Chapter 2
“Peter Benjamin Parker,” May announced as she finally returned to their apartment, winded from both her discomfort and the climb up six flights of stairs.
Peter jackknifed up from where he’d been dozing on the sofa. “May?”
She dropped her purse onto the kitchen table and breathed a sigh of relief. “I love you with my entire—being, but if you ever—feel the need for—me to go to the emergency room—again, I swear on the soul of my dead—great-grandmother Rosalina that I am taking you with me—and you’re going in the Spider-Man, suit. –You got me?”
He tried to track what she was saying as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then checked the time on his watch. “What? What the heck happened?” His spidey senses were going off like fireworks. “Are you okay? What took you so long? I was waiting for you!” He jumped over the back of the couch and looked her over. “Do I need to run to the corner to pick something up from the pharmacy for you?”
May rolled her eyes at his inquisition, . “No, thank goodness!—But if you had any idea what I had to go through today, Peter...”
Peter’s eyes widened as he realized the trouble he’d caused. “I’m sorry?”
“I-I –” She was overwhelmed, could barely find the words to describe the horror that had been her day. “I can’t even,” she coughed lightly. “Look. I’m tired and I’m frustrated—I,” she coughed again. “I don’t want you thinking on this—anymore. I’m glad to be home, and at the end of it all, a—I’m sporting some fantastic new bruises, and—a very lovely med student declared my scapular muscle officially pulled—JUST like I said it was!”
Peter took a step closer, confused. “Bruises? Did you fall? What hap—?”
She halted any further inquiries with raising of her left hand. “Nope. I’m not talking about it right now.”
“But May—?”
“No!” May was trying to calm herself. “Just know that, because I’m trying to find some humour in this,—I ended up being flashed on the subway, too, by the way—and you’re not allowed any dolphin tattoos—ever— Now, if you’ll excuse me— I’m going to wash off this day and these hospital cooties with a long, hot shower, and— then I’m going to nap before we leave for the tower, capisce?!”
Peter frowned, but nodded as he mumbled, “Capisce.”
She grabbed Peter with both hands by the cheeks, winced, and pulled him down to her for a kiss on his forehead. “I love you. Stop worrying. I’m fine— All I need is some rest and,” May coughed, “to take a deep breath!” She caught Peter’s look of concern. “I’ll be fine.”
She released him, then turned to head down the short hallway to her bedroom.
His stomach dropped. He’d been so sure something was wrong this morning, and still was! But all he’d actually done was make things worse...
What the heck?
Peter worried at his lip as his mind ran in circles. He’d messed up—big time. Now, all he could do was try to fix things.
/-/-/
Peter was a wreck—and it could have been the fact that his senses hadn’t settle at all—but he was leaning more towards the fact that it was also paired with the realization that he couldn’t figure out how to make things right.
Peter had heard her tossing and turning in her bedroom, trying-and failing- to get comfortable for that first half hour after deciding a nap was the greater priority than cleaning up. He took the initiative, and tracked down their ancient heating pad from the bowels of the tiny linen closet May always hid Peter’s Christmas presents in and knocked gently at her bedroom door.
“Aunt May? Did you want to try using the heating pad?” he called out, just loud enough for her to hear. “Maybe it’ll help?”
“ugh,” She sort of grunted, confusing Peter.
“May?” He had to ask, “Is that a yes?”
He heard her feet hit the floor, then a little stagger before she made her way to the door. “That,” she threw the door open and dragged herself down the hallway, “is me giving up on life.”
His eyes widened in alarm, “May?!”
“I’m joking! I’m joking!” Her left arm came up in surrender—she didn’t bother hiding that she wasn’t moving her other arm anymore. “I’m just trying to figure out if I should bother with tonight...” She coughed again. “I’m stressed because of the pain, which means I can’t rest, and if I can’t rest I’ll be too tired to go out tonight, and if I don’t go tonight, who knows when Pepper’s schedule will free up. And I know that Pepper was hoping for a night to unwind after Tony and all of that mess with the Accords.”
“Oh.” Peter had to do something.
“But I also know how comfortable that big ol’ couch of theirs is, and I’m almost tempted to ask if I can camp out on it just so I can try a different sleep position, seeing as my mattress is a bust and I’m not going in for my shift tomorrow anyhow.”
