A few minutes after Ned left and May went back into Peter's room in the medbay, the doctors sedated Peter and wheeled him into surgery to implant his port.

When they had asked him whether he wanted to be awake for it or not, Peter had opted to be asleep.

"I don't need to be awake when they cut into me," he had said.

May sighed, partially with relief and partially with grief. It was all moving so fast. Too fast for her liking, but she knew deep in her heart that if Peter was going to get better, they would need to move very quickly.

"How are you doing?" Tony asked, suddenly appearing by her elbow. May blinked back her tears before facing him.

"I'm fine," she said, biting her lip.

Tony gave her a skeptical look. "No you're not."

"Well, neither are you, Stark," she responded, giving him a grim smile.

With that, Pepper came into the room. "How's Peter?" she asked.

"Not good," May replied at the same time that Tony said, "Bad."

Pepper sighed. "I wish this hadn't happened to him."

"So do we all," May said, sitting heavily into a cushioned chair and leaning her head back, tears now flowing freely.

Tony sunk into the chair next to May.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I…"

"Are you really taking the blame for this, Stark?!" May asked before Pepper could even open her mouth to correct him.

"Yes," he finally said firmly. "Yes I am."

May turned to face him, and put her best 'listen to me' face on. "Listen to me, Stark. This has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with me, either. None of us are to blame. It was a fluke accident. No one is to blame for anyone getting sick, it just happens. What is important, is how we support him and each other right now. As much as I dislike you for keeping my son's vigilanteism a secret from me, I need you right now. Peter needs you right now. So you're going to stop blaming yourself and get a grip on what is really important right now, and that's supporting Peter."

With that, May left the room.

Pepper took a deep breath and, sitting on the edge of the chair's arm, put a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"You know, I couldn't have said it better myself."

Tony looked up at her and asked, "Well what do I do, then?"

Pepper breathed slowly, in and out, encouraging him to follow her. Once he was following her breathing pattern and was calmer, she answered, "You don't have to fix everything, you know. In this case, that's not your job. Bruce and Helen combined have much more medical expertise than you do. What you have is a very sick fifteen year old boy who sees you as his mentor. He needs your support. The best thing you can do in this instance is to just be there for him, to let him know that someone cares. Let Bruce and Helen worry about the rest. Just be with him."

Tony nodded and took a deep breath before leaning further into her touch.

"What would I do without you?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Pepper hummed.

—

May walked down the hall until she found a dark corner to duck into. She was trying not to cry in front of other people, which she hated, but with Peter's present condition, it was inevitable. She would have to get over it. Her discomfort was nothing compared to Peter's, which was much, much worse.

Tears streamed down her face. May rested her head in her hands and let herself grieve. She grieved for all the normal experiences Peter would have to forgo because of his illness. She grieved for all of the things he would miss out on as Spider-man, despite her dislike for it.

May allowed herself to cry until she had no tears left to cry.

Then her phone rang. May sighed. She was always taking care of everyone else. "I guess it's time to explain again," she whispered to herself.

"May?" the voice on the other end said as soon as she picked up.

"Leilani?" she asked upon hearing her best friend's voice.

"Ned just told me," her friend responded, "How are you holding up, May?"

With that, May started crying again. "Oh, Lei, it's so hard. I don't even know how I'm going to be able to support him, I'm just a mess."

May could hear Leilani pause on the phone, she knew her friend well enough to know that Leilani was thinking about what to say while at the same time letting May process.

"I know there is nothing I can possibly say to make this better in any sense, but I want you to know that I'm here for you in any way you might need. Just say the word, okay?"

May nodded, "Okay."

"I'm going to keep checking in on you. You stay strong for Peter, but please know that my shoulder is here for you to cry on when you need it, okay?"

May sniffled, "Okay."

"If you need a break or anything, you let me know, okay?"

May nodded again, even though her friend couldn't see it.

"I love you, May."

"I love you, Lei. Thank you so much for checking on me. I really needed it."

May could practically see her friend smile over the phone.

"Of course. Anytime."

—

When Peter woke up from his port surgery, he was alone and feeling numb. Not just physically, but mentally as well.

He couldn't bring himself to look at the foreign object that now rested inside his chest.

He was still in denial that this was even happening to him. He didn't want to be sick, so he wasn't. Not yet, at least.

"How are you doing, baby?" May asked as she came into the room. Peter could tell that she had been crying. Crying because of him.

He shrugged.

"I feel less like crap than I did earlier, but I think that's just because my chest is still numb from the surgery."

May nodded, taking his hand in hers.

"Whatever you're feeling is valid, Peter. I want you to know that," she said softly, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand.

That small touch was all he needed to break the dam.

Peter choked back a sob, "I just want it to go away."

"I know, baby."

Peter wiped his nose with the back of his other hand.

"I wish…I wish I didn't have to do this."

May nodded, "Me too," she paused. "But we don't get to choose our battles in life."

Peter felt a sob in his throat. "I did as Spider-man."

May squeezed his hand. "No you didn't. Sure, you got to decide whether or not to prioritize stopping the bank robbery or saving the cat up the tree, but ultimately, you didn't get to choose what happened when you were out there. Those battles chose you. And sometimes life throws harder battles at us than we think we can handle, but do you know what Peter?" she asked, gently lifting his chin up so he would look her in the eye.

"What?" he sniffled.

"You can handle this. You don't have to do this alone. I know it seems scary right now, but we're going to take this one step at a time, one day at a time- one hour at a time. And we'll make it through this battle. Together."

Peter nodded firmly, then gingerly sat up so he could hug his aunt. She was his rock- she had always been ever since he had come to live with her and Ben.

He took a deep breath in.

He would be okay.

A/N: I LOVE May! She's awesome, but she rarely gets any love in these kinds of fics, since they are usually solely IronDad (which you'll get plenty of in this one- don't worry!).

Also, the reason I made Leilani is because even the rock in the relationship needs support. For her name, I just picked a pretty Hawaiian name to honor Jacob Batalon's Hawaiian heritage.