Winning the Game

Chapter 9

Peter's shower water was running red.

He had taken an awful beating that night; some goons were trying to rob a woman at knifepoint. Luckily, she was able to escape when Peter swung through as Spider-Man, but his body was littered with small stab wounds. The robbers didn't realize that he hurt himself most nights and that he was accustomed to wounds like these, so overtaking them was fairly simple for Peter. But stab wounds did tend to be messy.

He snuck through his window that night so Aunt May wouldn't see the damage and hopped straight in the shower. He had already texted Happy to send him a new suit.

After he scrubbed his body of all lacerations and confirmed healing had started, he climbed out of the shower and slipped back into his room. He dressed in a few minutes before there was a knock at his door.

"Peter?" Aunt May's voice called through the door.

"Yeah?"

"Happy dropped something off for you."

"That was quick," Peter said to himself.

He opened his door and let May in to lay a box down on his bed.

"New suit?" she guessed.

Peter just nodded.

"Well, okay, I'll just leave you to it then," May said.

"Hey, uh, Aunt May?"

"Mhm?" She turned around and adjusted her glasses.

"Did you, um, talk to Happy...about me?" Peter asked awkwardly.

May's face dropped into a sympathetic glance. "I've just been really worried about you. I thought maybe you'd open up more with Happy about...certain stuff."

She pointed her gaze toward the framed photo Peter kept on his nightstand. It was him and Mr. Stark posed with a Stark Internship certificate. They were both making goofy faces and Tony was holding the frame upside down.

Peter sighed and looked at his feet. "It's just hard to talk about...with anyone."

"I understand," May said quietly, stepping toward Peter and pulling him in for a hug. "But you have people who you can talk to. When you're ready."

Peter nodded and hugged his aunt tight. He hated the idea of her worrying about him, but he knew she didn't even realize the half of it. If she knew how he was actually dealing with Mr. Stark's loss, she would be devastated. And that broke him more than her worrying.

-

It was 9 p.m. and Peter was finishing up his physics homework. He had been pushing all of his homework off and procrastinating schoolwork. After the uplifting conversation with May earlier and the surprisingly good soup she made for dinner, Peter's spirits were higher, so he decided to catch up on his work.

After he finished the last problem on the worksheet, he closed his physics textbook and went to pack up his schoolwork. But a text from his phone stopped him.

Y/N: are you better at physics than you are at calculus? i'm stuck on this hw...

Peter smiled and felt his stomach do a flip.

Peter: just finished it. i'll come up in 5?

Y/N: you're a lifesaver :)

If she only knew, Peter thought.

He locked his bedroom door so May wouldn't come in and see him gone, and then started out his window with his backpack. He quietly webbed up to Y/N's fire escape and lightly tapped on her window, noticing her sitting on her bed.