*Peter's POV*
The three days were up and May was coming back home. The apartment had felt incredibly vacant without her, but knowing she was being cared for in the hospital had also given Peter some time to himself where he didn't have to worry about her.
The first two days with her in the hospital had been hard, even when he didn't have to currently worry about her he did have to worry about what would happen when she was released from the hospital. And it was clearly showing during his time as Spider-Man.
The reporters had been going on and on about it in every article, so the third night he tried to act normal. Like the usual, happy, comedic Spider-Man that everyone knew. It was working, he just had to stop thinking about May for a few hours and pretend everything was still fine. And he knew it was working— when reporters showed up to the scene after he was done fighting a criminal they didn't ask any invasive questions. Instead, they told him they were glad he was back to normal. So he could fool them. Citizens would stop worrying and his superhero life could go back to normal, even if his life as Peter was far from normal.
Of course, then that same night the Captain America and Falcon showed up out of the blue to talk about forming an alliance with him. He admired Captain America so much, but he couldn't just trust the hero. Spider-Man wasn't even that big of a deal yet, which meant they had been looking into him a lot if they knew how to find him.
However, they seemed trustworthy enough. And Falcon was nice and much more laidback than Captain America, his persona matched Spider-Man's a lot more than the ex-soldier. So, naturally, he felt more pulled to him, and he listened to him with a sense of relief rather than suspicion.
Peter knew that they wouldn't do anything for now. Perhaps in the future they would, but it did seem like they just wanted to assure the public that he's not a threat. If they knew he was a hero then they wouldn't have to watch over him as closely. And when he turned eighteen, a legal adult, then he could actually join the Avengers. Maybe. It all really depended on how quickly he could move into his own apartment or something of the sorts so that May wouldn't be at risk.
They had mentioned him joining the Avengers, but he couldn't do that right now. May was working herself to death and he couldn't risk his identity being compromised when she was still in danger. When Peter turned eighteen, he would be able to legally protect May. Maybe the Avengers would even let her stay in Avengers Tower, where she would be safe.
Tony Stark lived there with his fiancé Pepper Potts, along with many of the Avengers. But he refused to think so far ahead, all they did was offer him a possible spot when he was ready to trust them. And they seemed to be looking him over, trying to test if they could trust him. Clearly they were just as weary as he was.
Pushing the thoughts of his superhero life aside, Peter helped May into the apartment and let her down onto the couch gently. She gave him a grateful smile and hugged him before leaning back on the couch.
"I can go get some dinner for us, May." Peter told her as he went into the kitchen to wash the growing pile of dishes that had been stacking in the sink. "Anything you want." He threw over his shoulder, glancing back to see her expression.
May kept her back turned, but her shoulders were clearly tensed and she was no longer relaxing. "I, uh, helped a young lady and her son cross the street the other night and she gave me twenty bucks because she was so grateful." Peter quickly lied, hoping that would convince her. "Honestly... I felt bad for taking the money so if I use it to get dinner it'll clear my conscience." Maybe a little guilt tripping would help as well.
With a sigh, May turned around and forced a smile. "You're always such a sweetheart, Petey." May said with a controlled laugh. "Go on ahead, honey, and you can pick what we eat. I'm really not picky." As she turned back around and turned on the television to watch the news, Peter let out a relieved sigh and finished cleaning the remaining dishes.
He really wanted to spring the question that had been nagging his thoughts on her, but it had taken all of that just to convince her to let him pay for dinner. Asking her to drop a shift and let him get a job seemed impossible. Even if it might invade some of his hero time, he needed to put May first. She was the only family he had.
After washing his hands and drying them on a spare towel, Peter briefly said goodbye to May and left the apartment while grabbing his phone, keys, and money. He hadn't totally lied earlier. Spider-Man had helped a young lady and her son cross the road, and she had been grateful, but she had not paid him. The money was from his seventh birthday, from Ben.
Pushing away the guilt of lying to May, Peter headed down to a cafe that sold decent sandwiches. He bought four for five bucks, the place was shutting down and was trying to sell as much as possible. They could each have one tonight and one tomorrow.
It was a good deal that gave Peter a small feeling of relief, he still had an extra fifteen dollars that he could use to get May food and water without her complaining. As far as she knew, her nephew did a good deed and wanted to use it to do another. So it was fine.
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*Peter's POV*
May had been doing fine over the remaining week. She ate and drank everything Peter gave her, with silent complaints that she tried her best to hide from him. She seemed to think she was disadvantaging him when all he wanted to do was help.
Peter had gone to school every day since the one day he missed when May was first admitted to the hospital. Ned and MJ had asked all day why he hadn't been at school the next day, but he had quickly evaded answering until he finally mumbled some stupid lie about May and him catching the flu so they stayed at home together.
