Chapter 1: Silence

SUNDAY

"What the FUCK?"

Peter swiveled around so quickly, it would've resulted in whiplash had it been any faster. There, standing in his doorway, stood Aunt May dressed in her blue checkered apron. Her eyes were just as wide as his, as shock swirled within them.

May looked him up and down, taking in the sight of him. All the hard work of keeping this- for lack of a better word- absolute mess of a secret concealed, endless months of hiding and living in fear of discovery; all being unraveled right in a single moment in front of his face warped from shock to anger and she slammed his bedroom door shut with a loud bang.

Peter was shaken from his shock as the neighbors angrily knocked on the walls, telling them to keep it down. A baby began to cry next door and the sound was jarred him into action as he quickly opened the door and ran into the living room still dressed in his Spider Man suit.

"I can't believe this. Oh my god." May muttered, pacing in angry circles with her hands on her face.

"May-" Peter began.

"No." May interrupted firmly. "No, Peter. You don't get to do this to me! I did not raise you like this!"

Then she muttered to herself. "You're not him. No, You can't be."

"But...I am. I help people," He tried.

"You risk your life, our life, of – of normalcy! Of anything being normal after Ben. Of even being close to normal." she said hysterically.

"But apparently you can't even do that."

"So, what? Your saying I'm not normal?" Peter began to get angry.

"No, Peter! You're not! You go trapezing out there in your pajamas-"

"Hey! They're not pajamas." Peter exclaimed in miffed tone.

"Peter. That's not the point. I know you're more responsible than this!" her tone then turned pleading.

"You– you go to bed on time, and do your homework, you get good grades. That's the Peter I know! A responsible young man, Not Spider-man! I can't believe this," She took a deep breath as if to calm herself and prepare for what she was going to say next.

"I need the suit. Take it off, I'm getting rid of it. There will be no more of this- this Spider-man nonsense."

"What!? No! You can't! Mr. Stark gave it to me! You can't just take it! And I can't stop being Spider-man! Queens needs me! Who's going to protect innocent people if I'm not around?"

She turned angry again, even more angry than she had been before.

"That's what policemen are for! Not for little boys to go running around playing Captain America!"

Ouch.

"You need to stop this. Please, Peter. Give it to me," She said.

"No."

Her eyes smoldered.

"You don't get to say 'No' to me, Peter. I'm the adult here, I make the decisions. You will not go out and pretend to be some kind of hero. Risking your life. You're a god-damned child. You're grounded until further notice. Go to your room."

He glared at her, but eventually complied and turned to walk back into his room, slamming the door behind him. The neighbors again complained, shouting profanities in Spanish through the thin wall on his left. But, he didn't care what they had to say. It was not like he could understand it anyway.

As they continued yelling, he threw himself onto the bed and put a pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the neighbor's fowl words. He wasn't a child! May couldn't do this and he was pissed.

Thirty minutes passed. The neighbors had long since quieted, but he still heard their muffled talking due to his newly acquired sensitive hearing. The murmur of voices was somewhat comforting in the otherwise quiet and dark room, he didn't feel so alone when he heard them.

He was almost asleep when he heard something else. Now that that the neighbors were talking considerably softer, he could hear May pacing around her bedroom on the right. It sounded like she was crying.

At the sound, Peter felt guilt crawl into his chest and make a hole- deep and aching. He sat up and frowned, feeling distressed. Had he made his Aunt cry? How could he be such a terrible nephew? She probably thought when he was out patrolling he would hurt himself, or worse, end up like Uncle Ben. But… he was able to take care of himself as Spider-man; well, most of the time. Plus, Mr. Stark helped him out too… well...occasionally. He pondered if he should go and comfort her. Maybe he could convince her that he could take care of himself. A particularly loud sob cut through his musings, alerting him that maybe he should wait. Let her cool off some before speaking to her so he didn't make her more upset than he already had.

Suddenly, he felt ridiculous, still dressed as Spider-man after all this time. He got up to change out of his suit into some real pajamas and turned on the desk lamp. It had been nearing sunset when they had fought, and it was completely dark out now. He started at the darkness out the window as he changed into a pair of Star Wars themed pajamas. He then very neatly folded up the Spider-man suit, stuffing it back into the attic where the other had previously been. But - the question came to pass- should he even hide it anymore? It's not like it was really a secret, now. Everything was out in the open and Aunt May knew now… he tossed it up there anyway, just in case.

