"Peter…" May yelled as she knocked on his door again "Come on… You can't stay in there all day."
"May… For the last time… just leave me alone."
"Ok, I'll just tell MJ you're not here."
May heard a rustle and the door fly open, with Peter sticking his head out. He looked around for a second.
"MJ isn't here, and you just tricked me into opening the door, didn't you?"
"I pled the fifth." May said, sticking her foot into the door.
"Now… You can't keep hiding in here." She continued "I know it was rough the other day when those guys came and took your stuff."
Peter simply ignored her and went back to his bed.
"Peter. Come on. School starts in a few days. You can't stay in here forever."
The teen sighed. "Mr. Stark gave up on me. What am I supposed to do? Just pretend nothing happened?"
"Peter, you were Spider-Man before Tony Stark showed up. Before you had those suits."
"It's not that… He…"
May realized what was really bothering Peter. She sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulders.
"You feel like you had a father figure again. Someone to look up to. And you lost it… again." She said with a slight tear in her eyes.
Peter nodded.
"Except this time, they chose to get rid of me."
"So, are you finally ready to talk about it?" She asked. It had been over three months since she'd opened her down to find Peter, messed up and dirty with a man who said his name was "Strange" having brought him home on the train. In that time, he'd refused to tell his aunt anything about what had happened. She had begged and pleaded with him to open up to her about it. But after some of Stark's men, armed with more legal documents than she cared to count, showed up at their door and took everything from Peter, the boy had gotten even worse.
"After Mr. Stark left," Petter began "this… talking alien raccoon thing… he said his name was Rocket, he pulled me aside and told me what had happened. How they remembered things from the future. How… how I had died and what it did to Mr. Stark."
The memory played over in Peter's mind.
"Stark was practically broken over the fact he'd put you in danger" Rocket had told him "He blamed himself for the fact you'd been turned to dust. You basically fell apart in his arms. His guilt was enormous. It was the reason he helped us. He wanted to fix his mistake, but… it seems to have cost him something far greater…"
"You DIED?" May asked, practically wide eyed and yelling, snapping Peter back from his memory "Why didn't you tell me all this?"
"Because I didn't want you to be upset." He said
"Well I am upset! How? When?"
"Apparently we're living in an altered timeline where it never happened. I don't get any of it. What it means, what I'm supposed to do…"
"Maybe we should go outside for a while? Get some fresh air. Come on, please."
"Yeah… I guess."
"See, this isn't so bad…" May said as the sat on a bench in a nearby park "You haven't touched your ice cream."
"I just…" Peter began.
"You still feel lost." May finished "This is going to take time. But you're stronger than your realize."
"Am I?" Peter asked.
"Yes, you are. And one day, you're going to realize it."
"I think I might be able to help with that." A voice said from behind them.
Now it was Peter's turn to go wide eyed.
"You… you're… you're Nick Fury…" Peter stammered, looking at the person sitting behind them.
"Very good, Spider-Man." Fury said, taking a lick of his own ice cream cone "I tell you; nothing beats a Mr. Softie on a hot day in NYC…"
"Ixnay on my amenay."
"Kid, please, you are just about the only person in this business trying to keep his identity hidden."
"Well, I…"
"I know, I know… You don't want people showing up at your door. I think Stark learned that one the hard way with Killian."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" May asked.
"I'm Nick Fury, director of SHIELD."
"And what do you want with my nephew?"
"I'm going to cut straight to the point" Fury said, "Peter, how would you like a job?"