Teatime

The door to the home opened. Gwen smiled as she said, "Hi, Aunt May."

"Hello, Gwen!" Aunt May returned as she fixed her glasses on her face. Reaching forward, she pulled Gwen into a loose embrace and said, "It's nice to see you, sweetie."

She patted the woman's back for slipping out of her arms. "You too."

Aunt May started to look Gwen over as she pulled her front door open all of the way. "Is there anything, in particular, you came by for?" she asked. "Did you want me to take a look at your web-shooters? Fix you up with a new suit?" She was grinning as she added, "You're a growing girl, after all!"

Gwen shook her head. "No, everything is fine."

Befuddlement spread across the woman's face. "Then…?"

Stepping into the home and taking the door from Aunt May to close it, Gwen explained, "I just wanted to come by." Locking it, she turned back to the woman and said, "Talk maybe? I feel like I don't stop in as much as I used to for a snack and chat about things…"

Aunt May put a hand on her shoulder as she guided her through the living room and to the kitchen behind it. Kindly, she said, "It's understandable, sweetie. I know it's hard for you to come into the house."

Gwen frowned and pulled away from the woman. "That's no excuse. You lost him too and have to live in it."

There was a pause."…Yes, I do," Aunt May murmured.

She winced, realizing that was probably not the best thing to say to the woman. Peter had been gone a while now, but not too long. "I'm sorry. I just—" She stopped and sighed. "Do you want to sit down? I know where the tea and cookies are kept," Gwen told her. With clear hesitation, Aunt May took Gwen up on her offer and took a seat at the kitchen's table. As Gwen brought down the box of teabags from the cupboard next to the fridge and then went and took two mugs from the mug tree by the sink and filled them with water, she said, "I just thought we could catch up. I'll tell you about this kid I'm babysitting and his infuriating uncle." Gwen smiled over her shoulder at the woman as she popped the mugs in the microwave to heat up. Teasingly, she added, "And when I leave, I'll invite you to a gig my band has coming up at Ally's cousin's grad party."

Aunt May's face was soft as she leaned her chin on her hand and asked, "Her cousin wouldn't mind an old lady showing up to their party?"

Bringing out the box of cookies and dumping them on a plate from the drying rack, Gwen shook her head. "You're not old. And no, not any more than he's going to mind Ally's boyfriend and his brother coming and MJ's mom."

"I suppose it's okay then," Aunt May said as she accepted the cookies from Gwen and put them on the table for them. "I accept."

The microwave began to blare. "Great!" Gwen exclaimed between beeps.

"Now, bring the tea over here," Aunt May said, patting the tabletop. "I want to hear all about how things are going for you."

Gwen did just that. Slipping into the seat across from Aunt May, she drew her mug close to her and breathed in the floral scents of the white jasmine tea the woman across from her was so fond of. That she was fond of after many afternoons spent drinking it in the company of the kindly woman she'd grown to think of as her very own aunt.

After her own moment of quiet to breathe in the aroma of her tea, Aunt May said, "So you're babysitting now? On top of Spider-Woman, your band, school, and ballet?"

She nodded as she snagged a cookie from the plate. "Yeah," she answered before biting into the baked-good. "Crazy, right?"

Aunt May took her glasses off to clean them with a handkerchief from her pocket. Her expression was wrought with concern as she murmured, "I hope you're not wearing yourself too thin, sweetie. Everyone needs me-time now and again."

Gwen smiled as reassuringly as she could. It was definitely a lot sometimes, but nothing she couldn't handle. "Oh no, I'm fine. It's just the odd evening or Saturday here and there."

"Good, good," replied Aunt May as put her glasses back on. Her eyes were distant and bygone as she told Gwen, "I know it may sound silly to you, but you're still just a girl. You should be having fun, gabbing about boys with your friends, going to dances and arcades…" she trailed off only to shake her head minutely. "That sort of thing."

Gwen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Aunt May meant well. She just had trouble understanding that not all teenage girls were excited for dancing with sweaty, nervous boys who were likely to step on their toes in gymnasiums or whittling away their hours in front of a retro Space Invaders game trying to beat the last player's high score. "Right," she said.

A fresh smile stretched across the woman's face as she leaned forward and picked up her mug to hold in her hands just beneath her chin. "So, tell me about this kid. What's made them so interesting that you want to talk to me about them?" Aunt May chuckled. "And their uncle. Is he handsome?"

Gwen flushed. "No!" she denied. "Aaron isn't— He's like thirty!"

The woman laughed more. "Sweetie that doesn't mean he isn't nice to look at. I know I admired my share of handsome older men growing up…" She sighed in a dream-like way as she said, "There was my eighth-grade math teacher, Mr. Macklin, all of the girls were just head-over-heels in love with him and his curls. Oh, not to mention Ben. He was six years older than me and I was seventeen when we first met." She blushed a little and looked away. "And barely eighteen when we had our first kiss.

"Please stop," Gwen begged, sinking in her seat.

"Oh, alright," Aunt May agreed between giggles. "What about the child?"

Gwen took a breath. Here went nothing. "Do you remember when I went to that alternate universe a few months ago?"

"How could I forget?" mused Aunt May before taking a sip of her still near-boiling tea. "Your parents and I were worried sick that whole week you were missing."

"Well, the kid, it's my friend I made there," she explained, jumbled.

Aunt May blinked. Then, she frowned, her confusion clear to Gwen. "Your friend?" she said. "The kid is Miles? I thought you said Miles was just a little younger than yourself."

Gwen picked up another cookie, but she didn't eat it immediately. Instead, she turned it over in her fingers and watched the stripes on it blur as she replied, "There, yeah. His universe was at least a decade ahead of our own. Here, he's six."

