Chapter Text
Part 1.
Peter is stretched out across the couch in the living room watching the news. He was alone in the apartment since both May and Ben were busy helping those affected by the Chitauri Invasion, having been called in about 2 hours after the battle was over. May was working overtime at the hospital to help with the overflow of patients while Ben, as part of the police force, was helping rescue civilians who were trapped during the earthquake in Queens. The couple felt guilty and apologized profusely for leaving Peter alone but he assured his aunt and uncle that he would be fine and that they were needed, which he understood. May and Ben hugged Peter and told him to stay safe inside the apartment before leaving. Ever since then, Peter has been switching between Queens News and other NYC news channels to watch the clean-up and search & rescue efforts. Switching between channels has allowed Peter to see the different levels of damage across New York.
Manhattan suffered the worst because the (newly named) Avengers managed to contain the battle there. However, when the portal first opened above Stark Tower for the Chitauri to enter, it caused an earthquake that reached almost all of New York. Queen's proximity to Manhattan meant it sustained severe damage, though still nothing compared to the destruction in the main site of the Battle of New York. Whereas in Queens some buildings are missing walls or have collapsed rooftops, with the occasional building that completely collapsed, Manhattan has entire blocks of buildings that are completely collapsed. Most of New York is in varying states of ruin greater or less than Queens, except for the border areas that were barely affected by the earthquake. Due to the widespread damage across the state, especially in Manhattan, the National Guard is assisting the aid efforts. The cities less affected are sending some of their first responders to help in the more affected areas.
Peter is truly impressed with how New Yorkers are uniting to help each other. It makes him proud to be a New Yorker and makes him wish he could help. Peter feels kind of useless just sitting on the couch watching everyone else help. May and Ben are contributing in their respective ways, the National Guard and first responders have been helping since they arrived, and the Avengers not only fought off the invasion, but Captain America promised that as soon as the heroes were completely recovered, they would help with the clean-up efforts.
Despite Peter's wish to help, he doesn't know how he can help; first responders are trained for situations like these, and the Avengers are literal heroes while he is just a high school freshman. Peter respects the first responders so much for putting their lives on the line every day to help others, but he knew the Avengers were true heroes because they not only risked their lives to save the city (and likely the whole world), but they also fought literal aliens. It was both inspiring and terrifying watching the recording of the Avengers’ battle. There were a couple of moments that stood out to Peter the most: Iron Man flying a nuke through the portal to save Manhattan (and possibly most of New York; Peter isn't an expert but he's pretty sure that the nuke was big enough to completely erase Manhattan and probably Queens too from the map. And isn't that a terrifying thought - what would have happened if Iron Man hadn't redirected that bomb?), Hawkeye helping people escape from a half-crushed bus while using his bow to cover himself and the fleeing civilians, and Black Widow jumping onto one of the aliens' freaky oversized hoverboards, then knocking one of the occupants off before taking control and shooting at the enemy.
Peter sighs as he flips to Manhattan’s main news channel, which shows firefighters working to free people trapped in their cars after a bridge collapsed. The firefighters all look exhausted, which is understandable because they have been working tirelessly for about 13 hours now. As Peter watches, one of the firefighters stumbles and falls, Peter sits up sharply to get a better view as the man’s fellow firefighters rush over to help him up. They load the previously fallen firefighter into a firetruck which then leaves the screen. After a minute, a reporter comes on screen to announce that the firefighter will be okay, he is just experiencing a mild case of dehydration. The reporter then explains how a lot of first responders are struggling with the same problem since they don't have time to take breaks to cool down or eat and drink. The reporter then goes on to describe the other first responders’ actions but it falls into nothing more than distant murmuring to Peter, whose mind begins working in overdrive.
Peter smiles as an idea about how to help strikes him. He jumps up from the couch, runs into his room, and grabs a pen and notebook before rushing back to the couch. Peter pulls out his phone and starts researching. As he dives deeper, a plan starts to form. Peter jots ideas down and starts to outline a plan. After about an hour of research and planning, he is finished. Now all he has to do is get May and Ben's approval, then get in contact with Queens’ First Responders Foundation.
