Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 91 - Two Sides of the Same Mask

I woke up with a yawn so big it felt like it pulled the rest of me out of sleep by force.

For a second I just lay there, staring up at the old ceiling of my room at home, letting the quiet sit on me. Weekend. Back with May. No towers. No agency halls. No giant A looming over my future. Just the familiar creak of the apartment and the soft hum of the city outside.

I rubbed at my eyes and rolled my neck until something clicked.

"Morning," I mumbled.

A tendril slipped out from my back like it had been waiting for permission, dipped into my drawers, and returned with a T-shirt and some joggers.

I took them with a sleepy smile. "Thanks."

The suit pulsed once under my skin, smug.

I got dressed, dragged myself out of the bedroom, and shuffled into the front room. The TV was already on, some morning channel muttering away into the apartment, but there was no sign of May. The kitchen connected right onto the living space, and the smell of something toasting was just hanging in the air, teasing me.

On the table sat a small pile of letters.

I glanced at them on instinct, mostly out of habit. Bills. Flyers. Something from FEAST. A leaflet trying to sell us a broadband deal we absolutely could not afford.

Then I saw one tucked halfway underneath the others.

Behind payment due.

My stomach dipped.

I pulled it free just enough to read it properly, then heard the front door open.

I shoved it right back into the pile as May came in with a grocery bag in one hand and her handbag over her shoulder.

"Good morning," I said a little too quickly.

May looked up and smiled at once. "You're up early."

She came over and ruffled my hair like I was still twelve, which I tolerated because it was May.

"Sleep alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Something about sleeping in my old bed is weirdly comforting."

"That bed is ancient," she said.

"It's got character."

"It's got a bad spring."

"Character," I repeated.

May shook her head fondly and set the groceries down. "You want some cereal?"

I brightened. "You still got any left?"

She swatted me on the arm with the dish towel she'd apparently acquired from nowhere. "You're staying over for the weekend. You're getting a better breakfast than cereal. Sit down. Relax."

I put both hands up in surrender and dropped onto the sofa, grabbing the remote.

The TV flicked through morning nonsense while May moved around in the kitchen behind me, opening cupboards and humming under her breath. It was stupidly nice. Domestic. Normal. The kind of thing that made the rest of my life feel like some deranged side quest.

"How are your hero work studies going?" May asked.

I froze for half a beat.

Right.

That.

I couldn't exactly turn around and say, Actually, Aunt May, I'm a potential Avenger now and Captain America himself told me I need to learn teamwork before I emotionally self-destruct.