Hurts

May was very fond of Peter's friends. And was glad that he had more friends than just Harry and MJ, but sometimes she found herself confused by their behaver. Sometimes it was like they were all hiding something.

One Saturday evening, she was busy breaking Peter's record on a videogame when the group arrived home. Luke had told her they were going to the theater. There was a rerun of the Jurassic park movies showing. Good, all reasonable. What didn't make sense was that when they walked in the front door, they all made a beeline for the stairs.

"Hi Aunt May." Peter was in front, holding a hand to his face. Aunt May lent forward, curious, but found her view blocked by Luke. The tall guy looked exhausted.

"Luke are you alright?" She asked with raised eyebrow.

"Fine Mrs. Parker, just tired," He gave her a smile and followed his friends up the stairs. May frowned thoughtfully. She considered herself good at telling if someone was lying. If they were hiding something, she should know. She was, after all, responsible for all of them. But she also respected privacy. If they had a problem, it was their choice whether to tell her. She sighed and turned back to the video game.

A moment later, Ava came down stairs and headed to the kitchen. She was limping. May switched off the TV and slipped into the kitchen behind her. Ava reached into the freezer and fished out an icepack. May slipped back out of the kitchen and watched Ava limped back upstairs. Perhaps she tripped May thought as she went up to her own bedroom. In the hall she encountered Danny. Both were completely unprepared for the meeting. Danny was holding a tissue to his cheek. His right wrist was badly bruised as well.

"Danny what happened?" May studied him critically.

"I fell on the way out of the theater. No problem Mrs. Parker," He nodded to her and entered the room that he and Peter were sharing. May frowned and walked into her room, closing the door behind her. A moment later there was a snapping sound and a cry of pain. That was it. Something was wrong. She rushed to Peter's door and knocked.

"Is everything okay in there?" She started to open the door, but it opened itself a crack with Peter face framed by it. Practically half of his face a smelling bruise.

"Peter! What did you do to yourself?" She asked in shock.

"Nothing, I banged the side of my face against the bedside table." He answered with a crooked grin.

"Come down here right now and I'll ice it." As she dragged Peter away, she caught a glimpse of Sam sitting on the bed his face screwed up in pain.

"What's going on Peter?" She asked with a frown.

"What do you mean?" He raised his eyebrows innocently.

"Something is wrong. Luke looks exhausted, Ava's Limping, Danny's got a bruised wrist and cut cheek, half of your face is purple and was that Sam holding his shoulder?" she sighed.

"Peter, I'm here to help." He looked her in the eye,

"We didn't want to bother you. When we came out of the theater, we weren't paying attention, and three guys on skateboards ran into us. They missed Luke, but they collided with the rest of us. But were all good, so no worries." They had reached the kitchen and May was pulling out another ice pack she put it to Peters cheek, he brought up his own hand to hold it in place.

"Alright, but are you sure that the others are ok?" He turned toward the stairs,

"Oh yeah we're great. Don't worry. He grinned and started back upstairs. Halfway up, He stopped and turned back,

"Thanks Aunt May." She smiled back.

"No problem Peter." He vanished up stairs.

May turned to the couch and turned on the TV. She trusted Peter to tell her the truth.

*earlier*

This time it had been Juggernaut. And somehow, beyond the comprehension of the team, He was better than before. A lot. They were getting their butts well and truly kicked. The team was struggling to take him down. Iron Fist leapt into the air, his fist igniting. But as he came down, Juggernaut reached up and struck Danny's wrist to the side. Sending both Fist and its owner into a brick wall.

White Tiger flipped over his head in an attempt to unclasp his helmet. She managed to unclip one, but was grabbed by the leg and tossed up high. Power Man ran to catch her as Nova gave a direct assault from above. He flew down and undid another clasp, only to be seized by the arm. Juggernaut twisted Nova's arm in his powerful grip, and tossed him into the wall next to Iron Fist.

Spiderman dodged about artfully, shooting webs at every opening. He bounced off the alley wall and unclasped two more clasps. Than he got a punch in the face that sent him spinning. Iron Fist took a leap to undo the last clip, but got repelled violently. Spiderman sat up and took Juggernauts distraction as a chance to unclasp the helmet. The strange objet flew from the giants head. Power Man took his cue. He leapt forward and delivered the mother of all punches to their opponent's face Juggernaut flew back and was set upon by Spider Mans webs.

Within a moment the large man was trussed up in webbing. Barely any talking had been done during the fight, but now it was over, Spider Man turned to Power Man and grinned under his mask,

"Nice punch!"

"Thanks, I consider it my best." Power Man smirked with satisfaction. White Tiger sat up, rubbing her leg.

"You ok?" Peter asked holding out a hand to help her up. Just then a blue fuzzy boy with pointed ears appeared from nowhere, and spoke with a foreign accent,

"Hi, I've been zent to retrieve ze Juggernaut."