“May? Is it that bad?”
“Relax, it’s just standard operation procedure when...” She caught herself and trailed off.
He scowled, “You know you’re killing me, here, right?” Peter wasn’t even going to pretend he wasn’t a little frustrated.
“I’m sure you’ll live.” She rebutted, “I told you I didn’t want to talk about, but if you need something to satiate your curiosity, just know that it involved ear wax and assault... and a court date to be determined at a future date.”
Peter glared, “If you don’t want to tell me, you can just say so, you know.”
May laughed lightly, to keep him off track. “Oh, sweetheart,” she humoured him. “I think I did—twice. On the plus side,” she coughed, “I didn't need to pay for the covid test and I’m definitely not sick so, yay me.”
“yay.” Peter parroted back, still worried but trying to hide it. Then, it came to him—the most brilliant idea. Taking a gargantuan amount of control to keep his face from revealing anything, Peter made a suggestion. “Look? Why don’t you go take your shower and see if the heat helps? We can always head over to the tower, and if you need to come home, then we come home.”
May moved to protest, but Peter cut her off, fast.
“If you’re worried about my lab time, I wouldn’t mind!” Peter needed to convince her. “You know I’d pick you over a stinky old lab any day. Or like you said! We can just spend the night at the tower. I already have a room there, and you know that Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts don’t mind—and I promise to get up early to make it to school on time.”
May couldn’t imagine imposing, but the idea of spending an evening wallowing in pain in her cluttered little bedroom was torturous. Maybe it would have made more sense for her back when she’d still had Ben to keep her company, but...
“I can even call Mr. Stark and let him know what’s going on so he knows.” Peter was trying to sell it. “Would that make it better for you?”
“I can call—”
But Peter cut her off again, “No—YOU go take a hot shower and I’ll call. I’ll tell you what Mr. Stark says when you get out, deal?”
The hot water sounded good to the point of distraction. “And you’ll let him know that I’m sort of useless right now?”
“You’re never useless, Aunt May.” Peter argued, “But I’ll tell him that you’ve hurt your shoulder, yes.”
“And you’ll get him to talk to Pepper? I’m good with rescheduling if that works for her, it’s only that I know how busy she is. She can just text me if that’s easier...”
Peter was getting impatient. “Yes, I’ll tell them... now go! You’re making ME hurt just looking at you!” He tried to be light, but honestly, he was pretty sure he needed another grown up right now—and he couldn’t call one until she was gone.
After all, May was all he had left
/-/-/
To say that Aunt May looked less than fine by the time she exited the bathroom a half an hour later would be an understatement.
That was sort of alright, though. It meant that she was too preoccupied to see that Peter’s eyes were perhaps still a little red and swollen from his accidental freak out while he tried to explain to Mr. Stark that something was wrong and that no one had caught it.
He’d learned in the beginning that he couldn’t assume that he knew what was wrong with a person just because something didn’t sound like he thought it should. That had been a hard lesson involving Mr. Stark, a weird ticking sound, and a three hour long lab session on how to identify specific brands of pacemakers—but May’s heart was beating sort of fast, she was in pain, and she’d obviously had a really crappy day thanks to Peter.
But this would work.
He plastered on the biggest smile he could manage. “I am to tell you that Mr. Stark says everything is taken care of. Also, Ms. Potts says she’ll be okay with whatever you want to do, and if you’d prefer, you guys can just chill out in sweats and watch movies while you stretch out on the couch all night—and Ms. Potts had already been planning to take the morning off so you’re good no matter what we choose. We can stay or go. No worries either way.”
Aunt May slumped with relief. “That sounds perfect. If you wanna give me a few minutes, I’m gonna change and figure out how to tie my hair back, then we can head out. Okay?”
“About that...” Peter wasn’t quite done, and wasn’t sure how Aunt May would take the additional information. “Um, Mr. Stark is sending Happy to come and get us so you can relax a little.”
And Aunt May got that look on her face when she was worried that boundaries were being overstepped. “Peter!”
“WHAT?!” He tried to look innocent, but one glare from May had him breaking like an uncooked spaghetti noodle. “Okay! So I may have told him about the flasher, too! Don’t be mad at me, please? I’m just worried about you and when Mr. Stark offered I couldn’t help myself!”
