Walking the Tightrope 🕷 Peter Parker [2]

nine

Peter

Five minutes. He had only gone to the bathroom for five minutes and something horrible had managed to happen. His friends were nearly blasted out of existence, an old (very friendly) man was almost killed, and his girlfriend had managed to get in the middle of a huge Tony Stark versus bad guy fight! To say his heart was racing a million miles a second was an understatement.

And now, here he was, in his spider suit, sitting in Ms. Potts' (now mostly in shambles) office with Alexandra waiting for the authorities to arrive to arrest this bozo while Mr. Stark stared at him. Peter was just glad he had on a mask so the billionaire couldn't tell that he was avoiding eye contact.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Peter asked Alexandra for the twentieth time.

"I'm okay." She nodded. "Really. I guess my dad was right to sign me up for those self defense lessons."

Ms. Potts suddenly came storming into the room with Happy trailing close behind. She walked over to the computer and began rapidly typing something in. Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow at her. "The police arrested him?" He asked.

"Yes. They're taking him to jail now," Ms. Potts confirmed. "Oh, Peter and Alex, your parents are on their way—I would suggest changing into normal clothes." She nodded pointedly at Peter. 

Peter looked down and suddenly realized he was wearing his spider suit still. "Oh, right," He replied. "Be right back." He sped out of the office and into the nearby nearly destroyed bathroom and quickly slipped out of the suit and into his normal clothes. He was heading back to the office when his phone buzzed.

He picked it up and saw Ned's caller ID flashing on the screen. Oh right, he forgot to let his friends know that they weren't dead. Peter answered the phone. "Hello?"

"PETER!" Ned yelled into the phone. "WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY?! DORRIS MADE US ALL GO BACK TO SCHOOL BUT HE SAID YOU AND ALEX WERE WITH TONY STARK AND—"

"Slow down!" Peter cut him off. "Alex and I are fine, May and her dads are gonna pick us up from here."

He heard Ned sigh with relief. "Alright, if you're sure," He said. There was a brief moment of silence before Ned spoke again. "So you're talking to Mr. Stark again?"

Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Ned, I didn't really have much of a choice today..." He trailed off. "May is gonna be so mad."

"I'm sure she'll understand," Ned replied. "Besides—maybe this will be the day she forgives him?"

Peter nearly laughed aloud, but contained himself. The day May forgave Tony Stark for erasing her mind would be the day the world ended. "I doubt it," He said. "Hey—I've gotta go, Ned. Make sure Kai and MJ know we're not dead."

"Okay. Glad you're okay, Pete. I'll see ya at school!"

"See ya."

Peter hung up and then headed back into Ms. Potts' office. When he walked in, he and Mr. Stark locked eyes. This was the first time they had seen each other face to face in months. Peter looked down and quickly moved back to the chair by Alex. May needed to get here—like—yesterday.

And then, like she had been reading his mind, his aunt came bursting into the office at full speed, looking very angry. Peter couldn't help but smile slightly. "Tony Stark!" May exclaimed as she came in. "How dare you! I can't believe this happened!" She went on while Alexandra's parents came into the office next.

"Alex!" She turned around in her chair and leapt up to meet her dads. Leo wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Okay, it's decided, I'm never letting you out again." He declared.

"I'm not sure if that's a real threat or not," Alexandra admitted.

"It's not," Colin assured his daughter with a smile before pulling her into a hug. "I'm proud of you for protecting yourself," He told her quietly. She smiled and hugged him tighter. Meanwhile, May was still going off on Mr. Stark.

"It's like you think there are no consequences to your actions!" She went on. "I mean, first you erase my memory and then you put my nephew in a building that gets bombed!"

Peter saw the expression on Mr. Stark's face and he knew that his mentor was filled with regret. He wasn't entirely sure if he forgave him yet, but he knew that what Mr. Stark had done wasn't on purpose. He glanced over at Alexandra and remembered what she and Ned had been trying to tell him for months about giving people second chances.

Peter placed a hand on his aunt's shoulder and she turned to him. "May—it's okay, it wasn't Mr. Stark's fault," He told her, and he saw the shocked expression on Mr. Stark's face when he said so. "And besides, it all turned out okay."

May stared at Peter for a moment before shaking her head. "Fine. Let's go home, Peter. I have dinner waiting on the stove." She walked out of the office without so much as a glance back at Mr. Stark and Peter offered a shrug and small smile.

He turned to follow May out of the office and whispered to Alexandra on his way out, "Great. She made dinner." Alexandra snorted slightly. "Wanna come over and eat with us?" He asked.

"Well, I would, but my parents and I are eating together tonight since Dad doesn't have to work," She replied. "But you enjoy your dinner with May."

"You love to see me suffer," Peter said.

"Nah, May just loves to cook." She smirked.

🕷

May was in a mood when they made it back to the apartment. She slammed their plates down on the table and threw the lasagna on the plates. She sat down angrily and Peter watched as she angrily ate the lasagna. "So... how was work?" He asked awkwardly.

"Just—the nerve of that guy!" May exclaimed, throwing her fork down. "I can't believe him! First he basically lures you to his company—"

"I really don't think he was luring us—"

"—and then he nearly gets you and your friends killed!"

"May!" Peter exclaimed. "It wasn't Mr. Stark's fault that some crazy dude decided to attack today—he didn't plan that. Besides, I'm okay and so is everyone else. No one got seriously hurt."

"I know, it's just—" She huffed. "He messed with my head, Peter. I'm just—I'm a little wound up."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. It was messed up of him to do that—but I think he was just trying to protect us," Peter spoke carefully, remembering both Ned and Alex's words, only really beginning to believe them as he spoke them himself. "May, now that you know I'm Spider-Man, you could be in danger. Mr. Stark knew that—he just wanted to keep you safe."

His aunt stared at him for a moment, considering this carefully. "I—hadn't thought of it like that," She admitted with a sigh. "But I'm still mad at him."

"Oh yeah—for sure—it was a totally stupid way to try and protect you but—" Peter shrugged. "I don't—maybe it wasn't something he did to—y'know—purposefully hurt you? Or me."

May sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Maybe," She reluctantly agreed. "Maybe."

Things were finally on their way back to being normal, as normal as things could be for Peter Parker, anyway. But he couldn't help but have this feeling at the back of his mind... whoever had attacked Stark Industries was far from being done.

🕷

I FINALLY UPDATED. I'M SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG WAIT BUT I FINALLY DID IT.

SO HERE IT IS I HOPE IT WAS GOOD

~MADS