Realizing that he now needed to brush his teeth, Peter opened the bedroom door carefully; it's hinges creaking loudly and poked his head out. He was still grounded after all and the rule when he was grounded was that he wasn't allowed out of the room except to go to the bathroom. He knew that he was technically following this rule, but he still didn't want to run into May and see how distressed she was. Her blotchy face from crying would only make his guilt feel even worse, consuming him, until he would eventually start crying too.

All the lights in the apartment were now off, the only light came from the lamp behind him, shining brightly into the kitchen and producing an array of shadows.

With the coast clear, he walked past the kitchen into the hallway and into the bathroom. He took care of business and brushed his teeth. As he was spitting the last of the toothpaste out and rinsing his mouth, he heard a noise from outside of the bathroom. Maybe May needed to brush her teeth too, he thought- though he really hoped not. But, she didn't come into the bathroom and instead she walked past it and to the hall closet. The door squeaked open and he heard rummaging. Then she walked back to her room, closing the door behind her.

'Well, that was weird', Peter thought to himself.

He finished up in the bathroom and walked back into the hall. He looked at May's closed door and the open door of the hall closet. He contemplated closing it, but then May would know he had left his room to go to the bathroom and not gone straight back. And if he closed that door, what would stop her from thinking he wasn't roaming around the rest of the house? He decided against it and went back to his room; fear of making May even more upset pushing him forward. He turned off the desk lamp and got into bed, making sure to plug in his phone. He hoped tomorrow would be better.

MONDAY

"Class, you all remember the Pythagorean Theorem you learned in 6th grade? Well, get ready folks, because that's all going to change!" The AP Geometry teacher grinned cheerily.

Peter glanced down and made sure he was on the correct page of the textbook. He felt a tap on his shoulder from his left and turned to see Michelle holding up her notebook. On it was the new formula and an array of notes written in her perfect cursive, but beneath all of that—was a crudely drawn picture of himself in the exact position he was currently sitting in. He shifted positions self-consciously and picked up his pencil, quietly clearing his throat and turning back to the teacher. Michelle also turned back to her notes, grinning—satisfied that she had managed to make him feel uncomfortable. Not that it was a hard task to do... but he still wasn't sure how he felt about being her latest drawing model.

As the day went on classes passed and he gathered a decent amount of homework along the way. He was bored out of his mind in AP History as the teacher read out of the textbook and when the bell finally rang releasing the students for lunch, he gladly scrambled to leave. Today was hamburgers- not that they looked anything remotely like a normal hamburger; it was said among the students that they were probably not even regular meat. Maybe they were made of horse or cardboard. Peter was almost certain of it—but was hungry enough not to care, plus, once you douse something in enough ketchup, you can't even taste it anymore.

He sat down next to his best friend Ned at their usual table and MJ sat down a few chairs over. Not even touching the school lunch in front of her. She opted instead to stare down into her book—Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. She sat in a leaning position, her legs stretched into the chair next to her. Facing the boys, but with book covering her face telling them that she was not in the mood to talk to them. Not that she wasn't listening though, because MJ was always listening.

"Hey, Pete, you wanna come over to my house later and finish up the Ewok Village?"

Of course, he would love to help finish that Lego set, but he was grounded.

"Sorry, Ned, I can't. I'm grounded indefinitely."

MJ looked up from her book. Her attention peaked,

"What? You? Really?", she asked incredulously. "How'd you manage that?"

His face reddened.

"I uh…" He stalled by drinking his milk and tried to think of a reason. What would his usual self get in trouble for? "I got a C on the last two quizzes in Chem." He told her, not looking at the girl and putting down the milk.

"She grounded you for that?" asked Ned.

"Uh… yeah. You know how she is about my grades, guys…Best school, important for my future, costs lots of money, etcetera, etcetera…" Peter lied, keeping his head down and picking at his canned peaches with a plastic fork.

