Chapter 6
May wouldn’t call herself overbearing. Involved? Watchful? Caring? Sure. Those words could all be applied to her specific brand of parenting. She tries to balance the line between giving Peter the freedom he desires and the structure he needs.
She gives him a curfew and rules about what he can do before his homework but encourages him to go out with friends and have fun while he’s still young. She gives him chores around the house but doesn’t let him have a job so he still gets some free time in his schedule. She asks about school, friends, and more, but doesn’t pressure him if he doesn’t want to speak about it unless she thinks it could put him in danger. Overall, she thinks she’s done a good job of being a guiding figure in Peter’s life without suffocating him.
However, after no response to the last three texts she has sent him, she starts to get nervous.
Happy had let her know that Peter texted to say he was going off to Ned’s. May doesn’t force him to get permission to see his friends, but Peter usually asks regardless. So to not even get a message with a heads up was strange. To make it even worse, Peter had already told her that Ned was busy after practice today.
So he lied to Happy, who in turn lied to May.
She knew he was out doing Spider-Man stuff, she wasn’t stupid.
After all the identity reveal shenanigans, May had been desperately trying to adjust to parenting an enhanced vigilante. Part of this had been the rules she had set about when and how Peter could go about patrolling.
It wasn’t often he broke those rules, at least that she knew of. Sometimes he’d play fast and loose with his curfew or how much homework he’d skip to go out, but he hasn’t done this before. Peter not communicating with her, lying to Happy, and disregarding just about every rule they had agreed upon - it was all new.
It worried her.
The only reason why she hasn’t recruited Tony to search for him was the fact that Karen would report to FRIDAY, who would report to Tony if something happened to Peter. And since he hasn’t said anything to her, or really left the bedroom at all, she can assume FRIDAY hasn’t received any warnings.
May had a feeling that Peter’s sudden disappearing act had something to do with Tony, and she didn’t want to drag him into it and inadvertently make it worse. She could see the tensions between the two slowly start to rise over the week. She should’ve said something about it earlier, but May didn’t think it was that serious yet. Clearly, she was wrong.
May wanted to give Peter his space at first, but after hours of no communication, she was this close to saying ‘screw it’ and asking Tony to track her nephew down.
Click.
She whirled around, watching as the living room window unlocked and slid open. She narrowed her eyes as her nephew slowly slid through the opening. His suit was covered in dirt and scrapes.
“Where the hell have you been?” She half hissed, half gasped.
“May!”
Peter stumbled slightly, looking like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He used his webs to shut the window without turning away from her.
"I- uh, what’s up?" he asked, clearly trying to deflect from the obvious.
May crossed her arms, glaring at him.
Peter broke eye contact, staring at the ground as he shifted awkwardly.
“Really? ‘What’s up?’ That’s all you have to say?” May’s voice was low, clearly furious.
“I’m sorry, I can explain,” Peter said, turning back to face her. His eyes were wide and guilty, and May almost felt bad for getting upset with him. Almost.
She crossed her arms, her fury turning into a mix of frustration and concern. "Peter, we've talked about this. You can't just disappear like that with no communication. We have rules for a reason. Not only did you disregard your homework, and ignore all of my texts, but you lied to Happy about where you were going."
Peter sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I know, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I just needed some time to cool off."
He sounded worn out and tired, and it hurt her to hear that. As terrified as this whole superhero thing makes her, Peter was still her kid and the innate desire to keep him sheltered and safe grew strong at a time like this. Despite this, May knew she needed to make it clear that he can’t just blatantly disregard the rules like that, but he’s been having a rough week. Getting angry at him for that now won’t help.
That doesn’t mean she won’t tear him a new one later.
May softened a bit. "Peter, if you’re going to do this, you need to communicate with me. A text, a call… something, anything. I need to know that you’re okay."
He paused before shuffling away from the window and towards the couch. Peter basically collapsed onto the soft surface.
“Peter?” she asked, softly. She approached the couch, gently sitting next to her nephew. May couldn’t see his face, as he was practically hunched over, but his shoulders hung defeated. She soothed a hand over his back, her palm coming back dirty and dusty, but she didn’t remove it.
