Make Him Proud, Peter Parker

FIVE. you'll be ready, peter parker

The following morning at breakfast, Nellie barely touched her toast. Her appetite had been unusually dull since she'd heard the news of Tony's death.

"Darling, is there anything else I can fix up for you?" Pepper leaned across the counter, giving Nellie's toast a poke. "Want me to heat this up for you again?"

Nellie frowned, "I don't think reheating the toast for the third time is going to make it any better, Pep. It's not the food; it's me. I'm sorry." She apologized, forcing a small bite in her mouth.

Peter on the other hand was at the other end of the kitchen island shoveling in scrambled eggs, bacon, and a glass of orange juice like it was nobody's business.

"Nell, I'll eat it if you won't," Peter spoke up with a mouth full of food.

Aunt May threw the newspaper down she'd been reading and found the closest thing to her -- a toy pony Morgan had left on the dining table -- and threw it.

Nellie watched as it bounced off of his forehead, causing him to nearly choke on his bacon.

"Ow, May! What was that for?" Peter groaned, rubbing the red spot on his head.

May got up from the table and met Nellie at the island, "She's skin and bones as it is, Peter. You're not taking the girl's food. Here, sweet bean, I know what will make this better!"

As if Pepper read her mind, she pulled the refrigerator doors open and snatched some grape jelly from the shelf.

Nellie felt a small smile form on her face as she took the jelly from Pepper's hands, "My favorite."

Aunt May winked, "Eat up, buttercup. Before this one," she eyed Peter, "laps it up like a dog."

Peter hopped down from his bar stool and placed his empty plate in the sink, "I don't appreciate the personal attacks on my appetite, Aunt May. I was dusted and gone for five years. Now I'm back and I can't enjoy a delicious, home-cooked breakfast?" He inquired, giving Pepper a gracious smile.

Before anyone could respond, Morgan burst into the room having been out on the porch playing with her toys. "Mommy, the man with the eye patch is back. He's just outside the door," she hummed, pointing to the door.

Nellie narrowed her eyes and leaned over, attempting to look out of the window. She could barely see the back of whom she could only assume was Nick Fury. Though she'd only actually met him the day before at the funeral, she'd heard Peter talk about him. If he was here, he meant business. And if he meant business, then he was likely here for Peter.

Peter shook his head, "No, no I don't want to talk to him today."

Pepper held back a laugh, "Yeah, no. He does not operate that way. If he is here for you, you're going out there. But let me talk to him first."

She gave her youngest daughter a pat on the head before disappearing out onto the front porch.

"Think he needs you for a mission already? Not even a day has passed since we put Dad -- Tony -- in the ground. . ." Nellie sighed, looking to Peter for reassurance she knew he couldn't give her.

He shrugged, "I don't care, I'm not going. I'm taking the summer off."

Nellie found this extremely hard to believe; Peter helping people was his thing. There was no way he could live a Spider-man free summer.

Fury had pushed past Pepper and made his way into the cabin, "Well, it looks like you just checked into summer school, Parker."

Peter used his sleeve to wipe away the orange juice mustache he'd somehow managed to ignore for the last two minutes, "Hey, hello, sir. Um, you remember Nellie and Aunt May," Peter poked a hand out, pointing at his girlfriend and aunt.