Ch 22 after May found out

There was a silence after May's audible, "What the fuck?"

Peter slowly turned around, dropping the mask on the floor of his room. He quickly shook his head. "May- May- its not what it looks like!" he cried, unsure of what her response would be, but he figured it would probably be panic.

May shook her head in disbelief at her nephew's stupidity. "So what am I supposed to think Peter? You're wearing a Spiderman suit."

"It's just that. It's a suit. Mr. Stark made it –" he saw May's face twist into one of anger, and immediately bit his tongue. Clearly mentioning Mr. Stark was not going to be beneficial to the conversation at all.

"He knows! He knew?" May cried, storming back into the kitchen with Peter trailing after her like a lost puppy. She threw the wooden spoon she'd been holding into the pot on the stove with a loud bang, causing Peter to shrink a little. His heightened senses were easily affected by noise.

"This is the Stark Internship, isn't it?" May asked after a moment of contemplation. She didn't know what to do with this newest tidbit of information. None of the parenting books or copious amounts of Dr. Phil episodes ever covered what to do when your child was a vigilante.

Peter was quiet before muttering "yes."

May nodded, hands on her hips. She stared at the boy for a few minutes, not caring how uncomfortable he was growing. "And how long has this been going on?" she questioned.

Peter flopped down onto a nearby chair. "About a year," he replied, not knowing what would happen next. He knew once May found out how long he'd had his powers, she would be able to determine roughly when it happened. Unfortunately, that meant that she would also realize he had these powers when Ben had died. And that was a conversation Peter was not excited to have.

May nodded, pursing her lips before pulling out the chair next to him. "Why didn't you tell me when this happened?" she asked. "If I had known –"

Peter sighed. "May, I wanted you to know. I really did, its just…. I thought it would be safer this way, you know?" He fiddled with the placemat in front of him, "I wanted to keep you safe. That's why I didn't tell you."

May ran a hand through Peter's hair. "I think you're forgetting something. It's my job to keep you safe. You're my baby, and after Ben…. Wait, did you have these powers before Ben…?"

Peter nodded his head. "Yeah, I did."

May was speechless. On one hand she was surprised that Peter, who had been out in the streets fighting crime, stopping muggings and robberies, didn't use his powers to keep his uncle safe. But on the other she wanted to give him a chance. She could never be mad at him, but if she knew what he was thinking, maybe it would allow her to get a better grasp on why he was doing what he was doing. She didn't know how to touch on the subject without sounding accusatory, and Peter must have picked up on this, because he began to explain his story, unprompted.

"I didn't know what was happening to me at first. I got bit by this spider during a field trip to Oscorp. And I started getting sick later that day. You remember that right? I was vomiting everywhere, had a really bad fever. You and Ben wanted to take me to the ER, but I told you not to. Whatever it was would pass."

May remembered the day immediately. Peter had shown up from school drenched in sweat, a pale green ting to his skin and was shaking like no ones business. Ben hadn't returned home from work yet, and immediately Peter had run to the washroom, where he'd begun vomiting profusely. May, who was in her room, quickly ran to check on him, and found him in the worst state she'd ever seen. After helping him up, she forced him to take a cold shower, which did nothing to the fever. He'd been like that for the entire day, and when Ben had come home, the pair were arguing to take Peter to the ER, but he was so stubborn that they gave up hours later, after making a deal that if he wasn't better by the morning, they'd tie him up and drag him there anyways.

However, Peter had woken up the next day just fine. Not only that, but he seemed different. He wasn't wearing his glasses, he was sitting up straight, like he was constantly on alert. He was eating a lot more than he usually did. The kid was positively glowing. She and Ben were shocked when he hopped out the door and headed off to school that day. The pair were sure he was faking it, but after seeing him come home that evening, he was better than ever, so they'd just let him be.

"I remember sweetie," she said, resting her hand on his. "We were both so worried that you wouldn't let us take you to the hospital."

Peter nodded. "I didn't want anyone to find anything unusual, and start asking questions. This spider bite, it changed me. I didn't need my glasses anymore, all my senses are heightened and I'm freakishly strong now. It was so different, but so cool. I didn't know what to do, and it was a lot to get used to. I started getting this idea, you know, that maybe I was given these powers for a reason. I spent my whole life unable to help people, my parents, and now I could! And it was great and all, but then there was that night, when I had that argument with Ben."

May nodded again. It was one of the worst nights in her life. Peter and Ben had gotten into an argument when Peter had forgotten to call to let them know where he was. The kid turned up at 2 in the morning, and when Ben had launched in to his 'Responsibility Sermon' as she and Peter had coined it, the kid had lost it. They'd never seen Peter so angry and when he stormed out, Ben had gone after him.