“I’m sure you could have, Peter.” May glared. “Is there anything else I need to worry about?”
The floor was looking really interesting...
“Peeeeter?”
Peter sighed and dropped his head in defeat. “Mrstarksaysyoucanseedrchointhemedbaytoo,” he whispered too low and fast for May to catch.
May knew what he was doing, though, “Do you wanna try saying that again, so I can understand you this time?”
He huffed in frustration and spoke a little more normally, “Mr. Stark says you can see Dr. Cho in the med bay... if you want.”
She shook her head in disbelief, “Tony’s bringing a world renowned geneticist to the tower because I hurt my back?”
“No!” Peter explained quickly, “She’s already in the tower doing some research and so Mr. Stark said it’d be alright if you wanted a second opinion. I mean you already know her because of me and all, right?”
He hoped that if she was gonna say no, that she’d just let it go, but then May got that look on her face that Peter always, ALWAYS hated. He hadn’t seen it in a while, but he couldn’t forget the ‘Peter is overreacting because he suffered trauma’ face—and maybe he had, but maybe he also knew that May was ignoring something big.
“Peter. Please, honey...”
And Peter also knew that now wasn’t the time to argue with her, so he buried his disappointment deep and simply said, “It’s okay, May. It was just an offer...” He fussed with the sleeve of the hoodie he was wearing then glimpsed his watch. Um, Happy’s gonna be here soon, though. Can I help you with your hair?”
/-/-/
Mr. Stark’s greeting was a bit subdued compared to how he normally met them. Peter was sure that Mr. Stark had gotten FRIDAY to do a basic, but silent vitals scan in the elevator, and already received its results. Even so, Aunt May couldn’t have missed his once over as they’d stepped out. “Hello, my favourite Parkers,” he announced as per usual, opening his arms wide, but instead of sweeping May into a playful hug or ruffling Peter’s hair, he simply placed a gentle hand on May’s back and led her and Peter toward the living room. “I’ve heard a rumour that someone has had a shitastic day... do you want me to pretend that I didn’t hack a bunch of security systems to view footage and such?”
May scoffed, then coughed, and playfully slapped Mr. Stark’s shoulder. “You’re hilarious, Tony. Please. Pretend away. I, myself, am choosing to pretend that today didn’t happen at all, so you are more than welcome to join the party.”
“I’m Tony Stark. I don’t need an invitation,” he drawled, then grew serious, “but you, my dear, do look like you need a little something. Pepper’s just in the kitchen getting some snacks ready for your evening...” Mr. Stark looked as concerned as Peter felt.
“I’m fine, Tony,” May insisted.
But Peter and Mr. Stark shared a brief glance, and Peter knew that he could see what Peter had seen. Peter practically melted with relief that he’d made the right call.
And then that moment was over and Mr. Stark had shifted back into host mode. “Of course you are, so—what can I get you? A nice white wine? Maybe a red? – or perhaps some top notch muscles relaxants from the med bay?”
May glared, “Aren’t you on fire tonight?”
Just then, Pepper came in from the kitchen carrying the snacks Tony had mentioned, “Hey, all, I thought some crackers and such would be a good idea to start for... oh. May?” Pepper saw it, too, but she had no reason to pretend everything was fine. She rushed over to the large upholstered ottoman and dropped the tray before taking over from Tony and bringing May the rest of the way to the couch. “Come sit down!”
May did exactly that, unintentionally letting her guard down in front of Peter as she did. “Phew, I am so tired,” she confessed, then looked to the room at large. “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, guys?”
And Mr. Stark crooked an eyebrow, “Or maybe it was? In fact, I’d suspect that you coming here was the smartest thing you’ve done today.”
“Tony—” May started, but winced when she moved wrong.
Peter stepped towards her but stopped when he realized how much she was hurting, afraid he’d make it worse.
Mr. Stark had had enough. “Nope. That’s it. I’ve been in your presence for less than five minutes and even I can see that you need an assist. Peter,” Mr. Stark pointed toward the elevator, “You and me, med bay. Let’s go get your aunt some painkillers and a couple of those heat packs Sam uses when he can’t deny that he’s old anymore.”
Peter nodded.
Then Mr. Stark looked to Pepper, trying not to hover over her dear friend. “Pep? You’ll watch over Aunt May till we get back?”
