Is There A Special Someone?
“Do you want to race back down?” Peter was in such a state of adrenaline, he nodded quickly at Steve and got up immediately. Steve reached into his backpack to hand Peter a water bottle and then they were off.
They kept up with each other for the most part, running side by side, letting gravity and momentum keep them going. But near the bottom, Steve slowed down to let Peter win.
Peter was fine with it. There was little to nothing that could ruin the ecstasy that he was feeling. He wanted to turn around and go back to kissing Steve but he knew he had to wait.
They headed back to Steve’s car and got in. Peter knew there was a pending conversation they needed to have, but didn’t know when it would happen. Steve started the car and then drove off. Peter knew that if he had stalled he would’ve been tempted to kiss him again. Now that they’d both officially soberly made out, it was like the dam wall had come crashing down and the mass of water was allowed to rush in and quench both of their thirsts.
They sat in silence most of the ride back to MCU, though Peter could tell Steve was deep in thought. Finally the man spoke up, “So I probably won’t see you again until next week.”
“Are we hiking again next week?”
“Yeah, we can.” He went back into his thoughts for a number of seconds. “We should put a bookmark in this until then.”
Peter raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, let’s take this week to evaluate things. Put an end to some previous chapters. Prepare for chapters to come. Just, put a bookmark on things.”
“Ah,” Peter replied, still not exactly knowing what Steve meant. He just didn’t want to go backwards and have Steve regret his actions again. He wanted to move forward with whatever they were doing. He wanted to continue kissing Steve and more. He wanted to lose his virginity to the man.
When they got to Peter’s dorm building, he got out of the car and so did Steve. “So I’ll see you next week?” the man asked.
“Next week,” Peter said. They hugged and Peter couldn’t help but give him a kiss on the cheek as a reminder. Or a keepsake to last him the week. A taste of what he could have and what he was missing.
Steve left and Peter went up to his room to get ready for class. He didn’t message Steve the rest of the day or the next, and Steve didn’t message him either. It seemed they were giving each other space to think about things. Peter didn’t have much to think about. He didn’t have past chapters to close. He only had the future chapters to look forward to.
After class on Wednesday, Peter got back to his dorm room and was surprised to see his Aunt May there. He’d been so busy thinking about Steve, he had forgotten that she was picking him up to head back home for the weekend. Peter quickly packed up and headed down to Aunt May’s truck with her.
“Okay, you have to tell me everything,” Aunt May said once they were on the road. “All the non-school related stuff I mean. Parties, girlfriends, drugs, everything.”
Peter laughed. “How do you know I haven’t just been doing schoolwork? I’m pretty boring, Aunt May.”
“Oh please, Peter,” she replied. “You’ve been having so much fun you forgot I was coming. If you were really having as much of a boring time as you want me to think, you would’ve been packed and waiting for me to show up.”
“Or maybe I was having so much fun with schoolwork that I forgot about everything else.”
“Yeah, schoolwork. Sounds like a lot of fun. Is that her name? Schoolwork?”
“There is no her,” Peter said. He wasn’t technically lying. But he wasn’t going to come out to her while they were driving. If he did it, it would be once they were safe at home. And Peter would make sure the car keys were hidden so she couldn’t run off to go get into a car accident.
“Alright, fine,” May conceded. “But there has to have been parties. You’re still too happy to only be doing schoolwork. I know college can get crazy and the only thing that relieves all that stress is partying.”
“Alright, there have been a few parties,” Peter relented.
“What’s your drink of choice?”
“Water,” Peter said, knowing she wouldn’t accept that.
“Liar,” she said. “I’ll get the truth out of you Peter Parker. I always do.”
Thanksgiving was still experimental. The year before had been their first Thanksgiving without Ben and they had gone over to celebrate with Ned’s family because May didn’t want it to be just the two of them. Peter had fun but it didn’t feel genuine in a way. He could tell May wasn’t completely comfortable, though he didn’t know if it was because she wasn’t in control or if it was because Ben wasn’t there.
So this year, Peter wanted it to just be the two of them. When they got home Wednesday evening, they put on The Great British Bake Off and started prepping for the next day, while May tried to get Peter to open up to her about life in college.
Then, in the morning, they began to cook everything. By the time the food was ready in the afternoon, they were ready to eat. It was a lot of food for just the two of them, but they knew it would last them the rest of the weekend, if not longer.