“I- ‘m sorry, May,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I know you didn’t, but you still did. Just… remember this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t think my poor heart can handle it,” May said, trying to make a joke, but it fell flat.
Peter didn’t answer, instead, he leaned into her side, resting his head on her shoulder. He was almost too tall to do this comfortably, she realized. He used to fit under her arm like a puzzle piece, but now…
She knew something else was bothering him, and she almost wanted to ask, but she let silence reign. Peter could never keep quiet for long, he would spit it out eventually.
The house grew silent for a bit. The sound of their breathing, the living room clock, and Tony moving around in Peter’s room were all that remained. She was shocked the other hero hadn’t come out to investigate their argument. He probably had headphones in or zoned out, and didn’t hear them. That was the only reason she could think of why the little nosy bastard wouldn’t have ventured out to see what had happened.
“I found him,” Peter mumbled at last.
May raised an eyebrow, although he couldn’t see it.
“Found who, Peter?” she asked.
He paused before answering.
“The wizard. The one that cursed Mr. Stark.”
May turned to face Peter, shifting the boy off her shoulder. “What do you mean you found the wizard?”
She could hear the alarm in her voice, and she was sure Peter’s enhanced hearing picked up her heart skipping a beat.
That guy managed to break into one of the most secure places in the world and curse a genius superhero who had been in the game for almost a decade with no fight. She didn’t want to imagine Peter facing him as well.
Peter avoided her gaze, instead looking down at his gloved hands.
He took a deep breath in and started to explain. The bangs, the eavesdropping, the fight, and then…
“He slammed you into a wall?” May asked, practically screeching. “Are you hurt?”
Peter shook his head, and she could vaguely make out dust particles falling from his messy curls. “No, I’m fine. I mean- I blacked out for a couple minutes, which wasn’t great, but no injuries but some bruising on my back. My healing factor took care of most of it. Besides…”
“‘Besides’ what?”
Peter hesitated. “I don’t think he actually intended to hurt me. Like… he was shooting blasts that were setting things on fire before I got there. I’m sure he could’ve come at me with the same stuff, but he didn’t.”
May huffed a little at that. “Regardless, I still have to check the bruising out. Both to make sure there aren’t any deeper issues and to soothe my own peace of mind.”
“What bruising?”
May and Peter turned in synchrony, looking behind the couch to the figure standing in the doorway to the living room. Tony had headphones hanging around his neck, as she suspected and was giving them a funny look.
“Mr. Stark…” Peter started, but then cut himself off. Tony focused his gaze on him.
“Did you go patrolling?”
“Well- yes, but-”
“You know that’s against the rules, right?”
May jumped in before things could be taken further. “I’ve already talked with Peter about that, Tony.”
Tony spared a brief glance at her, before fixing his eyes back on Peter.
“Rules exist for a reason, Peter. We’re only trying to look out for you,” Tony said. And, oh, May could see he meant well, but that was just the wrong thing to say.
Peter gave him a sharp glare. “Like you were looking out for me with Flash?”
She didn’t know what Peter was referring to, but May could sense the tension in the room getting much thicker.
Tony tilted his head to the side. “You know about that?”
“Everyone knows about it,” Peter hissed, standing up from the couch.
“Knows about what?” May asked, glancing between the two boys.
“You confronted him in front of the entire cafeteria,” Peter said as if she hadn’t said anything. “Of course, I heard about it.”
“You sound upset,” Tony noted out loud, almost confused about it.
Peter threw his hands up, exasperated. “Gee, I wonder why,” he said, his sarcasm biting.
May slowly rose from the couch as well, trying to figure out how to calm the situation. She rarely saw Peter get angry, but when he did, he had a tendency to not let things go. As much as she doesn’t like Stark, he is a good mentor for Peter and clearly cares about him. May didn’t want Peter to lose that. Plus, after living with him for a couple days, Tony was starting to grow on her.
“He was being a dick to you, I don’t get why you’re mad at me,” Tony defended. It was clear to her that he didn’t understand Peter’s temper one bit. She might not know the full story, but she does know that Peter doesn’t like people picking his battles for him.
