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May Parker was on minute 27 of deep breathing. She sat at her small kitchen table, in her tiny two bedroom apartment that she shared with her nephew, staring at her brand new Stark phone that was easily the most expensive item in the whole apartment and the one thing she or her late husband didn’t buy or get for free from the local charity she volunteers at sometimes.
Tony had given it to her, and given one to Peter as well, three months earlier when she first found out about her nephews… powers. Abilities.
The man had just thrust it into her hands and made for the door like his shoes were on fire, not giving her the chance to refuse and yelling over his shoulder to call him if she ever needed anything.
She could admit that even though she was annoyed at first… she really did need a new phone and she never would have been able to afford to get one on her own. Her old phone was barely hanging on, texts took ages to send, calls dropped left and right but money was tight, even more so without Ben and with a growing teenager. She just didn’t have the extra cash to get herself a new phone.
It was a necessity though. She needed a new phone, which was the only reason it only took a few minutes for her to get over her own pride and bruised ego and start exploring the new device.
She texted him later that same night to thank him, only getting a smiley face emoji in return. She even used it to talk to the man more regularly, although it was usually about Peter. If They worked late in the lab and lost track of time or if he got hurt on his patrols or if he could spend the night at Tony’s that weekend.
It was nice… knowing that Peter had another adult in his life that he could trust and she wasn’t blind. Tony loved her nephew like a son, even if he didn’t know it yet (or at least hadn’t admitted it yet) it was in his behaviors and they way he talked about Peter like a father would, all proud and excited.
May glanced at the clock over the kitchen sink. She was now on minute 37 of deep breathing… and staring at her stark phone.
She sighed deeply and reached out with a shaky hand (though, much less shaky than it had been 37 minutes ago) to drag it toward her. She unlocked the screen and pulled up one of the few saved numbers she had, torn between not wanting to call and knowing she needed to. She could only live in denial for so long and she needed answers.
Tony’s number sat on her screen, her finger hovering over it. She tapped it quickly, before she could talk herself out of it.
As it rang, she felt her heart start to beat erratically, the rapid thumping she could hear rushing in her ears and she wished she could just hang up and pretend she didn’t see what she saw. She wished her heart wasn’t breaking in her chest with every harsh beat against her sternum.
“May! Hi! Is Peter okay?” she had to force herself to keep breathing when the mans voice came over the receiver. Normally when he would ask her about Peter, it would loosen something deep in her soul, ease her mind just a bit more every time knowing there was someone else, another adult out there, that cared about her kid and he really did seem to care more and more every day.
This time, she felt her heart crack just a little bit more.
“May? … is something wrong with Peter?” May could hear the anxiety creeping into his voice and quickly shook herself out of her own guilty thoughts, forcing herself to breathe and speak as normally as possible.
“No! sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a second there.” She tried to come off as light but, she knew it didn’t really hit right when there was a slight pause on the other end of the line.
“… Okay.” He continued, hesitantly. “Well, what can I do for you?”
“Um, you know, I was just thinking and I realized that… I don’t really understand the extent of Peter’s abilities… or his mutations? I guess I don’t even know what the right term is.” She buried her face in her hands. God, she really didn’t know anything about this, did she?
“Oh, sure, yeah. Id be happy to help. In fact, if you want I can send the full work up we did on Peter so you can have a more clear idea of everything?”
May cracked a tight smile at how eager he seemed. At least it seemed like he was taking the ‘no more secrets’ part of their agreement seriously.
“Was there anything specific you wanted to know about?” he continued after a few seconds of silence.
“Well… everything, I guess, but I think mostly his health? I know both of you went over his abilities a little bit when I first found out but I think I was too shocked, and angry, to really ask any real questions.”
“Sure, yeah.” She could hear some rustling on the other end of the line and assumed the man was getting more comfortable. She could hear the sound of wheels rolling across the floor and then the light woosh she recognized as him sitting on the couch in his lab.
“Well, lets just start with the basics.”
May took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and actually listen. She should have asked more questions earlier but it was too late to change that now.
“So, from what Peter’s told me, about eight months ago, he went on a field trip where he got bit by a spider and a couple days later, he woke up with all these ‘enhancements’. That’s what we’re calling them for now.
“A lot, if not all, as far as we know, of his ailments disappeared over night. He’s now got truly incredible hearing, strength, speed and healing. Small cuts can be healed in a matter of minutes and broken bones, depending on the severity, can be healed completely in about a week, compared to 6-8 weeks for you or me.
“The super healing is both a good thing and a bad thing, though. Because he heals so quickly, if he breaks a bone and it’s not set properly right away, it could heal wrong faster than we could get to it and then we’d have to break it again to set it right and right now that’s a problem because we still haven’t fully found the formula for an anesthesia or pain management that will work with his metabolism.”
“His metabolism?” May cut in, feeling her stomach lurch. “What about his metabolism? A-and what do you mean about you haven’t found a formula yet?”
“Well, Peters metabolism is so damn fast that any pain control meds we give him don’t work. Or, rather, they burn off too fast to be any kind of effective. Dr. Cho and I are both working on a new formula that might work on him and we are close, but not quite there. We have a prototype that we’re using in the mean time but… it’s not ideal. Not dangerous! Just, it makes him a bit loopy and tired and he says it makes him feel nauseous. Luckily, Peter hasn’t had any major injuries recently, and hopefully wont, at least until we get that figured out.”
