can't believe i forgot about the may's abusive boyfriend trope
i just realised the title is kind of a play on words by accident and i love it
set during immediately after homecoming; non compliant with any following movies, i'm making my own post-homecoming storyline meaning NO THANOS thank you very much
tw: abuse
~NO POV~
Peter Parker lost his Uncle Ben in a brutal way, and he never forgot the feeling of the man's blood on his hands as he tried to stop the bleeding, as he begged the man to wake up. The words he said earlier, about power and responsibility ringing through his ears, and he realised he wasn't responsible.
He abused his power.
And he hated himself for it. So when the spider bit him, he promised to never abuse his power again. He would do what he could for Queens, but as Peter Parker he wouldn't abuse the power either. If he couldn't before, he wouldn't now.
He pretended like the death of his uncle wasn't incredibly traumatising, and focussed on his aunt. May was struggling, openly, even if she tried to hide it from Peter. It was obvious, how much it hurt, but Peter adored the way she never blamed him for Ben's death.
Because he blamed himself.
He watched his aunt struggle and eventually move on, and though May loved Ben infinitely, she found herself getting back into the dating life, because she deserved to be happy. And she knew Ben wouldn't mind; he'd want her to move on.
After trialling a few relationships, she found the right guy for her. She gave it a few months, but after finding out Peter had a secret identity, it felt like the right time to tell him.
Find out one secret, tell another.
Peter wasn't mad, of course he wasn't. He wanted his aunt to be happy as well. So when she told him, he accepted that his aunt wanted to move on and was optimistic about meeting her boyfriend.
And everything was fine.
For a while.
"This is Caleb Davidson, my boyfriend of seven months. He's a neurosurgeon, has a puppy and-"
"It's alright, May, I can introduce myself." The tall, blond man with green eyes and a noticeably muscly body smiled and offered his hand to Peter.
"Hi Caleb. I'm Peter." He smiled and shook the man's hand.
"Quite a grip you've got there."
"I could say the same."
May seemed happy with the interaction, and though something felt off about the Captain America lookalike with green eyes, Peter ignored it and was happy for her. Even if something felt off, Caleb had been nothing but kind to Peter, and made his aunt feel okay, so it was all okay.
Once Caleb left, May and Peter sat in front of the TV eating ice cream and lucky charms. The whole meeting process was sweet, and dinner, Chinese takeout, was nice. They all talked like they were a proper family. It was nice.
"How do we feel about Caleb? Do we larb him?"
"I only larb you May. Do you larb him?"
May shook her head. "Not yet, but I really like him. He wasn't weird about our apartment either, because he's a neurosurgeon so he's rich and has a beautiful house. He likes you too, said everything I said about you was definitely true. What do you think?"
"I think he's nice. And he makes you happy."
Peter didn't mention the off feeling, since May basically just poured out her heart, and her heart said yes to Caleb, so Peter did too.
"Do you think you'd be okay with him coming round more, or me staying over at his house more? I know he's not Ben, and I never want to replace him or-"
"It's fine May." He cut her off. "It's okay. I want you to be happy. Do whatever you want May, just let me know before because I don't want to worry all night about where you are and- why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's ironic, Spider-Man."
Peter laughed sheepishly.
"You sound like a protective parent." May smiled. "I love you Peter. Get some rest, alright?"
"You too May."
Caleb came over often, sometimes even stayed the night. Peter didn't like the nights he stayed over, because he couldn't sneak out for patrol. May was aware and slept blissfully knowing her nephew was safe, because he knew how to talk about things now. And even if she disliked Tony Stark, he still had enough protective protocols in place.
The two even communicated about Peter, shockingly.
Peter got caught sneaking back into the apartment once, but lucky he wasn't in his suit when Caleb caught him. See, Peter forgot about Caleb being home, and went to get water in just his boxers and a top, and the neurosurgeon caught him and lectured him.
He said stuff about curfew and sneaking out and being up late and not being half-dressed around the house and it sounded like Caleb was trying to parent Peter and it bothered him so much. But he didn't tell May; of course he didn't.
Caleb told May, though, and made Peter seem awful, and May pretended to care but when Caleb went home, she talked to Peter and realised it was just him being Spider-Man. They agreed for him not to patrol on nights when he was over, and it made his Peter-Tingle go haywire. He didn't like it, but if it made her happy..
May wanted Caleb and Peter to hang out one-on-one, to bond, because she could see Caleb in her future, and Peter was okay with it. His Peter-Tingle was going crazy the entire time, and Caleb kept making backhanded comments about him and it drove Peter crazy, but he made May happy.
One time Peter accidentally broke something of Caleb's, and he got loud. May wasn't home, and Caleb came back because he left his keys and a watch the night before by accident, and Peter saw how fancy it was and tried it on. He heard a noise that startled him and flung his arm into the fridge by accident, and it broke.
Damned super-strength and enhanced hearing.
Caleb found him trying to piece the fancy watch back together, and screamed about how expensive it was and how Peter wouldn't touch May's stuff and break it, and how Peter shouldn't touch his stuff at all. And it enraged Peter, because the neurosurgeon had broken his favourite bowl and finished his cereal but the teenager never complained.