"Oh my," Aunt May whispered.

She looked up through her lashes at the gobsmacked woman and sighed. "Yeah, that's how I felt at first too. But I'm really starting to like this Miles too. He's cute. I figure it's probably a good idea I keep an eye on him anyway. What if he grows up to get bitten by a spider too?"

Aunt May was nodding by the end of Gwen's explanation. Lips twitching with merriment, she asked, "What did your friend Miles have to say when you told him about his little doppelganger? I'm sure he was shocked!"

Gwen stiffened. "…Uh, I haven't. Not yet, I mean."

Eyes going comically wide, Aunt May gasped, "Gwen Stacy!"

She winced and ducked her head. "I know, I know. It's on my to-do list. I'm just kinda afraid it'll make things weird between us…" she faded off before stuffing the cookie in her mouth so she wouldn't have to say more.

Aunt May put down her mug of tea and shook her head. "Goodness, sweetie, I think that's the least of your worries at this point! That boy's going to think you're keeping more than this from him after how long you've let this drag on!"

The cookie dropped into Gwen's stomach like a twenty-pound barbell. "Do you really think so?" she croaked.

"I certainly wouldn't blame him if he did!" Aunt May said with a sniff.

"Okay," relented Gwen, "okay. I'll go to his 'verse this week and tell him."

Aunt May's disapproving expression fell away and was replaced with one of sympathy and concern as she reached across the table to give Gwen's fingers a squeeze. "Oh, sweetie, why do you do this to yourself? Everything doesn't have to be this difficult."

"…Sorry," she muttered after a moment of quiet.

Aunt May let go of her and shook her head as she picked up her tea to take a drink from. "It's not me who will need that apology," she said to her. "I just want you to do well, Gwen. Be the amazing woman I know you can be. I know you're afraid you might hurt your relationship by letting him know you've become his alternate universe child-self's babysitter, but honesty is a must between two friends."

She bit her lip. If Aunt May thought honesty was so important, did that mean Gwen ought to tell him about Aaron being here and that he was the Prowler as well? "…Should I tell him that his uncle is the Prowler here too?"

Aunt May stared back at Gwen, open-mouthed and completely speechless once again. After a minute, she squeaked, "The uncle, he's the Prowler?"

"Yeah…"

Aunt May groaned and put a hand to her head."Gwen, what are you doing?"

Gwen wasn't entirely sure why, but the question upset her. What was that supposed to mean? She wasn't dumb. Maybe she didn't have a step-by-step plan for how she was going to turn Prowler into a good guy, but she had an idea. Not to mention she was using all the caution she had when around him as the Prowler or Aaron. "I haven't told him anything! And I've been careful around him! I'm not stupid."

The woman's eyes flashed with a fury of their own. "Do you realize how dangerous this is?" she demanded. "What if you have to go stop Doc Ock or the Hobgoblin after watching Miles and he's around? What if he sees you change? What if he starts to connect the dots from you being in the area? What then?" she all but yelled as she let her mug hit the table with a clatter.

Tea jumped over the rim of the mug and splashed across the table. "Oh, bother," the woman grumbled as she reached for a couple of napkins kept in the holder in the middle of the table. As she laid them out to clean up the spill, Gwen said, "Actually, we teamed up to stop some of Hammerhead's goons at that police outreach program that we, Miles, and his mom were all at."

Aunt May looked up from the mess, her face ashen and expression stricken. "Oh, Gwen!"

She crossed her arms, truly angry now. Who was Aunt May to disapprove? She hadn't been there. She didn't know Aaron like she did. What right did Aunt May have to look so horrified about a very logical choice Gwen had decided to make when she was acting as Spider-Woman to save civilians from danger? She huffed out a breath before jutting out her chin at the woman and saying, "Look, I think he could become a good guy. He just needs somebody to show him how. He loved Miles so much and I know Aaron here, in our universe, feels the same way about the little one. With time and the right encouragement…" she trailed off a moment, eyes shifting to the window behind Aunt May. The one that looked out on the backyard where the shed of all her spider-gizmos was kept. Quietly, she said, "It'd be nice, don't you think, if I had one Goddamn ally in this city of monsters?"

"Sweetie—" Aunt May started only for Gwen to cut her off.

"—Tell me I'm wrong!" she all but roared.

The woman pursed her lips, only to let the tension leave them as her shoulders slumped and she breathed a soft exhale. "I don't think you are. But the Prowler?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes and asked, "If not him, who then?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly," she replied, vindicated. Softening then, she begged, "Please, Aunt May, tell me you aren't mad?"

Aunt May shook her head. "Oh, come here," she said while lifting her arms to Gwen. "I'm not mad. Just worried, sweetie. I don't know what I would do if I lost you too…"

She got to her feet and went willingly into the offered embraced. Taking comfort in the strong embrace of Aunt May, she mumbled into the woman's shoulder, "You won't. Promise."

The woman gently pried her away and made her meet her gaze. "Gwen, I love you. Please respect that and don't make me promises I know you can't guarantee."

She looked to her feet, suitably chastised. "Sorry."

Aunt May took Gwen's chin and lifted it so she'd be made to meet her gaze once more. Her eyes were soft as she whispered, "You meant well."

"I'll do everything I can to stay alive," replied Gwen in an equally quiet voice. "Promise."

"That's better," Aunt May said, smiling. She put a hand on the back of Gwen's head and pressed her back down against her shoulder as she said, "Thank you, sweetie."

"Anything for you, Aunt May."

How did you all enjoy these two getting a moment together?

Thank you very much for reading :)