MJ and Ned seemed satisfied with his answer, but bringing up May made the guilt of their fight from yesterday come back and he didn't feel so hungry anymore.

"So, uh, how'd you think you guys did on the English homework last night?" Peter asked, changing the subject. MJ turned back to her book.

"Oh my god, man. Freaking English! So, you know how in the book, that guy was fighting the monster in chapter 3?" Ned began.

Peter turned to him and gave him his full attention, because anything that got Ned this excited, had to be good.

At 3:10 pm on the dot, the bell rang signaling the end of school, in tune with it Peter's phone chimed. He took it out of his pocket;

'One unread message from: Happy :)'

He opened it.

Happy: I'm picking you up

Peter hastily replied,

Peter: OK, on my way out noe

Peter: *noe

Peter: I meant noe

Peter: Oh my gosh, why. I swear, I'm on my way. About to go to my locker a sec

Happy: Make it snappy Tonys waiting

He tossed his needed textbooks into his backpack from his locker which succeeded in making it about 20 pounds heavier; when water was splashed all the way down the front of his T-Shirt.

"Looks like Penis Parker had an accident over here. Clean up in Isle 3!"

Flash—his school rival, his nemesis; mocked. A bunch of the lingering students giggled at the stupid joke, making his face redden. 'If you ignore them, they will go away. If you ignore them, they will go away' He told himself repeatedly. It really sucked having to keep his powers hidden, sometimes. One day he'd just really like to give Flash a taste of his own medicine. Flash and his little group walked away fist-bumping over the fool they had just made of Peter Parker.

Peter closed his locker and walked the final steps out of the school and to the sleek black car Happy was leaning against.

"Hey, Happy."

"What happened to you?" Happy asked rhetorically without any greeting. "I'm not going to have to put any towels down in the backseat to keep you from getting them wet, am I? Because this is an expensive car."

"No, it's OK. It's just a little water, I promise," Peter said.

"Alright, fine, get in." Happy sighed. He went around the car and sat down in the driver's seat having nothing more to say.

Peter felt like such a loser, he should have defended himself better from Flash. Sure, it was just a little water, but now Happy was annoyed with him. He sighed and looked at his shirt. Putting his backpack in first, he got into the back seat of the Sedan and put on his seat belt. After looking in his rear view to see if Peter was situated, Happy pulled out of the school parking lot. Peter rummaged through his bag and pulled out his ear buds to play some music while he watched the scenery pass dejectedly.

Happy pulled up to the compound, slightly worried. Peter hadn't said a word the whole ride. Usually, he would talk so much Happy would have to put up the divider just to shut him up. He got out and opened Peter's door, the kid was taking off his seat belt and grabbed his bag. He got out of the vehicle.

"Thanks, Happy." He said.

"Yeah, no problem, kid." Happy replied.

Happy began to walk into the compound, Peter behind him. Why was Happy walking so fast? Was he trying to get away from him? No, Peter was probably just being overly sensitive. Happy looked behind him to check that Peter was still behind him, the kid was walking, staring at his shoes. Something was up. Something he would leave Tony to deal with. He was not paid enough to deal with teenage angst.

Tony met them in the lobby when they walked inside. Peter almost walking right into Happy, not paying attention to where he was going.

"Sorry, Mr. Happy."

Mister Happy? That was new. Tony's eyebrows raised.

"What's up with the kid?" Tony asked his bodyguard.

Peter's earbuds were still in, but nothing was playing. Happy shrugged.

"Right. Well." Tony clapped his hands together. Preparing himself. "See ya, Happy. Thanks for bringing him. We'll call if we need you."

"No problem, Boss." And with that Happy walked away, his job accomplished.

"So, Peter." Tony wrapped an arm around the teenager's shoulders. Peter looked up, surprised and took out his earbuds. They began to walk to the elevator.

"I was thinking, what do you think about a new web shooter action?"

Peter's eyes brightened and Tony knew it had been the right thing to say.

"Oh my gosh, Mr Stark! I have so many ideas!" His bad mood instantly washed away by the prospect of working in the lab. After sending a quick text to May to let her know where he was, the two settled in for an evening of pizza and engineering.