“Okay, uh, okay yeah. I - thank you for looking into that. I hadn’t even thought about that. So, he just burns right through any medication you give him? And is that the same for food? Should he be on a special diet?” god her heart was pounding. Had she really not even thought about the medical aspect of this? She’d just been giving him aspirin for his headaches when he gets them and Peter never said anything about it being useless. Of course he didn’t. She rolled her eyes at herself. Of course Peter didn’t say anything about it.
“Oh, yeah! That kid’s metabolism is something else! When we were doing his initial health tests, we found that just for him to maintain his weight, he needs to be eating at least 10,000 calories a day and that’s not even taking into account all the exercise he gets on his patrols, so really it should be closer to 15,000 calories a day.”
….
……
Oh no…
Oh it was worse. It was so much worse than she thought. Oh, god.
She shouldn’t have stopped her deep breathing. Now she couldn’t catch her breath. Slowly, May lowered her head to the table and focused on taking deep breaths. In, 2, 3, 4, out, 2, 3, 4, in, 2, 3, 4, out, 2, 3, 4…
She felt like she was underwater. Sounds a bit muffled and her heartbeat loud in her ears but the sound of her name finally made it through the quiet din.
“May? May are you okay?” Tony’s voice came through the speaker and she took a shuddering breath in. “I’ve been talking for a few minutes now but I feel like I lost you a while ago. What’s going on?” the concern in his voice was unmistakable and the sound of it really made her want to just break down and cry but she couldn’t. Not right now anyway.
Later. She would schedule in a nice good mental breakdown with full blown hysterics after she got off the phone but right now, she had to put her own pride aside and ask for help. For Pete’s sake.
“Oh god, Tony, I messed up.” She choked out, burying her face in her hands but leaving her mouth free so she could tell him all the horrid details of her massive fuck up. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know about his metabolism and Peter told me it was only increased by a little bit and I didn’t ask any more questions about it…. I should have, but I didn’t and now… I’ve been starving him, Tony, and I didn’t even know it!” May finished in a whisper as she fought off the tears. Not. Yet. Damnit.
She had to clear her throat several times before she could continue and Tony, bless him, didn’t try to interrupt.
“Today, this morning, I was walking past the bathroom and the door was cracked. Peter was in there and he was pulling his shirt on but… he was so thin… I could see his spine and everyone one of his ribs… Tony, he looked like a skeleton with skin…” she had to stop, the memory of the visual making her stomach turn and bile rise up in her throat. “I… I can’t afford to feed him, Tony. I… god I’m barely able to put food on the table now after rent and utilities. I just called the school this morning after he left and found out he’s already maxed out his lunch card for the month and I thought we were doing okay but if what you’re saying is true then I’ve been starving him and he’s been letting me starve him because he knows I can’t afford to give him more and… I don’t know what to do!”
That was the crux of it, wasn’t it? She didn’t know what to do. What could she do? She was already working so much and scarcely home. Peter was practically growing up without her.
“May.” Tony’s voice was the calmest she had ever heard it be and she latched on like a thirsty man to water. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Are you listening?” he asked gently.
“Yes.” May’s voice cracked down the middle. One syllable and she could hardly get it out.
“First, I’m going to call the school and put money on his lunch card. That’s on me from now on, okay?” and she nodded her head as if he could see her but he must have assumed she understood regardless. “You should be getting a text right now,” her phone buzzed with the notification right on cue. “That’s from FRIDAY. That is a link to your new grocery account. It’s the same one me and Pep use, so you know it’s good. All you have to do is fill out your order and the groceries will be delivered right to your door.”
“Tony - ”
“And before you say no!” he cut her off in a rush and because she was too stunned to speak anyway, she wisely chose not to try. “I should let you know that I have already taken the liberty of placing an order on your behalf and it should be there in about an hour. I also think, if you’re free this afternoon, that you and I should pick Peter up from school and have a chat with him… and maybe take him to see Dr. Cho and get him checked out.” He finished much more kindly.
She wanted to say yes immediately. Everything he said was exactly what they needed and she couldn’t believe how simple he made it all sound but on the inside, she couldn’t help but to wrestle with her conscience. She knew Tony was a generous guy. The tabloids and news stations couldn’t be more wrong about him. Would this be taking advantage of that generosity?
“May? I have no doubt that if Peter were a normal teenager, this wouldn’t be an issue and Peter wouldn’t be… starving… but he’s not normal. No regular person has a metabolism like his. This kid could eat a five course meal big enough for four people and still be hungry. Frankly, I should have considered that a long time ago but I didn’t. Just like you didn’t… we both messed up here.”
That didn’t exactly make her feel better but what was that saying about misery loves company? And right in that moment, Tony sounded about as miserable as she felt.
He was right. They both messed up.
“We agreed before that anything Spiderman related would be on me. Well, I think this falls firmly into that category. From now on, the cost of feeding the Spiderbaby sits with me and we can split the burden of making sure he actually eats. Deal?”
May couldn’t help thinking how different their lives would have been if Tony Stark weren’t in them. Her baby could’ve been suffering for so much longer and she would have had no way to help him. Instead, here was this wonderful man, offering to help provide for her child where she was falling short and yes, she was furious with him when she first learned the truth, and that never truly went away, but now?
Well, there was only one thing she could say, wasn’t there?
“Thank you.”