Heres Chapter 6! It's a really short chapter - sorry - and I'm not entirely happy with it, but what can you do? meh. It's way too late I need to go to sleep... hope theres not to many mistakes...
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks for reading!
I do not own anything slightly spider-man related. la la la
The weekend passed uneventfully for Peter.
Aunt May finally relented, letting him actually go downstairs to eat mid Saturday, but continued to throw him concerned glances the remainder of the weekend. He had the distinct feeling that she was trying to think up ways to get him to tell her exactly what had happened, but at the same time she had been oddly accepting it.
He wished he could tell her. Keeping secrets from Aunt May was what hurt the most. Aunt May who lived by the philosophy that secrets have a cost, and here he was, withholding one. A rather important one.
He could tell she was worried. She had always worried about him, he knew that, but now it was almost palpable, he could feel it radiating off her with every word and glance.
Peter kept his promise to Gwen and stayed off the streets Friday night, and although he wouldn't admit it to her, he couldn't have put on the suit if he tried and ended up falling asleep soon after she had left. He was just so tired.
He had gone out Saturday night though, but was careful to stick to the shadows and draw no attention to himself unless absolutely necessary to avoid another police fiasco. If only the cops would learn to trust him. Idiots.
More then several times, he found himself distracted thinking about Gwen, subconsciously heading towards her family apartment. He couldn't stop thinking about what she had said, and he had to admit, she'd had a point. He'd been so preoccupied trying to abide by her father's last request he'd never stopped to consider what she had wanted. He realized that was stupid now. He had initially avoided her, afraid that she would blame him for what happened, as he did himself. More realistically, he was avoiding the guilt. He was responsible, and at the time, he believed there was nothing he could do that would ever repair the damage that he had created, but perhaps he could have, by just being a friend to Gwen. And that was where the promise came into action. Leave Gwen out of it.
What was he supposed to do? What was the right thing to do?
Sunday rolled over and turned into Monday as Aunt May explicitly refused to allow Peter to return to school, saying it was 'Doctor Loris's' orders.
Peter didn't hear from Gwen once. He wasn't sure exactly where there conversation had left them of Friday and wasn't looking forward to finding out when he returned to school.
So now it was Monday night and Peter found himself sitting in the kitchen with Aunt May, eating extra helpings of food whilst she insisted he was to skinny for his own good. He complied, resulting in an increase to Aunt May's happiness and a decrease with her worrying.
They often ate in the kitchen now, rather then the dining table. It was an unspoken agreement between the two of them, for the table that was intended to sit three, now, only sat two, making it painfully obvious that Uncle Ben was not with them. And neither of them was ready to accept that.
Peter grabbed another slice of garlic bread and bit into it, looking up to notice his Aunt studying him quietly. He knew what questions were about to be thrown his way and was just as completely at a loss of how to answer them, as he had been last time.
"Gwen's a nice girl." Aunt May stated.
Peter blinked. That wasn't what he expected.
"Don't you think?" his Aunt prompted
"Yeah" Peter replied quickly, "Real nice."
"She's the one that came to the house a couple of weeks ago, right?" at Peter's nod she continued, "You said you were no good for her."
Peter shrugged, feigning interest in the stove.
"I've said it before, I'll say it again, if there's anything you are Peter, its good." She reached out and took his hand.
Aunt May smiled, "She was very keen to help, is there… anything going on between the two of you?"
Peter shook his head frantically. A little too fast, he realized just a little too late. His Aunt's face split into a triumphant grin.
"There is, isn't there?" She was almost bouncing in her seat.
"No" Peter addressed his fork.
"Peter, I have eyes." Aunt May pushed.
Peter sighed, "There might have been something going on before, but definitely not anymore." Was he actually talking about a girl with his Aunt?
"It's obvious you care about her." His Aunt ruthlessly continued, "And it's obvious she cares about you. I don't think many girls would willingly volunteer to routinely wake up a delirious teenage boy through un-godly hours of the night"
"It wouldn't work out." Peter tried.
Aunt May sighed, fixing Peter with a knowing stare, "That's because you won't let it work out, Peter."
"I heard about her father." Aunt May said quietly. "Be a friend to her, I suspect she needs it."
Peter nodded.
Aunt May sighed. "I worry about you, Peter" she said, "You spend too much time alone, you think too much. You deserve some happiness."
His Aunt patted his hand once before standing up and moving over to the sink to begin washing up.
For a moment, Peter could do nothing but sit.
Was it really so bad if Peter tried to make Gwen happy, receiving happiness in return? After all isn't that what every father would want above all else for his daughter? Pure happiness?
He supposed keeping them away from genetically screwed up teenagers would be rather high up on the list too. Stupid spider. He didn't mean that.
Peter rose from his seat, adding the remainder of the dishes to the pile next to the sink and grabbed a tea towel to help. He saw that his Aunt was about to protest, so he beat her to it.
"I want to help." He said, and left it at that as he took a plate from her hands and began drying it.
It was like old times, when Peter and his Aunt would cook together, or more likely, he would do the taste testing while Aunt May did all the work. Then they would clean up together, in comfortable silence, with Uncle Ben reading or sitting in front of the TV in the next room.
He realized he'd begun to leave a lot to his Aunt lately and felt a wave of guilt come rolling in. He wanted to try and restore some balance in the dynamics of the household, but had no idea how. He supposed learning to juggle his double life in a slightly more efficient manner would be a good way to start, but he wasn't entirely confident on how to do that either.
He realized Aunt May had stilled beside him, as if she knew too, how similar this was to old times. Peter was taken by surprise as she turned and enveloped him in a hug, his arms remaining by his side for a moment before returning the gesture.
For the remainder of the night, instead of returning to his room, like he usually did, Peter spent it with his Aunt. They switched on TV and watched pointless sitcoms.
Neither was paying attention to what was on the screen and neither felt the need to talk. Peter reveled in his Aunts company, and he knew she felt the same; comforted by each other's presence.
Peter woke up early the next morning; a result of his Aunt's reluctant agreement allowing him to return back to school. He wasn't sure which option was worse; enduring another day stuck in the house – Aunt May had the day off, so there was no chance of leaving - or facing, what he was sure to be, a bunch of overly curious students back at school.
He'd eaten breakfast – a rare occurrence – and was ready to leave, picking up his bag and skateboard off the floor in the kitchen. He entered the hall and was about to go out the door when he heard an 'Oi!' shouted from behind him. He turned to see his Aunt practically fly off the stairs and come to a stop in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded.
She was definitely losing it, Peter thought. "Er… going to school?"
Aunt May rolled her eyes, "No, with this." She gestured towards the skateboard under his arm.
"I always skate to school" Peter replied.
Aunt May fixed him with a firm stare. "Not with a concussion you don't."
Peter knew he was fine, he could just tell. But apparently normal people took a lot longer to get over concussions. "I'm fine now," He said, "Honestly."
"Hand it over." Aunt May said, outstretching her hand.
Peter sighed, but obliged. "You know, I'm more of a danger to myself walking anyway?"
Aunt May smiled. "You got injured skating into a tree - which for the record I didn't believe for a second, but all the same, you've got to stick to your story Peter"
"I'll be late" Peter tried.
"Then you'd better get going" Aunt May replied.
Damn it. Utterly outsmarted. He opened the door and stepped out, appreciating that the weather had chosen to be friendly today.
"Be careful!" he heard his Aunt shout. He waved to show he'd heard and set off for Midtown Science High, for what he was sure was to be, a very long day.