As Luck Would Have It

18) Imperfect Feelings

The day before, Peter was resting in his bedroom. He slept peacefully with a few bed sheets keeping him warm. If he were to wake up, he would say that he definitely needed this rest. His efforts in the tech store bombing the day before and long search for jobs before that had caused him to lose sleep. On most nights, he would normally think of his options to find the best way to make his aunt proud. Now being in the state he was in, it allowed him to settle down and relieve any stress he had.

May often checked in every four hours or so, making sure that he hadn't left or if he needed anything. She was glad to know that Peter had survived the event and was proud that he was able to help those who weren't so lucky.

When he came home after the bombing, they immediately went to work tending to his injured ribs. May luckily had a back wrap and gauze wrapping in their apartment from when Ben had a few back problems. They applied an ice pack against his back and held it with the back wrap to ease the pain. They wrapped Peter's torso with the gauze from the bottom of his chest to his waist line to keep his body from moving too much.

She thought that rest would be the best treatment from that point, so she helped him into his bed. She asked if he wanted her to fix something up for him, and he gratefully accepted, saying anything would do. May smiled and left the room to buy some pints of ice cream to share and some take out Thai. When she returned, she found him innocently snoozing with his back against the mattress. She smiled, humming a little "aww" as she walked toward the bed. She sat down next to her nephew's sleeping body and left a kiss on his forehead before stating, "sleep well sweetheart," and leaving the room.

23 hours later, Peter flutters his eyes as his body starts to awaken. He rolls onto his left side instinctively to loosen his muscles. He let out a loud moan from the stiffness of being motionless for so long, followed by an exhausted yawn that might have lasted ten seconds. He lifted the sheets off his body, revealing the wrapping around to his torso. In his sleep, he had forgotten that he was in the process of healing.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached his hand up to the railings of the top bunk of his bed to lift him up. As he stood, the pain in his ribs was still present, but had less of an effect on him. He walked forward and made his way to the kitchen to grab a drink and a snack. He didn't find May anywhere as he treaded through the apartment, but saw that the time was 4:47 PM, meaning she wouldn't be home for another half-an-hour or so. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water, searched for a granola bar and a bag of Doritos, and went back to his room.

He threw his snacks on his bed and took a sip of his water as he sat back down on his bed. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted his mask dangling over his desk chair. It reminded him of what went down the previous day and how many questions still needed to be answered. He set his water glass on the floor and reached for the mask, slipping in over his head as he laid back down.

GOOD AFTERNOOON PETER, HOW ARE YOU FEELING

"Uh, good Karen. Listen, did you by chance see who pulled me out of the fire?"

SORRY PETER, BUT I DIDN'T

"Great...," he huffed in disappointment, "well, how about the guy that messed up my ribs? Anything on him?"

I DO ACTUALLY, LONNIE THOMPSON LINCOLN, AGE 21, LITTLE TO NONE POLICE RECORD, BUT HAS AN EXTENSIVE FOSTER HOME RECORD AFTER HIS PARENTS' DEATH 5 YEARS AGO.

"Wow, another skilled thief with absent parents, I'm batting a thousand this week" he said to himself.

LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE CAUSE OF DEATH, Karen cut in, BUT IT IS PRESUMED TO HAVE HAPPENED DURING THE BATTLE OF NEW YORK WITH THE AVENGERS