A Second Family

~Chapter 17~

Peter hated the feeling of constantly being treated like a child. He was at least mature enough to be present at May's uncontrollable rage, once again, directed at Tony Stark. But that wasn't even the worst of it, the kid still had to have his talking to.

"Damn it Stark! He's a child! How can you insist you're protecting him when all you're doing is putting him in even more danger!" Peter Parker could hear his aunt's muffled voice from behind the door. "Believe me, I've seen the news. I've seen Spider-Man. I've seen what Peter's gone through!"

  "May! You don't understand-"

"You're right, I don't understand..."

Peter'd had enough, bickering, bickering, bickering. Even before May's coma that's all the two seemed capable of doing. The kid covered his ears attempting to drown out the argument, but his attempts appeared to be futile. He wiped his watery eyes with his spider suit sleeve and stood up. The noise was growing unbearable, so Peter gave up on trying to let it be and wait out this fight. He dragged his fingers down his face and escaped the ruckus before it grew and the kid would be caught in the crossfire.

"Peter? Are you alright?" (A/N I apologize, I'm awful at writing as Steve) the super solder asked the boy with a worried expression.

"Aunt May found out," Peter breathed heavily. "May found out and I'm dead, Mr. Stark's dead, and they're fighting in my room."

Steve Rogers was at a lack of words. He had to admit, that he'd never had to deal with a situation as a distressed teenager who was panicking over his two parental figures fighting because one of them discovered his secret crime fighting hobby. "I'm sure May will understand."

"Be honest Captain," Parker sighed exasperatedly. "Do you understand?"

"Peter," Rogers put his hand on the kid's shoulder. "I think I can speak from your Aunts point of view when I say this, I think she just wants what's best for you. But that means keeping you safe. That becomes difficult though, when you're fighting bad guys in the city of Queens."

"I understand, but I just love being Spider-Man and really don't want to loose that."

Steve smiled the best smile he could put on in this moment and nodded, "Alright, well, I get that there's a situation going on in the other room, but I want you to talk to you're aunt eventually okay?"

Peter agreed and went towards the elevator, but turned around back to the first Avenger, "Captain?" Rogers reverted his attention back to the teen. "Why are you still awake?"

To Parker's surprise, Steve let out a laugh, "Last night Sam had me up all night watching horror movies, I haven't been able to sleep a wink since."

At that, the kid couldn't help but giggle. He waved goodbye one last time as he proceeded to the elevator, "Friday, can you take me to the roof?"

"Sure thing Peter." And the kid rose until the doors opened and he was met with the crisp air of midnight. He took a deep breath as he relieved himself from all worries. He collapsed onto the hard rooftop and gazed up at the few twinkling lights that surprisingly hadn't been washed out by the light of the city.

Peter had never truly star gazed like all of those scenes in movies, it was more of a lazy attempt. Sure, his class had been on field trips to the planetarium and he'd seen pictures, but those weren't real stars. Real stars were unforgettable. They were bright, magnificent balls of light that could be seen from millions of miles away. Peter longed to be like one of the stars, like Tony Stark or Bruce Banner, but much like the planetarium, he was a lazy attempt. He'd never be as great as the World's Mightiest Heroes, he was just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and that should've been enough, but he wanted to prove himself. Prove to Tony Stark that he was something to be proud of, prove to the Avengers that he was worthy of fighting along side him, but most importantly, proving to May that he was not only brave enough to protect the world, strong enough to bite back, but that Peter was her nephew, and that meant the world to him. It meant more than Avengers, it meant more than Spider-Man, but he was just a kid, just a kid with dreams far too big for his own existence. Dreams that he'd eventually end up stumbling over and falling to a point of no return.

Parker was startled to the point of jolting up when a bright light washed over his face. He looked up to see May walking out of the elevator. She looked tired, more tired than she look when he last saw her. "Peter," she carefully moved towards her nephew with great caution. When she was close enough, she enveloped the boy in a hug. "I'm so sorry you had to hear us fighting like that. Tony explained to me about everything. Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"I-I," the boy could feel the tears threatening to fall. "I wanted to protect you May."

"Peter hunny, you don't need to worry about me," she smiled as her nephew hid his face in her shoulder.

  "May?" The kid looked up and pulled away. "Are-are you proud of me?"

  May Parker's face immediately softened, "Peter, of course I am! I may not entirely agree with Spider-Man, but if it's what you want to do and you stay safe, I'll allow it. There'll be a few rules of course but..." She was proud of him. Just those first words mattered to the kid, sure, getting to continue Spider-Maning was great, but now he knew that May believed in him, and that itself meant more than the world.

  I feel like I'm getting a bit dark with this story, is everyone okay with that? Don't worry, there'll be a more fun chapter up soon!