Peter Moves Out

May had been crying most of the afternoon. She had been going over old photos, messages and even texts between her and Peter over the last two years. Then she used google to look up what Spider-Man had been doing on the exact same days. When she started to cross reference the two, everything started to make more sense. The day Peter missed the science fair and almost got kicked out of school was the same day the Sandman tried to kill everyone at city hall. That twisted knee that had Peter limping all over the place for a week wasn't an injury he got a football tryouts, but instead was an injury suffered at the hand of a man named the Vulture. That day Peter needed his cell phone replaced because it completely fried wasn't by accident like Peter had tried to explain. Her nephew had said it fell into a water fountain while at the park with Mary Jane. Another lie, May discovered, as it was the same day Spider-Man had an epic clash in the city with Electro whose powers is what likely really fried Peter's android. She had drunk another bottle of wine while Peter was out and while she was tempted to make something for dinner, she instead chose to order out. A half hour after placing her order, May answered the door and took the large bag of food from the delivery man after paying him and giving him a generous tip as well. When she walked back into the dining room, there was someone waiting for her. Hanging from the ceiling by his web, looking at her upside down, was Spider-Man. She stood there with the bags in her hand, resisting an urge to throw them at the small super hero.

"Is that our favorite take out?" Spider-Man asked, "It's been forever since we ordered from the iron pork chop."

May deeply exhaled as the voice coming from Spider-Man was the same she had been hearing for the last ten years. It really was him, her nephew.

"Yes," May said as she put the food down on the dining room table. "Since you've been swinging through downtown, I'd like you to wash your hands for supper."

Spider-Man removed his mask, which was still shocking to May, seeing her nephew's head on the body of the famed hero. "Alright, be right back!"

Peter leaped into the hallway and walked to the bathroom. Moments later her returned to the kitchen with his gloves removed and it showed the mechanical web shooters attached to his forearms. She watched as he removed then both from his arms and placed them on a chair that was in the corner of the room.

"Where did you get those?" she asked, pointing to the shooters.

"I made them," Peter answered, as he sat down. "Thanks, I am starving!"

They both sat down and started to eat, filling their plates with various foods that were ordered from the family run Chinese restaurant. May was slow to eat as she couldn't help but keep staring at Peter as his Spider-Man uniform was very distracting.

"I can change if this makes you uncomfortable." Peter offered as he could tell what she was looking at.

"It's okay," May said, finally speaking. "I'm just having a hard time accepting what you've been doing the last two years."

"I'm sorry," Peter said, as he stopped eating. "I want you to know this isn't something I pursued. I didn't want to become Spider-Man, it just happened. Gwen was posing at the Spider cages and asked me to take her picture. I had no idea one of the spiders has broken out and built a web above where I was standing. After it had bitten me, the lab found it and returned it to the tanks so no one else was attacked. They had no idea it had bitten me, and I didn't exactly tell anyone either."

"I get that," May said, "It was an accident, but what made you choose to become a superhero?"

Peter paused for a moment. "Uncle Ben."

"Peter," May said, as she assumed what was coming next, "What happened to your Uncle was not your fault."

"It was," Peter said as he put his fork down, feeling ashamed. "I could have stopped him, but I didn't."

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"I witnessed a robbery," Peter explained, "I had the power to stop the guy but I didn't want to risk getting hurt. I stood by and let the man commit the crime and then run away. I had no idea he was going to shoot Uncle Ben and steal his car..."

"Oh Peter," May said, realizing what had happened, "You had no idea what the man would do next, you're not telepathic. Right?"

"No, no telepathy." Peter confirmed, "But what happened to Uncle Ben really got to me, and that wasn't just because I was related to him. What would happen the next time I chose not to use my power? Whose uncle, father or mother would die next because I refused to use my powers for good? Ben had told me the day before he died that with great power came great responsibility, and his death taught me that if you don't step up to fight injustice, there was no guarantee anyone else would. That day I vowed to never stand by and let bad people get away with anything anymore. That was the day Spider-man was born."

