Discovering Fatherhood (Irondad / Spiderson)

Chapter 27: The Arrival of Harley

Two days later...

It was around 5 in the afternoon, Steve and May were in the kitchen of their house, preparing everything necessary for tea, the smell of freshly made coffee penetrated May's nostrils, who smiled a little, turned off the coffee pot and went to the cupboard for some cups and plates to pour the hot drink.

Steve was standing in front of the oven, cooking some toast in the toaster that was placed on the stove, the blond had one hand resting on his waist and with the other hand he was holding a gastronomic tong to turn the toast.

May put three sets of cups and plates on top of the individual ones that were on the dining table, then walked to one of the drawers in the counter to look for small spoons, that day she and her husband were putting special effort into preparing the tea because they wanted to get Peter to join in and take it with them because, since the teenager found out about the lie, he spent as little time as possible with his parents and that included avoiding them at breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.

Peter would enter the kitchen, with a neutral face and without uttering a word, he would grab a tray, place his plate, his cutlery and his glass of drink on it and then he would go to the living room avoiding making eye contact with his adoptive parents, he would go up the stairs and locked himself in his room to eat alone. Then, when he knew his parents had finished eating and were not in the kitchen, Peter would leave his room, go downstairs and wash the dishes he had used, to then to lock himself in his room again, that was his normal routine and it suited him well. The chestnut-haired boy had no problem being alone, it was preferable since he didn't want to see the faces of his liars, annoying, strict and insistent parents, it was also a matter of pride and revenge since in his opinion his parents had gone too far with the punishments they had assigned him and he was letting them know with a cruel indifference that he knew it hurt them and Peter didn't care.

May took a carton of milk out of the fridge and placed it in the center of the table, next to the sugar bowl and the coffee pot, thinking exclusively of Peter because her son used to drink coffee with milk or chocolate milk, never black coffee since he didn't like it very much. May rested her hands on the back of the wooden chair that was for the teenager and looked sadly at the place she had prepared for him to sit, the chestnut didn't know if that place would be occupied.

"I hope this time he comes." May mused and released a regretful sigh.

"He will come, May." Steve assured her calmly as he caught a piece of toast with the gastronomic tongs and turned it over in the toaster. "And if he not..." The blond cocked his head to look at his wife. "I'll force him." He sentenced with an authoritative tone.

"Is that the best for you?" May asked with a lack of conviction as she placed both hands on her waist and arched an eyebrow.

"Hum..." Steve murmured, taking his free hand to his chin and massaging it with his fingers. "Now that you ask me, I think not but... ah." He complained, letting out a sigh of despair and helplessness, then he turned around, crossed his arms and fixed his blue eyes on his wife. "How difficult is all this, being a father is complicated, I don't know what to do with Peter, he is unmanageable, every decision I make I have to rethink it three times because I don't know if I'm acting well with him, besides I don't know how he's going to react either, his behavior has been unpredictable lately." Commented the Captain in an annoyed tone, he brushed his blond hair with one hand, then returned to stand in front of the oven, he held a piece of toast with the gastronomic tongs, turned it over in the toaster, frowned, and continued to protest. "Well, the point now is that I need to see him, you too, for my part I got tired of waiting for him to deign to show up, if he continues with that evasive attitude I'll force him, I'm his dad and he's not going to dodge me indefinitely." He turned over another piece of toast, leaving all of them upside down, now he had to wait a while for the other side of the toast to brown, Steve turned to face May. "I think I know what I'll do, tell me if that's okay with you."