Peter had already been used to Tony's name being thrown about. He heard about him on the news, through Ned, and other various sources. But when May told him Tony had tried to come to their house, Peter shut down. The case was closed- paid off- many years ago. Tony had no reason to come to the Parker home like nothing had happened.

Peter's fork clattered onto his plate and his chair fell to the floor as he stood.

May watched him, but he remained where he stood. So, she raised from her seat cautiously. Her chair scraped against the floor and she made her way to her nephew.

A crushing weight lay on Peter's chest as he struggled to breathe. It caused his legs to buckle and he collapsed onto the ground. Tremors coursed through Peter's body as his eyes leaked with tears.

The hot shower pelted on his skin as he roughly scrubbed it red with a soap covered loofa, the hot water made it increasingly redder as steam poured off of him. He could smell the drunken breath, feel the scratch of the beard and the trail of the mouth. Peter wetted his chapped lips, tasting a hint of salt.

He let go of the loofa and curled in on himself. His body shook with quiet sobs, the world around him fading to the previous day.

"No, please.. No.." Peter whimpered. His thoughts weren't with him in the shower anymore. They were with yesterday's Peter, 'this wasn't how it was supposed to go. This was wrong. This was so, so-'

He jolted, the past fading quickly. Peter managed to dust himself and the flashback off while feeling empty and detached from the world. He realized that Aunt May was reminding him he was safe and she was slowly helping him out of his flashback and subsequent panic attack. When he fully came to his senses, they got up and sat back down at the table. As he ate and spent time with Aunt May, he slowly left his apathetic state. He assisted May with cleaning up the food and dishes and soon he was smiling, albeit weakly at her while getting ready for patrol.

Peter tugged on his suit, slightly drained. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see May.

"You know you don't have to patrol tonight," she spoke with a quiet tone.

Peter nodded, "I know, May, I just.. I want to. It'll help me get it out of my mind."

"Alright, Peter." She moved her hand, "Be safe, would you?"

Peter nodded again and moved towards the window, pulling his mask on. He turned and watched May go back to the kitchen to do some paperwork. He felt a twinge of guilt. He made her worry enough when he had the breakdown. He knew going on patrol would make her worry more considering the injuries he could obtain.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and climbed out the window.

As he swung through the city, he kept an ear and eye out.

The city wasn't very busy tonight. He helped the churro lady across the street and stopped a robbery.

He shot webs at the robber and left him stuck to the wall, the webs around his entire body with his head untouched. Peter made sure the cops were notified of the robber and slung away.

The web-slinger stopped at a hot dog vendor and, of course, ordered a hot dog. He stood, watching the vendor put together his snack and paid when it was handed to him.

With his newly made snack, he webbed away onto the roof of a nearby building and sat on the edge. Peter tugged his mask above his nose, high enough to eat, but not high enough to see his entire face. He unwrapped the sandwich and began to eat.

As he ate, he looked over the neighborhood he was in. It was busy, but quiet. People were rushing around, trying to get to meetings and others were taking their time as if they had nowhere to be. He finished off his last bite of hot dog and pulled down his mask, but decided to sit a while longer. Some people stopped when they spotted the vigilante to wave at him or take pictures, leaving when they got what they wanted.

Peter sighed, content with the role he was playing in his city. He was what made them feel safe at night when the Avengers couldn't. At least, he made them feel safe until they weren't. He couldn't wipe out all the evil and bad people of the world, after all. One of the bad people had been haunting him wherever he went, and he was too powerful to take down and not just in strength. Unfortunately, not everyone saw him as anything but good. But Peter certainly did.

The masked vigilante once again shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked up to the sky where the sun had begun to set before he stood. He tossed the hot dog wrapper into a trash can that had been conveniently placed near where he was now standing and he swung to a higher part of the city to get a better view.

Peter reached the highest peak and took off his mask, high enough away from the civilians that he didn't have to worry about his identity being leaked. He held his mask tight, hoping it wouldn't fall or that some bird wouldn't come get it from him.

He looked over the city, the lights contrasting against the night sky. The noise of honks and motors of cars collided with the shuffling of feet. A couple thousand miles above, a plane flew by, the gusting wind loud enough for Peter to hear. Peter, a little anxious, had to look to make sure the plane hadn't actually been Stark flying around in his suit.

