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"Okay," Peter whispers as he lands on his apartment's fire escape. Jean climbs down from his back, pulling her hood back up. "Here we are. Home sweet home."
He glances into the window. The room is dark. May should be asleep. Hopefully. If not he might actually be dead. Which would be a very unfortunate way to go after everthing that happened today.
Peter slides open the window as quietly as possible, wincing when it squeaks a little. He lets Jean in first, climbing after her and easing the window shut. "Stay quiet, I don't wanna wake my aunt," he whispers, taking her hand to lead her to the kitchen.
"And where the hell were you?"
Crap. So much for stealth. Peter shifts so he's standing in front of Jean. Not that May can even see her in the darkness of the room. "..With Mr. Stark?" There's probably a 50/50 shot of that working, or May could have already called Tony, in that case Peter is, in fact, dead. Deader than a nail, or whatever the phrase is…
Something shifts in the space beside May. Peter hears the sound of the lightswitch being flipped. Then again. "Uh, May, I think your switch broke."
That's Tony. Damn it.
"Really?" May turns, walking over. She flicks it herself a few times before groaning. "Ugh, really?"
Wait, why the hell is Tony here at one in the morning?
"Well, there goes my dramatic entrance. This happen often, babe?"
Babe?
"Not too often." May's heading to the kitchen now. Probably to grab a flashlight. "It's just weird, I don't know. Been doin' that since we moved here."
"You should've said something," Tony says. Well, more like whines, if Peter's being honest. "I'll fix it for you."
"What are you doing here?" Peter asks, cutting off their discussion.
Peter feels eyes on him, Tony must be looking at him. Or trying to, at least. "Oh, I forgot you were here," he says. "Ready to tell us where you were, Mr. Parker?"
"Answer my question first." Peter doesn't know where his sudden confidence is coming from. He hopes it doesn't go too quickly, though. He's probably gonna need it in a second.
"Nope. Not how that works. You had a curfew, young man—" Young man? Really? "—and not only did you entirely blow past it, your aunt said you were gone all day. Do you know how worried we were?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, I—I was—" Before Peter could think of an excuse light filled the room. Peter watches as both Tony and May finally notice Jean behind him. It's almost creepy how in sync it is.
"Peter," May says slowly, at the same time as Tony asks, "And who the hell is that?"
"Uhm, okay, so, I can explain. But.. can we, maybe, sit down first?"
Tony and May exchange a look, then both give affirmatives and start moving toward the couch. Peter sighs in relief, turning to Jean. "Just let me explain it to them," he whispers, "okay?"
Jean nods. Good. Peter follows them to the couch, leading her with him.
"Okay…" Peter starts, sitting down. "Uhm. Where to start… This is Jean." Jean gives them a little wave. "I met her earlier. On patrol. And, well, the details aren't important—" Both May and Tony give him stern looks, and he already knows they're going to make him explain everything in the morning. "—what is important is she has nowhere to go. And… well.. I kinda offered to let her stay here?"
The two of them exchange a look. Peter really doesn't like how efficient they are together. It shouldn't be allowed, considering how little time they spend together. (Or, how little time Peter assumed they spend together. He'd never thought about the fact Tony could be coming over when he's not home; he's starting to wonder how often that actually happens.)
May's the one who replies. "Of course she can stay. We don't leave people to fend for themselves."
Peter sighs, the relief hitting him immediately. He feels Jean's shoulders fall a little beside him. Good. "Thank yo—"
"But," Tony says. Uh-oh. "You two are telling us everything in the morning." Yep, there it is. He doesn't sound too upset. Or, no more upset than he usually is when he finds out Peter managed to get into trouble without his knowledge. Peter can work with this—
"Also you're grounded," May adds. "We'll discuss the terms after I find out what exactly happened."
Ohhh-kay. Not good, but Peter can work with it. He has.. maybe eight hours, 12 at most, to think of a way to make the story as honest as he can without mentioning any of the really bad stuff. He also has to hope neither Karen, nor anyone at the DODC snitches on him to Tony. Which… he doesn't think they would… right? Tony doesn't really follow up with the DODC all that much anymore (though, Peter's starting to think he probably should), and Karen is loyal… ish…. sometimes…
"It's nice to meet you, Jean," Peter hears May say.
"Yeah," Jean replies, flashing a quick smile. It's gone before it's even fully there. "Thanks for letting me stay."
"Of course." Well, she doesn't sound upset either. Though she never does when talking to guests. May's always been good at keeping herself composed when she needs to.
Welp, even if she were upset, it doesn't matter now. What matters now is hopefully getting out of this with minimal punishment. Last time he got banned from patrol for a week. Peter nearly shivers at the thought of that happening again. Hell no. He's not letting that happen.
"Okay, well, Jean's gonna sleep in my room," he says, standing up. "So.. we should go."
"Yeah," May agrees, "sleep well. You know where I am if you need anything."
Peter nods, grabbing Jean's arm again to lead her down the hall. He pauses a couple steps away, turning. "Uh.. Mr. Stark.. you're staying the night?"
"Well, no point driving home just to come back in the morning." Tony grins at him, and Peter immediately decides he doesn't like the look of it.
"Right. Yeah. Just.. you better sleep on the couch.."