AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for this chapter for taking a bit longer, my life has been a bit hectic at the moment so I have been super busy! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, the more the merrier! I love getting all your opinions and feedback, good or bad, so don't hesitate to review! Thank you for everyone who is following this story and I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter :)

Frankie stared down blankly at the indecipherable words in front of her, re-reading them over and over again but not taking any of it in. Her pen tapped rhythmically against the pages of her book as she bit her lip in an effort to concentrate. Peter would glance up every now and then from his homework to observe her and see how long she would last before she would inevitably give up out of pure boredom. He knew Frankie pretty well and had seen the numerous amount of times that she called it quits half-way through doing a task. She was quite the professional procrastinator, granted a lot of students were but Frankie could take the trophy for the most last-minute handed in projects. Yet somehow she could still manage to get a decent grade in her classes. Frankie had lovingly called this skill of hers 'A+ bullshitting' in passing conversation. Peter couldn't really disagree with the apt title but he did get a little bit frustrated with his best friend for the fact that he knew she could be doing so much better if she just put her mind to it. She was definitely way smarter than she made out to be. He just wished she would believe it as much as he did.

"Ugh okay. There's only so much I can stare at this page before my brain gets turned to mush." Frankie groaned, slamming her pen down onto her work book. She stretched out the slight stiffness in her arms and neck that she got courtesy of the position she was in; head on her hands whilst belly down on the carpeted floor. Peter looked up from his work only to frown seeing Frankie's barely touched physics homework.

"You've only done the first two questions."

"Alright Mr Judgy." She retorted with an arched eyebrow. "I've done some English as well! Physics is just not really my thing, you know that. Too much of it and I'll die of an aneurysm, I'm sure of it. It's scientifically proven."

Peter rolled his eyes at her exaggerated comment but put his arms up in a sign of truce.

"Just trying to help. You know all you have to do is ask and I can give you a few pointers to help you out. I've already memorised the theorems and finished those questions yesterday." He offered.

Frankie considered it for a moment but ended up just shaking her head.

"Thanks but nah. I'm good. I might take you up on that later though...I'm gonna go take a snack break, you want anything?" She said as she got up to leave.

Peter shook his head, deciding to continue the rest of his school work while he had the time. He might as well catch up when he could, seeing as the majority of his schedule was taken up by Spider-Man patrol. Frankie nodded in acknowledgment then went to kitchen to scrummage something to eat. In her journey to the cupboard she came across the sight of May squinting down at her phone on the kitchen bench as she positioned her knife over some chicken thigh almost a bit hesitantly or unsure.

"What's cooking?" Frankie asked as she sauntered over curiously. May jumped slightly not realising that she had come in as she was too focused trying to figure out this new recipe she was trying out.

"I'm attempting to whip up some chicken tikka masala. Not sure how well it is going considering I can't even figure out exactly how big I'm meant to cut the chicken..."

"Ooo. Yum! I love Indian food! Don't worry too much over how big to cut them, all that matters is that they're all roughly same size so that they cook evenly." Frankie informed as she grabbed a packet of chips from the pantry to eat.

"Well don't you sound ever the chef." May commented with a smile and a slight teasing tone.

"What can I say? My dad can't cook to save his life so someone has to learn to make dinner that doesn't end up burnt to a crisp. It's not a flavour you can get used to. Trust me I know." She explained with a mouthful of salt and vinegar chips as she sat across the other side of the bench on a breakfast stool. May laughed lightly at the girl's dry sense of humour, shaking her head at her muffled messy speech. That girl sure was one of a kind.

"How is your dad by the way? Still working hard I'm guessing."

Frankie swallowed her mouthful of food as she nodded her head slowly at May, her mood diminishing a little.

"Yeah. He's...alright I guess. Haven't actually been able to see him as much lately. Work has been a nightmare for him but dad said there's nothing much he can really do about it. Work is work and it pays the bills. That's his mantra at the moment." She answered with a small shrug, reaching for another mouthful of chips.

May looked on sympathetically at Frankie, knowing the girl was suffering more than she let on. Poor kid. Her dad was the only family she had and not being able to see him much must've been doing quite a number on her. Knowing Frankie though, May knew not to push the topic any further. The teenager did not really like to delve too deeply into her own personal problems. She'd rather pretend to be okay even when she wasn't just so she wouldn't be a burden to others. It was selfless but also incredibly unnecessary.

"Oh that's too bad, honey. You know you're more than welcome to stay here anytime. If you ever feel lonely or if Chris ends up having to work late there's always a free bed and some homemade dinner for you here." May assured kindly looking at her in such a motherly way. Frankie had always held a special place within May's heart, having known the girl since she was still just in pigtails playing pretend with Peter. She remembered fondly the times when the cute little ginger girl would insist on making a pillow fort every single time she came over so that they could play knights and princesses. It was completely and utterly hilarious when her and Ben would observe the multiple times that Frankie would bossily argue with Peter about being the knight, forcing the poor boy into a tiara and tutu whilst she proudly held up her cardboard sword. Those two had been inseparable ever since the day they met and it was nice see something back to normal again after having to deal with the knowledge of her nephew's double life as a part-time superhero.