Peter listened and watched. He refused to let the sight of the city distract him enough to end his patrol early. But the sight of the city and responsibility of patrols had distracted him from the possibility of someone calling him.

He nearly fell off the building when his phone rang. He had thankfully succeeded in sticking to the side of the building. The mask fell, but was quickly webbed back to him as the phone continued to ring. He got back into a safe position before pulling his phone out to answer it, "Hello?"

"Peter! Hey," his aunt's voice poured out through the phone, "I've got to go to work, but there's some snacks in the fridge and freezer for you when you get back."

"What? May, no, why?" The voice of a disappointed kid asked.

"There's an emergency that I've got to tend to and nobody else is available to take over," she explained. "But I should be back and awake when you get back from school tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Alright, I've got to go, larb you."

"Larb you too, May."

"Bye."

"Bye." The call ended. At least he didn't have to worry that she had gotten into some kind of trouble when he got back from patrol.

He put his phone away and tugged his mask back on. He flicked his wrist and swung back to a lower point of the city where he could keep a proper eye out. He landed on top of a building and crouched, ready to spring into action if need be.

Peter didn't stay there long, though. The cries of a woman brought him back into full vigilante mode and he leapt into action.

The woman was cornered by a man in an alleyway near Peter's previous resting spot. The man was close- too close. Peter could hear her whimpers as his hands began to trail down..

The calloused hands were touching all the wrong places: his crotch, his hips.

Peter trudged up to the man as he began to unbutton his and her pants.

Peter refused to open his eyes. He felt his pants being unbuttoned and he let out a shaky breath.

The man was harshly pulled away from the woman before he could touch her thoroughly. He fell to the ground; the vigilante stood above him. The woman let out a high pitched noise that fell upon deaf ears. She stumbled away.

He couldn't move. He felt the hands go under his pants and touch him in such a way that made him feel so awful.

Peter landed a punch on the guy's jaw. Satisfied with the crack, he threw another punch to the face. Blood trickled out of the man's now broken nose.

It surrounded him. The smell of alcohol and oil took up his senses until he could smell nothing else. He gagged, but failed to throw up. That probably would have ended it.

Peter was pulled back from railing the guy. He slowly came out of the memory. He calmed down when he saw he was still trying to punch the assaulter but was held back by arms.

"-er, calm down." He knew that voice. One of his vigilante friends.

"Daredevil?"

"Yeah, kid, it's me." Peter visibly relaxed as the voice rumbled through the air. "What happened?"

"I- He-" Peter's mouth lacked to provide proper words as the moments before caught up to him, "Oh my God. Did I- is he dead?"

"No. He would've been, if you kept up like that," the horned vigilante provided as he released Peter. "I think vigilante time is over, kid, c'mon."

Peter nodded, "Yeah, yeah, okay."

Together, they made their way to Peter's apartment. Peter walked in and took off his mask. He headed to the kitchen, got two glasses of water and returned to where Matt stood. Peter held out a glass for the other vigilante as he sipped his own.

Matt took it and drank. "Thank you."

Peter only nodded. After a few moments of silence, Matt returned the glass and turned for the door.

"Thanks, by the way," Peter said.

Matt stopped and turned slightly towards Peter, "What for?"

"Stopping me."

Matt let out a breath and just nodded, not finding anything to say.

Peter then walked away to his bedroom to finally undress and Matt turned and left the apartment, the door latching shut behind him.

Peter pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a large t-shirt and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to his nose as he curled into a ball. He closed his eyes, trying to forget about everything so he can get some sleep before school the next day.

It was in the morning that he realized he'd forgotten to eat something after patrol. His stomach ached from having nothing but water before having fallen asleep.

'Oops,' Peter thought. Peter pushed away the blankets and got changed quickly. He grabbed his bag, slinging it onto his shoulder then made a rush to try and fit something in for breakfast. He stood for a moment, then noticing he was running out of time, he grabbed a few slices of bread and took a peek into May's room to ensure she was asleep. Sure enough, there she lay, a mass of blankets surrounding her as she slumbered. Peter lightly closed the door and walked out the apartment.

He ended up meeting up with Ned somewhere along the way to school. They babbled about Star Wars and Legos and when they'd meet next so they could continue to build the Lego death star.

Once he got to school, he noticed the buzzing of his senses going off, indicating that he was in no way prepared for the day ahead.