Peter did not come to school the following day. Then Spiderman had not shown up for the rescheduled training session. It was expected that the hero would need time to heal. However, Peter's absence was not anticipated. The next day was the same. The third as well was void of Peter Parker or any reminder of him apart from the brief mention of his name. Needless to say, Sam was starting to get worried. However, the nothing he could do besides wait.
"Peter, what's wrong?" Aunt May asked as she knocked on the boy's door. He had spent most of his time inside his room the past three days. At first she had decided to give him some time to recover from whatever had happened. However, now she was starting to worry far too much to care about interrupting Peter's quality and recovery time.
She was surprised when the door swung open and out came Peter with swollen eyes and bleeding knuckles. He barely whispered her name before his weight collided with her chest. Then the tears came, followed by sobs soon after.
"Oh Peter…" Aunt May staggered backwards until her back hit the wall. She slumped down towards the floor. She was now cradling Peter's head in her lap. She brushed her hands through his messy locks while humming a mellow tone which always managed to calm him down when he was little and had been hurt either physically or emotionally or worse – when both his body and soul were in pain.
"I confessed…" Peter whispered. Aunt May's hands stilled their movements for a second, shocked that her son had garnered so much courage as to tell the person he had feelings for that he liked them. However, she recovered quickly. With a soft smile she asked, "Their response was not the one you wanted to hear, was it, dear?"
"No..." Peter mumbled as he looked her in the eyes and questioned, "What's wrong with me? Why can't I… why can't I receive a 'yes' for once?"
"Oh Peter, you're still so young. You shouldn't worry so much about relationships. And let me tell you this – no man or woman is worth your tears, do you hear me?" Aunt May said as she gently brushed away a few tears from Peter's flushed face.
Peter smiled half-heartedly before he replied, "This one's different. Even though they hurt me, I… I can't bring myself to be angry or hate them. I mean… I was angry, but…"
Aunt May smiled sadly at Peter's jumbled thoughts. She continued to stroke his hair before she responded, "It is normal. Everything you are going through is just part of the difficult process called moving on."
"But… what if I don't want to move on?" Peter enquired timidly. Aunt May's eyes widened and her movements stilled. She looked disapprovingly at him before she answered:
"You received a negative answer, Peter. You should not try to persuade them into doing something they obviously do not wish to. Also, you should respect when someone has answered your question truthfully. Honestly, would you have preferred to have been deceived?"
"No," Peter sighed before he smiled sadly and added, "Ironically, they told me the same thing. They asked me whether it would have been better if they had lied to me and one day suddenly broke it off when I was obviously on the brink of tears."
"Peter, what do you want?" Aunt May asked as Peter grabbed one of her hands and started playing with the ring on it. Even after all these years, she had not taken off her wedding ring. With a soft smile he looked at it and whispered, "I want this."
"W-what? You wish to get married, but you're so young?!" Aunt May exclaimed, making Peter chuckle.
"No, I want the love that you and Uncle Ben had." Peter answered.
"Oh," Aunt May breathed in relief before she chuckled as well. She then said, "You know, I never expected it to happen to me."
"Really?" Peter asked as he stopped playing with her ring. She nodded before she looked at the piece of jewelry fondly.
"It did not hit me like a tidal wave. It was not like in the fairy tales. It took me a long time to fall in love with your uncle Ben. However, he…oh, he… he told me one night out of the blue that he loved me. I was shocked. I started apologizing profusely. There were tears in my eyes because I cared for him deeply. He was actually one of the people that were most precious to me. However, I did not love me. Do you know what he answered when I told him exactly that?" She asked as she smiled at Peter who merely shook his head.
"No, what did he say?" Peter enquired and waited with bated breath the continuation of the story.
Aunt May looked at the setting sun. She smiled genuinely as a lone tear rolled down her cheek, "He told me, "No worries, dear. One day you will." And he was right. Unfortunately, it took me years to realise that I loved him. Perhaps I did not love him as much as he did me. However, I… I like to hope that I managed to show him and convey that love in my heart for him with every gesture and every moment we spent together."
"That sounds beautiful." Peter whispered as Aunt May brushed away another tear. She looked down at Peter and smiled, "It was and still is."
"It always will be." Peter supplied as Aunt May chuckled and squeezed his hand. She then said, "You should wait."
"What?" Peter spluttered out, making her laugh.
"Peter, believe me when I say this – life is a tremendous journey and you shouldn't allow a little bump in the road to ruin it."
"You call having my heart broken a little bump in the road?!" Peter exclaimed, making her smile once more as she started caressed his forehead and cleared the messy bangs from it.
"Do you love him?" Aunt May asked as she scrutinized him.
Peter started sweating under such an intense stare. However, as time passed and his heart rate did not spike, he smiled and breathed out in relief, "No, I don't."
Aunt May mirrored his smile, kissed his forehead and said, "Then you will recover and most importantly live. Now get off me because I need to go cook dinner and I expect you to come down and eat with me, do you hear me?"
Peter laughed wholeheartedly and for the first time in three days the cause for the tears in his eyes was a happy one. He then said, "Alright, alright."
Aunt May soon shooed him off to take a shower as she prepared dinner for them both. During that night the two conversed about various subjects. It was lighthearted. However, it was exactly what Peter needed. That night he went asleep with a small smile on his face, thinking that tomorrow promised more hope than yesterday or the days before that.
