A/N: Hello again! Sorry I kept you all waiting so long! I never abandoned this fic but MAN did a lot of stuff come up! I recently got a review on here that made me realise just how long it'd been, so I thought I'd take the time to write some more specifically for this :) Updates will still be slow till I've finished the latest section of my Peni longfic, but when that's done my plan is to update this fic regularly!

I had a lot of fun with this chapter :D hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading!

Chapter 7: When One Door Closes

May Parker loved Sunday mornings. She loved how the gentle daylight softly coaxed her eyes open, loved how it lit up the little angel statues on her bureau in all the right ways. Looking in the mirror, she even loved her wrinkles (which were multiplying like rabbits at this point). She loved every creaky step on the staircase to the living room, the old rug, Ben's rocking chair, the photo of Peter's graduation. She loved the way the clock in her kitchen diligently tick-tock'd over the time-worn grumble of her coffee machine. And as she opened the blinds and settled into her usual chair at the breakfast table with a cup of joe and a head full of memories, she loved looking out at her little garden and admiring the green flecks of life budding out of her many and various flower pots.

Her morning routine rarely had interruptions, save for a surprise delivery from the mail man or a malfunction with the coffee maker. Once she'd parked her butt down, coffee mug in hand, it was like the world stood still.

But this morning, life decided to throw her something a little different.

"You're wrong, and I'm gonna prove you're wrong," came an oddly familiar voice from her living room.

Is that… Peter?

Not the Peter she raised. The other Peter, the one with the gut.

Another voice, husky and serious, "You're full of crap and you know it."

That's the Peter from the 1930s.

All the Peters were 'Peter' to May, though she couldn't deny the convenience of giving them nicknames.

She peered through the kitchen door and saw the two Peters standing in the middle of the living room, squaring off against one another. As soon as the middle-aged Peter, Peter B, saw her, he pointed at her and said, "Aha! May! I knew you'd be here!"

Noir tipped his cap to her, "Sorry to intrude."

Peter B pointed at his friend, "This idiot thinks that you should eat pancakes with whipped cream and nuts. Nuts! Can you imagine that?"

May folded her arms, not bothering to hide the confusion on her face, "Sounds fine to me…?"

B was distraught, "What!? No!"

Noir stood victoriously, "Told ya."

"No no no no. No! You're meant to have maple syrup, maybe with some butter."

"Ooh!" May said, "Now that sounds good too!"

"Of course it does, because I'm right!"

Noir shook his head, "You're out of your mind. Maple syrup just makes the pancakes soggy."

"Only if you pour the whole damn jug on!"

May frowned at B, "Peter, language!"

He paused, "Oh, uh, sorry Aunt May."

She patted him on the shoulder approvingly, "Sounds to me like you boys are blowing this all out of proportion. Does it matter if you enjoy pancakes differently?"

Reluctantly Peter B admitted, "Well, no, but Miles was all like-"

"Oh! Miles is with you too?"

B stared at her for a moment, then with a sigh pinched the bridge of his nose, "That's right. We never told you."

"Told me what?"

Noir addressed B, "About the house? I thought we did."

B shook his head, "Nope."

"Hmm…"

May rested her hands on her hips, "What are you boys talking about?"

B wrapped an arm around her shoulders and shepherded her further into the living room, "You know how we're all from different dimensions?"

"…Yes."

"Well, turns out there's a place in-between them all. It's like… well, it's weird. Very weird."

May laughed, "Peter, at this point nothing could surprise me."

Noir commented, "I'm not so sure of that, Aunt May."

B held up a finger, "One sec," then he checked his wrist, "Peni? Peni, hello?"

"You've gotta push the button," Noir pointed out matter-of-factly.

"There's more than one button on this thing, Columbo."

Now Noir held out his own wrist. Wrapped around it, just before his jet black glove, was a bulky watch. With his free hand he pushed one of its many buttons, then suddenly-

"Whoa!" May exclaimed as a door of pure light opened up before her.

B tutted, "Show off."

May stretched an arm out towards the glowing rectangle standing in her living room. It wasn't hot, or cold, or indeed much of anything. If she closed her eyes she probably wouldn't even know it was there. As she debated placing her palm against the door Noir reached forward and plunged his whole arm into it. She heard a creak, and what she thought were voices, then all at once she was carried into the white void.

"Wait!" she yelped. Then before she knew it her feet found solid ground once more.

"Aunt May!?"

Standing in front of her was none other than Miles Morales.

"Miles!" May exclaimed, "You're here, just like Peter said! Speaking of which, where are we?"

Miles took a moment to compose himself, then with a grin replied, "The interdimensional…uh…" he held his chin in his hand, "spider-house! Yeah! The interdimensional spider-house!"

Noir hummed, "I guess that's as good a name as any."

May felt Peter B bump into her as he thwooshed through the door.

"Whoops!" he grunted, catching her before she had a chance to fall, "Sorry 'bout that."

Looking around the bright, spacious room, May asked, "Are the others here?"

Miles replied, "Not yet, but I can give you a tour while we wait, if you want?"

He looked so excited to give the tour that May couldn't possibly say no, even if a part of her did wish she could finish that morning coffee.

With a smile she said, "Lead the way."

