Chapter Text
The ringing and subsequent vibration of the phone against his ear was the only thing keeping Peter grounded at the moment. Aunt May was sitting adjacent to him on the aged loveseat, her stare boring into the side of his head. He didn’t dare make eye contact with her though and instead kept his eyes trained on the floorboards. The click signaling the line was connecting nearly made him sigh out with relief.
“Hey kid, did you get the suit? I told Hap to drop it off but you know how he is, he—”
Peter cleared his throat, “uh yeah hey Mr. Stark, I-I got it, um that’s not why I’m calling.” He spared a glance at his aunt, who still hadn’t spoken. The silently lethal look she was leveling him was downright terrifying, and Peter found himself losing whatever remaining nerve he might’ve had. “Um so anyways, I saw the paper bag on my bed and was like ‘wow what could this be?’ and I called out to May but she didn’t answer so I just decided to open it and then I put it on and it was great, by the way thank you so much Mr. Stark you don’t even know how much it means—”
“Peter, give me the goddamn phone.” Aunt May hissed in his ear.
“YeahsoanywayMaysawmewiththesuitonandnowshereallywantstotalkto—” Peter startled as the phone was wrenched out of his grip.
“Wait, kid slow down!” the tinny voice of Mr. Stark called out through the departing phone. Peter winced in preparation of the impending slaughter.
“Hi Tony,” May’s voice was icy, and Peter could practically see the shiver that ran down Mr. Stark’s spine. “Mind explaining to me what my kid has been getting up to under your supervision?"
“Hey May, great to hear from you again. Hope you’re doing well, we really need to get together again sometime, talk about—”
Peter’s enhanced hearing allowed him to hear both sides of the conversation, and he had yet to decide whether that was beneficial or not.
“Tony!”
He could hear the unwilling sigh the man let out in response. “Alright—okay. What do you want to know?”
“What do I want to know?! No, absolutely not! I need to know everything! I need to know why I was never made aware of this! Why you, as an allegedly responsible adult, never thought to tell me that my child has been throwing himself in front of danger every chance he gets!”
Peter felt a perhaps unnecessary need to defend his mentor. “May, please it’s not his fault.”
She didn’t grant him a verbal response, but she did send him a chilling glare that said shut it, the adults are talking.
“Yeah okay that’s fair, you deserved to know. But May you have to understand, I did everything I could to keep the kid safe.”
Aunt May appeared to recoil at that. “No, I don’t understand! Because I’m the one who’s supposed to keep him safe Tony, not you! He’s my kid and my responsibility!”
“May—” Tony tried to say.
Aunt May continued on like she hadn’t heard him, “and don’t think I didn’t realize something was going on. I thought he might’ve been smoking weed or something, but this is exceedingly worse! I can deal with underaged drug use, but this—I don’t even know where to begin with this!”
“You thought I was doing drugs?!” Peter asked, feeling slightly scandalized at this discovery.
His aunt spoke to him (instead of at him) for the first time in nearly an hour, “you were sneaking out every night! What was I supposed to think?”
He still thought that was a bit of a stretch, but now probably wasn’t the time to argue.
Mr. Stark seemed to deem this the right moment to reinsert himself into the fray. “Alright listen, you’re right, it wasn’t my place to keep this from you. He’s your kid and I had no right. However—now you know, and we can move on.”
“Move on? You expect me to just move on from this?! He could’ve died! What would you have done then? What would you have told me?” she asked. “That ‘he was a teenage vigilante who should’ve been a little more careful?’”
“Well, I would’ve—hopefully—worded it a bit more delicately.” he said.
Had Mr. Stark been in the room with them at that moment, Aunt May most likely would have slapped him. And honestly, Peter one hundred percent would not have blamed her for it; even he was feeling a bit affronted at the moment. It would've been totally awesome though—MJ would've loved it, probably citing something about capitalism and metaphoric irony.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?! I don’t think you realize how big of a problem this is Stark. I am absolutely not against taking you to court,” she said, with an alarming amount of resolve.