After eating, they sat on the couch digesting and watching White Christmas. It was their yearly tradition and it was the only thing Peter and May had done the year before that felt like Ben was still there with them.
After the movie, Peter went to refill his plate for seconds and May followed him into the kitchen. “So you’re really not gonna tell me anything about college?” May asked.
“I don’t know what to tell you. You’re my aunt. It feels weird telling you things.”
“Peter, you’re an adult. You don’t even live here anymore really. I’m not gonna judge you for doing things I did when I was your age.” Peter remained silent. “Okay, look.” May opened one of the cabinets and brought out some bottles of liquor. “I don’t know what your drink of choice is so I bought a little of everything so that you can open up to me. I want you to be able to trust me.”
“I’m not old enough,” Peter said, eyeing a bottle of vodka.
“Oh bullshit,” May said. “You’re not going out driving anywhere and I’m not going to turn myself in for getting you drinks. Let’s just have fun. Let’s take a shot, come on. Please? For me?” She paused. “For Ben?”
Peter eyed the vodka again. Maybe with some liquid courage he could open up to May and tell her about everything. Or at least that he was bisexual. That was the biggest thing he’d been keeping from her and what he was most afraid of letting her know. “Fine. For Uncle Ben.”
“Yes! Thank you Ben!” May quickly took out some shot glasses and slid them over to Peter. “Go on. You pour.”
Peter knew this was just a way to get him to reveal his drink of choice. He took the bottle of vodka and swirled it around a little before setting it down. Then he went for a bottle of tequila and opened it. He poured a shot into each glass and then slid one over back to May.
“Oh you want us to get fucked up I see,” she said. Peter just shrugged. “Alright, ready? On three. One...two...three!”
After taking their shots, Peter went into the fridge to take some orange juice to use as a mixer and made himself a screwdriver to May’s pleasant surprise. She asked for one too and then praised him for the mostly juice mix.
They went back into the living room to put on some more background noise on the tv and talk. Peter admitted that he’d gone to a few parties with his roommate and drank there. Then a few drinks in, Peter admitted he had a fake ID and that he’d gone to a bar a few times. May was surprised by this but didn’t seem angry about it. She told a few stories about her college days and getting into bars just using her good looks without even having an ID.
Peter had to stop himself from drinking anymore when the subject came around to his love life. He didn’t want to start playing the pronoun game so he didn’t want to talk about it at all. But May was insistent that he had to have someone keeping him happy.
“You don’t think I’m enough to keep myself happy?” he asked.
“I know you’re enough, Peter. I just feel like you’re hiding something from me. Someone. Maybe her name is May too so you think it’s weird? Or maybe she’s a little nerd like you and you think I’ll think she’s weird? Or maybe she’s just another version of Michelle and you don’t want me to tell her?”
“You talk to Michelle?”
“I see her from time to time. Caught her hiding from me at the supermarket a few times.”
“She does that,” he said with a laugh.
“But really, Peter. Is there a special someone?”
Peter finished off his drink and sank into the couch. He didn’t want to hide it from her, but he didn’t want to full on admit everything. Especially since he and Steve weren’t officially together and all they had done was kiss. “Kinda,” he finally said.
“Kinda?”
“There is someone, but...we’re not like together or anything.”
“I mean, it’s college. You’re allowed to play the field. As long as you’re playing safe and being honest. I don’t want any grand-nephews or nieces just yet.”
“It hasn’t even gotten to that,” he said. He wasn’t going to tell her that there was no chance of pregnancy with Steve.
“Oh,” May responded with a smile. “Well don’t wait around forever, Peter. You uncle didn’t win me over with just kisses and sweet talk.”
“I so don’t need to hear about that, Aunt May.”
They laughed and then May said, “I’ll be ready to tell when you’re ready to hear.” She chugged the rest of her drink and got up. “And I’m ready to hear when you’re ready to tell. But whoever this girl is, I hope she knows how lucky she is to have you.”
Peter just smiled, wondering what she would say if she knew about Steve and how he was ten years older than him.
“Alright, I think I’m gonna go to bed,” May said. “I can already feel a headache coming on. And I feel like I’ve bullied enough information out of you for the night.”
“Good night, May.”
“Good night, Peter. Love you.”
“Love you too.”