I Was Joking

Can of Worms

*Guys, I'm asking for actual feedback on this.

Puma shirt or panther shirt.*

"Guess who's back. Back again.", Peter hummed, walking through the halls of school towards the cafeteria. It felt great to be back to normal, especially considering that apparently this week was the one where all of his teachers collectively decided to issue all of the tests that would be majority of their grade in the next report card.

Naturally, he aced them. Well, most of them.

Stupid Spanish.

Anyway, Peter sat by Ned, MJ, and... Flash... man that was still interesting to say, setting down his tray and pulling out his lunchbox.

Enhanced metabolism. Gotta love it.

The group of teens talked about a bunch of things over the course of that time period. From classes ("Dude, what's on the test in Ms. Schuyler's?" "It's multiple choice. If you read the book you'll be fine.") to AcaDeca ("You're coming with us to semifinals whether you like it or not, Peter. I will get Ned to lock you out of your suit." "Yes ma'am.") to Peter's recent 'incident' ("Man, it's a shame we couldn't come over. I would've loved to see Baby Peter." "Oh, I have pictures from when we were younger.", Ned suggested. "No you don't.", Peter argued in a panic. "Yes I-", Ned defended before he was cut off by Peter using a web to steal Ned's phone. "No he doesn't.", Peter stated, hiding his friend's phone as he took another bite of his sandwich.) The whole atmosphere was fun and lighthearted.

"Hey, you guys wanna come over this weekend?" Flash asked both casually and politely. "I just got Smash Ultimate and my dad's gonna be out of town." "Sure. Get ready to get your a** kicked by this guy.", Ned responded, pointing at Peter. "He may look like a goody two shoes, but he plays dirty when it comes to Smash." "His words, not mine.", Peter remarked, closing up his lunchbox. "Can it be Sunday? Saturday's a May Day.", Peter asked. Despite everything, he's never skipped a May Day.

"Oh yeah, sure dude.", Flash nodded. "You've all got rides?", he asked as the bell rang. Ned shook his head as the group split up into their separate ways. The two boys kept talking as Peter turned a different direction. It's nice to see Flash finally acting nice towards them. When you got past his tough guy act, Thompson was actually pretty chill.

At the end of school on Friday, he opened up his locker, finally noticing a white envelope. The date said it had been there for a couple of weeks. It was the last note Flash slipped through before he accidentally confessed.

May Days were pretty routine. They would wake up, get coffee and donuts, would run a few errands before doing something fun. This last time they got ice cream, but today the two thought it would be fun to have a picnic by the lake at Central Park.

"And then, when I happened to check up on her, this lady woke up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "DoOoN't cRy FoR mEeeE ArGentInaAaaA!", May finished, leaving the two of them laughing. "I swear to god, the world's filled with idiots.", Peter remarked, eyes drifting to across the lake. His gaze landed on a couple of men, sitting on a bench with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. One of them laughed, then kissed the other of the cheek.

Peter watched them, unknowingly drifting off in thought. What was going through their heads right now? Was it even a thought thing? Like, he knew one doesn't choose who they love but, do they choose WHO or-

"Peter?", May asked quietly, making the teen snap back to reality. "Is something wrong?", the woman asked, following the boy's line of sight. But she couldn't see as well as him. She didn't see the couple talking naturally to each other. Being happy.

He opened the can of worms, huh.

"Hey, May?", the teen asked quietly, pulling his knees closer to his chest. "How did you know you loved Ben?"

The woman opened her mouth, before shutting it in thought. Her eyes flicked back over the lake before meeting her nephew again. "Well, it certainly wasn't love at first sight, let me tell you that. In fact, if it wasn't for him, I might've gotten in a lot of trouble. But... I appreciated him and his devotion, and wanted to spend more time with him. It was easier to talk to him; we became each other's support, through thick and thin.", she explained after a moment, wiping her eyes before the pricks of tears could finish forming. Ben... was still a sore subject for them. It would always be that way.

"Why?", she asked, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder to ground him. "I...I...I think... I'm bi.", the teen admitted for the first time, both to himself and anyone else. Without thinking, he leaned against May to avoid her reaction. "Sometimes, I look at a girl or guy and see myself with them. Like, with them.", Peter confessed. It happened a lot on patrols; he gave his father a lot of false alarms with that. "And when I talk Ned, it's really easy, and I feel a little lighter. Like what I would feel like with Liz." May ran a hand through Peter's curls, ignoring the creeping blush.

"Please don't hate me.", the teen muttered. His heart was pounding with anxiety, yet his chest felt like it lifted a weight that been choking him.

"Oh Pete, you're always going to be my nephew. I think it's physically impossible to hate you." "But the people at church-" "Are a bunch of stuck up old goons who are too busy banging a book to follow through on their teachings about loving everyone.", May retorted. "There's a reason we don't go there anymore."

Peter chuckled, smiling softly. His eyes drifted back to the couple across the lake. He sighed contently, before grabbing his sandwich and taking another bite. The boy got up with the sandwich and picked up some skipping stones. He turned back to May, who was smiling at him.

"So you know Cheryl, right?", the woman started another story, to which the boy absently listened to as he skipped the stones.

"So apparently she brought her youngest to work with her," five skips across the lake, "and the boy, bless his heart, just wanted to help me work," three skips, he bit into his sandwich, "so he starts following me around like a little puppy." This rock must've not been a good one. It just splashed. "Uh...", May trailed off, looking at Peter in confusion.

"What? The kid was following you.", Peter said, before taking a bite...

...and realizing his mistake.

The teen's will to live dropped like a bomb as he stared at the rock in his hand where his sandwich was.

"You know what? I wasn't hungry anymore anyway.", he remarked before sitting down by his aunt again.

The rest of the day went well, but May's words stuck with him through the night, as they made dinner together and watched a movie. He went to bed after that.

Peter dreamed about Ben's and May's wedding pictures that night.