Chapter Text
May couldn't help the frustrated groan that made its way through her lips, echoing in the shoddy apartment her and Peter were renting. Looking at the laptop that was in front of her was stressing her out, she swore she could feel her blood pressure rising by the second.
Why was this so expensive? Why? was the only thought that was rushing through her head.
She sighed, putting her face in her hands and huffed in annoyance before relaxing her shoulders and focusing on the screen in front of her. She read through the fees for what must have been the millionth time so far, every sentence and number on the site engraved into the tiniest corners of her mind. The numbers were what was causing her all this stress, all this anxiety. She double-checked her own numbers and had reached the same conclusion she had reached earlier that morning. She couldn't afford it. She just couldn't. No amount of overtime would make up the difference.
Midtown School of Science and Technology, a school renowned state-wide for it's advanced science courses. It was the perfect school for Peter and that's what made Mays blood boil. May knows Peter has a gift, she has known it since he repaired her and Bens old TV using a microwave he found in a dumpster. Midtown would help him develop his gift, challenge him like no other school has before, help him develop into the man she and Ben knew he would be someday and she couldn't afford to send him there.
There was no point in sending Peter to any other school, not that he would complain, he would go to whatever school May would send him to but May wanted to give Peter the best opportunities that she could give him. She wanted the best for Peter, she wanted to give him the life he deserved, wanted to send him to a school that would nurture his gift but she couldn't.
Ever since Ben had passed she had been struggling, emotionally and financially. She couldn't count how many times she's cried herself to sleep at night, trying desperately to muffle the sobs so Peter couldn't hear. Her bed was the hardest reminder of her missing husband, the sound of his snores that usually annoyed her were absent instead a deafening silence consumed her room. She would give anything to hear his snores again, to wake up in the middle of the night to him sleep-talking about whatever jumbled nonsense he usually talked about. She couldn't bring herself to sleep on the right side of the bed, Bens side. Every night she went to sleep on the left side of the bed and woke up on the left side of the bed. Sometimes she still woke up and expected him to be there beside her.
If her emotions were bad than her finances were worse. It was no secret that she was struggling financially, her and Ben had always been able to barely make ends meet but that was on two incomes and some overtime by Ben, but now there was only her and no amount of overtime would make up for Bens absence. Ben hadn't been a rich man, she never cared about that, she loved him and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, she just wished the rest of Bens life was longer. She hadn't been left with a lot of money when Ben had died, she had enough to keep the lights on for a few months but not enough to stay there in the long run. She and Peter had to make the hard choice to sell their old home, the one she and Ben had lived in their whole married lives and the one she watched Peter grow up in.
That had been a lot harder than she expected it to be, watching the place she had called home for years slowly become emptier and emptier as her and Peter had packed everything they owned into boxes, her heart almost as empty as the apartment, the only thing keeping her going was Peter. She knew she needed help after that, her job offering her free counselling which she instantly took use of. Her boss was a kind man, that was kind of a given considering that he managed a homeless shelter, being compassionate was a requirement.
Her boss had actually been the man that made the suggestion for May to look into grants that she qualified for, and she qualified for a lot.
She had spent the last few days sitting at the table in the kitchen after work, head buried into her laptop researching. Any hopes she had at the grants were almost instantly crushed as she began to apply, hope grinded into dust.
Most grants were closed and were taking no more submissions, the closing date being just before Ben died in December. She had tried to appeal to a few of them, explaining her extenuating circumstances, but each appeal was rejected. She wanted to cry, wanted to scream and throw her laptop at the wall but she didn't, she remained composed and kept searching, kept trying to give Peter what he needed.
