A/N: Trying to get as many chapters up as I can! I realise that this has a shitload of dialogue, and I apologise for that! WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BRIEF IMPLICATION OF DOMESTIC ABUSE, AND NON-GRAPHIC TALK OF SELF HARM/SUICIDE/DEPRESSION. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF THIS TRIGGERS OR AFFECTS YOU IN ANY WAY.
Today wasn't the best day. It was around midday, when Peter heard a knock on the front door. Looking behind him quickly, he went to open the door a crack, and peered out. "Hey!" He said in surprise, and he opened the door a tiny bit more, not enough however, for the Avengers who were in the hallway could see inside. "What're you all doing here?"
"We came to see your Aunt." Loki said stiffly. He didn't talk all that often Peter found, but when he did he could be quite scathing. Peter liked him in a way.
"Oh, she's not here." Peter said, leaning against the doorframe slightly.
"She's not?" Tony asked. The Spiderling shook his head. "Where is she then?"
"Out shopping I think." He paused. "We need milk." There was silence after this unnecessary piece of information was added.
"Well can we come in and wait, Крошечный паук?" Natasha asked, leaning forward slightly, and looking him directly in the eye.
"Erm…" He started, before glancing behind him. "Well-"
"You haven't got a girl in there have you son?" Steve joked.
"Technically, yes, but-"
"What?" Boomed Thor. "We must meet this lover of yours Son of Spiders!"
"No, she's not-" Peter started, but Thor pushed past him, and froze once he was inside. The rest of the Avengers did the same. "Guys…" Peter said, walking into the middle of the room. "This is my cousin Lily." A small girl was sitting in front of a bookcase, holding a Black Widow plushie of all things. Lily hid behind a curtain of brown curly hair, and peered at them intently.
"Hello." She said brightly, brushing her hair out of her face, the same way Peter did with his fringe. When her eyes settled on Natasha, Lily let out a small gasp, glanced down at the doll in her hand, then back up at Natasha again. "Woah." She muttered.
"Hi Lily," Wanda said, walking over to her. She gestured for Nat to come closer, and the red head did so. "That's a nice doll you have there."
"It's Black Widow," Lily said, still staring at Natasha. "You're awesome!" Nat noticed that the young girl had a slight lisp.
"Well thank you Lily!" Natasha said. "How old are you?"
"I am six years old." She recited with a grin. Peter ushered them all into chairs, and they all sat down, including Wanda and Nat.
"How come you didn't tell us you had a cousin?" Sam asked, glancing at Lily, who went to lean against Peter's leg.
"It didn't come up." Peter shrugged.
Apparently neither did the fact that you're a fucking twin, Tony thought viciously. Pepper must have guessed what he was thinking, as she placed a hand on his knee comfortingly.
"So what did you want to talk to May about?" Peter asked nervously, sitting down.
"Oh, nothing important," Rhodey said with a wave of his hand. "Just need her to sign a few papers that lets you come on more missions with us."
"What missions?" Lily asked, still snuggling Peter's leg.
"Awesome ones." Bruce winked at her. Lily giggled.
"So does that really require all of you?" Peter asked, still clearly nervous.
"Wel-" Steve started, but he was quickly cut off by Scott.
"Oh yes, we're all very close. Isn't that right honey?" He turned to Clint.
"It really is darlin'." Clint pecked Scott on the cheek, and Scott returned the favour. They proceeded to hold hands, and stare intently at Peter, who couldn't help himself from laughing. Lily suddenly stood up, and started to wander off.
"Lily, stay out of my room," Peter called out as she disappeared around a corner. "Lily I mean it, wait- sorry." He muttered, as he jogged into his room, returning a few seconds later with Lily.
"But you have cool things in there!" She protested bitterly.
"Yes, cool things that you're likely to try and eat, just like you did with those marbles last week."
"They looked like jelly beans!"
Peter gaped, as he curled up in an armchair, and she sat back on the floor. "They're spherical, how the hell do they look like jelly beans?"
"I dunno, you tell me." Lily muttered. The Avengers all laughed. They made light conversation for a while, until Lily started to giggle.
"Lily…" Peter started, but her laughing got louder.
"How's Liiizzzz?" She asked cheekily, drawing out the girl's name.
"What?" Peter asked, heat rising in his cheeks. The rest of the group all smirked, curious to find out who this Liz was.
"'Hey Pete, are we still on for six? Love, Liz, kiss kiss'" Lily read out from Peter's phone, that he had dumbly left on the table.
"Huh?" He asked, and grabbed the phone out of her hands. "Lily, this message is five months old."
"I liked Liz, she was my favourite of all your girlfriends." Natasha choked down a laugh, at the look on Peter's face.
"Okay, one, Liz was my only girlfriend, and two, she wasn't even my girlfriend. We just went out a couple of times."
"I heard you talking to Ned about her! You said she was cute, and-"
"Oh, woah, Lily, look what time it is!" Peter showed her his watch.
"What time?"
"Time for you to go to bed." He lifted her over his shoulder, and she shrieked with laughter. As he started to take her to her room, she whacked his head a few times.
"No, no, no bedtime isn't until seven on weekends, Mommy says so!"
Peter lifted her so that she face facing him. "You're going to stop torturing me?" Lily nodded, giggling. "Okay then." He put her down gently.
"I'm bored!" She said loudly. Peter sighed, and sat back down, glaring at the Avenger's amused faces.
"Why don't you call Tanya or something?" He suggested.
"Why don't you fuck off?" She said quietly.
"Lily!" Peter yelled, and Clint, Scott, Sam and Tony, doubled up in laughter.