"I was testing out the webbing I created that evening, and I lost track of time. When I finally got back, Ben was ripping into me, and I – I couldn't tell him what I'd been doing, and I was so angry that he wasn't giving me a chance to explain. So I said a bunch of stuff I didn't mean and I stormed out. Went to the convenience store by Delmar's and the guy at the till got mad because I didn't have enough money. And then this other guy came in, and tried to rob the place. And the clerk looked at me for help, but I was so mad, that I just ignored him. And then the robber, he left the store, ran across the street and …"

"I know sweetie, I know," May murmured, resting her head on Peter's shoulders. He'd told her the story so many times, but now that she knew Peter had powers, it had a whole different meaning.

"I was so guilty after that. Because it was my fault," Peter said.

May quickly looked up at him. "No Peter. It was not your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen, and you'd just gotten your powers. There was nothing you could have done."

"May, there's so much I could have done. But I was being stupid and reckless," he paused here, remembering his conversation with Mr. Stark after the ferry incident. "And I didn't do anything. I wasn't able to keep my family safe. Ben always told me I needed to be responsible, and that's what I've been trying to do. Use my powers, be responsible and take care of those who need help."

May nodded, "I get it now, but I'm still mad you didn't tell me. Not even after Stark's sudden drop in all those months ago." She paused, "speaking of Stark, call him up, because I want to have a little chat with the man."

Peter shook his head rapidly. "No way May. He's a busy man. And I don't have his number –"

"Don't bullshit me, Peter Parker. I know you have his number. And until I talk to the man, no more vigilante outings," she ordered, putting her foot down.

Peter groaned as he stood up from the chair and made his way back to his room to grab his phone. Unlocking it, he scrolled down until he found the number. There was no name above it, as Peter had the number memorized the moment Mr. Stark had given it to him. Plus, it would look very strange if he had Tony's number on his phone.

He pressed call and held the phone to his ear, trying to ignore May's eyes boring into the side of his head. On the fifth ring, he finally picked up. "Hey kid, how'd you like the suit?"

"Uh, yeah, about that Mr. Stark. Um…" he was still finding it hard to talk to the man, and wasn't sure how to tell him that he was going to have to have a nice, long chat with his aunt.

"Kid, you all right? Something sounds wrong. Are you in trouble?" he asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Well, yes. But not in a bad way. It's just…. May knows I'm Spiderman." He could practically hear Mr. Stark's jaw clench. "And she wants to speak to you."

Tony quickly shouted. "Pete, hey kid, wait-" but he could hear the phone being exchanged from one hand to another. "Wait, no!"

"Hi Tony, it's May. How are you?" she asked calmly, much to Peter and Tony's surprise.

"Hi May, I'm doing fine. Yourself?" he said, attempting to be as charming as possible.

"I'm great. I was wondering, what are you doing right now. Because I really need to speak to you in person," she said, sweetly as possible. Peter groaned inwardly, and knew Mr. Stark was in serious trouble. May only spoke like that when she was pissed, and based off of how sweet she sounded, she was positively livid.

"Not much. I'll be there in ten," Tony replied.

"Fantastic, see you then," May said, before cutting the phone and handing it back to Peter. "Go get changed, we have a guest coming."

He nodded, and quickly ran to his room, where he messaged Mr. Stark. "She's pissed," he typed.

"No shit, kid. Don't worry, I'll handle Aunt Hottie."

Peter rolled his eyes, and tossed the phone back onto his bed as he began to change.

By the time he'd come out of his room, May had calmed herself down enough to continue cooking. Peter watched with mild horror as she poured several tablespoons of salt into a pot, before thinking better of it and adding another cup and stirring it in. "You sure you don't want to order something?" Peter asked tentatively as he peered into the pt over his aunt's shoulder.

"I'm sure," May replied shortly. Peter knew she wasn't mad at him anymore, but couldn't shake how nervous he was about the can of ass-whooping she was going to open on Mr. Stark. He grabbed an apple from the table and sat down down, knowing full well he was not about to eat whatever May was cooking. He quickly texted Ned, "May knows about the internship."

Ned responded back immediately, "didn't she always know?"

"No genius. About the ACTUAL internship," Peter typed.

"Oh shit. Is she mad? Do you need a place to stay?" Ned replied.

"Nah. She called Mr. Stark and invited him for dinner," Peter messaged.

"That's not good. That's really not good," Ned said.

