The Night Mare

VI

They once again found themselves in Peter's apartment, May and Ben in the kitchen and memory Peter no where to be seen.

Peter didn't even really need to look around to know what this memory was, the previous memory was clue enough, and he already couldn't handle it. He wanted all of this to be over with. He didn't want to relive all of these awful memories after finally learning how to stop dwelling over them and blaming himself and actually live happily.

"Do you have an idea what this memory could be?" Loki asks, like he always does, snapping Peter out of his inner turmoil.

"Yeah." Was all Peter could say; wanted to say. He wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as he could.

"Are you going to explain, child?" Loki asks, Peter shaking his head in return. "Child-"

"Yes, Loki, I know! I know I have to explain to you what this memory is, but I can't!" Peter shouts, stunning Loki into silence for a few seconds.

"I know this memory probably isn't an easy one, but you will get through it." Loki attempts to reassure.

"Yeah, but what if you can't?" Peter asks, turning to face Loki.

"What?"

"You heard me. I may be able to get through it, yeah, but what if you can't? You're about to see something that's going to change your entire view on me; you're never going to be able to look at me and not see a terrible human being. You know why? Because this is the memory where I got my Uncle killed because I was a selfish little brat." Peter spits out, not quite realizing what he said and accidentally making the memory come to life.

"Hey, Love." Ben greets his wife, making his way further into the kitchen and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey, Honey. How was work?" May asks, stirring something undefinable in a pot on the stove.

"It was alright. Nothing interesting really happened today." Ben answers, looking around the apartment and noticing that they were one person short. "Where's Petey?"

"He's been in his room since I got home. I think he's still trying to catch up from when he went to the hospital." May tells him, turning around and leaning against the counter.

"Has he seemed a little... off to you lately?" Ben asks, leaning against the counter across from her so they can be face to face while they talked.

"No, not really. He seems busier, but that could just be because he missed a week and a half of school from when he was sick." May responds, shrugging it off and turning back to whatever was in the pot.

"That's not what I meant. He seems more closed off than he usually would be. I mean, he locks his bedroom door now! When has he ever done that?" Ben continues, frowning when he heard May snort.

"Ben, he's a teenager, what do you expect? He was eventually going to go in the phase where it's uncool to hang out with your parents; it's what teenagers do." May says, trying to keep that laughter out of her voice.

"But not our kid. He was never like that." Ben argues, making May turn around again.

"Okay, then, it must be because of the hospital. Peter went through a really traumatic experience and he probably just needs a little time to himself to cope with it all." May says, walking up and wrapping her arms around her husbands neck. "But I really do think it's the first thing." She chuckles, planting a kiss on his lips.

"I hope you're wrong. With how cuddly Petey is, I was hoping we were going to skip the angsty teenager phase." Ben murmurs, almost looking like he was pouting at the mere thought that Peter would rather be by himself or with his friends than his parents; even though Ben went through the same thing when he was a teen.