I could say it felt natural, that my first time kissing MJ was like coming home to something that was destined. I could say that, but I'd be lying. The truth is, I was a teenager with next to no experience kissing the girl who, a few minutes before, had been his best friend. I'm pretty sure my technique was awful and awkward and nothing like two soulmates getting together in a movie. And yet, it still felt like the best thing that had ever happened to me.

MJ pulled away to breathe after a while and put her arms around my neck. "If you keep a secret as big as Spider-Man from me again, I might have to kill you," she said.

"I won't," I answered. "You're way too scary."

"And don't you forget it," she said, which reminded me of my aunt.

"May is going to be really happy about this," I said. MJ and I sat side-by-side again, holding hands. I don't know about her, but I was in a glowing stupor of happiness.

"Peter," said MJ after a while, "you know you're going to have to tell Aunt May your secret eventually."

I nodded. "I know - just, let me decide when, okay?"

"Of course," she answered. "You can trust me to keep your secret. But you know, it won't make any difference to how she feels about you, just like it doesn't to me."

"You don't know that," I said, looking away, "not the part about my uncle." MJ is a lot smarter than I am, so she didn't try to argue. She just took my left hand in both of hers and said, "I know you'll do the right thing."

I captured her right hand and kissed it, and she rolled her eyes. "Biggest dork ever." She looked happy, though.

After that, we talked about everything and nothing. I thought I could be happy sitting in that kitchen with her forever, just being near her. Too soon, though, my phone beeped, letting me know it was 11:45. I groaned. "I don't want to leave."

"I'll see you tomorrow, silly," said MJ. "And I want to see Spider-Man do his thing. That's what you do when you leave early, isn't it?"

I smiled sheepishly. "If you're nice to me, I might be able to get him to come out when you're around." I winked.

MJ held my hand until we were outside her building. I kissed her good night, a little more sure of myself this time, and she reciprocated with sweet intensity. "Good night, Pete," she said. "I love you." With that, she was gone, and I turned down the sidewalk feeling like the luckiest man alive.

Well, I felt that way until I rounded the corner in front of my own building and saw the fight. I recognized the two bullies who lived in 4E, but not the kid they were hitting. As fast as I could, I ran the opposite direction, paying no attention to their obscenity-laced yells about my supposed cowardice. I ducked behind a building, threw my clothes off, and flipped my mask on as I sprinted back.

I hadn't been gone long, but the kid they were using as their punching bag wasn't looking too good, and I was worried. I was tired from being so happy and annoyed that I had to stop for something so ridiculous, so I didn't even talk, which isn't like me at all. I just started webbing the two idiots. It took a little while for me to subdue them; they were big, and there's only one of me. But I got them, and they didn't get close enough to attack me.

Once they were stuck together and flailing around on the ground, I held out a hand to their victim and helped him up. He didn't look older than 13 or 14, and he turned, wide, grateful eyes onto me. "Thank you, Sir," he said softly.

"You live here?" I asked.

"Just moved in."

"Your parents home?" He nodded, his nose and lip still bleeding down his bruised chin.

"All right. Go inside and find your mom and dad. Call the police. These morons will still be here. And call an ambulance if you need one."

"I'm okay," he said, and I watched him enter the building, wondering if he really was. I wanted to follow and make sure, but I couldn't risk calling that kind of attention to Spider-Man.

The bullies were cursing at me in more than one language and using words I'd never heard, but they couldn't get free of each other and presented a hilarious picture when they tried. I added an extra layer of webbing for good measure, but I knew they were secure enough to hold for the cops.

Finally, I went back for my clothes and put a hand through my tousled hair to try to look semi-normal. I entered my building by the back entrance so the 4E thugs outside wouldn't have chance to get any weird ideas about me and Spider-Man being connected somehow. When I finally reached the door to the apartment I shared with Aunt May, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Except, things took a turn for the worse as soon as I opened the door. "Are you okay?!" Aunt May pulled me inside and hugged me, but it wasn't the nice comforting kind. It was more the "You're late, and I'm about to murder you for worrying me, but I'm glad you're safe" kind.

