The Spider and The Flame (Peter Parker)

Part 23- Confession

Pete's POV

I toss my backpack on the floor and trudge into the kitchen. Aunt May is standing over the sink, washing dishes that are too big for the dishwasher.

"Hey May." Opening the fridge I find an apple and take a bite, walking towards the couch in the living room area.

"Pete I found some of your uncles clothes packed away in my closet this morning. Would you try on some of the shirts and see if they fit? I don't want to throw them out."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fer' sure." I mutter, flipping through my phone and taking another bite of the apple.

Aunt May tosses three button down shirts at me, and they hit me in the face. I laugh, "What was that for?"

"For nothing." She beams, continuing to scrape a baking sheet clean.

My fingers find the hem of my shirt and lift it over my head, and I stand up. Once my shirt is off I reach for the first of the buttons downs, undoing the buttons one by one.

"I just thought it'd be nice for you to wear something of-" Aunt May stops talking and drops the dishes in her hands. With a loud and sharp bang the cookie tray hits the side of the sink, and I jump back in reaction. I look up to find Aunt May stood in front of me, arms crossed over her chest.

"What are you-" I begin to ask.

"What is that? What the fuck is that?" She points at my ribs with a blind rage about her.

My eyes follow her finger to my ribs and I see what she's referring to. My burn scar from the fire.

"It's nothing."

"Peter Parker you tell me this instant!" She yells in my face.

"Th-there was a fire at the internship. I'm fine, May. It's no ones fault." I try to calm her down.

"No ones fault? I blame that Stark. I never should've let you go. Why didn't you tell me? You could've been hurt. I'm reporting this!" She throws her arms up in the air.

"No, you're not." I growl at her. Her expression changes instantly.

"And why shouldn't I?" She moves her pointed finger to my chest and pokes into my sternum. "If you think," poke, "for one second", poke, "there won't be consequences for that man," long and exaggerated poke, "you've got this all wrong."

"No, May. Please don't. I want to work for Mr. Stark. It's all I have." I plea. She moves her arm back to her side and stares into my eyes. She watches me intensely.

My mind wanders to the fire, the fire that never should've happened. If I hadn't been so stupid none of this would've happened. It's all my fault.

I'm such a idiot, I fell for her and she played me. She played the game so well I was convinced it was real.

Tears brim my eyes at the thought of Ash and her betrayal.

"Peter? Peter I'm sorry. I won't report." Aunt May runs her hand along my arm and rubs gently with her thumb. "Peter why are you crying?"

Coming back to reality I sniffle my nose and wipe my eyes. I blink quickly and meet Aunt May's gaze.

"I- uh. Sorry. I don't know." I stutter, trying to get past Aunt May towards my room.

"What's going on?" She grabs hold of my arm and I turn to face her again. She signals with her eyes for me to sit on the couch and I comply.

"I'm fine."

"Don't lie." She sneers.

"S-some stuff happened this summer that I don't want to talk about."

"If it's the reason that you think it's okay to binge drink alone in your room at night, then I want to know what it is" She sits down beside me.

"It hurts May..." I sob, finally letting myself cry.

"Tell me, Pete." Her tone softens.

"There was this girl. She.... She..." I begin to speak, but I don't know how.

"It's okay, Peter. Tell me about her."

"She was so perfect, May. Everything I wanted and more. I-I think I loved her."

"Loved?"

"She hurt me. Bad."

"Did she start this fire to hurt you?" Her voice grows louder.

"Y- I- err. No." I mumble. "She told me she loved me. That she wanted to meet you, and Ned, she wanted to come back here with me. She spilled lie after lie into my ear and I believed her. I fell for it."

"How do you know she was lying?"

"Because she left!" I yell, "because she left..." I lower my voice. "It was all just a sick game to her."

"Why did she leave?"

"She had... She had other commitments. Commitments that she deemed more important than me. She told me that she never wanted to see me again. That we need to play strangers."

"Maybe she said strangers because being friends with you is harder than saying goodbye." Aunt May tries to soothe me. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know. She doesn't want anything to do with me. I'll never see her again."

"If she loved you like she said she did, she'll come back. She will come back, Peter. You just have to decide if that's something you would want."

"I don't know, May." I run my fingers through my hair and sniffle. I've never opened up to her like this, it's nice.

"Whatever happened to that Liz girl you always talked about?" She asks, obviously trying to change the subject and cheer me up.

"She's still at school with me. She'd never go for me, May. That ship sailed a long time ago." I try to dismiss the topic, wanting to talk about Ash.

"I think Liz is the one you should be thinking about," she smiles, standing up, "homecoming is only a few months away!"

May walks back into the kitchen to finish the dishes. "It's almost a year away." I whisper to myself.