As Peter was typing his response, there was a knock at the door. "It's him. Wish us luck!" he said, before tossing his phone back on the sofa and heading towards the door. May quickly sidestepped him and looked through the little peephole before unlocking it and throwing the door open.

"Hi May," Tony said with a smile. His charm usually worked with women, but he'd never been trying it out on the parent of a superhero he'd secretly been mentoring and training. Consider this test number one, he thought as May moved aside to let him in.

May pursed her lips as she shut the door. Peter and Tony exchanged a quick nod, before they turned back to May, who was staring at Tony as if she'd just spotted him. Little did they know, she was plotting her next course of action. "Have a seat," she said, gesturing to the sofa nearby. Tony sat down, relaxed as ever. Peter sat across from him, unnerved by the older man's confidence.

"So May, I was-" Tony began before May raised a hand to silence him.

"ANTHONY HOWARD STARK! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY BABY AND PUT HIM IN HARM'S WAY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN? THE SNEAKING OUT, THE LOST BACKPACKS, THIS SO CALLED "INTERNSHIP!" I THOUGHT HE WAS ON DRUGS? I PROMISED RICHARD AND MARY AND BEN TO KEEP HIM SAFE, AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT? THEY PROBABLY THINK I'M DOING A SHIT JOB!"

Tony's eyes were frozen wide in horror as she mentioned Peter's family. When the kid told him May was pissed, he did not think it would be this bad. Part of him wanted to argue that he was actually doing her a favour, but he felt like that would definitely not help her calm down. In fact, when he'd try the same tactic with Pepper, it never worked.

"Uh, May, I think you're scaring him," Peter piped up as he stood between the pair, unsure if May was going to beat the shit out of Iron Man. The image popped into his head, and he had to try hard not to break out into laughter.

May quickly turned to Peter. "I'm scaring him? He's scaring me!" She yelled back, collapsing onto the armchair Peter had webbed forward for her. She rested her face in her hands, still shaking from anger.

Tony gave Peter a look that clearly read, "What do I do?"

"Talk to her," Peter replied with his face, jerking his head towards his aunt.

"May, I know you're mad-" Tony began.

"Really? What gave it away?" she retorted scathingly.

Tony decided to ignore that line of questioning. "I'm sorry," he said, surprising himself with those words. He NEVER said he was sorry, even when he knew he was wrong. But the thought of not being able to watch out for and work with the kid kind of scared him (not that he was going to admit it to anyone), especially after dragging him into the mess with Cap and the whole Vulture thing - which he still needed to ask Peter about.

May paused, looking at Tony as though he'd just appeared. "You're sorry?" she asked, unsure if she'd misheard. While she wasn't Tony's biggest fan, she always gave people the benefit of the doubt, that is until they gave her nephew the incentive and tools to potentially get killed.

Tony sighed, rubbing the space between his eyebrows with a finger. "It was not my place to intervene in Peter's life. You're his guardian, and I should have run all of this by you, even if I was sure you'd say no. And I wouldn't blame you if you did, because he's your family. You are supposed to protect him." He stopped for a moment, before turning to Peter. "And I want to apologize to you too, Peter. Because I took advantage of the fact that you wanted to help people. I used you for my own personal gain. I put an underage child in the middle of a war between adults, and that is ... inexcusable."

Peter was staring at Tony, too shocked to respond. The Tony Stark - the Iron Man - had just apologized to him? It was too unreal to comprehend. "Mr. Stark, it's not your fault. I agreed to go with you, and I am responsible for the consequences of that choice," he managed to stammer out.

Tony turned back to May. "You did a hell of a job with him," he said with a grin.

May nodded and rested a hand on Peter's leg. "He's a good kid."

Tony shook his head, "No May. He's a great kid, and his parents and uncle would be proud of him." He took a deep breath, "He had more sense than I did at his age, and it showed in the first conversation I had with him. He understood the risks of what he was doing, but he didn't have the correct tools to keep him safe. So I built him a suit, that was supposed to keep him safe, because the minute he agreed to help me, I felt responsible for him. I still feel responsible for him."

"He shouldn't have been out there in the first place, Tony. You should have stopped him," May replied. "I know he wants to help people, but he's my baby. He's all I have left," she whispered, her eyes welling with tears. Peter quickly sat down next to her and gave her a hug, the front of his shirt slowly becoming damp with her tears. "We lost Richard and Mary. And then Ben. I don't know what I'd do without Peter," she sobbed.

"May, I'm not going anywhere. I promise you. If Mr. Stark said he's trying to keep me safe, I don't have any reason to doubt him," Peter said, rubbing his aunt's back in an attempt to calm her down.