“Boys…” May warned, although it went unheeded.
“I don’t need you stepping in to save me or whatever. I had the situation handled. If you trusted me, you would’ve left well enough alone,” Peter scoffed. He moved to walk around the couch.
“I do trust you! I was just looking out for you!” Tony argued right back, an irritated look on his face. Peter walked right by him, just barely avoiding shoulder-checking the other.
“You clearly don’t.”
And with that, he’d slammed the door to his room.
Tony stared shocked at where Peter was just standing, before his gaze slowly returned to May’s.
She pursed her lips, not meeting his eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
May sighed. “I know you don’t.”
“I was just trying to do what you said,” he admitted, his voice shockingly vulnerable. Maybe it was the week of stress, or maybe the sudden influx of teenage hormones, but May had never seen Tony Stark look so unsure of himself. “Did I do something wrong?”
May shook her head slowly before answering. “I don’t know, Peter didn’t mention this to me. I’m sure you tried your best to help him, but sometimes you have to consider what kind of help a person is comfortable accepting, rather than the type you’re used to giving.”
Tony stood there silently for a minute, contemplating his words.
“Should I talk to him?” he asked after a while.
May glanced at the bedroom door, wincing. “Yes, but not now. I’d give him some space to cool off, or you risk starting another fight. Besides, he’s probably showering off all that dust and stuff.”
Tony cleared his throat. “Right, of course. Duh. The kid looked like he walked home in a sandstorm.”
It was a poor attempt at lightening the atmosphere, but an attempt nonetheless. May gave him a weak smile for his efforts.
“I’ll talk to him after school tomorrow, he doesn’t have practice on Fridays,” Tony concluded firmly.
“If that’s your plan, I’d grab some blankets now and prepare for a long night on the couch,” she snorted. Not only was it now covered in dirt from Peter’s little excursion, but it was lumpy and uncomfortable to begin with.
Tony’s face wrinkled up in disgust.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure it will be much more comfortable for you now than it would with your old bones,” she joked. He gave her a dead look.
“At least there’s one benefit of being magically de-aged,” he snarked.
She shrugged with a smile.
“Oh, yes, that reminds me. Peter ran into your little wizard friend.”
“What?!”
—---
Peter took the subway to school today.
By the time Tony woke up, the kid was practically sprinting out the door. He didn’t even get the chance to say good morning.
The events of last night still ran through his mind on repeat. Tony was left reeling after their little argument, with no clue how to resolve it. As much time as they’d been spending together recently, he was crudely reminded that he didn’t really know Peter all that well. No amount of surveillance footage or time spent in the lab talking only about science would help Tony really understand how the kid operates. Unfortunately, they don’t interact much outside of that or the occasional calls with May to discuss Spider-Man.
After May had retired to her room, Tony did what he always does when he’s troubled: he called Pepper.
It felt awkward doing it in the living room, so he slipped out the front door and climbed the stairs to the apartment’s roof. He could understand why Peter liked it up here, it’s calming.
Tony wished he could say the conversation helped, but nothing came of it that he hadn’t already heard from May. Well, except for the reminder that Tony had in fact set up a field trip to Stark Industries for Peter’s class.
Which could be considered meddling.
Which is precisely what Peter didn’t want him to do.
And Tony suggesting that they cancel it before Peter found out earned him an earful from Pepper. They had already reached out to the school, and canceling on them when they had offered would not be a viable solution.
Which sucked for Tony.
It got even worse when Pepper reminded him that he’d expedited the process, so he didn’t have a lot of time to figure out an alternative solution.
The only productive thing to arise was the fact that they had a lead on the wizard guy. Happy had been instructed to pick up Pepper and Rhodey before he came to get Peter and Tony from school, so they could hear the kid’s side of the story. He hadn’t given May a lot of details, so she couldn’t give him much, which meant they’d have to return to the source.
Overall, not a great night for him. And judging by how the morning went, Tony couldn’t imagine his day was about to be much better.
He trudged down the stairs of the building, looking around for Happy’s car. The black Audi was parked where it normally was, but Happy wasn’t sitting inside. Instead, the gruff man was standing on the sidewalk talking to May. She was dressed in her scrubs with a jacket thrown over, clearly about to head to work.