May had tears in her eyes as everything made much more sense. She got out of her chair and hugged her nephew, as she knew what it felt like to feel guilty about what happened to Uncle Ben. She had ordered Ben to drive out and pick Peter up from the library because she didn't' want Peter taking the subway home. They had a fight that afternoon because Ben didn't want to baby Peter and thought he was old enough to make his way home. She insisted and when Ben was killed that afternoon, she had blamed herself for not trusting Ben's instincts and ordering him to drive out to his own death. The thought that Peter had been carrying around the same guilt for Ben broke her heart as she held onto him, understanding that what happened was no one's fault by the man who pulled the trigger. After a few moments, May kissed Peter's brow and then returned to her seat.

"I thought you'd be a lot angrier." Peter confessed.

"Oh, I'm angry," May corrected him, "But at the same time I'm a little proud. While you did lie to me... a lot, at the same time I read countless articles this afternoon about all the people Spider-Man saved over the last two years: the people at the parade from the Sandman, the train that Octavous tried to run off the rails and even the standoff with the Goblin on the bridge. Do you have any idea how many people you've actually saved?"

"No," Peter honestly replied, "I don't keep count of that. The only number I keep track of is the people that didn't make it."

"Oh Peter," May said, as she had never come across anything online about people dying. "How many have you lost?"

"Captain Stacey," Peter replied, "On the roof tops against the Lizard. Then where was Gwen..."

"Hold on," May said as she stopped eating, "You were there when Gwen died? I was under the impression she had fallen and broken her neck."

Now Peter was the one who was tearing up. "She fell because the Goblin dropped her off a building. I tried to save her but the whiplash from the force of stopping her fall snapped her neck. It was my fault..."

"Peter," May said as she wiped her eyes with a napkin, "Accidents like this happen all the time, just not to someone as young as you. Police officers are sometimes forced to put civilians unintentionally in harm's way. They don't mean to, but sometimes it's unavoidable when stuck in extraordinary situations."

"I know," Peter said, "That was a long time ago. I'm working through it."

The two of them sat at the table for the next ten to twenty minutes, eating their food in silence. A lot of deep stuff had been shared, and both of them felt emotionally exhausted from it. As much as May wanted to pry for more, learn more about what her nephew had been doing, she thought it would be wise to move onto something different.

"So," May started, "Where did Mr. Richard's take you after you left here?"

"To his tower," Peter answered, "I got to meet the rest of the fantastic four!"

"Wow," May said, going with it as Peter sounded excited, "How was that?"

"It was unreal," Peter said, as he was indeed excited, "Ben is so much bigger in person, he's almost the same size as the Hulk!"

"You know the Hulk?" May asked.

"His name is Bruce," Peter replied, "And he broke your piano."

"Oh," May said, as she remembered him saying that earlier in the day.

"Then where was Johnny, the human torch!" Peter said, resuming his story about the Tower, "He really does light on fire all over! I hope there are a lot of sprinklers in the building because my new room is right next to his."

"Peter," May interrupted, "Are you sure you're ready for this? Joining the Fantastic Four and fighting with them?"

"I am," Peter replied, "And Reed was right. Going out there alone was reckless and dangerous. There were days when I went to bed bruised and bleeding and I still had to wake up the next day and fight again. I'm even willing to admit that some battles were won by sheer luck, and I can survive that long depending on it to bail me out every time I go out there. This is the right thing to do. They'll have my back and I'm looking forward to having theirs too."

"That's all I needed to hear," May said, as she resumed eating. The talk she had with Reed Richards about Peter's adventures were indeed right. It was only a matter of time before a villain got lucky and put Peter into the ground. With the team, he would stand a chance of lasting a lot longer and Reed had called his team a family, something Peter would benefit from when living at the tower. She could tell by how Peter talked about his tour of the facilities within the towers and the access he would have to the foundations resources that he would be able to excel intellectually as well as physically when working with Reed. While she was afraid of what the future might hold, May was sure that Peter had a bright future, and it was time for her to step out of the way and allow him to soar as high as he possible could. She would start packing for her new home the next morning.