"Thanks May, that- it really means a lot." Frankie replied sincerely, really grateful for the generosity from the woman she pretty much viewed as a mother. She finished up the rest of her chips and got up from the breakfast stool to give May a side hug. May smiled wrapping her arms around the sweet girl and patting her lightly on the back. Her contentment didn't last long as she spotted the news displayed on the tv out of the corner of eye. Her body tensed and smile disappeared as she caught a glimpse of her nephew in his full red and blue get-up swinging right into danger in what seemed to be a bank heist. Frankie frowned as she felt her tense up.

"Everything alright May?" She pulled back and looked at her face to see that May had turned slightly pale and her gaze fixated on the tv playing in the background. Her worry was quite evident as she paid attention to every word that was being said in the news report. Frankie turned her head towards the television to see what piqued May's concern. When she saw Queen's one and only favourite superhero swing into view her interest aroused instantly as she too became invested in the live report.

"Oh cool! I've never seen Spider-Man live before. I've only ever watched the YouTube videos. His fail vids are hilarious." She commented brightly, enraptured as she saw the hero suddenly break out of the bank following some goon, his webs shooting out and grabbing the robber by the leg. The man was caught by surprise as he face planted down onto the concrete path and Spidey made good use of this time to wrap the criminal up in his webbing, all prepped and ready to be arrested by the NYPD.

"Can you imagine being able to do that? How sweet would it be to have superpowers!"

May looked to the side towards Peter's door noticing that it was closed, just as she expected.

"Yeah I can imagine." She sighed tiredly, going back to chopping the rest of the chicken. Frankie frowned as she noticed May's weariness but didn't say anything about it. She grabbed a knife out of the kitchen draw and snatched up a tomato in front of May.

"You need some help?" She asked despite already starting to dice the fruit up, her knife going up and down with practiced ease.

"Well I guess I can't say no since you've already started." May answered playfully. The girl smiled cheekily.

"Kinda the point. I knew you'd want to do it by yourself but face it May, if I don't help, dinner would most likely be inedible and then we'd do the usual and order Thai."

May let out a noise of surprise at the girl's bluntness but a smile grew nonetheless. She didn't take any offence, especially since she knew that her words were true and could see the humour in it.

"Alright that's enough cheek from you missy." May pointed her knife in Frankie's direction in fake stern. Frankie laughed at her reaction.

"No promises."

They continued to cook the rest of dinner, Frankie giving handy tips here and there, preventing May from creating any disaster in the kitchen. They chatted happily throughout, putting some music on halfway through to dance and sing to as they cooked. Since most of dinner was done and prepared, Frankie trusted that she could leave May for a few minutes without dinner exploding. She headed towards Peter's room to let him him know dinner was ready, opening the door without even realising that it had been closed after she left him for food.

"Just call me an angel because I just saved us from- uhhh?" Frankie trailed off as she opened the door to see none other than her best friend Peter Parker stripped down to his Captain America boxers, body fully and completely exposed. Not to mention that he was completely ripped. What the hell?! His eyes grew wide in response and arms flailed around his body to desperately try to cover his dignity as he attempted to subtly kick his suit under the bed. Luckily Frankie was too distracted by his shirtlessness to notice the red and blue swaddled suit on the ground. Speaking of which...

"Frankie! Do you mind?!" He yelped, running over to his drawer to grab a shirt. The girl just stared dumbly watching his movements.

"You're naked..." She stated unaware that she was most certainly perving on her best friend and his newly gained muscles that she was definitely not aware of until now. His back rippled slightly as he bent down to one of his lower drawers and she had to shake her head to get some semblance of thought. "Why the hell are you naked?" She demanded more like her old self, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Peter spluttered in disbelief at her audacity.

"Why the hell are you barging into my room without knocking?" He retorted back putting a grey sweater on quickly. Frankie almost sighed in disappointment when the shirt went on. Almost.

"Alright Mr Grumpy Pants. I was only telling you that dinner was ready and that I most definitely saved us from May poisoning our food. So you can thank me later." She sassed back, not letting him give her any shit. Honestly she barged into his room all the time, well she always used to...maybe the time away made him grow less comfortable with her. She couldn't see why. A few weeks distance shouldn't wear away an entire 8 year friendship.

"May's cooking isn't that bad." Peter defended his aunt with a bit of reluctance. He knew his aunt wasn't the best of cooks but she couldn't be that terrible...and a loud clang of metal followed by a colourful string of swear words just echoed from the kitchen. "Okay ignore what I just said." He took back quickly, racing out the door to see what had become of the kitchen. Frankie laughed in amusement, following closely behind. When they reached the kitchen they both stopped short, mouths wide open in disbelief at the scene before them.

A whole sea of red sauce seemed to be swamping the entire kitchen floor with May standing in a huge puddle of it. Her whole left side was splattered with what was left of the chicken tikka masala sauce, the rest of it at her feet where the cooking pot was laying upside down. She smiled sheepishly at the two, waving her right hand with the wooden spoon in the air in a ta-da like gesture.

"So...anyone in the mood for some Thai?"