"Oh thank you so much for picking me up Mj, I told Anna I could just get the bus or subway." I shake my head as I raise the heating seeing how it was chilly out and she'd been stood in the cold. "Don't be silly May, I'm more than happy to pick you up whenever you need." She smiles appreciatively as she thanks me once more.
"Is Peter ok do you know?" I turn to May slightly surprised at the question, "I don't know where his head is at recently, he just seems like he's struggling but he won't open up to me and I don't what I can do to help, I'm just so worried about him." I bite my lip as I take a turn and try to think of an answer, should I just tell her that I don't really know because I'm not really peters friend. I mean obviously I could see the change in him that she was talking about but I didn't have very many answers.
"To be honest with you May, I'm not completely sure myself, uh I could try and reach out to Peter to see if there's anything I could do to help." I suggest as I pull up to park. "Thank you, and thank you for picking me up."
"No worries may, just call me whenever." She smiles warmly at me, "would you like to come in and keep me company for a while? Ben had to change his shifts around and I doubt Peter will be home." I nod as I unbuckle my seatbelt. "Sure."
***
May and I were in the kitchen, I was sat on the counter as she was cooking dinner. We converse about small things as I help her, May was one of Anna's closest friends and so I'd been around her a ton and was more than comfortable spending time with her.
"Mj! What a lovely surprise what are you doing here?" I grin as uncle Ben joins us, he greets his wife first with a kiss before he turns to me. "Are you going to be joining us for dinner."
"Well seeing as she helped make it, I wouldn't have it any other way." May answers for me making him beam. "That's great, you're a pleasure to have around Mj, where's Peter?" May and I share a look at the question.
"Peter's not home yet." May answers making Ben's brows furrow, "so he didn't pick you up?" She shakes her head, "he forgot." Ben is annoyed by this but doesn't say anything further. The three of us enjoy ourselves and after we're done I take the dishes and begin cleaning up.
"Oh no dear I can't ask you to do this." May protests but I shake my head, "oh come on it's the least I could after that delicious meal you just fed me." I manage to get her to agree and just as I'm finishing up Peter comes home.
"You owe your aunt an apology bigtime. Be a man. Get in there and apologise." Uncle Ben says as he and Peter enter the house. "I'm sorry, Aunt May, I..."
"Honestly, you don't have... to apologise to me. It's your..."
"The hell he doesn't." I decide to stay in the kitchen feeling like I shouldn't be here. "Ben."
"Look, I'm sorry, I got distracted." Peter says making Ben scoff. "Oh, he got distracted. Yeah. Your aunt, my wife, would've had to walk 12 blocks alone... in the middle of the night and then wait in a deserted subway station... because you got distracted."
"Ben, sweetheart, honestly... I am completely capable of walking home and besides Mj picked me up so I was fine."
"You will not defend this boy!"
"I'm not defending..."
"You are! Listen to me, son. You're a lot like your father. You really are, Peter, and that's a good thing... but your father lived by a philosophy, a principle, really. He believed that if you could do good things for other people... you had a moral obligation to do those things. That's what's at stake here. Not choice. Responsibility."
"That is nice. That's great. That's all well and good. So where is he? What? Where is he? Where's my dad? He didn't think it was his responsibility to be here to tell me himself?" I frown as I lean back against the counter, "Oh, come on, how dare you?"