"What? I heard you yell it to Mommy a few years ago." Peter made an exasperated sound, as the laughter died down in the room. "I'm gonna go call Tanya."
"Bye Lily." Peter rolled his eyes. She picked up the handheld landline, and rushed into her room.
"She's sweet." Natasha said, glancing at the doll of her on the floor.
"She's also desperate for attention." Peter sighed, tiredly.
"Is she smart? She seems smart for her age. She reads and speaks almost perfectly." Tony asked.
"You can't go recruiting Lily at her age Tony." Pepper said, laughing slightly.
"Yes, she's smart," Peter laughed too. "Almost too smart. She can be a right pain."
"But you love her." Vision said unusually gentle.
The boy smiled. "Yeah, I do."
They carried on talking for a while longer, until the front door swung open. May walked in, and screamed slightly at the sight of everyone. "Jesus Christ," she said, putting a hand to her heart. She picked up the groceries that had fallen when she walked in.
"May, the Avengers are here." Peter said, absently picking at the skin around his nails.
"Yes I see that thank you dear." May said laughing.
"Hello May," Pepper said, standing up to give the woman a hug. "It's been a while."
"Yes it has! It's great to see you Pepper."
"Mommy!" Came a shriek from another room. Lily flung herself at her mother.
"Hey babe," May said, kissing the girl on the top of her head. "Was she well behaved?" She asked Peter.
"Meglio del solito, in realtà." Peter said in rapid Italian.
"How many languages do you speak child?" Loki asked frowning at Peter.
"Erm, six I think. English, Spanish, Italian, German, Mandarin and French." He counted them off on his fingers.
"Why?" Rhodey asked.
Peter shrugged. "I was bored."
"Anyway haven't you got to go? Aren't you meeting Ned and MJ?" May asked.
"Yes I am. I'll see you all later." Peter put on a blue hoodie. "Bye."
"Wait, can you take Lily?" May grabbed her nephew's shoulder.
"Are you serious?"
"Deadly." She stared him in the eye.
"But all we'll be doing is playing video games!"
"Then teach Lily how to play."
"Per il bene del cazzo." Peter ushered Lily into her coat, and led her outside.
"And don't swear!" Tony called out, face serious.
"You speak Italian?" May inquired, sitting down in the chair Peter had been sitting in.
"You had another nephew?" Tony stared her down.
May didn't speak for a while, but stood up, and poured each Avenger a glass of wine. When she settled back down, she spoke. "How did you-?"
"Mr Delmar." Bucky said simply.
"Of course." She sighed. "Son of a bitch. You know about my niece too presumably?"
"Yes," Natasha said gently. "We just want to know what happened."
"Mark was murdered." May said bluntly. She downed her wine in one. "By Peter's parents."
There was a heavy silence that followed, until Rhodey asked, "Why did they kill him?"
"I really don't think I should be the one to tell you this. Peter hasn't even told me everything, so I don't want to misinterpret the little that he has said."
"We can't help him until you help us May." Wanda said.
May hesitated, before walking over to the mantlepiece and removing a photo that had been placed face down. Silently, she passed it around the group. It showed a man and woman behind three children two boys, and one girl, the boy on the left far taller than the one on the right. The boy on the right, who looked no older than five, had a large bruise covering the left side of his forehead. It was clearly Peter.
"This was taken a few months before Mark was killed." May spoke in a husky voice. She pointed at the taller of the two boys. "I should have- I should have realised what was going on. I could have prevented everything that happened if I had just read the signs."
"And what was going on?" Thor asked.
"Peter… Peter's different. And I guess his parents didn't like that, so they…" She gulped. "They… experimented on him." May whispered the last part. "He was born a mutant or something, or a mutate I don't know, but he didn't have powers. He said something about his DNA being more susceptible to gaining abilities. It wasn't human DNA, if you know what I mean."
"Did Pete tell you this?" Tony asked, swallowing bile that rose in his throat.
"Yes. But, now, I guess, looking back, I don't think it was just for science."
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.
"I mean, his parents didn't like him. I vaguely know why, but if you want to know more, you'll have to ask Peter."
"But how does this link to Mark?" inquired Clint.
"Richard and Mary- my brother and sister-in-law- wanted to replicate Pete's DNA and put it in someone else. Mark didn't survive their tests." May spoke angrily, almost spitting the words out. She visibly sagged. "But after Ben's death… Peter was never the same."
"Well he was grieving." Scott pointed out.
"He became depressed." She said. "It got so bad, that he- he started-" May broke down in sobs. Pepper got up and put an arm around her. "He started harming himself." There was a collective gasp at this. "And he- he tried to kill himself ."
"Oh my god." Steve muttered.
"How did he try to… you know." Sam asked. May looked at him strangely.
"The first time he-" she hiccuped. "He tried to overdose on the medication he was given for his anxiety. The second time, he slit his wrists, and barely pulled through. And the third time…" She trailed off for a few seconds. "I had to talk him down from the roof." Her eyes glazed over, and she glanced down at her lap. "He still has scars on his arms. Apparently they'll probably take decades to fade, if they do at all."
"May…" Tony said. "I am so sorry." He reached over and placed a hand on hers. "Truly sorry."
A/N: I WOULD JUST LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT "Per il bene del cazzo." LITERALLY TRANSLATES TO "FOR THE SAKE OF FUCKING" AND I LOVE THAT.
Comments:
OniHika68: Okay, I love you, you reviewed my other story too! Yeah, I really like Vision, but feel as though he's underrated in most fics.
hauntedpumpkin56: Thanks for reviewing, and here's the update! I'm really trying to write quickly, so I can get it all up before school starts on Monday!