May remembered the day Richard and Mary Parker had left their confused six year old son at their home, she remembered the promise her and Ben had made to the couple, promising to look after their son. The memory of that day was clear in her mind, almost as if it happened yesterday. She remembered the tired look in Richards eyes and the glances that Mary gave to every neighbour that passed by them in the hallway, a quick glance but a glance that absorbed every bit of information. She remembers Peter hugging his parents for what would be the final time, Richard riffling his hair and promising to bring him to his first baseball game, Mary giving him a hundred kisses on his cheek and reminding the confused child how much they loved him. May remembered holding onto Peters shoulder as he waved at the car that his parents were in as they pulled out of their driveway. The confusion her and Ben had felt that night when a man knocked on their door, some government agent giving them the shocking news about the passing of Mary and Richards passing, that was expressing his deepest condolences for their loss. When Ben tried to press him on questions he wouldn't, said he couldn't. May and Ben had known that the couple had worked for the government but didn't really know to what extent, they had always been secretive about their work. When the man had presented them with a contract about keeping Mary and Richards work 'closed and quiet' Ben had gotten furious. She had never seen and never saw Ben as furious as he had been in that moment, the man not budging when Ben raised his voice. Peter had poked his head out of his room, awoken by Ben, May ushering Peter back into his room and staying with him until she was called for by Ben a while later. He had agreed to sign the paper, whatever conversation him and the agent had had convinced him. May signed it as well, the agent giving them a nod of his head and once again his deepest condolences.
May had never forgotten the mans face, the four scars that extended along his left eye that was covered by an eyepatch was hard to forget. Ben had never spoken of the man again and May never spoke of him, an angry look always flashing across her husbands face whenever she mentioned him in passing.
When she looked into Peters brown eyes after the funeral, when they were back in their home, for the first time realising that he was now a permanent part of her life, an instinct took over her. Some would say that it was her motherly instincts kicking in but she wasn't sure, all she knew was that as she looked into the child's eyes she knew she would do anything for him, would give him anything he wanted. Now she felt like she was failing him, failing his parents and failing Ben.
She didn't know how many grants she had applied for and how many had rejected her, all she knew was that the once vast list of grants was dwindling, she was now scraping the end of the barrel. May scrolled and scrolled, reading every little bit of information she could find.
The last few options left didn't seem that promising, they were new and were not offered by the government, instead by businesses that were probably looking for some good PR by offering these grants. May applied anyway, knowing that she probably wouldn't hear anything back, knowing more than likely they were dead ends. She watched as her email sent, saw as her inbox updated to show the sent message. She never expected anything back.
After two weeks of refreshing her inbox religiously and losing sleep over it, she got an email back, much to her shock. When she sat down checked her inbox and saw the new email she expected the worst, another rejection and the company's 'deepest sympathies'. She began reading the email and her eyes widened, her heart rate quickened and she jumped out of her chair. She couldn't believe the message in front of her, it didn't feel real.
Accepted. Her application was accepted. She got the grant.
May had no idea what to do, she felt overwhelmed, a feeling of relief flooding her as well as every positive emotion her body could hold. She sat back down and slowly read the wording of the email, making sure she hadn't misread. She hadn't.
When she rushed to work that day and told her boss the news he was overjoyed for her. They sat in his office with Mays laptop carefully constructing the response May would send, going through four different drafts before they sent the email. May didn't know how many times she thanked her boss but she knew it was a lot, her boss shrugging off the thanks telling her that she and Peter deserved the grant. When Peter got home from school that day and saw May sitting on the couch waiting for him he thought he was in trouble, that May had found out about his new favourite hobby of stopping bike snatchers. What he wasn't expecting was for her to give him the biggest smile he's seen from her in months.
"We got the grant." May stated simply, not being able to stop the grin spreading across her face.
"We got the grant?" Peter repeated in confusion, not understanding what she was saying.
"We got the grant Peter, you're going to Midtown!" May said, jumping up from the couch and running over to engulf her nephew in a bone-crushing hug.
"We got the grant!" Peter yelled as he returned the hug, both of them embracing each other and ignoring the shouts of their neighbours for their sudden outbursts.
May pulled back from the hug and stared into Peters eyes, the once small brown eyes that looked through her were now welling up with tears that were sliding down his face. May wiped away the tears, before smiling at Peter. "Ben would be proud of you right now, I know it." And with that the two of them embraced each other again and cried, cried into each others shoulders.
As May cried she could only thank the person that made this possible, thanked the person who had given Peter his dream high school. Eleanor Bishop. May silently thanked the woman, making a silent promise to herself that if she ever met the woman face to face she would thank her for what she's done. May didn't know but she would get that chance a few days later.