He could hear a dull thud through the phone line, as though Mr. Stark had dropped something. “Okay yeah, definitely not one of my best moments. But let’s maybe ease up a bit. I’m guessing that you don’t want to expose your nephew’s identity to an entire courtroom of people anymore than I do.”
And wow, wasn’t that a horrifying thought? Peter decided that the longer this conversation went on, the less he liked it.
“Uh May, can we maybe not do that please?” he begged, pretending his voice didn’t crack towards the end.
At that, his aunt finally spared him a glance that wasn’t filled with rage. She took a deep breath in and sighed, “you’re right, that’s not at all what I want.” She cast her eyes downwards, and leaned back in her seat. “I’m not quite sure what I want out of this conversation to be honest.”
There was a hesitant silence on the other end.
“I just- I don’t even know where to begin from here. What am I supposed to do next? As his guardian—his parent—I need to keep him safe. I should ground him, take the suit—”
Peter opened his mouth but she immediately held up a hand to stop him, the action was given more gravity by the fact that she hadn't even looked at him.
“—but, I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do in this situation. I know Peter, and I know that he won’t quit just because I tell him to.”
Mr. Stark sighed, “you’re right, I already tried. Didn’t stop the kid, just stripped him of any potentially helpful resources.”
Aunt May paused at this. “You tried taking away the suit?”
“Ignoring the dubious tone; I did, yes.” Mr. Stark sighed once more, and Peter could imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose the way he often did whenever he couldn’t find the right string of words. “I just wanted him to stay closer to the ground for a bit, leave the heavy hitting stuff to the rest of us. Took me longer than it should’ve to realize he’s just a kid—a freakishly enhanced kid, sure. But still, just a kid.” Peter felt a blush begin to color his cheeks and he kept his gaze focused on his fidgeting hands. He didn’t like being talked about as though he weren’t even there. “I confiscated the suit, cut myself off, and figured that would be the end of it. But…”
“It wasn’t, was it?” Aunt May finished for him.
“No, it wasn’t. Next thing I know, he’s taken down a Stark Industries freighter in his underwear, and I’m hearing about it over the phone.”
Peter cringed, expecting his aunt’s dwindling anger to return tenfold. But it didn’t. He risked peeking through his bangs, and found her staring at something on the floor with a resigned countenance. Guilt and embarrassment bubbled somewhere low in his gut (he had never wanted her to find out this way—never wanted her to find out at all), but he did his best to dispel it. What was done was done, he couldn’t change that. And he knew that this was a conversation that needed to be had.
“May,” he started, but she held up a hand to stop him—again.
“I think,” she said, “that it would be best if we got together and furthered this discussion. In person.” Before Mr. Stark or he could get a word in, she continued. “You’re not exactly my favorite person in the world Tony, especially not after this. But Peter trusts you, and frankly I have no idea how to parent a superpowered teenager.”
A pregnant pause across the line made it seem as though Mr. Stark was truly considering his words before he spoke them. “...Peter’s a good kid, too good maybe. And I want to help him, and you, in any way I can. Truly—anything you need, you just need to ask. But May, I- I’m not a parent. I won’t be any help on that front.”
“Aunt May, please—” Peter tried, but this time she completely ignored him.
“I don’t need you to be a father to him Tony, I couldn’t ask that of you—for my sanity or yours. But he needs a mentor. This isn’t- being Spider-Man isn’t something he can continue figuring out alone, and I can only help him so much. As much as I wish I could do everything, I just can’t,” Aunt May said.
Peter was beginning to feel like he was trapped in the eye of a hurricane. Watching as storm clouds boiled around him and vicious winds uprooted trees and ripped buildings from their foundations. Standing in the center of a life-altering calamity and being unable to do anything to change it.
“Can you two just listen to me for a minute?!”
Aunt May finally tore her gaze from the linoleum flooring and Mr. Stark abruptly ceased whatever he had been about to say.
