Comfortember #18 Overwhelmed and #20 Self Care

Something's Gotta Give

"How long do you think you can keep this up?"

"What do you mean?" Peter Parker asked grumpily, looking up from the dining room table where he was surrounded by books, papers, candy wrappers, and an energy drink. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair needed washing, and he had been staring at the same calculus problem for at least two minutes without writing anything.

"Peter, you're doing too much. Something's gotta give."

"May, I have to do all of this stuff. According to you, I can't let my grades slide," May nodded in agreement, "I can't quit patrolling most days, because people depend on me," she raised an eyebrow, "and I have to do all the other stuff, too."

"You mean volunteering at the shelter, Academic Decathlon," Peter's eyes narrowed, "the internship with Tony," his eyes widened in alarm now, "and Peter, you literally spend three to four hours a day being Spiderman. This is not sustainable, especially not for a 16-year-old. Something needs to change."

"May, I don't know how to stop any of them. People are counting on me!"

"Peter. Baby. That is too much for anyone to try to keep up with and live up to, and you're not even an adult yet, honey."

He mumbled something as he rubbed at his eyes, obviously tired beyond belief with finals looming and not enough hours in the day.

"What was that?" May prompted.

"I said , I may not be an adult, but I'm a superhero. I can do this." Then his mouth opened in a giant yawn, and he scrubbed at his watering eyes again, and looked very much about six years old.

"Well, that may be true, but as your parent, I'm not going to allow it."

Peter's face crumpled, incredulity battling with maybe the tiniest bit of hope.

May continued, "You need to pick between AcaDec and the animal shelter." He opened his mouth to argue, and she put a finger up. "Not forever. But for now, until we both feel like things are under control again." He closed his mouth, staring stubbornly.

"And you need to cut your time in half," she took a deep breath, "either with Tony at the Tower, or with Spiderman. School comes first, and you're spreading yourself too thin."

A shocked expression slowly stole across the boy's face. "You can't… how could I… no , May."

"Peter, I'm serious. Tony is going to back me up on this one; we've already talked about it. We need you to take care of yourself, and you're overwhelmed, baby. You're going to have to decide. And I need you to practice a little self care."

He was staring listlessly at his homework and study materials, having immediately set aside his refusal when she mentioned Tony's support of her ultimatum, but his eyes bounced back to her face at that.

"What do you mean? What even is that?"

"Things that give you a little life. Things that make you feel good and help you relax. Long showers," she eyed the state of his hair "preferably this evening. Movie nights with people you love, where you just relax." The teen's expression lightened at that.

"Healthier food options, and plenty of water," she said, eyeing the candy wrappers and Monster drink on the table. "And in bed by 10:30 every school night for the foreseeable future." His face was stubborn and resentful, but also so, so tired.

"I need your decisions in the morning, so I can help you rearrange things. This is going to get better, Peter, I promise."

That weekend at the Tower, Peter tucked himself under Tony's arm as the opening strains of the Jurassic Park theme started. Ned and MJ both had family plans that night, and May was working, so he had hesitantly asked if Tony wanted to have a movie night with him, and his mentor had happily agreed.

"I can't believe you've never seen the original, kid," Tony complained. That's like a crime or something."

"Or the second one. We could watch that one after…"

Tony made a buzzer noise with his mouth. "I promised May I'd send you to bed before midnight, so no can do, Spiderling. How was patrol earlier, by the way? How are the shorter stints working for you?"

"They're not so bad. I'm still able to help a lot. And I've been varying the times I'm out, so I'm not too predictable. You know, so they're not like, "oh, it's after 6 PM, we know Spiderman won't be around, and stuff."

"Hey, that's a great idea. I'm proud of you kid. You're adapting pretty well to this new schedule, and I think you're already feeling better, right?"

"Yeah," he said with a tinge of resentment. "It's not easy to feel like I'm dropping balls left and right though."

"Hey, I'm just grateful, and honestly surprised, that you picked to shorten your patrol hours instead of the internship."

"Yeah, I just really didn't want to. I… I would miss you, I think," he finished softly.

"I'd miss you, too, kid," Tony said, bringing a hand up to skim over the kid's unruly curls. "I'm glad you called me this weekend." Then changing the subject he said, "Now, watch this part, it's foreshadowing for when-"

"Are you going to talk through the whole movie again, Mr. Stark?"

"Ingrate. Art should be participatory."

"How 'bout you participate when you watch it without me, okay?"

Tony's laugh filled the room, and obediently, he was quiet after that.