Ambition {𝟙𝟛} | Marvel √

chapter thirteen

Still clad in his Spider-Man suit, Peter Parker climbed up his apartment building as he dodged windows. He slid the top of his bedroom window open and looked inside to find Aunt May passing by his open door. He carefully climbed into the bedroom, crawled onto the ceiling, and closed the window with his foot. He pulled off his mask and tossed it to the side as he continued to crawl the ceiling.

Trying not to make a noise, he pushed his door closed and hopped down to the floor. A quiet click was heard as the door latch slid into place. He sighed in relief before he turned back to face his bed – only to find Ned sitting there, shocked with his mouth agape, holding the Lego Death Star in his hands. Until it slipped from his hands and crashed to the ground, breaking into pieces.

"What was that?"

Peter quickly spun back towards his closed door, a panicked look over him. "Uh, it's nothing. It's nothing!" he said.

He then looked back at Ned with a shocked, panicked look, finding him now standing, pointing at him. "You're the Spider-Man," he breathlessly said, "From YouTube."

"I'm not," Peter said as he pressed the spider emblem on his chest. The suit became baggy again, falling down from his body as he repeated, "I'm not."

"You were on the ceiling," Ned said, pointing above them.

"No, I wasn't," Peter said, only standing in his boxers, "Ned, what are you doing in my room?"

"May let me in. You said we were gonna finish the Death Star," Ned quickly said.

"You can't just bust into my room!" Peter said with gritted teeth.

His bedroom door opened and Peter quickly jumped next to Ned, the two watching as Aunt May walked in, setting her hair free from a low bun. "The turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster. Let's go to dinner," she said as she waved a rag in front of her to dissipate the smoke coming from the kitchen, "Thai? Ned, you want Thai?"

"Yes," Ned said.

"No," Peter said, "He's got a thing."

"A thing to do after," Ned said.

"Okay," May awkwardly murmured before she waved a finger at Peter, "Maybe put on some clothes."

Once the door closed after she left, Peter quickly grabbed a nearby sweatshirt as Ned looked at him. "Oh, she doesn't know?" he asked.

"Nobody knows," Peter quietly said.

"Not even Emma?" Ned asked.

"Sort of," Peter's voice squeaked, "I mean, Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit, but that's it."

"Tony Stark made you that?" Ned whispered as Peter put on his sweatshirt, "Are you an Avenger?"

"Yeah...basically," Peter hesitated.

"Whoa..."

"You can't tell anybody about this," Peter told him as he quickly stepped next to Ned, "You gotta keep it a secret."

"A secret? Why?" Ned asked.

"You know what she's like. If she finds out people try and kill me every single night, she's not going to let me do this anymore," Peter quickly said in a hushed voice, pointing at his door, "And Emma's father– family– does not want me to tell her. It could mess up her head, and she would freak out, and when Emma freaks out, I freak out." He looked at Ned with a pleading look, his body shaking in anticipation, "Come on, Ned, please," he continued.

Ned eyed him a moment before asking, "Who's Emma's dad?" and Peter groaned, rolling his eyes, "Oh, come on! She never talks about her parents–!"

"Ned!" Peter quietly snapped with gritted teeth.