“Of course,” she replied.
With that, FRIDAY reopened the elevator doors and the two were on their way.
Mr. Stark waited only a beat after the doors closed to plant a warm hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Take a deep breath for me, Pete. Nice and slow, okay?”
Peter had to try a couple of times before he finally managed.
“You doin’ alright there, kid?”
Peter sniffed, cleared his throat, and nodded a yes before hastily wiping at his eyes. “Yeah, sorry.”
Mr. Stark tugged the boy under his arm. “Hey, Pete, I know it’s scary when the people we love get sick, but you did good, alright. We’ll all keep an eye on her... I promise.”
Peter nodded again, “Did FRIDAY notice anything?”
Mr. Stark shook his head, ‘no.’ “Just the pulse, blood pressure, and heart rate issues that the hospital found.”
That startled Peter out of his funk, “What?”
“What?!” Mr. Stark asked back curiously. “Was I supposed to be pretending for you, too? What do you think the ‘and such’ I mentioned upstairs was?”
Peter blinked as his brain processed Mr. Stark’s question. “Huh?” He questioned eloquently, then realized it didn’t matter, “You know what? Never mind.”
“Thank you—though I was shocked to see that they hadn’t done any x-rays after everything that happened. Maybe we can convince your aunt to let us do a couple before the end of the night?”
“That would be awesome.” Peter replied then got quiet. “I know she’s been pretty worried about the bills and stuff lately so...”
Mr. Stark shook his head in disagreement. “Aw, Pete,” he reassured him, “Insurance would have covered her x-rays.”
Peter sighed, “Unless she’s reduced her insurance to the absolute minimum coverage...” Peter flushed with embarrassment. Here he was, revealing their secrets but this was May’s health they were risking here. “I heard her talking to someone in payroll after Uncle Ben...”
“Got it.” Mr. Stark exhaled slow, but then had another thought, “But she was also involved in an altercation on hospital property. The hospital still should have done at least x-rays to cover their asses should May decide to sue.”
Peter opened his mouth to try and glean some details of May’s day when a more official sounding FRIDAY than Peter had ever heard before boomed overhead. “The elevator is required for a medical emergency. Please exit immediately upon arrival at the medical floor to make room for medical responders. ”
Peter gasped in horror as the elevator sped up only a bit then looked wildly at Mr. Stark.
“It’ll be okay, Pete,” the man soothed as they watched the numbers on the floor display.
Peter prayed he was right.
/-/-/
Peter’s leg bounced impatiently as they waited outside of the treatment area May was currently hidden away in.
They hadn’t been there too long, but still definitely longer than anyone would have preferred after the drama of the last twenty minutes. May being rushed past them on a gurney, pain-pale and gasping for breath was something Peter hadn’t been prepared for—but then they’d closed the door, too.
Hearing was way worse, though.
“Peter, I know you’re still upset, but she’s exactly where she needs to be right now and Dr. Cho and her team are taking care good care of her,” Ms. Potts rubbed his back, trying to get him to calm down.
“I know that.” Peter twisted his hands together. “I’m just trying to figure this out and it isn’t making sense, is all.”
“Sometimes things like this don’t make sense,” Ms. Potts replied. “They can happen entirely out of the blue and we—”
“No!” Peter ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I mean, I can’t figure out what I’m hearing!” He turned to Mr. Stark, “I swear, there’s a new sound now—not like the pacemakers, Mr. Stark! But I don’t know what it is.”
Now Mr. Stark was confused. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
Peter closed his eyes and concentrated as he tried to place it, “It’s like...” it was on the tip of his tongue. “It’s like sandpaper on wood... scratching? It’s—not right.”
Mr. Stark pondered this for a moment, “Have they heard it in there yet?” He gestured toward the room.
Peter shook his head, “I don’t think so.”
“Well, then, I think they should.” He patted Peter’s knee and gave Ms. Potts a wink. “Be right back.” With that, he pushed up off of Peter’s leg, walked the dozen steps over to the treatment room door, and knocked.
A nurse Peter wasn’t familiar with opened the door a moment later. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t a good time, sir. We’ll be out with information as soon as we can,” she said, then moved to close it and get back to work.