“Tony, you’re late,” Happy greeted him, as he did every day. Tony was of the opinion that he was never late, others just happened to be early.
“Which is why I pay you to be on time,” he said. “Good morning, May.”
She gave him a polite smile. “Hello, Tony. I hope you don’t mind me tagging along with you.”
“I offered to drop May off at work since it’s on the way to the school and her bus is delayed today,” Happy explained, his eyes not straying from her face.
Tony stifled a snort. Happy’s little crush was still going strong. He had to wonder how May felt in return. He wishes he had Pepper’s amazing skill of reading people to help him figure it out. She was always fun to gossip with when he could convince her to do so.
“Of course, May. As a gesture of welcome, I’ll even let you take the front seat,” he joked, gesturing to the car as if he were a game show host.
“How generous of you,” she said, deadpan.
The car ride went in silence on his part. May and Happy chatted up a storm in the front. As much as he would’ve normally participated, he was stuck going over the whole Peter situation. He wasn’t quite sure how to approach the topic with him, or how the whole field trip thing would impact it. Hopefully, they won’t announce the trip for another couple of days, and Tony will have time to sort this whole thing out before it all gets worse.
May wished them both goodbye as Happy pulled up to the hospital. Tony watched passively as she greeted another coworker and they headed in together.
The rest of the drive went quietly. Happy occasionally hummed under his breath, tapping along to a song in his head on the steering wheel. Tony almost wanted to tease the man about his infatuation, but he held his tongue.
Rather, he wished the man goodbye when they got to the school.
A quick scan of the yard didn’t reveal Peter, and Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
He made his way inside, carefully strolling the halls on his way to his locker. Tony still couldn’t see the kid, but that wasn’t surprising considering his own locker was in a different part of the school.
God, he didn’t need to be so nervous about this. He’s dealt with plenty of difficult deals and conversations in his life. One teenage boy with an independent streak shouldn’t be so anxiety-inducing.
It didn’t feel like this a few months ago when Tony first took Peter’s suit. He was pissed, sure, but he wasn’t nervous. He didn’t skirt around the topic, he was upfront with Peter. Maybe that situation didn’t end the best, considering the whole Vulture thing, and maybe there were a few things that Tony could’ve done differently, but overall it worked better than this did.
He didn’t know if it was the whole magic teenager thing, or something else, but it felt like the stakes were higher when they weren’t.
With a huff, he put his jacket and extra textbooks back into the locker. Grabbing a notebook he’d left overnight, he slammed the locker shut. That earned him quite a few looks. He didn’t really care.
Mr. Harrington’s classroom wasn’t far from his locker, but it was still enough of a walk that Tony had time to run into Peter.
Literally.
They both slammed into each other, sending them fumbling backward. Neither fell to the floor, but Tony stumbled back a little more, as he didn’t have the help of genetically enhanced super balance, or whatever.
“Sorry about that,” Tony said after a second, adjusting his footing. “Wasn’t paying attention.”
Peter reached up to fix his hair, giving Tony an odd look.
“It’s okay, I was zoned out too.”
He was quiet, and awkward, as if he didn’t know what to say. Tony could relate.
A few too many seconds passed with the two just standing there before Tony said: “You took the subway?”
Peter blinked, processing the question, and responded after a moment. “Uh, yeah. Just, uh, wanted to get to school early to study for a test.”
Peter didn’t have a test today.
“You think you’re ready?” Tony humored him.
Peter nodded. “Yeah, totally.”
Liar.
“Well, good luck,” Tony said, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder in an attempt to diffuse the tension. “Gotta stay atop the class.”
“Mmhm.”
Peter shuffled around for a second, not meeting Tony’s eyes. He withdrew his hand when it became clear Peter wasn’t going to say anything further.
With a sigh, Tony tilted his head towards Mr. Harrington’s room. “I’m heading to class, you coming?”
“I’ve got to talk with Ms. Samford about my last Calc test, but I’ll be there in a bit,” Peter said, shrugging. “You can go ahead.”