***
Eleanor sighed as she looked around the crowded room, her daughter nowhere in sight. This event was important for Bishop Securities, the company needed to work on its PR. Despite being one of the largest security companies in the world they were not a household name among the public like Stark Industries was. Eleanor didn't care for PR, she knew that her company was doing just fine without it but the shareholders and higher ups had different ideas, they felt that more public awareness would increase stock prices.
So here Eleanor was walking around this event, looking to sponsor some charity or business. Nothing had caught her eye so far but if she was being more accurate no one had approached her so far. It seemed an unspoken rule that the charity approached the business, not the other way around, at least that's what she had observed so far. She had spotted Armond Duquesne III around the event, which didn't surprise her, he was known to attend whatever he was invited to. As far as she could tell five people had approached the man regarding sponsorship, something she envied right now. She wanted this to be over as quick as possible, she would rather be in her office right now than here.
As the woman walked by Armond, careful not to be noticed by him, she didn't want to get into another three hour talk with him about his family, she spotted her daughter across the room leaning against the wall on her phone. Teenagers she thought to herself as she approached her daughter, the sound of her heels against the wooden floor alerting her daughter to her approach, the girl shoving her phone into her pocket and straightening up.
Just as she had made it halfway across the room to her daughter she heard a voice among the crowd call out her name, an unfamiliar voice. "Ms Bishop!?" the voice called out, "Eleanor Bishop?". Eleanor turned to her left spotting the source of the call. It was a dark haired woman who was quickly making her way over to Eleanor.
The woman stopped in front of her and Eleanor analysed the woman, noticing the name badge pinned to her dress, 'FEAST Representative: Maybelle Parker' was what the badge read. A sense of understanding came over Eleanor, this woman wanted Bishop Securities to sponsor this FEAST, she had never heard of it.
"I am so sorry to bother you but you are Eleanor Bishop right? The Eleanor Bishop that's CEO of Bishop Securities right?" the woman asked in a questioning voice.
Eleanor looked at the woman for a moment, thinking about her answer before responding. "Yes that's me, can I help you with something?"
May nodded her head and composed herself, straightening her posture and holding out her hand. " We haven't met before if you're wondering, I just wanted to say thank you."
Eleanor gave the woman in front of her a confused look before shaking the outstretched hand. "Thank me for what exactly?"
"Oh sorry well um I was one of the applicants that applied for your new grant. The one for high school students? It was a dream come true for my nephew, I can send him to the school of his dreams and that wouldn't be possible without that grant. So I just wanted to thank you for that." May said as she smiled at Eleanor, the woman giving a small smile in return.
Yes she did remember that grant, it had been one of her only suggestions that she was able to implement. Eleanor remembered accepting one or two applicants for the grants, they had only gotten a handful of applicants anyway. "Ah yes the grant, of course. Well it's my pleasure to help out you and your nephew, he seems to be an extraordinary boy if you don't mind me saying Ms Parker."
"Please call me May, everyone else does."
"Okay May than just call me Eleanor, Ms Eleanor reminds me too much of my Mother-In-Law and I don't think anyone wants that." Eleanor said as she chuckled, May chuckling as well.
"Okay Ms Bi- Eleanor." May responded, Eleanor giving the woman a smile. Unbeknownst to the two woman two teens were looking at them, both of them confused. One teen went back onto their phone and the other approached the two women.
"I'll have to be honest with you May I have never heard of FEAST, what is it exactly?" Eleanor asked, gesturing to Mays name tag.
"Well FEAST is a homeless shelter that provides shelter, clothing and food to the large homeless population around New York. My boss Martin Li founded it twelve years ago and I've been with the shelter for eleven years."
Eleanor raised her eyebrows at May, surprised the woman had been there for so long.
"Has you approached anyone yet about sponsorships?" Eleanor asked.
"Yes but let's just say a homeless shelter doesn't attract a lot of attention." May responded.
"Well Bishop Securities will just have to sponsor it then." Eleanor said.
May looked at the woman in confusion, not quite sure that she heard her correctly.
"I'm sorry I didn't catch that, can you repeat that?"
"Bishop Securities will sponsor FEAST." Eleanor stated simply.
May stared wide-eyed at Eleanor for a moment, unable to comprehend what the woman was saying. "I don't want to sound rude Eleanor but you don't have to. You've done enough already for my family and I'd feel like I'm taking too much if you do that."