Ned had been skeptical, but he seemed to have pushed that away after first period the first day he was back. However, MJ never dropped something. Peter could feel her analyzing eyes on him every day until the following Thursday, the day May was going back to work.
Peter was especially jittery that day, too busy worrying about May to really try and act like he was fine. Both Ned and MJ quickly caught on to his anxious habits and gave him his space, though MJ put the pieces together almost instantly and questioned him at lunch when Ned was in the bathroom.
"This has something to do with last Monday. You've been acting weird since then, nerd, and I want to know why." She said, dropping her nonchalant act and facing him with a dead serious look that had him shriveling away from her.
"It's nothing, MJ." Peter replied stubbornly, trying to eat his lunch in peace. "Just drop it." Adding the smallest glare to the end of his sentence, which he could barely hold before he felt guilty for being irritated with her, MJ huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Fine. But Ned and I are your friends for a reason." MJ muttered, pulling her book out of her bag to continue reading. "I get it if you need some space or whatever, but you should know that when you're ready to talk—" She looked up at him one last time. "We're ready to listen." And she went back to her reading.
"Also, learn to actually glare at people." MJ said with a smirk. "You just look like a kicked puppy when you try and it's honestly pitiful." With an indignant gasp, Peter dramatically grabbed at his chest, which had MJ chuckling behind her book. Peter sighed, glad that the serious moment had passed.
Ned came back a few moments later, launching into an excited conversation with Peter instantly. They spent the rest of their lunch nerding-out about Star Wars, legos, and video games like they always did. And it felt so nice compared to the chilling conversation he just had with MJ.
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*Peter's POV*
Flash found Peter again. This time it was inside the school. The already distracted teen hadn't been paying attention, grabbing his things from his locker, when he turned around and ran into the one person he had been trying to avoid.
Flash grabbed Peter by his upper arm and dragged him towards the supply closet, which wasn't locked, and gave them a very secluded place where no one would find them. How convenient for Flash.
Said bully quickly pushed Peter against the wall and grabbed a fistful of his hair. "You seem annoyed, Parker." Flash drawled with a smirk. "Is this irritating you?" The taller teen began poking the other's face roughly, leaving small red marks that were a clear contrast against his pale skin.
Leaning in closer, Flash grinned and pulled Peter's head forward before pushing it into the hard wall. It didn't hurt too bad, but it definitely gave Peter a headache as Flash pushed him to the ground and spit on the floor right in front of him. "That's what you get for thinking you can get annoyed at me. I should be the one acting like that, I'm stuck with you as a stupid classmate, but I'm clearly nicer than you, so I usually spare you." Flash went on and on, acting like the narcissist that he was.
He continued to degrade Peter, trying to play victim, as if Flash was the one that was nice. Because he didn't bash Peter's head in every time he saw him, that meant Flash was the kind victim who was suffering. It wasn't like he treated Peter like he was scum under his shoe. Or like he beat on and berated Peter like he's his own personal punching bag.
With a final sneer, Flash spit on the ground again and waltzed out of the supply closest. Peter sat in there, holding his breathe and trying to will the urge to cry to go away. He wasn't exactly a crybaby. Sure, he was more emotional than most other teenage boys and he cried over stupid stuff all the time, but he could handle Flash's taunting.
Flash had never really bothered him. He scared him sometimes and made his life a little more miserable, but he was manageable. It just sucked that Peter was still blamed for it. He couldn't even tell any adults about it because Flash had an incredibly rich father who funded most of the school's field trips, supplies, and anything else.
It was frustrating.
So Peter took in a slow, deep breathe and sat in the supply closest staring at the ground where Flash had spit. He sat there until the irritated tears went away and he could stand without swaying from when he hit his head, his headache was much worse now that he had almost cried. He wasn't hurt or anything, but he was tired and ready to go home.
Grabbing him bag and slinging it over his shoulder, Peter carefully slipped out of the supply closet without any faculty members seeing him and exited the school at last. Rain was drizzling down, but Peter enjoyed the cooling sensation and decided just to walk back to the apartment instead of taking the hot, disgusting subway.
May wouldn't be home either way, still making Peter worry. He didn't even have to text her and tell her that he would be nearly thirty minutes late with the pace and distance he was walking.
Every step gave him another moment to calm down, refrain from thinking about Flash. Stop getting upset about how unfair it was that he would never get in trouble while Peter was walking on thin ice constantly.
By the time Peter made it to the apartment, he was exhausted. Thoughts about school and Flash no longer haunted him. He just wanted to finish his homework and crash for the rest of the night, but patrol called to him at the back of his mind. He would be out as Spider-Man before he could rest.