Chapter One
Peter groans as he alarm wakes him with it’s incessant screeching. It was Monday, the worst day of the week in his opinion, especially since he’d stayed up late last night watching Star Wars. He rolls out of his bed, and pads softly down the hallway to the kitchen.
“May?” He asks as he turns the corner, smiling as he catches sight of his aunt.
“Ah! Penny, you’re up! Ben is making breakfast today, so hurry and get ready so you have time to eat!” She smiles softly at him.
“Alright, May.” He smiles back, and turns back into the hallway, heading towards the bathroom.
He brushes his teeth, and then he goes and grabs a clean hair of clothes. He catches a sight of himself in the mirror as he changes, and almost wants to recoil. He stares, hating how he looks, before snapping himself out of it when he hears his name called. He throws a blanket over the mirror, and finishes getting dressed. He jogs into the kitchen after plastering a smile on his face.
“Morning Ben!” He grins, almost able to fully hide his previous expression behind a plastered on mask.
“Good morning, Penny. I only had time to make eggs today, be good for your aunt while I’m gone.” Ben chuckles and ruffles his hair as he walks past and out of the door.
Peter’s smile turns more genuine, and he sits down at the island to eat the plate of eggs present. He checks the time, and hurriedly scarfs down the rest of his eggs before grabbing his bag and rushing towards the door.
“Bye May! See you after school!” He shouts in the general direction he thinks she’s in, before bolting out of the apartment so that he doesn’t miss his train.
The rest of the day, and the ones after that leading up to Ben’s funeral pass by in a blur. He’s probably in shock, he thinks, but he couldn’t really be bothered to care. In one day, his entire life had been completely flipped around. Ben was dead, and now he had these weird powers, and he just couldn’t be bothered to care about anything really.
Ned showed up to the funeral. Peter shouldn’t have been surprised, he had known Ned basically his whole life. They put ‘Penny’ in the obituary. He stopped reading after that.
The people blurred together as more and more come to give him their condolences, and by the end of the funeral, he just wanted to go home and never show his face again. He was tired, and he didn’t want to deal with the pitying glances he knew he would recieve at school for the next month or so.
He knows he shouldn’t care, but the dress he had to wear is tight and itchy. He hates it, and wishes he could burn it. May would get upset if he started a fire though, so he settles on burrying it deep inside of his closet and praying he never sees it again.
He does end up going to school the next morning anyways. May had too much to worry about for him to bother her with staying home. All of his classes were dead silent, and everyone stared. Teachers pulled him aside, offering condolences and telling him to just ‘Stop by if you need anything, Penny.’
Peter hated every second of it. When he gets home, he pulls out an old sweatsuit he never wears, and he gets to work on it. Ben had said that with great power, comes great responsibility, and Peter would be a lier if he tried to say this new power wasn’t great.
He wanted to help people, he wanted to make sure that things like this don’t happen anymore, that no one else loses a family member like he had. He knows it’s an impossible mission, but he also doesn’t care. He’ll be damned if he doesn’t try.
A week later, once he finishes his make-shift suit, he asks May for a haircut. He wants to be Spider-Man, and nobody would believe him if his hair went down to his waist, would they?
They cut his hair that Saturday, in the bathroom. It’s nowhere near perfect, hell, it isn’t even good, but Peter loves it all the same. He hides the choppy layers behind too much hair gel, and he finally uncovers his mirror.
He starts sneaking out at night to patrol, which isn’t hard since May has started picking up more shifts at the ER. When he has the chance, he also patrols after school, but he prefers to spend what little time he has with May and doing his homework.
The months pass by, and things settle. He’s certainly not happy, but he thinks he’s gettinf close. May is able to start taking less shifts as the payments for the funeral slow down, and finally, on a Sunday afternoon, he decides to tell her.
Not the part about him being a vigilante, she’d definitely murder him, no, he tells her something far more important. He had been waiting to tell her for a while now, and he figured that there wasn’t going to be a better time to.
Once she gets home, and they’re settled infront of the TV, he decides that it’s time. He pauses the episode of The Office that was running in the background, and turns to face her.
“May? I, uh, I have something to tell you.” He mumbles, too nervous to speak louder.
“What was that Penny? I couldn’t hear you, honey.” May smiles at him in that reassuring way she does, and he gathers his courage.
“I have something to tell you, May.” He fiddles nervously with his sleeve as he looks up ag her.
“What is it, honey?”
“I… May, I’m…” He should have thought this through better, planned out what he was going to say, but it’s too late for that now. If he backs out he’ll loose his nerve.
She waits patiently as he gathers his words, that same reassuring smile as before ever present on her face.
“May, I’m a boy.” He can’t look at her, he doesn’t want to see her reaction if it’s bad.
He doesn’t have to be looking though to feel her wrap her arms around him in a tight hug.
“Honey, I will always love you, no matter what. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever make me love you any less.” She says it so gentle, yet firm, that he breaks down. Tears of relief pour down his face, and he hugs her back just as tight.
“Is there a different name you’d like me to call you? I’m assuming Penny doesn’t quite fit, yeah?” She smiles down at him, and he smiles back, even though his is a little wobbly around the edges.
“Peter, Peter Benjamin.”
“I think it’s perfect, Peter.”
By the end of the night, they’d both cried a little. They talked for hours about their plan going forward, and May promised to have a talk with his principal once he was ready. They packed away all of his ‘girl’ clothes into boxes, and May is going to donate them on Wednesday.
They talk about a binder, but May says no. She explains that he’s only 14, and binding could hurt his body if he’s not careful. He understands, but he doesn’t like it.
They make a compromise in the end. Peter can have a binder for his 15th birthday, so long as he researches properly, and promises to wear it safely. Until then, May will get him a compression bra, which should do a decent enough job on his small chest.
The next day, he decides to invite Ned over after school to tell him. They have homeroom together, so as soon as they’re seated, he brings it up.
“Hey, Ned.”
“Yeah, Penny?”
“Do you wanna come over after school? I’ve kinda got something I wanna talk about.” He asks nervously.
“Oh, sure! I have to ask my Nona first, but if she says yes, then I’d love to.” Ned smiles, and Peter already know that he’ll be accepted.
He’s right, of course. Ned is his best friend, and he assures Peter that nothing as small as ‘Being a dude instead of a girl’ will change that. Peter loves his best friend, and he’s pretty sure that he can say Ned loves him too.
Peter still isn’t quite happy yet, but he knows now that he will be. He has his aunt and his best friend in his corner now, and he knows that things will get better