Mr. Stark thrust his foot out to stop it. “Wait. Tell Dr. Cho that Peter says to listen for a scratching sound, okay?”
“I’m sorry?” she asked. “A scratching sound?”
“Yes, like sandpaper on wood. A scratching sound.”
It takes a special kind of person to work with superheroes, and this woman was obviously one of them because she didn’t question the request, simply turned to face the room and called out, “Dr. Cho. Peter says he hears a scratching sound.”
The treatment room went silent.
And then, “Shit. Sit her up, now, please! Dana, bring the ultrasound!” Dr. Cho directed.
The nurse looked back at Mr. Stark and smiled politely. “Thank you. I’ll come out with an update once we know more.”
Mr. Stark nodded in acknowledgement and pulled his foot from the door. “Perfect. You know where we’ll be.” He grinned cheekily in return, then turned, returning to his seat.
Peter could have wept with relief as Ms. Potts wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight. “Good job, sweetheart. Always the hero,” she pronounced and planted a kiss on the top of his head.
He huffed out a laugh. It was easier to tune out the sounds of the treatment room now that they had a plan “I guess we’ll see?”
/-/-/
“I don’t understand.” Peter said simply as he sat at his aunt’s bedside, playing her fingers so he wouldn’t have to look at her still too pale face or the drainage tube poking out from her chest.
“What don’t you understand?” May asked. “I thought that Dr. Cho explained everything about the procedure?”
“She did! It’s just,” Peter tried to tamp down his anger. “You were at the hospital literally eight hours ago. How did they miss this?”
“Pericarditis can go from bad to worse pretty fast, sweetheart. I’m sure I managed to aggravate things with the events of my absolutely stellar day, too, so there’s blame to go around.”
He wasn’t buying it, “But then why didn’t they do x-rays? Mr. Stark said they didn’t do them in the ER.”
May thought on that for a minute, then shrugged. “I can only guess.”
That answer didn’t sit right with Peter, so after some hesitation he asked the question he had worried about most, “Um, did you decline it when they asked?” There. It was out in the universe. Was he too much? Was Peter a burden?
“Oh, no, Peter!” she exclaimed, realizing where his thoughts had gone. “I promise they never offered it, and after what had happened with the ear wax woman, I was just so ready to go home and be done with the day that I didn’t push.”
She’d said it to make him feel better, but it did the opposite. “But—but you had symptoms!” His sudden indignance forced him to look up at her finally, “What were they thinking?”
May just chuckled sadly. “I can tell you exactly what they were thinking.” She grabbed his hands to stop his fidgeting. “They were thinking that I’m a stressed out single parent who works a physically demanding job who had just been knocked on her ass by an upper middle-class prima donna.”
“And?” Peter wasn’t satisfied.
“And I can only assume my symptoms didn’t make sense for anything but the diagnosis they gave me.” May shrugged.
“That’s just lazy. Did he even listen to your heart?!”
May nodded, “Oh, he did, while said prima donna was hollering about the unfairness of the world and the burden of breaking a nail.”
Still unimpressed, Peter replied, “So you’re telling me your doctor messed up then.”
“In hindsight, I think everyone did.” May wasn’t going to mention the casual sign off of the attending physician who ignored her for the sake of a more involved case and hadn’t even bothered to do a double check of her diagnosis. May did wonder if they could reattach that poor woman’s finger, but that didn’t matter now. May continued, “Regardless, Dr. Cho will be in contact with the hospital for my records now that she’s taking over my care, which will flag my ER visit, which will hopefully lead to this becoming a teaching moment for someone.”
“They brushed you off.” He wasn’t going to let this go.
May sighed. “Yes, Peter, they did.” She couldn’t wiggle around it. “Welcome to the world of medical misogyny, my dear.” She squeezed his hands affectionately. “It sucks, but thank goodness I have you looking out for me, too, then, huh?”
Peter squeezed back, mindful of his strength. “Always,” he blushed pink, “But don’t forget Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts, too?”
And she wouldn’t.
After Ben, she’d been so sure she’d be alone, but now? Tony and Pepper had been there for Peter for so long... and now they were here for her.
Maybe the Parker luck wasn’t so bad after all?
“May?”
“Sorry, honey,” she smiled lovingly at her nephew, “I’m just realizing how right you are.”