And then Caleb was yelling more for not listening, and all the sounds and smells and all five fucking senses were heightened too much and he was about to have a sensory overload, and he left the room, leaving Caleb and his broken watch to complain.
May came home, and Caleb made Peter look like a horrible person again, and May didn't know what to do, so she checked on her nephew, and found him with a weighted blanket, noise-cancelling earphones and the special eye-mask Tony made for situations like these, and she understood.
And May told Caleb not to shout at Peter.
Caleb didn't like the fact that Peter was making him look like a villain, even though it was the other way round. He cornered Peter on another bad day, and that's when he first got physical. It was an accident, really; Peter was spacing out and Caleb wasn't having it, so he shook Peter's shoulders and Peter fell to the ground in shock and hurt.
Caleb was strong, and Peter's shoulders bruised, but he healed quickly and May never found out.
Caleb never got told off for hurting Peter, and that's when he realised Peter wouldn't snake him out. He waited another week before finding another thing to get mad at Peter for. It was about the dishes, and it was May's day to do them, but Caleb wasn't aware and yelled and threw a plate at him.
Peter had to clean up the mess, and then did the dishes with Caleb watching him, but he never told May, because she was happy.
Caleb actually hit Peter about three months after May introduced the two. It was unexpected. Caleb was having a bad day and Peter was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Caleb's fist flew into his jaw and the bruise was gone by the next day so he never told May.
Because he made May happy.
The screaming and throwing and hitting never stopped. In fact, it continued for the next two months and eventually it was May and Caleb's one-year anniversary and May wanted to make the most of it by moving in with Caleb.
But Peter didn't want to move out; he really didn't want to move out. He liked his neighbourhood and his home and the safety of his own room, but he moved out regardless, because it made May happy.
Being in Caleb's house sucked, because it was harder to sneak out and Caleb found it easier to hurt Peter in his house, rather than May's small apartment. May was so happy in the beautiful, luxury house, and Peter hated it, but he said nothing because it made May happy.
"What's up, kid? You're quiet."
Peter found himself hanging out with Mr Stark at the labs to fix his suit up a bit a while back, and it because a regular thing. He would go over to the Compound often, to hang out with his mentor because he hated being at the house and he missed his home.
He stayed over on every weekend because there wasn't any point staying for a while when it was quite a drive. Sometimes, when he was fed up of being in Caleb's stupid house, he would swing over, even if it took a while. He didn't care; being with Mr Stark was better than being with Caleb.
He missed May, because she seemed happy with Caleb and Peter avoided Caleb so they rarely saw each other. And May commented on it often. Peter always said he had lots of schoolwork and lab work to do, and it was okay, they could hang out later, but whenever Peter wanted to, Caleb took her away first.
He was supposed to go out for Thai with May, but Caleb decided he'd take May away for a week-long resort for fun, and May was hesitant to leave Peter behind, but Peter adored being away from Caleb and made the sacrifice, because it made May happy.
So May decided he'd stay at the Compound for the week, and that made Peter happy.
"Kid?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not talking my ears off. Do you not want to stay over for the week?"
Peter shook his head quickly. "No, no I love being here."
"But...?"
"I miss home."
"I can take you back to the house if you want."
Peter shook his head again. "I miss home. Caleb's house is not my home. May's small, cosy apartment is."
"Did you not want to move in with him?"
Peter shrugged. He wasn't supposed to talk about it, because Caleb made May happy and he couldn't ruin that. Talking about it would ruin that.
"Peter, is something going on with Caleb?"
"He makes May happy."
That answer made Tony feel ill, because he didn't say 'he makes us happy'. Something was off about Caleb, and his house, and with Peter. And Tony didn't like it.
But he could tell Peter wouldn't say anything, so he didn't push.
"Your stupid mentor called May. Said something was up with you because of me."
Peter looked up, not expecting the blond to barge into his room and scream in his face. He looked back down at his phone and ignored the man. Caleb didn't like that, so he punched Peter in the face, yanked him up by his shirt and threw him at the wall.
Couldn't then, shouldn't now. Don't fight back, don't dodge. Just take it.
"He said that you seemed off and he wants to make sure nothings going on here." Caleb said as he kicked the boy on the floor. "And obviously nothing is going on. Why didn't you say that? Hm? Do you not want May to be happy?"
Caleb knew how Peter was only tolerating him for May, and he used that to his advantage. So obviously Peter stayed quiet and took all the hits, because Caleb made May happy.
Peter woke up on the floor from a nightmare, covered in a cold sweat. Normally he'd deal with a nightmare alone, but May caught him before Caleb was around, and made her swear to go to her if he had a nightmare or she'd burn his suit. (Neither knew that the suit was fireproof.)
Ever since he moved into Caleb's he refused to see May. So now, he was struggling with a nightmare about being crushed by a building and it was bad and he was panicking and no one was there to comfort him, and he was used to the comfort and jesusfuckingchristithinkimdyingimunderthebuildingandimdyingimdyingimdying-
And May was there, and Caleb was there, and it was dark and he couldn't let May turn the light on and see the abuse and suddenly he was out of the house and in his suit and the world was shaking and dark and he was flying and Mr Stark was there and he was safe.