"Go ahead. We don't want him." Spider Man gestured at the fallen foe.

"Ze X-men thank you." And with that the boy put a hand on Juggernaut, and vanished.

"That was weird." White Tiger, now standing, limped over to Iron First, who was jammed into a dumpster. She helped him out as Power Man lent over Nova.

"You ok there?" He asked. Nova groaned and sat up. He put a hand to his shoulder.

"I'm fine." White Tiger checked a hidden watch.

"Peter, we promised to be back home in five minutes!" With Power Man helping White Tiger along, Nova flying with one arm swinging limply, Spider man with half a screwed up face, and Iron Fists hand clamped over his wrist, the Team made their way back to base. They sneaked into MacDonald's and changed into civilian cloths, except for Nova, who stayed Nova until they got to Aunt Mays house. Then he took of his helmet and became Sam again.

They looked at each other nervously.

"How will she not notice?" Ava asked worriedly.

"Luke, cover us. Well just go upstairs and go from there." Peter strategized. Then Danny pushed open the front door. They all made directly for the stairs. Peter muttered,

"Hi Aunt May." While Luke distracted Aunt May, The other four made their way to Peter's room. Luke joined them a minute later.

"I don't think she picked up on us." Luke announced, settling himself on the floor. Peter turned to the others,

"Ok, as team leader I want to take stock of everybody." They looked at each other.

"Luke?" Luke shrugged,

"Nothing a bit of sleep can't fix."

"OK, great, Ava?"

"I've twisted my leg, and some scratches, but nothing life threatening."

"Right, Danny?"

"I think I have sprained my wrist. I too have suffered a few scratches."

"Good, Sam?"

"That guy just turned my shoulder the wrong way. I'm fine."

"Uh huh…. Right. Well I got bruised, but no ones in danger…. so good?"

Ava scowled, "I'm getting an Ice Pack, Shower, and bed. Do what you want." And she stalked out. Peter sighed.

"Why is she so grumpy when she's hurt?" everybody shrugged, and Sam grunted. Danny stood,

"I have scraped my cheek; I will get something for it." He bowed and exited. Peter dug about in his closet for a moment and came up with a wrist brace.

"I'll give this to him when he gets back." Then he turned to Sam, 'What about your shoulder?" Sam shuffled away a bit. His shoulder seemed oddly shaped.

"Dude is that dislocated?" Peter took a step forward. Luke looked up,

"Before I became invulnerable, I dislocated my shoulder. Not fun." Sam shook his head,

"No, I'm positive it's not that!" Luke rolled his eyes.

"Bro, I know what dislocated shoulder looks like. Let us help you." Sam appeared conflicted, and then nodded as Danny reentered the room. Peter took a step forward and positioned Sam shoulder correctly. Luke gently took a hold of the shoulder, and prepared to pop it back. Peter braced Sam's back. Then, without warning, Luke popped it back. Sam let out a cry of pain then relaxed.

"Thanks." Suddenly there was knocking at the door.

"Is everything alright in there?" Peter made a dive for it and opened up a crack, revealing Aunt May, with a now shocked expression on her face.

"Peter, what did you do to yourself?"

"Nothing, I banged the side of my face into the bedside table." Peter lied smoothly.

"Come down here right now and I'll ice it." And with that, she dragged him out.

The others stared at the closed door, until Sam pulled out his helmet.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked. Sam grinned,

"A trick I learned to speed up healing." He put the helmet on, and became Nova. Then he took it off and became Sam.

"See?" Sam swung his arm around.

"The helmet speeds up my healing. Cool or what?"

Meanwhile, Peter was being interrogated.

"What's going on Peter?" Aunt May asked as she dragged him down the stairs.

"What do you mean?" He tried for his innocent face, the one he used on Nick Fury when he messed something up. Only, he felt it was probably less innocent when half your face has turned purple.

"Something is wrong. Luke looks exhausted, Ava's Limping, Danny's got a bruised wrist and cut cheek, half of your face is purple and was that Sam holding his shoulder?" she sighed.

"Peter, I'm here to help." He looked her in the eye,

"We didn't want to bother you. When we came out of the theater, we weren't paying attention, and three guys on skateboards ran into us. They missed Luke, but they collided with the rest of us. But we're all good, so no worries." They had reached the kitchen and Aunt May was pulling out another ice pack she put it to Peters cheek, he brought up his own hand to hold it in place. He felt like loser for lying, but what else was he to say?

"Alright, but are you sure that the others are ok?" He turned toward the stairs,

"Oh yeah we're great. Don't worry. He grinned and started back upstairs. Halfway up, He stopped and turned back,

"Thanks Aunt May." She smiled back.

"No problem Peter." He made the rest of his way upstairs.

A/N: This little one shot popped into my head and so here it is. Please review.
By the way, Nova's helmet actually does heal injuries. Not kidding.