If They Knew All About You

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At first, Peter was a little confused. He didn't know if it was arrogance or sheer incompetence that was the Rogues' problem. Maybe they thought themselves invincible and didn't care all that much about people tracking their movements. Maybe they just lacked the general knowledge when it came to technology and the internet that they didn't realize the breadcrumbs they were leaving behind. It had been over a week that they had popped up in Northern America for the first time and since then they seemed to be omnipresent, a constant looming about every community.

Mr. Stark had been busy dealing with Secretary Ross, so Peter had spent less time in the lab and more time on patrol. He also seized the opportunity to let May dote on him a bit. He made sure to help her prepare some of the meals, spend time with her after, just determined to ease her mind when it came to all the things she feared might change between them. They celebrated his birthday a good week after the Rogues had popped up for the first time. Wednesdays were internship days and he was kind of disappointed that Mr. Stark was too busy with whatever Ross had thought of this time. At least May couldn't complain about him spending his birthday at the Tower. She had come home early, around noon. Luckily he had immersed himself in Rogues-research and wasn't out patrolling or his efforts to appease May after the blowup the week before would have been for nothing.

"Is everything alright? Usually, Taylor tries to get you to work more hours rather than less."

She pressed a kiss against his temple in greeting. "Oh, it was nothing. Some security scare that ended up people overreacting, but the bar and restaurant had already cleared out. He knows that we have plans for your birthday and Josh will be fine on his own for the afternoon."

Peter frowned. "What security scare?"

She waved him off. "Someone thought they saw something which turned out to be nothing, but you know how things are right now."

That he did. He had the police show up on no less than 10 occasions the previous week while he was trying to help people. Some of those officers were alright, but he had been shot at another three times by over-eager cops. One incident had even brought out that damn police chief again. He had thought that things were improving and most people did welcome his help, but a lot of them were still on edge. Who could blame them? He sometimes had a hard time telling who was on which team, who was a threat and who wasn't and he was in the middle of the whole mess.

There wasn't much he could do about it except figure it out himself. Mr. Stark refused to even talk about anything related to the Rogues. Peter couldn't really blame him either, not after what the Rogues had done to him. Maybe he could blame Mr. Stark a little for excluding him entirely, but Peter was working on that. He'd prove to his mentor that he was ready and capable to stand up to them. That Peter had his back.

Peter's birthday turned out to be a great day despite all the underlying struggles around them. They went to his favorite Thai place and despite Peter's nerves, things went smoothly. Ned didn't make any suspicious comments about not seeing Peter enough, neither did May. They went to the movies after and he honestly couldn't even remember the last time he had been to the cinema. It's not that May didn't have a point about his social life suffering from all the crime-fighting and interning he had been doing over the last months, but he couldn't just think of himself. He had responsibilities. Responsibilities he had shied away from before at an enormous cost. If he hadn't maybe Ben would have still been there to celebrate his birthday with him.

May would never understand that though. Hell, if Mr. Stark had his reservations about letting Peter in on the big stuff, how would May ever cope with this? That was his lot to deal with and what kind of hero could he ever hope to become if he couldn't even deal with those domestic squabbles?