After finalizing his plan, Peter prepares dinner, wanting to surprise his aunt and uncle with a warm meal. As Peter moves around the kitchen, he mulls over his plan. Is it even possible? Will May and Ben think it's a good idea? Will people agree to help? Will this even be able to help? The oven timer buzzes, signaling that it is done preheating, snapping Peter out of his rapidly spiraling thoughts. He puts the pizzas he had been making into the oven, then pulls out his phone and sets a timer. While waiting for the pizzas, he flops down on the couch and is definitely not overthinking, not at all. Peter lays on the couch, continuing to watch the news, until the timer goes off. Peter takes the pizzas out of the oven to let them cool for a couple of minutes before cutting them into slices. While waiting for the pizzas to cool, he hears a knock at the door and then May walks in with a tired smile. Peter runs up to his aunt and tackles her into a hug. May hugs Peter back fiercely and kisses the top of his head.
"May, I made dinner,” Peter says excitedly.
“Thank you, honey. Just let me change out of my scrubs and then we'll sit down and eat.” May says tiredly. before rubbing her eyes and continuing, “Ben called me and told me that he won't be home for another couple of hours.”
May smiles tiredly at Peter once more before walking toward her and Ben's Bedroom.
After May leaves the living room Peter walks back into the kitchen to set the table and cut the Pizza into slices.
After May changes, she makes her way to the kitchen as she enters, she shoots Peter another tired smile. Peter smiles back at May before walking over and pulling out a chair for her and setting her plate down.
“Oh, Peter, I don't know what Ben and I would do without you; you are the sweetest, most helpful teenager,” May says proudly.
Peter simply smiles at May before taking his plate and sitting down.
After they finish eating, Peter takes their plates to the sink. May thanks him again before asking him, “ You've improved your cooking so much after just a couple of months of those classes; how fast are they moving through the material?”
“Oh, they aren't moving very fast in the class, but I have been watching some cool cooking videos on YouTube,” Peter replies.
He walks back to the table and sits down and then asks May if they can talk for a minute. May smiles and then responds” Of course sweetie, what does my favorite nephew want to talk about?”
“Well, I was watching the news today, and I noticed how much of a hard time the first responders were having during the clean-up and rescue efforts.” Peter began. “So I thought of a plan to help. Now, first responders don't have time to leave to eat or drink while they're on duty at disaster sites, so I thought it would be really helpful if they had portable packages of water, Gatorade, and high-protein snacks to allow them to quickly replenish energy and fluids. I was thinking of contacting the First Responders Foundation to get them to organize donation sites across New York because they are well connected to charities across the state, so they can collect and distribute the donations.” Peter explains rapidly.
“Woah, Peter…” May says, looking a bit overwhelmed, “From what I understood, that sounds like a great idea, but take a deep breath and tell me again. Just a bit slower, sweetie.” Peter takes a deep breath and explains his idea again. When he is finished, May hugs him.
“I'm so proud of you for wanting to help. When Ben gets home, we’ll call the foundation together to tell them your plan and see if we can get them to agree May says happily”
Peter was delighted.
That night, May, Ben, and Peter called Raine Whispers, the president of the First Responders Foundation. They spent about three hours talking to Raine about the benefits and drawbacks of Peter's plan, how they would work around the short time frame, and who they would get to run the donation booths. In the end, everyone was on board with Peter's plan. Raine would announce the donation drop-off location and time, along with what items are needed. They also planned to get in contact with other charity leaders across New York to set up similar events. Ben agreed to talk to Queens’ police commissioner to arrange for officers to pick up the donations and deliver them to different groups of first responders working across the city. While talking to Raine, Peter also texted Mr. Harrington about his plan and asked if the academic decathlon team would be able to manage the donation booth. Mr. Harrington said he would love to have that and if all of the team members agreed, he would gladly arrange for the students to meet up and run the booth.
Peter told Raine about this and Raine agreed to let Midtown's academic decathlon team run the Queens donation booth.