Eleanor rolled her eyes, "Oh please May," she began, "half of the people here don't know what to throw their money at so they don't know an honest venture when they see one. I want to sponsor FEAST because it seems like you could use it, that's why I'm here. Well that and the free champagne." Eleanor joked.
"O-oh well of c-course Ms B- Eleanor, em, I'll give you my bosses contact information." May uttered, rummaging through her bag for one of the cards. She was taken out of her searching when a finger tapped her on her shoulder, May turning around to face her nephew who was holding one of the FEAST contact cards in his hand.
"You looking for one of these May?" Peter said, May accepting the card from Peters hand.
"Peter!" May exclaimed, ""Perfect timing!" she said as she ushered Peter to face Eleanor who was looking at him in confusion.
"Now Peter this is Eleanor Bishop, the CEO of Bishop Securities, the one that gave us the grant." May explained, Peters eyes widening in shock as he looked at Eleanor who gave him a small smile and nod of her head. "Now don't you have something to say?" May asked as she gestured with her eyes to Eleanor.
Peter picking up on the eye pointing looked at Eleanor and lowered his head and outstretched his arm, "Thank you so much Ms Bishop for the grant, words can't describe how grateful I am to you for giving me this opportunity." Peter said in a smooth way, almost as if he had been practicing this thanks.
Eleanor accepted his hand and shook it, "It's my pleasure Peter, I'm happy my company could provide that opportunity for you and don't downplay yourself either, you have to be a very dedicated student to be accepted to Midtown."
"Y-yes Ms Bishop" Peter stuttered out, rubbing his arm as he did so.
Eleanor looked past Peter towards her daughter, who was back on her phone. Eleanor rolled her eyes before looking back at Peter and May, "I'm so sorry but if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to quickly speak to my daughter." Eleanor said, May nodding her head as Eleanor began to walk to her daughter.
Turning to his aunt, Peter gave the woman a panicked look. "You could have given me more of a warning before shoving me in front of the woman that decides my future! What if I embarrassed myself so much that she cancels the grant? Oh my God she hated me didn't she?" Peter whisper-shouted to his aunt, holding his face in his hands in embarrassment.
"Hold on a second Peter, first I'm sorry but I was on auto-pilot okay and you did fine!" May began, trying to reassure her panicking nephew, "I'm sure she liked you! I mean the smile she gave you seemed genuine?" May said.
Peters could feel the heat rising in his cheeks, he just wanted to crawl under a rock, preferably a rock somewhere so isolated that he would never be found. "I hope she liked me, I mean your boss already hates me."
May rolled her eyes at her nephew, he was never going to let that go would he? "Peter, Mr Li does not hate you. You bumped into him and he spilled his drink onto himself, you apologised and he accepted it. He didn't mind, he's not the type of man to keep a grudge. He actually thinks very highly of you Peter, trust me."
"Okay, if you say so." Peter relented, still unconvinced that her boss did in fact not hate him and still unconvinced that he didn't embarrass himself in front of Eleanor.
May gave her nephew a reassuring pat on his shoulder, while she was doing so she was trying to sneak a glance towards Eleanor and her daughter. She could see Eleanor and her daughter talking, as they talked Eleanor pointed in the direction of May and Peter and the girl nodded her head. May was confused, were they talking about her and Peter? Why? She didn't have much time to answer as the conversation between mother and daughter had seemingly ended, Eleanor turning around and walking in the direction of May with the girl following close behind her mother.
As the duo joined the group May and Peter stood shoulder to shoulder facing the mother and daughter, with May facing Eleanor and Peter facing the nameless girl. Peter hoped that the girl couldn't read minds because all he could think right now was how pretty the girl in front of him was and how captivating her blue eyes were. The girl seemed unaware of the blush that was rising on Peters face, if she did notice it she chose to ignore it, instead smiling at the boy and stretching out her hand for him to shake.
"Hi it's nice to meet you! My name's Katherine Bishop but everyone just calls me Kate." the girl said. Peter shook her hand, "I-I'm Peter P-Parker" Peter responded.
"Well it's nice to meet you Peter Parker."