The ensuing silence almost made him waver (he hadn’t meant to yell like that), but he pressed on. “You’re talking about me like- like I’m not even here! This is my life, my identity, and I would like to be included in the conversation!… please.”
Aunt May released a deep breath and gently grasped the hand closest to hers, lacing their fingers together and giving them a good, firm squeeze. “You’re right Peter, that wasn’t fair of us. You deserve to be involved in this conversation too.” Bringing the phone down from her ear she set it on the cushion next to their clasped hands, thumbing the speaker button in the process (Peter pretended it wasn’t an entirely futile act; it was the thought that counted, after all). “There, now this phone call involves all three of us.”
“Go ahead Pete, we’re listening,” the crackling voice of Mr. Stark said.
His eyes met his aunt’s while an abashed grimace played on his lips. “Thanks May. This really does mean a lot to me, and I’m really grateful for both of you. You’ve both given me so much and I won’t- I can’t ask you to sacrifice anything else for me. I understand this is a weird circumstance, and you never signed up for this May. It’s not fair of me to ask you for anything more than you’ve already given me. You’re so busy with work and I refuse to add to your already stressful workload. And Mr. Stark, you don’t owe me anything in anyway. I know you have much better things to be doing, you don’t need to worry about babysitting me. I’ve been figuring things out mostly alone up until now, and I just think it’s unnecessary.”
There was a snort through the phone, “oh so that’s what he’s calling it.’”
“Peter, you’re my family—my kid.” Aunt May said (expertly dodging Mr. Stark’s wayward comment). “You are my top priority, it’s my job to sacrifice things for you, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe. And if that inconveniences me or interferes with anything else in my life then that’s my problem, not yours.” She gave their hands another squeeze for emphasis.
“And besides kid, I’m sorry to say it but you could really use the help.” Mr. Stark completely bulldozed past the disappointment settling in Peter’s chest and continued. “But that’s nothing against you personally, we all need help at times—even spandex-wearing superheroes like yourself. That’s why the Avengers were formed for Christ's sake!” Something clattered in the background and the man let out a muttered curse. “...In this line of work we need to know how to rely on one another. ‘Teamwork makes the dreamwork’ and all that jazz.”
“Well sure, but—”
“Peter,” Aunt May said, tone commanding his attention with a weighted inflection. He was growing weary of being interrupted, but his aunt’s voice left no room for objections and he pushed aside his frustrations. “You’re allowed to ask for help; if anything, you really should ask for help. We’re adults and we’re responsible for you, superhero or not. And well, you don’t have much of a choice in the matter anymore. If you want to continue being Spider-Man, there’s going to be a few new ground rules.” She patted his pant leg cheerily and Peter sighed—defeated.
“...Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes May, okay.”
A clap of hands sounded through the phone. “Look at that, wrapped up all nice and pretty with a bow and everything,” Mr. Stark said, sarcastic exuberance on full display.
His aunt frowned down at the cell, “before we consider this ‘wrapped up,’ let’s meet for dinner. Make sure we’re all on the same page here.”
“Wonderful,” Mr. Stark uncharacteristically hesitated, “...I’ve also been considering, maybe, reestablishing that internship. For real this time.”
Peter’s heart jumped, “wait you mean like for real, for real?”
“Yeah kid, I mean for real. Of course, your aunt will be the deciding factor and we’ll have to set up some official documentation. But I think it could be a good opportunity, for all involved parties.”
A wide smile unwittingly split Peter’s face and he pulled a pleading look on his aunt. She studied him with narrowed eyes before giving him a small smile. “I think that’s a lovely idea. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet, you are grounded after all.”
Peter groaned, “what?! Seriously?” He really, truly should’ve expected this.
“Well, I think this is quickly leaving my area of expertise and I've probably got a board meeting to attend or something. I’ll see you later Pete, always a pleasure May.” And just like that, the man hung up. Leaving Peter with a still slightly-steaming aunt and the prospect of something new and exciting on the horizon.