With Miles as her guide May saw it all. The ultra widescreen TV, the egg cream dispenser, the many infinite candy cupboards, the freezer, and the soda machine that Peter B mistook for an ice cream maker (he complained, "No one in their right mind would think that's a soda machine"). Miles showed her the pool, and the swirling ultramarine vortex in the sky. The vortex really took her breath away — a black void suspended in a blanket of deep blue. Everything beyond the house undulated like a stormy ocean. It was so mesmerizing she even leaned over the edge of the pool area's picket fence to get a better look — and immediately regretted it.

"I don't think you wanna see the bedrooms," Miles began, back inside the cosmic-horror-free spider-mansion, "Mine's a real mess."

May gave him a wink, "You've shown me the best bits already."

At that moment Gwen and Ham strolled through the interdimensional door, loaded up to their chins with tubs of ice cream.

"I'm telling ya," Ham said, looking up at Gwen with concern, "this isn't gonna be enough."

Gwen was the first to spot her, "Oh, hey Aunt May!"

May smiled, "I see you've been busy."

Ham hopped onto one of the bar stools and dumped his pile of ice cream on the counter, "Hope you like chocolate."

"I'm partial to a little chocolate."

Gwen clunked her chocolate tub mountain next to Ham's, "B's partial to a lot of chocolate."

Peter didn't like that, "Hey! I eat way less chocolate than the pipsqueak does."

"If you keep calling her pipsqueak she's gonna take away your pizza."

"You and I both know she's too nice to do that."

Gwen smirked, "Wanna bet?"

Suddenly Peter didn't look so confident. May giggled, "So this is like your treehouse, huh? You all hang out here?"

Miles answered, "When we can. We're here most weekends."

Ham popped open one of the ice cream tubs and pulled a spork out of his back pocket, "It was Peni's idea."

"You already know about our interdimensional watches," Miles said, though May only learned about them a few hours ago (and still didn't fully understand them), "Well this is like, an interdimensional hub place. We can get to all of our worlds from here."

"And to my house, apparently!" May replied, "Not that I'm complaining. Certainly would make getting around town easier"

Ham seemed surprised at that, "Wait, we can go straight to your house?"

"You didn't know?"

Peter B scratched the back of his neck, "I just kinda assumed it could. I mean, it did, right? We got to your house."

Now Noir stepped in, "But Peni never told us it could. Never mattered before, not until that pancake dispute."

B pointed at Noir, "Don't even think about starting that up again."

"I wasn't."

"I can hear it in your voice! I'm warning you!"

"If you wanna be wrong, be my guest. The only thing you should put on a pancake is-"

Suddenly a cheery voice called out, "Chocolate sauce!"

Falling through a wormhole in the ceiling was none other than the child genius herself, Peni Parker. Peter B frowned, "Chocolate sauce isn't bad, but it's not as good as maple syrup."

Noir messed with his gloves, "I wouldn't mind chocolate sauce with whipped cream."

Peni gave them both a puzzled look, "Why not all three?"

To that, Noir and Peter replied in unison, "No way!"

While the two Peters bickered amongst themselves, Peni strolled past May and examined the ice cream Gwen and Ham had brought with them.

"I see you've been in the ice cream vault!" she said.

Gwen furrowed her brows, "Uh, no?"

Ham was confused too, "What ice cream vault?"

Peni sighed, "I showed you a couple weeks ago, remember?"

Ham slapped his forehead, "Right! The shave and a haircut thing!"

May joined them, "Miles never told me about an ice cream vault."

Peni grinned, "Well then I guess I'll have to show you!"

In the little pantry/kitchen hidden in a room behind the bar, Peni clacked her heel against one of the many tiles to the tune of 'shave and a haircut'. From out of the floor came yet another glowing portal. At this point May wasn't even surprised. Inside was, as you'd expect from the name, a truly incredible amount of ice cream.

May stared at Peni's achievement with genuine pride, "This is amazing, Peni-"

"Thanks!"

"-but I've gotta be honest with you — I'm not actually that hungry."

"That's okay," the young girl clacked her heel once more and the portal closed, "just whack this spot right here if you change your mind."

And so May chatted with her adopted nephews and nieces in the strange house in the strange world between worlds. It wasn't the Sunday she'd planned on having, but in no way was she complaining. Nonetheless, after several rounds of Mariokart 69 and a few too many poorly-hidden farts from Peter B, May knew it was time to get home.

"My plants will wonder where I've gone," she said, and after waving her goodbyes she tentatively put one foot through the glittering portal in front of her. Then she put another. Then she was home, back in her living room.

Outside the sun was already setting.

"Was I gone that long?"

She looked through the door to her kitchen, right through to the window to her back yard.

Time to water those plants.

From under the kitchen sink she dragged out an old metal watering can. Unlocking the door, she stepped into the balmy evening air and gave each of her potted plants a little liquid sustenance. She almost didn't notice the mug sitting on the breakfast table when she got back inside.

"My coffee!"

It was definitely cold by this point, she knew that. But as she went to lift it up she saw steam rising from the coffee's surface.

"It's…hot?"

Really hot. She could feel the heat radiating into her fingers. She put the mug back down.

"Too hot."

Then she saw the note. It was at the edge of the table, weighed down by a little rectangular block. The block was black plastic, or what looked like plastic, and it had a red button carved into its tip.

The note read simply:

'You're welcome back any time!

Love,

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Gang'

May turned the block in her hands, "Maybe it's time I changed up my Sunday routine."