Truly Blind | p. parker

xx • past ghosts

It was a few weeks later when the first sign of ill-will towards Peter's plan cropped up.

You were lying on your stomach in the middle of the Parkers' living room, reading aloud from your Spanish textbook with Peter sitting next to you, tracing his fingers absently over your back.

May was attempting to cook dessert in the kitchen while the two of you studied.

"So when conjugating words in the future tense, you must remember to always include the suffix of—"

"Peter?" May called. "Can you remind me what kind of spices you don't like?"

"What, May?"

"You know—" She called. "With your special senses! Which spices bother your powers?"

Peter scrambled to his feet, yelling: "Ah! Don't— don't worry, May!" He stepped over you. "Here, I'll come help!"

He dashed into the kitchen, sliding over the tile in his socks as you watched, confused.

You heard them talking but couldn't make out individual words. Shrugging, you sat up and pulled out your science notes. Sometimes May's issues took a while and you had a lot to do tonight.

You were halfway through your second page of review when a CRASH sounded from the kitchen and all other noise stopped.

"Peter—" You heard May say. "What do you mean? I thought you were finally working through this issue?"

"I am, May." Peter sounded exhausted. "But this serum could be the answer! I could see again, and get back to how my life was before, and I could finally be happy again!"

You caught your breath as the silence in the kitchen stretched out.

"You're not happy?" May said.

"I didn't mean that—"

"What about ___, huh?"

"May— please don't bring her into this—"

"Have you told her? Have you told her about who you were? Who you are?"

"It's not that easy, plus, that's not who I am anymore."

"Not who you are anymore? Peter Benjamin, just because you can't see doesn't mean you aren't Spi—"

"YOU'RE WRONG!"

You flinched as he yelled, instinctively tensing to run. But then you let out a small breath. You had to remember that this wasn't your parents fighting.

"I lost everything, May. I'm nothing now."

"Well," You could hear the anger in May's voice, something you had never witnessed before. "If you had just stuck with Tony's training, maybe your senses, your tingle, would have developed more."

"May—"

"If you had just stuck to therapy and not given up on yourself—"

"This is the answer!"

"No, Peter, you're running away from who you are! You are just fine how you are right now! You're kind, selfless, and strong; a hero!"

"That's a matter of opinion." You heard him say quietly.

"Peter..."

You heard the scrape of a chair being pushed in. "I'm eighteen years old, May. I can make my own decisions. I'm getting the serum and that's that."

Then you heard someone leave the kitchen, and the slam of a door down the hall told you Peter had gone to his room.

Not having the slightest idea of what to do, you decided to try and study some more. Obviously, Peter was going through something, and you wanted to let him calm down a bit before you tried to offer help.