A Family of Flaws

Chapter Nineteen; A Masked Friend

*Peter's POV*

  After training with Black Widow and Hawkeye, Peter had slept until the early morning hours, finding out that May had apparently rushed off to work sometime in the night after sleeping all day. He went out for a quick patrol, but seeing as it was around five in the morning on a Sunday, things weren't too bad.

Peter eventually just swung back to the apartment and took a long, cold shower before taking out that Chemistry packet that he had to finish and breezing through it easily. And that all happened before noon. So he was beyond bored by the time May arrived back home.

It was about two o'clock when she came back, Peter was on the couch reading a book with a news channel playing in the background. Wordlessly, May slouched through the door and wandered into the kitchen. Peter sat up and tried to greet her, but he was met with an inaudible grumble and the sound of a pill bottle being opened. So she was taking the sleeping pills again. How wonderful.

  Once she downed two pills with some (what he presumed) was water, she wandered off into her bedroom and passed out almost instantly. Things were becoming more concerning as the days flew by. Peter felt like he was suffocating in the apartment, always alone or trying to stay quiet as May popped pills and slept.

  With a sigh, Peter pushed his book aside and turned the television off. The apartment no longer felt comforting and quiet, it was just a reminder of May's strange behavior.

  Deciding to go out and patrol some more, Peter tugged his suit on and climbed out his window with ease. Firing off a web, he began swinging around the area, looking around for any trouble. Sunday's tended to be pretty boring, unlike Fridays and Saturdays. He had nothing to do for about an hour and a half, until he sat down on a roof and just listened for any trouble.

  Fighting back sleep, because lately he had been endlessly tired with everything happening in his life, he glanced around lazily. The sound of a voice laughing from somewhere close behind him caught his attention.

  His exhaustion now forgotten, Peter spun around and was met with a tall man in a red and black suit, two swords of some sort crossed across his back. He was leaning back on the wall next to this roof's elevator, looking cocky but laidback.

  The man looked vaguely familiar, but Peter couldn't quite pinpoint where he had seen him before. Though it was rather concerning how easily he had snuck up on him, especially considering the large swords resting on his back.

  Taking a slow step back, Peter tried his best to appear threatening, hoping that would make the man leave him alone, but he hardly seemed to care. "Sorry if I scared you, Spidey!" The man said with a shrug. "The fourth wall broke and it was hilarious watching the readers try to fix it." He continued, waving his hands as if it was some funny joke.

  "Uh... fourth wall...?" Peter questioned quietly, taking another step back. This dude seemed kind of unhinged. "Like— in books?" He asked in confusion, wondering what he was going on about.

  With a wave, the man dismissed the question and took a few strides towards Peter. "Eh— you wouldn't get it." He said, as if that explained everything, and came to a stop in front of Peter, who was at the very edge of the roof. "You're Spider-Man, right? Spidey? BugBoy?" Taken aback, Peter only nodded mutely, not really sure what to say to the rambling man in front of him.

  "Uh... that's not an answer, buddy." He deadpanned, the whites of his mask appearing unamused, which was strange because masks shouldn't be able to move like that.

  Finally finding his voice, Peter shook his head and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, uh— sorry. It's Spider-Man..." Peter trailed off, feeling bad for not knowing who the masked man was. "And you are...?"