Chapter Text
“Are you ready for your speech today?”
Peter Parker looked up from his notebook to his best friend, Ned. Unfortunately, the reminder that despite attending one of New York’s best STEM schools he would be forced to participate in the class debate later was not welcome. Peter frowned and turned the notebook to Ned.
“I’ve been reading the same points over and over for the past hour but I know as soon as I get up there, I’m just going to mess up” he sighed. Ned looked over the chicken scratch notes before shooting his friend a sympathetic look.
It didn’t take a genius to know Peter Parker was not a public speaker. The past two required speeches all ended in disaster - Peter’s persuasive speech never even made it to the persuasive portion before he lost his lunch all over poor Ms. Kitworth’s desk. The argumentative statement two weeks ago fell flat when Peter dropped his note cards and couldn’t quite get them back in the right order. Today was the final speech of the semester which meant it was worth the most points. Unfortunately, Peter had to debate the pros and cons of a school uniform. Ned could feel the dred and anxiety rolling off of Peter like heat from a campfire.
“Maybe just picture everyone in their underwear?” Ned shrugged, trying to cheer up his melancholy friend.
“Maybe I should just move to Canada and change my name” Peter groaned and dropped his head to Ned’s shoulder, leaving Ned to pat his shoulder awkwardly in an attempt at comfort.
“As if your passport is up to date” Peter’s head snapped up at the sound of Michelle Jone’s familiar voice, he hadn’t noticed her walking up to them but then again, he was pretty focused on his impending doom.
With a groan, Peter allowed his friends to pull him to their speech classroom. The trio took their typical place in the back corner which allowed Michelle the cover to sketch her classmates and kept Ned and Peter away from the popular jocks. The small room buzzed with excitement as their classmates started to filter in.
“Alright, who’s ready to debate!” Ms. Kitworth asked as the bell rang, hushing the remaining conversation to a halt. When no one responded to the young teacher, she quickly opened the attendance book to pick the first two debaters. Peter half-listened to the first few debates, far too focused on trying to memorize his speaking points in a last ditch attempt to keep his brain from shutting down in front of his class.
Logically, Peter knew he was smart. He was one of, if not the top of his class at an advanced school! As ironically as it may seem, he wasn’t able to shake the thought he wasn’t deserving of his grades. Imposter syndrome - Michelle had called it the one time he brought it up at lunch - he couldn’t quite convince himself he ever knew or deserved the high marks on his tests. Especially when he couldn’t seem to do anything but humiliate himself in speech class.
“Peter? Betty? Are you guys ready?” Ms. Kitworth’s voice snapped Peter back to full attention, making his stomach flip uncomfortably while Betty responded perkily and bounced to the front of the class. With one last look at Ned for moral support, Peter pushed himself to his feet and walked to the front of the room. Never have his feet felt heavier than during the twenty steps to the second podium next to Betty’s.
“School uniforms do not succeed in evening the playing field as many experts claim, rather they create competition in other forms for students to try and stand out” Betty launched into her opening claims, seemingly unfazed with how pale Peter had suddenly become. He tried as hard as he could to follow Betty’s statements so he could argue against them, but before he could truly lock into what she was saying, his stomach flipped again.
Oh no
Not now…
“Peter?” Ms. Kitworth prompted gently when Betty finished her opening statement.
“I-I…I’m sorry” Peter sprinted from the podium out of the room to the bathroom, ready to lose his lunch. Ned quickly followed after, leaving the room to the laughs of the class and the disappointed looks on Betty and Ms. Kitworth’s faces.
–
Peter let the door to his apartment slam closed behind him. Normally, he wished his Aunt May would be home when he arrived. Ever since his uncle passed away, his aunt had been taking on more and more shifts at the hospital to try and make up for the lost income. Peter tried multiple times to get an after school job, only for May to bat away his concern, saying school was his job right now and nothing could come in between him and his studies. Her reassurances did nothing to ease his conscience however - he’d do anything to help ease the financial burden.
Peter sighed and dropped his backpack to the floor before toeing his shoes off. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could sleep away the horrible, no good, very bad memory of his failed debate. If he played his cards right, May might come back before he woke up and they could go get some Thai for dinner. With his new plan in mind, Peter started across the small kitchen to his bedroom.
“Peter? Are you home?” May’s voice called out from her room. Peter’s head snapped up, not expecting her to be home since he thought she took a double shift.
“May! You’re home!” He bolted to her room’s door, beating May to the doorway. She’s still wearing her scrubs with her brown hair tied up out of her face. She smiles and pushed a lock of Peter’s curly hair behind his ear.
“Slow down, kiddo. I just got here ten minutes ago. Tell me about school while I change and we can go to dinner, deal?” May stepped into her closet and shut the door behind her. Peter sighed at the mention of school.
“I threw up in speech class”
“Again?” May stepped out in her casual clothes. Peter flushed at the reminder of his misfortune happening not once, but twice .
“Can we get Thai, now?” he tried to change the topic, pulling May towards the door.
“Hold on, before we go, your uncle’s in town. He wants to meet you for tea”
“Tea? In Queens?”
“Midtown. At the Baxter Building, tomorrow after school”
“Who drinks tea?” Peter rolls his eyes while pulling his shoes back on, hoping the end of the conversation brings him closer to dinner.
“Peter, just go see him. He hasn’t been in town since your parents…” May looks away at the mention of Mary and Richard, “he wants to catch up, see how you’re doing. It’s sweet”
“I don’t remember Mom talking about my uncle” Peter quietly adds. Ben had been his only paternal uncle and without Ben around, Peter had assumed he would never meet more of his extended family.
“When she moved here, she left everything behind to start fresh. I wish I had known her better, I’m sorry, Peter”
Peter wrapped his arms around May, squeezing her reassuringly like they always did when one of them spent too long thinking about those they’d lost.
“I’ll go. Tomorrow.” Peter promised as May returned his gentle smile.