SUMMER JOB || Peter Parker X Reader

Chapter 26: Tough Love

The next week was drastically different than the rest of your summer had been, for obvious reasons.

Laurie left the house earlier, disappearing before you even woke up most days. You assumed she was going to Lee's since he stopped coming around.

Uncle Tommy picked up more hours at work, spending as little time in the house as possible too. You felt terrible that your mother had driven out of his own home.

Speaking of, your mother took it upon herself to organize the entire Brownstone, and enlisted you as help. She had worked her way through the entire house, scrubbing everything down with the the same cleaning products she used at home.

It didn't even look like the same house.

"Y/N can you bring the vacuum downstairs?" She called.

You sighed, hefting the vacuum up and waddling downstairs, focused on not dropping the machine. You set it down on the tile downstairs, kicking it back on the wheels to bring it to your mother, who was in the living room.

"Thank you." She said, taking the machine from you, and plugging it in. Your phone began to vibrate in your pocket. You pulled it out, seeing a call from Laurie.

"Laurie's calling me." You said, leaving the room to go find somewhere to take the call.

"Ask her what time she's coming home!" Your mother called, starting up the vacuum.

You ventured upstairs, answering the phone. "Hi."

"Hey." Laurie said. "How's things?"

"Shitty. Spent the whole day cleaning the house." You said. "Don't worry though, I hid your knife and your weed."

"Thanks." Laurie said. "I'm sorry you had to spend the whole day with her, why didn't you run away to Peter's or something?"

"She's my mom." You said. "I cant just leave like that."

You heard Lee's voice in the background of the call. Laurie filled you in, "Lee said you totally could have, he does it all the time. You're on speaker, by the way."

"Oh. Hi Lee." You said.

"Hi." He replied.

"Mom wants to know what time you're coming home by the way." You said.

"I'm not." Laurie said. "I already texted my dad, he said it was cool. I'm crashing here for a few days."

"Oh." You tried your best not to sound disappointed, but you were hoping you would have Laurie's spunk and humor to help you get through living with this paranoid overprotective version of your mother.

"If you want, you can crash here too." Lee said. "My parents don't really care."

"Uh, it's okay." You said. "I don't want my mom to get mad... or, well, more than she already is."

You heard the door open and close downstairs, and the vacuum turned off.

"I think your dad's home." You said.

"Hey, could you make sure your mom doesn't take any more jabs at him?" Laurie said. "He's already had a rough summer with all this getting shot business and recovery, and the stress isn't good for him."

"I'll try." You sighed. "I should probably get down there before they start sniping at each other."

"Yeah... and if it does get bad, the offer still stands. I'll text you Lee's address." Laurie said.

"Thanks." You said, even though you knew you wouldn't take her up on that.

"Love you. Bye." Laurie said.

"Bye." You replied, ending the call. You tucked your phone away again, meandering back downstairs to hopefully diffuse the tension between Uncle Tommy and your mom. They had been non-stop bickering every night since she had arrived.

She kept trying to 'help' - cleaning the whole house, making food, re-organizing Uncle Tommy's office - but it just made Uncle Tommy more stressed and upset.

You walked into the kitchen, and straight into an argument.

"Christine, this isn't your house!" Uncle Tommy was saying.

"I'm trying to help you, Tom! Your life was already falling apart at the seams, and then you went and got yourself shot!" Your mother shot back. "What would mom and dad say?"

"Falling apart?" Uncle Tommy sarcastically laughed. "I was doing perfectly fine before you showed up-"

"You've got band and movie posters on your walls Tom! You eat junk all the time, and you're all buddy-buddy with your kid!" Your mother said, wildly gesturing to the room around her. "You're thirty two, not fifteen!"

"Right, because you're doing so much better." Uncle Tommy said. "You couldn't do anything for yourself then, and you cant now. Everyone knows you get all your knowledge from dumb MTV family books. You couldn't figure out how to parent on your own if you tried."

"At least I'm trying!" Your mother said. "What's going to happen to Laurie, Tom? You let her go to art school, for Christs sake, she cant make a career out of that! She's going to be homeless, or living with you until she's forty!"

"Wow, real mature Christine, taking jabs at my kid." Uncle Tommy shouted. "I'm sorry I'm trying to give her some high school years she could actually enjoy. You wouldn't know anything about that though."

"You're calling me immature?" Your mother shot back. "You never grew up! You never will! You're shaping up to be a real family disappointment! First, you get your wife to cheat on you and leave, and now-"

"Leave Marie out of this." Uncle Tommy said. "And for the record, just because you asked for your divorce doesn't make you any better."

"He was beating me Tom!" Your mother screamed.

"Well maybe you fucking deserved it, if you're like this all the goddamn time!" Uncle Tommy said. "You think I don't notice how Y/N's face lights up at normal stuff, like getting pizza or being able to go out with friends? What kind of house are you keeping?"

"I want my child to be successful and have a life to be proud of!" Your mother said. "And if that means no friends on weeknights, and eating healthy, I'll make sure that happens! I sent Y/N out here to capitalize on an internship opportunity, not to be influenced into becoming a high school has-been waiting to happen."

Uncle Tommy finally looked away, and saw you, standing in the door frame, crying.

You had never liked emotional conflict, and this was worse than anything you had ever been around. You had known your dad had beat your mother, and you had known Uncle Tommy's wife had cheated on him, and you had known they didn't get along too well, but seeing them going at each other like dogs...

You were leaving. At least for the night.

You whipped around, heading back upstairs to grab some clothes and your phone charger and shove them in a bag to take with you. Behind you, you could hear them still talking.

"Nice going Christine. This is why-"

"You're really going to blame this on me, when you-"

You packed quickly, pulling out your phone. You could go to Lee's, but you didnt know his family. And Laurie would get mad. You didnt want to deal with that at the moment.

Peter's. You could go to Peter's.

You texted him quickly, a simple 'I'm coming over for the night'. you knew he wouldn't say no. You pulled your bag closed, heading back downstairs to slip on your shoes. You could still hear them arguing in the kitchen.

"-I've had more than enough of you invading my life-"

"-Well someone has to, you can't-"

You opened the door, heading out into the growing night, and hopefully, somewhere a little better than here.