"Kid?"
Peter had finally gotten out of his panicked state, and he found that he was on top of a random building and Mr Stark was hugging him, the Iron Man suit standing protectively behind them. He felt so safe in the man's arms, and he never wanted to leave.
"What happened?"
"Nightmare."
"I thought those stopped."
Peter tilted his head slightly. "I never told you I had nightmares."
The man muttered something under his breath, which Peter's enhanced hearing caught. It was a chain of swear words and it made the teenager laugh.
"May told me when you started staying over. She wanted to make sure that I'd be ready to help if you had a nightmare, because you wouldn't willingly ask for help."
"Oh."
"Too much like me, aren't you?" Tony ruffled his hair.
Peter winced without meaning to, the pain of being slammed into a wall and onto the ground and kicked into the wall over and over and over coming back to him.
"You're injured?" Tony moved out from behind Peter, letting the boy's back lean against the rooftop-wall (?) as he went to inspect him. "FRIDAY, make the suit light up."
Peter groaned as the light shone in his face, and Tony moved out of the way to inspect from aside, with the light shining directly on the teenager. By doing so, the bruise on his cheekbone stood out and the matted blood in his hair sparkled in a hideous way.
"Shit, kid, who did this to you?"
Peter didn't know what to say. His brain wasn't working properly, and he was pretty sure he could hear his own heartbeat in his head and everything hurt and not a single excuse came to mind.
"Was- did Caleb hurt you?"
Peter couldn't deny it any longer, not when his ribs felt like they were cracked and he felt like a train ran over his body.
"I knew that son of a bitch was hurting you somehow. I fucking knew it. I should've done something. Oh shit, kid, I'm so sorry, I should've-"
"Shut up." Peter mumbled. He forgot who he was talking to for a moment, but Mr Stark didn't care. He cared about Peter's health and that was it. "He makes May happy."
"What?"
"Caleb, he makes May happy. Don't take that away from her."
Tony seemed angrier by that. "Did she know?"
"No, no, nobody knew. You can't say anything. May deserves to be happy, and he makes May happy."
"Oh for fuck's sake, kid, what if this was her? What if he was hurting her and she was hiding it from you because she thought he made you happy?"
Peter gulped, realising Tony was right. May would do that. "But-"
"Look, what if she's hurting too? You need to tell her, so that she's okay."
The injured teenager nodded sleepily. Tony sighed and picked him up, deciding to take him back to the Compound to assess and treat his injuries. He made it seem like he didn't care about Peter hurting, but of course he did. He just knew Peter would never accept help for himself; only for someone else.
"Will you let me take you to medical?"
"No, 'm not- don't like people seeing me." Peter mumbled, the pain in his body making him completely out of it. "You only."
"Me? Peter, I can't, I'm not a professional-"
"Don' care."
Tony did his best to treat the injuries Peter had, whilst on the phone with Helen, who was instructing him as best as she could. With the help of Peter's spider-DNA, Tony managed to fix the teenager up and gave him some pain meds, made specially for him; his metabolism burned through regular painkillers.
Once Tony was done, he called May to let him know that Peter was somewhat okay and safe, and that he'd return the teenager back whenever he was deemed fit, and when the boy wanted to. May was confused about the latter part, but agreed nonetheless.
And so, Peter slept for half a day, woke up delirious and confused, went back to sleep, woke up again and was given a summary of what happened. He felt sick, but knew he'd have to say something or May could end up like him.
"But he makes May happy."
"What if one day, he makes her sad? What if he hurts her? What if she's just pretending, just like you?"
And now he was sitting in Caleb's stupid living room, drinking water from his stupid glass, with his stupid self opposite Peter. With Tony and May next to him, one confused but both concerned, he felt safer.
"What's wrong Peter?"
"Does he make you happy?" He had to ask.
"Well, yes, of course-"
"See, Mr Stark, we can go. It's fine-"
Tony shushed him immediately. "You tell her or I will. You come first. May wouldn't be happy if she knew the truth."
"What truth?" May raised a brow, and Tony sensed that she was about to get all protective and go into her mother-mode.
"You say." Peter mumbled weakly. He couldn't believe he was fucking Spider-Man and afraid of some regular human, afraid of talking about what that regular human did to him.
"Caleb's been verbally and physically abusing Peter. I'm not sure how long for, but when I found him last night he was hurt, because of him." Tony glared at the blond.
"He's lying."
May turned to face her boyfriend. "I'm gonna fucking kill you."
"How do you just believe him like that? Just because he's got Iron Man here-"
He was cut off by May's palm meeting his face.
"Bet you hate that, hmm?" She spat. "Well that's what you did to my fucking son. I don't wanna ever see you again. Come, Peter, we're leaving this jerk."
"But-"
"He was hurting you. He doesn't make me happy."
A few months later, May started dating again.
Harold 'Happy' Hogan.
And fuck, he made May happy.
He made them both happy.
this was so long bro
words: 3161
and not my usual writing style either
fun fact: i wrote happy 35 times, including this sentence and the title
cinnamon <3