Outnumbered

Chapter 2

Peter feels like he might pass out.

Not feels, is sure, this time.

He bites his lip and lets May pull him to the center of the dance floor, just the two of them. It's quiet as he puts one hand on her shoulder and the other on the small of her back, just like they practiced, tries to keep the baked ziti he scarfed down during the first course from coming back up. He hates the attention, the lights and cameras focused on them, but he knows he has to do this. For May. It's what she wanted, one of the few things she asked of him today.

"You look...gorgeous." He's said it so many times today, but with the lights glinting off of the beading on the bodice of her dress and the bottom, flowy and grazing the floor, he can't help but say it again. She smiles, but he can see that her eyes are glistening. He knows that today wasn't easy for her, that Ben has been on both of their minds. She'd cried to Peter a week ago, worried that Ben would never forgive her for this, but Peter knows that he would, that Happy is exactly the kind of guy Ben would want for her. He'd held her on the couch, let her cry into his chest for a change, and tried not to let his emotions get the best of him at the time.

A few bars of music play, but it's definitely not "She's Got A Way," like he expected. His eyebrows knit and he plasters a fake smile on his face as he tries to make sense of what song this is. It sounds familiar, but he can't put his finger on it. "What happened to Billy Joel?" Peter asks as they start to sway playfully to the upbeat tempo.

May smiles and winks, starts to mouth "Never Gonna Give You Up" with exaggeration. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you..."

"Did you just...Rick Roll me...at your own wedding?" Peter asks, laughing with his whole body. They let go and jam out as May waves for everyone to join them on the dance floor.

"I knew you were nervous, so I planned this instead. And I may have Rick Rolled you, but I mean every word, Peter. My marrying Happy doesn't change anything between you and me. You know that, right?"

A lump forms in Peter's throat as he nods and wraps her into a tight hug. "I know. I love you May."

"I love you too, baby." She keeps him there for a moment, rubs his back like she always does when they do something difficult together. A tear slides down his face and he wipes it away quickly, hoping the photographers and videographers haven't caught it. When he finally pulls away, he can see that May is wiping away tears, too. They both laugh, get back into the song with, "Never gonna give, never gonna give!"

Tony shimmies over, does his signature vogue move with his hands around his face, which has Peter nearly doubled over from laughter. Happy joins in, nods toward Peter as if asking if he can take over dancing with May. With a grin on his face, he hands May's hand over and gives a nod back, backing away to join the Starks for a little dancing.

x

Peter thought he was fine with all of this.

With Happy and May looking so blissful, with the service and reception being everything he would have wished for May. Watching them take their first dance and laugh candidly as they shoved cake in each other's mouths had assured Peter that Happy would take care of her in all of the ways Peter couldn't.

He'd meant it when he promised her that Ben would want this for her.

Peter loves Happy.

Happy is not the issue.

Peter is the issue.

It's Peter and his stupid Parker luck. It's his penchant for losing parent figures and trying to do the right thing but always fucking it up anyway. It's the fact that May has sacrificed everything in her life for him, giving up medical school to raise him after his parents had died. It's that he still feels responsible for Ben's death, even though he knows it was an accident and May has always assured him of that. He wants to give May and Happy the space they deserve, the life they deserve, the one he wished he could have given May and Ben.