Chapter 19
"Go lay down, sweetie. I'm gonna start some soup, and get your medications ready from the doctor, okay?"
May waited until she got a noncommital nod from her nephew, soon followed by him leaving the doorway, where he'd been leaning for support. It wasn't long before he could see him flop down onto his bed with a groan. Her heart broke, and it wasn't until after she watched him curl up with his pillow that she turned away. A pot was soon on the stove with boiling water - they didn't have many options for soup, especially with her skills, but she knew he probably wouldn't complain about receiving some chicken ramen in lieu of something homemade.
The doctor wasn't much help - never usually was. Just ordered some pain reliever/fever reducers, and a refill on his inhaler with a note to 'keep an eye on the bite location and his asthma'.
She didn't know why she bothered. He had been entirely unhelpful, so it had been yet another wasted doctor's visit that would probably cost her way more than she could afford. But she would always bother when it came to Peter, no matter how unhelpful or how much it would cost. Something was wrong with her nephew - she'd seen her nephew sick countless times - this wasn't exactly new for the pair of them. But this felt different. She couldn't exactly call it a mother's instinct - was an Aunt's instinct the same? Not to mention that it came right after being bitten by something on his class field trip. Peter claimed not to know what bit him, but she couldn't get over the feeling that there was something he was hiding from her which made the entire situation worse, because normally, Peter was an open book.
He shared everything with her, or so - she thought he did.
But while he was as sick as he was, she wasn't about to start interrogating him for it now.
She grabbed the inhaler, and a wet washcloth and joined Peter in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed. Her nephew was curled up, his knees pulled up to his chest with his eyes squeezed shut and his glasses still half way on his face. "Oh, honey..."
All she got in response was an incoherent mumble followed by another groan. "You think you might be able to sit up for some ramen?" She leaned closer and rested her hand on his forehead only to immediately yank it back. "Oh my god, Peter. How is your fever worse?"
"'M'not hungry, May. Can I jus'sleep?" Peter mumbled into his pillow, curling in even tighter on himself as he pulled further away from her. May bit down on her lip, worry growing in her gut, making her stomach churn. She needed to find a better doctor. Damned idiot said he was going to be fine. How the hell was this fine.
"Okay, sweetie. The soup can wait," She murmured, patting his forehead with the cool washcloth and wiping away the sweat that beading on his forehead. It didn't matter how many times she'd seen Peter miserable - it never made the next time any easier. And unfortunately, there always seemed to be a next time. Her poor boy never seemed to catch a break. If anyone deserved to catch a break, it was Peter.
Yet, here they were.
The sound of something sizzling in the kitchen made her jump. "Shit," She cursed under breath, then carefully folded the cloth over Peter's forehead before running to shut off the stove and pull off the pot to stop it from boiling over. Once her mess was cleaned up, she leaned up against the wall with an exhausted sigh. It was times like this when she really felt like she was failing him, and she was brought back to that day she found out she was going to be his new permanent guardian and she'd doubted herself.
As if on queue, as if he knew the turn her thoughts were heading - her husband rushed through the door.
"May, I got here as soon as I could. How is he? What happened?"
May let out a breath of relief the second she saw her husband, and quietly, she filled him on any information she hadn't already told him in her voicemail. "Not much we can do now, according to his idiot doctor. But I don't think I've ever seen his fever so high, Ben." She was just... so tired.
"I'll go sit with him for a little while. You go lay down. I'll wake you if anything changes - nuh-uh- don't even try to argue. May, I know you're probably exhausted. I can see it written all over your face. Let me help." May bit down on her lip, glancing between Peter's room and her husband. She was more emotionally tired than physically, but she could tell by the determination and worry on Ben's face that he wasn't going to give in.
"Fine. One hour. I'll go lay down for one hour. If anything happens before then. You wake me up." And if she wasn't so tired, and worried out of her mind, she might have laughed at the stupid salute her husband gave her before retreating to their nephew's room.
---
Peter had been in and out for the past week. Which made it three weeks now since her entire world had been turned upside down. Five years had gone by without her and half the population, leaving an entire world out there that she knew nothing about. She'd half read some articles, in her spare time - an ill attempt to catch herself up with the rest of the world. But it was pointless, when the only thing that really mattered was laying in a hospital bed, after having nearly died from saving the world.
The longest stretch of time that he managed to stay awake had been about five hours, and it didn't take long after the first day he woke up to figure out that having too many people in the room at once overwhelmed him. So begrudgingly, a visitor limit was set. Two people max at a time. If they could all agree on one thing, it was that stressing Peter out was not going to help him heal.
It was her "turn" again, and god did she hate that she had to share her nephew. Most of all with Tony, and deep down, she knew that wasn't fair. He'd more than proven how much he cared about Peter. Had even thrown more than one olive branch for peace at her and she was trying to accept them - she really was. It was just... a lot to wrap her head around on top of everything else.
With every passing day, Peter had been growing more frustrated at the rate he was healing. He’d grown accustomed to his new Spider-Man healing factor and while it was still there- to him, it felt like it wasn’t. Something he reminded each of them every day when he wasn’t able to breathe right because his lungs were still healing or had trouble walking to the bathroom by himself.
He was miserable, and that in turn was making everyone else miserable. May somehow felt more helpless since he’d been waking up and getting more lucid than she did when he was unconscious.
Which was one of the reasons she was ready to suggest to Tony that they take him up on his offer.
She knew Pepper had already been making arrangements for them.
Wakanda was great- and there was literally no where better to be. But it was both hers and Jemma’s thought that if Peter felt less isolated, and like he was trapped in a hospital, it could do him a lot of good.
“Honey, I think Fitz is going to come in for a bit, okay? I need to go have a chat with Tony.”
Peter had been laying there with his eyes closed, but May could tell he was awake. He kept fidgeting with the blanket and making frustrated noises - at what, May wasn’t sure. His eyes snapped open when May broke their silence, and he eyed her suspiciously for a minute.
”What did he do now?” His tone sounded accusing, but she couldn’t tell if it was her or him he was agitated with. Maybe it was both of them.
”He hasn’t done anything - well... that’s not true. I’m sure there’s something he’s doing right now I’ll find annoying. But I’m not going to hunt him down to yell at him. Just want to talk about something. If you need either of us, Fitz can call us back at any time, you know that, right?”
Peter just hummed and closed his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I’ll be fine. Make sure you go further than right outside the door if you want some privacy. I’ll be listening,” he warned, giving her one more side eye followed by a smirk - which made her heart clench. It wasn’t a full Peter Parker smile yet, but it was the closest she’d seen to one since the morning he’d left for his field trip.