Tony pursed his lips but nodded. “Alright, see you there, underoos.”
He tried throwing in the nickname to see if he could lighten the mood, but Peter just nodded stiffly and went on his way.
He took his normal seat, which was pulling up an extra chair to the trio’s table. Ned wasn’t there yet, but Michelle was sitting and flicking through The Once and Future King. A few other students were milling about, but most hadn’t made their way into class yet.
Tony tapped his fingers against the table, unsure if he should make conversation or not. He didn’t know the girl very well and hadn’t really talked to her outside of their interactions with Peter.
However, he didn’t need to think about it long, as she made the decision for him.
“You talked to Flash,” she said.
“Yes,” Tony answered, even though her statement wasn’t a question.
She turned the page with a bored expression, not bothering to look up at him.
“Interesting move.”
Tony tilted his head, scrutinizing the girl.
“What does that mean?”
She shrugged.
“What do you think it means?”
He scowled.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.”
She just hummed in response.
Tony was about to turn away and fiddle with his phone when she gently closed her book. Michelle looked up at him, her expression neutral.
“Peter was upset about it,” she said, slowly. Tony paused, trying to figure out what she meant by that.
“I know, I got the brunt of it last night,” he said. And it was supposed to be a joke, but his normally silver tongue felt like lead. Instead, the phrase landed heavy and awkward in their conversation.
“You didn’t sort it out, though,” she said, once again making a statement and not asking a question.
She didn’t look away at any point, keeping eye contact. It was starting to unsettle him.
Tony shook his head. “Not yet, no. I’m gonna talk to him after school today.”
She hesitated before saying: “Good.”
She had already opened her book back up before he even considered saying something in response. Michelle was wrapped back up into the pages, and he was left to reconsider their conversation.
It was sweet how the girl looked out for Peter like she didn’t want anyone to know. The kid would be happy to know that his friend did hold him in higher regard than just “another loser”.
A part of him wanted to tell him, but another knew it wasn’t wise to both snitch on Michelle and to let Peter think he needed outside influence to make things right. He was going to do it anyway, but still.
Peter and Ned slid into the classroom right before the bell, harsh whispers traded between them. Tony couldn’t hear what they were discussing as they cut themselves off before they got close to their seats. Peter gave Michelle a small smile but didn’t look at Tony. He tried to not let that sting.
Most everyone else was already seated, and those who weren’t shuffled to their spots when Mr. Harrington cleared his throat. The skittish man fumbled with a stack of papers before he stood from his desk to greet the class.
“Good morning, everyone! I am glad to see you all here. We have a very exciting announcement today!”
Tony went pale.
It couldn’t be-
Were they announcing the field trip today? Had it been finalized that quickly? Pepper is good at her job, but this felt less like an efficiently powerful woman pulling the strings and more like cosmic fate lining up to make his life more difficult than it needs to be.
He glanced sideways at Peter, still blissfully unaware of Tony’s meddling.
Mr. Harrington sped through attendance as soon as the pledge of allegiance had finished. Each name ticked off sounded like the clock on a bomb.
Maybe it was something different, a speaker coming to visit the school, a memo that final exams had been canceled, just something other than the field trip.
But he knew that wouldn’t happen. Tony had been spending far too much time with the kid, his bad luck was rubbing off on him.
When roll call was finished, Mr. Harrington grabbed the pieces of paper from earlier, waving them in the air.
“Class, we were lucky enough to be invited to a very prestigious tour in a few weeks. As a reward for our school’s excellence in STEM, we have been invited to tour their premises, meet a few of their key players, and get your name on their radar for future job opportunities,” he started. Many of those around the class perked up at this. Some still looked hesitant, likely as a result of the teacher’s vagueness, but others were leaning forward in their seats. Tony even noticed Flash put his phone down for once.
To his side, Peter looked somewhat confused, but not overly invested. He doesn’t blame him, the kid doesn’t have a great track record with field trips. Tony probably should have thought of that before coming up with this.
“Which company, Mr. Harrington?” A dark-haired girl in the front - Sandy? Cindy? - asked.
The teacher's smile grew, while Tony sunk further into his seat.
“Stark Industries.”