"It's almost 12:30, Peter! You didn't even call!" My heart sank. After my perfect evening with MJ, I was stuck with letting my aunt down again, and I couldn't even tell her I'd had a perfectly good reason. "What happened?" She had her arms folded, and she was breathing and talking too fast.

"I lost track of time at MJ's," I lied. "I'm really sorry." Now, you might think a half hour isn't that much too late, but ever since the night Uncle Ben hadn't come home, May had been this way. She was always worried something was going to happen to me, that I would be taken away from her too. I knew that, and I wanted to kick myself for forgetting how close I'd cut the time and not even texting her.

"I tried to call you and MJ," she continued breathlessly, "but neither of you answered." She was on the verge of panic.

I put my hands in the air like I was surrendering. "All right, I'm grounded. I missed curfew, and I'm grounded."

May stopped pacing and faced me, looking a little confused. "All right - if you're sure you don't have a better reason than that. This isn't like you at all, Peter."

It was more like me than she realized, which made being grounded feel pretty well-deserved, if I'm honest. "I'm sorry," I said again. "I just lost track."

I went to my room to give May space to calm down and to process through my own frustration at having to choose between coming clean about Spider-Man and looking like the irresponsible nephew I'd never wanted to be.

A few minutes later, I heard a tap at my door, which didn't surprise me. I was in my sweats and and a sleep shirt, sitting up in bed, reading a quantum physicals book Tony had loaned me, and trying to chill out. "Come in," I called.

Aunt May opened the door and sat down facing me on my bed, looking a little uncertain but calmer and more like herself. She cupped my cheek with her hand. Now, I wouldn't let anyone else in the world do that (except maybe MJ if she really wanted to), but May was...May. She wasn't just my aunt. She was a mom, too, and she didn't have to be. So I let her touch my face like I was six years old and didn't pull away.

"I'm sorry I freaked out," she said.

"I'm sorry I worried you," I answered. "How long am I grounded for?" I think we both knew she never would have managed to ground me on her own, but if it would make her feel better, I was willing to be grounded for a year.

"The weekend, I think," she said softly, "and Pete, whatever's up with you, you know you can always tell me, right?"

"Uh huh," I said, my mind on the fact that I'd just realized being grounded meant I wasn't going to be able to spend Saturday with MJ.

"The weekend's not too long, is it?" May asked, noticing my downcast expression and getting concerned.

I made myself smile. "No way, May. You're too easy on me."

She laughed. "You're a good kid, Peter. Come here." She gave me another hug, a nice one this time, and while she was holding me, she repeated something I'd heard a lot of times, but not usually from her. "You're only grounded because I love you."

It was strange, hearing May say it. I couldn't even remember the last time she'd punished me for anything. I thought I'd been about ten years old. Uncle Ben had been more of the disciplinarian, and I'd certainly had my share of butting heads with him over the years. I missed him now. He'd have been a lot surer of himself about the grounding, but his hug would have been just as tight. I missed a ton of things about him, including the fact that being told off by him always felt like he was taking care of me, even when he was upset. I would have given anything to hear him get on my case one more time, with that crease he always got in his forehead when he was concerned and that way he had of putting his arm around me when he was about to say something stern, to make sure I always felt safe.

"I love you too, May," I said, hugging her back and wishing I was a better nephew. I didn't tell her about MJ and me. I knew that if I did, she would feel bad and not want to ground me. So I kept it to myself and tried to focus on the fact that I had someone in my life who cared enough to ground me, even if she was too softhearted to do it on her own.

Besides, I had another motive. The more May thought of me as a normal, irresponsible teenager, the less likely she was to connect me to Spider-Man. If a lost weekend could accomplish that, I figured it was more than worth it.