Lost in Translation

Fighting

May paced, waiting for Peter to get home. He'd texted her before she'd even gotten to the hospital that morning, and then the school called to say he'd never come in. Being the worry-wart she was, May'd gotten another nurse to take over the second part of her shift, so May was home by 5.

Peter wasn't there. The apartment was a mess, a backpack and textbooks and papers spilled in the hall. There, in the middle of it all, was the box from the attic. The box of pictures and paperwork. The box of Peter's history.

May panicked as soon as she saw the box. If that had been what Peter had stumbled upon-

The woman increased her pacing, thoughts and feelings swirling in her head. She'd told Fury this wouldn't work for long. She'd told him he was too smart, too nosy, too much like his mother to not work it one one day.

Fury.

Maybe he knew what had happened this morning. She knew Peter called every morning to check in with the director on his missions.

Pulling out her phone, the woman dialed the private number quickly. "Pick up, pick up, pick up," she chanted in a soft whisper, willing the stupid man to pick up.

"May, what a pleasant surprise. Has Peter told you the news, then?"

"What, that he found out who his mother was?"

Fury was a hard man to surprise, but he hadn't seen that one coming. "What are you talking about?"

May furrowed her brow. "You don't know? He found the box in the attic, he skipped school and I have no idea where he is."

Fury sighed heavily on the other side of the phone. "He called this morning to resign his agency. He said he was tired of lying to people. To you."

May slumped on the couch. "Somehow, that makes me love him even more. He's a good boy."

Fury scoffed. "A bit hard-headed, but good."

May picked up the remote, turning on the news as she and Fury discussed possible cover stories. She wandered into the small kitchen and turned on her electric kettle, pulling down a mug and a tea bag from the cabinet above the fridge.

"Just tell him that his mother looks younger than she was. It's not like he'll recognize her now, it's been 15 years. She looks so different now that she's all grown up."

"Or we could tell him the truth. I'm not even sure why we're keeping this a secret."

Fury huffed. "She's more useful to me now, I can't have a mother on my hands. God, and it'd wreck havoc on the team. It's better, for both of them, if they just don't know."

"I don't like lying to him."

"Let me remind you that I employ you. That I gave you that boy, I can take him away."

May rolled her eyes, knowing it was a mostly empty threat. Peter was hard to control, and even if Fury did try taking him away, the teen would just run away. She  set down her tea, then set her sights on the television set. "Fury, turn on the local news."

"What?"

"Turn on the news. There's only one person I know who can swing on webs and unironically loves red and blue color schemes and I'm pretty sure I'm watching him stop a bank robbery on the news."

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Peter swung back into his room, his body aching from the workout. It wasn't like the weights and running and agility tests Fury had put him through over the years, but it was hard to swing building to building though the city.