Chapter 1
The first thing Peter hears when he wakes up is the sound of rain softly pattering against his window. He opens his eyes a crack and he sees a shaft of dim light illuminate the wall beside his bed. He can hear John's snores through the wall still and May in the kitchen starting the coffee maker. He feels a small sense of relief that he will be able to spend some time with May without John around, and instantly feels guilty for thinking that. He should be happy to spend time with him, but he just can't bring himself to genuinely regret the thought. He changes into a pair of grey sweatpants and a t-shirt quietly before opening his door and stepping into the hall. He makes a stop at the bathroom and then joins May in the kitchen.
"Good morning Peter," May says with a smile on her face as she turns to face him.
"Good morning May. How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good sweetie, how about you?"
"Fine," Peter responds. Truthfully, he had been on his phone until around midnight and was hoping to sleep in this morning as it was Saturday, but alas, here he is, up at 7am. He smiles at May before stepping around her to grab a piece of bread to toast. He wishes it could be like this all of the time. Just him and May. When it's just him with May he can relax, feel peaceful. But unfortunately, that peace can only last so long, "Good morning," A gruff voice calls from the hall.
"Good morning," both Peter and May respond. May walks towards the hallways and meets John at the edge where they embrace. Peter chooses to focus on buttering his toast. He looks at the floor as he makes his way to the table to eat. Their apartment is quite small, thanks New York rent, so their dining room table is partly in the kitchen. As May and John continue talking he sits down at the seat where his back is facing their living room. He looks down at his toast before taking a bite. May gets up and walks down the hall towards her room to get ready for work as John says, "Hey, Pete?" Peter looks up to John before responding,
"Yeah?"
"Is that your breakfast?" He looks down at the bread in Peter's hand with raised eyebrows.
"Um... Yeah," Peter responds, somewhat timidly.
"That's a ridiculously small amount of food for a whole meal, don't you think? You're a growing boy Peter, you need to eat much more than that." John states, anger seeping into his tone.
"Okay"
"Come on Peter, you think at this age you would know how to feed yourself. I mean how hard is it to make yourself breakfast? Is it really so hard that you can't even make yourself some cereal or something? Do you really think that what you're eating is healthy?" Of course Peter knows that a piece of bread isn't the healthiest or the most hardy, he's seventeen for christ sake, but he honestly hasn't felt very hungry lately. He also got into the habit of trying not to eat too much because he knows how expensive food is. And before John came along money was really tight. Not responding right away was obviously not the right thing to do, because now John is even more upset. "Peter? Do you? Because if you do there's something seriously wrong."
"Sorry, I'll go and make some cereal," Peter responds, tone flat.
"Good," John says before moving towards the coffee maker and grabbing a mug. Peter finishes his toast quickly and stands, moving towards the cupboards to grab a bowl. He feels apathetic and numb as he sets it on the counter and grabs the box of cheerios and milk. John finishes making his coffee beside him and goes into the living room and sits on his chair, grabbing the remote from the side table to turn on the tv as he does so. The quiet voices from the tv mix with the patter of rain on the windows as Peter grabs a spoon and sits at the table facing the living room. He tries to finish the cereal as fast as he can so he can leave for his room.
After he cleans his bowl and spoon in the sink and puts them on the drying rack he goes to walk down the hall to his room, but is stopped by John. "Hey," John calls out to Peter.
"Yeah?"
"You know that I was only saying that because I want you to be healthy, right? I only said it because I want to make sure that you're eating good," He says.
"Yeah, I know."
"Good, good," John says before returning his gaze towards the tv. Peter walks to his room and as soon as he shuts his door behind his back he can feel some of the tension leave his shoulders.