Tony's gut dropped. The kid had that much faith in him? To the point that he'd never question anything Tony told him. He considered this, and realized that he should have spotted this before. Peter had taken Tony's side during the fight with Steve, based only on what Tony had told him. "May, I promise you. I am going to keep him safe."

Peter smiled back at Mr. Stark, "He even installed a Training Wheels protocol in the suit," Peter added, hoping that would make May smile.

It did, and she quickly wrapped the pair in a tight hug. Tony tensed up a little, not used to being hugged by people other than Pepper and Rhodey. May quickly let go, sensing Tony's discomfort. "Okay," she said after a moment. She turned to Peter, "You can keep being Spiderman, but we are coming up with some ground rules." She then turned to Tony, "and I am holding you to that promise, Stark. Anything happens to this kid, and I am going to hunt you down. They'll never find the body."

Tony nodded, "Pepper and Rhodey would probably help you."

She got up and headed back to the kitchen, peering into the pot, the contents of which had turned slightly black and looked even more unappetizing than it did before. "I'm going to run down to Prachya and get us some food. I'll be right back." She grabbed her purse and phone, heading to the door.

"Are you sure May? I can-" Tony began, pulling out his phone.

"No, I need some fresh air anyway," she replied. "But thank you, really." She quickly left, closing the door behind her.

Peter collapsed into the sofa, letting out a heavy sigh. "God, I did not know how that was going to play out. You alright, Mr. Stark?" he asked, smirking slightly as Tony pulled a face.

"Kid, I've fought aliens. This wasn't that bad," he said, attempting to sound nonchalant about the whole conversation. Peter raised an eyebrow as Tony sat down across from him. The pair eyed one another before Tony gave in. "Alright, I was a little scared. Mostly because I didn't bring any back up if your aunt decided to go all MMA on me."

Peter shook his head, "At least you didn't mention the whole 'Vulture' thing. She would have lost her mind."

Tony pulled a face, "so that wasn't level ten?" he asked, nodding to the door May had just gone through.

Peter laughed. "Nope, that was level two."

There was a moment of silence before Tony pushed on. "So the whole 'Vulture' thing..." he trailed off, not knowing where to go with it. He noticed Peter's jaw tighten and the kid looked a little on edge. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah... it's just... I didn't plan on putting my Homecoming date's dad in prison."

Tony shook his head, "fair enough. But you crashed a plane on a beach and dragged a grown man out of the wreckage. That's got to take a toll. Speaking from similar situations," Tony added, remembering the Mandarin's attack in Malibu.

Peter sighed and Tony felt kind of bad for the kid. Yes, he'd just argued that Peter was ready to bear the responsibilities associated with being a hero, but on the other hand - he was just a kid. No kid should have to grow up with the weight of the world on their shoulders. He watched as Peter's face slowly aged, the lines in his forehead creasing, and his eyes darkening as he fell deeper and deeper into thought.

"If I tell you something, you promise you won't tell May?" Peter said after a moment, shaking Tony out of his reverie. "It's not bad, it's just. I don't want to stress her out, you know? She's got a lot on her plate now that she knows about Spiderman."

Tony nodded.

"When I went after Toomes, we ended up fighting in this parking garage. I was too distracted and I didn't notice what he was doing... but he knocked down the supports and the building it just... collapsed," Peter said, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "I got stuck under and I - I was so scared, you know? I didn't know what to do, and I was calling for help. But then I thought about what you said, 'If I was nothing without the suit, I shouldn't have it.'"

Tony's hands tightened, and he quickly placed a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Peter. I was wrong to take the suit. I should have known you were going to go after Toomes."

Peter shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. "No, that's exactly what I needed. When I got out I realized I didn't need a fancy suit. I just needed to believe in myself. It sounds stupid, I know but - "

"Kid. That's one of the smartest things you've ever said to me." Tony said with a grin, "but how did you get out? Was someone else there?"

Peter shook his head, "I lifted it."

Tony paused, before laughing. "Seriously Peter. How'd you get out?"

"I lifted it," Peter repeated.

"You lifted a building," Tony stated, like it was a fact.

"Yes," Peter replied, raising his hands over his head to mime how he got out.

Tony's eyes widened slightly. "Jesus kid, how much did the thing weigh?"

"I dunno, but it was heavy," Peter replied.

"That's something I got to see," Tony murmured under his breath. Unfortunately Peter's hearing was incredibly good.

"You want to drop a building on me?" He asked, looking at Tony as if he were crazy. "I thought you told May you were gonna keep me safe?"

Tony laughed, "Yeah, by training you."

Peter groaned, "like Rocky?"

"Yeah kid, exactly like Rocky."