"What the fuck?!"

Peter freezes in position, fully coming to terms with the situation, his mind runs, 'Am I still wearing my spider suit? Yep. Was that May's voice? Yep. I've never heard her say fuck before. Maybe she's not in my doorway right now and just found a dead rat behind the fridge or something. Yeah, that's probably it. I'm going to turn around and May won't be standing right there. Right'.

With his mask in his hands, Peter slowly looks over his shoulder to find exactly what he didn't want to see. May, mouth gaping, eyes wide, a look that screams 'shocked' and 'offended' at the same time. He turns back to face the window, hoping if he stays still enough, May would go away and forget what she saw.

"Peter Benjamin Parker. Look at me." She says in a stern, but not yet scolding, voice.

He meekly shuffles his feet to turn to face her, keeping his eyes clamped shut; still wanting to believe he can take back the moment.

A silence hangs in the air. He cracks open his eyes and says quietly, unconvincingly, "It's not what you think, May..."

"What, what am I supposed to think? Huh? Please tell me." A hint of anger, or maybe just frustration, rises in her voice; she covers her mouth and nose with her hand, taking a shaky breath, turning away.

He tosses his mask onto his bed before starting a slow approach towards his aunt, "Um, uhh, Ned finally convinced me to cosplay with him? I'm going as... the spider guy...? And he's going as Hulk..."

She closes her eyes and shakes her head slightly. "You're -all this time-" her eyes go wide, "the Stark internship?!"

Peter quickly pulls her into a hug and guides her over to his bed to sit.

"Did he make you do this? What kind of man-" May starts to go off.

"Nononono, it's not his fault. He didn't make me do anything I wasn't already doing before he came to me."

"But the news clips, and that airport in Germany, and DC, and the ferry, and-" she starts to spiral.

He holds her hand firmly, but with the suit still on, the touch is lost. "Please understand. I need this, it's who I am now."

She gives the tiniest smirk, "I know I can't make you stop" she sighs, "Surprisingly that was one of the first things to pop into my head." She squeezes his hand back, taking a deep breath. "You're just like your father... and Ben."

He feels his heart ache. It was usually an unspoken thing, that they try not to bring up Peter's parents or Uncle Ben. In this moment, Peter takes a shaky breath to steady himself. "I'm sorry, May."

"But this is so beyond anything I could have imagined." She stands up abruptly and starts pacing back and forth, catching side glances of Peter in the suit and the mask on the bed. "This is not something that was touched on in the parenting books." She centers herself in front of him, "You- you've been sneaking out, putting yourself in terrible danger, lying to me about the Stark Internship; and oh, when I see that Stark he's gonna get an earful," she mumbles at the end.

"Please don't let him know you know! I've just been working really hard to get on Mr. Stark's good side and I think I just got there because he asked me to be an avenger-"

"What?!"

Peter facepalms himself, realizing he got carried away. "Forget I said that."

"An Avenger? You mean those people who were just fighting against themselves?"

"It was more like a drawn-out misunderstanding, and no, more like how the Avengers save people and stuff, that could be me! Although I did turn him down. Not quite ready to save the whole planet from aliens or killer robots yet." He smiles, trying to lighten the mood; again, unsuccessful as May still glares a disapproving look.

"I made a promise. I promised I would always do what's best for you. I work two jobs to be able to send you to that technical school so you can have your best chance, because you're smart, you're so smart, Peter; and every day I think of how proud you make me and your parents." She hugs him, rubbing his back for mutual comfort, "How did this happen?"

He rubs his eyes, "I got bit by a spider on that field trip our class went on to that lab downtown, OsCorp, or whatever. The next morning, I had all these new abilities." He looks up at May, "It was a sign. I was finally able to help people, like really help them. So I made up Spider-Man.

"I never wanted you to worry or to be put in danger because I chose to do this."

She stops rubbing his back and kneels down to the floor, "Peter, I've never been prouder of you"

"What? Really?" He lifts his head up a bit.

May nods, "I'm scared, god, I'm scared to death for you and your safety." She wraps her hands around his that are folded in his lap. "But I've seen what Spider-Man has done on the news and in the papers; what you have done for the people of this city. You're an incredible influence for good."

A tear makes its way onto Peter's cheek, "Thank you," he hugs her tight, not used to hearing those things from someone this close to him. He pulls away after the moment, "So, you'll let me stay Spider-Man?" He asks hopefully.

May gives a slight nod, "Yes, but try to be more careful. If anything ever happened to you, I couldn't live with myself."

"Thank you, May, thank you." He kisses her on the cheek.

"I'm not saying it won't take some getting used to, just keep me informed from now on." She warns.

"I promise, anything."

"Well, get changed, however you get out of that thing, dinner's almost ready." She makes her way out of his room.

"I larb you!" Peter calls after her.

"I larb you too."