, they were sitting like, really close. And she had Spider-Man's phone number. Both of them."

"Spider-Man has two phone numbers?"

"That's what she told me. She was looking for his contact and freaked out when she almost gave me the wrong number."

"You have Spider-Man's phone number?"

Miles nods enthusiastically. "I haven't really used it, but it's still awesome."

"He's around here a lot then?"

"Not now that people are getting cured, no." Miles dumps the pasta into a strainer, then looks up at her. "You think he'd ever volunteer?"

"You could ask him."

The boy basically squeals. "That'd be so cool!"

He ends up deciding to text Spider-Man to ask if he'd ever volunteer at F.E.A.S.T. after they finish passing out dinner. Yuri brings the pot into the dining area just in time to see the boy in the red and white checkered shirt. He bolts the second they make eye contact, much to the confusion of the woman sitting at the bench he was talking to.

So it's official. That man — Peter — is avoiding her. Weird. She doesn't remember ever seeing him before, but apparently, she made a bad enough impression for him to be actively hiding from her.

The woman he'd been talking to offers her a confused look before going back to her newspaper.

Whatever. It isn't her problem if she's being avoided by a man she's never met— even if the other volunteers keep talking about how nice he is. She doesn't need to worry about him.

She offers the pasta to the woman with the newspaper and scoops the rest into bowls for the rest of the shelter's inhabitants.

Miles is gone when she gets back, still young enough that he needed to get home on time. MJ is back though, and takes the bowl from her, urging her to go home and get some rest. Yuri waves goodbye.

Throwing her purse into the passenger seat, she backs out of the parking spot. She hadn't thought charity was her thing, but the people here were genuinely nice.

Maybe this won't be a one-time thing.