Chapter 157

[Third Person's PoV] 

The next morning…

Peter woke up in MJ's arms, both cuddled up against each other. They hadn't done anything more than cuddle, and it was one of the best nights of sleep Peter had ever had.

He then felt MJ pat the top of his head. "Come on, tiger, we need to get up…"

"Do we have to? You feel so nice; I don't want to get up," Peter whined in a muffled voice.

"Well, we have a bit of time to waste, so just for a little bit."

"Yay," Peter said, snuggling in tighter.

MJ just smiled contentedly as she messed with his bed hair. After a few minutes, she patted him on the head again. "Now, come on, we have school to get to."

"Boo," Peter said as he reluctantly let go. When he looked at her, he couldn't help but find her messy red hair attractive. "You always did know how to rock bed hair," Peter said with a smirk before kissing the top of her head.

MJ ran her fingers through her locks and rolled her eyes. "I know how to rock any hairstyle," she said shamelessly. "Now go, or we're going to be late."

"Yes, ma'am," Peter sighed as he headed for her bedroom door.

"What—" MJ was taken by surprise; she expected him to head out the way he came in, which was through the window.

"That idiot is trying to embarrass me in front of my mother," MJ grumbled.

As Peter headed downstairs, he found MJ's mother in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. "Good morning, Ms. Watson," Peter greeted casually.

"Good morning, Peter—" Ms. Watson replied just as casually, but then she got a confused look. "Wait, since when were you here?"

"Since last night," Peter answered as he headed for the door.

"I didn't hear you come in."

"I climbed through MJ's window," Peter said as he closed the door behind him.

All Ms. Watson could do was sigh. "Teenagers these days are so shameless," she grumbled.

When Peter entered his house, he sensed Aunt May in the kitchen. Apparently, she sensed him too, as she peeked her head out. "Oh look, our roommate is here at last."

"Ouch," Peter said, putting a hand on his chest. "Sticks and stones, Aunt May, sticks and stones."

"That's what I'll be hitting you with if you don't hurry and get ready, and then come down to explain why you were absent from school," she said, giving him a stern look.

"Right… I forgot about that," Peter grumbled.

"The school called, you know, so you better have an explanation. And I don't want to hear it's anything to do with your hero crap."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll explain everything later," Peter sighed as he went to get ready.

When he came down, breakfast was ready, and they waited for him.

As they all began to eat, Uncle Ben looked at Peter curiously. "What did you do yesterday that made you miss school?"

"Oh, you know, the usual… Fought people with animal-based powers, met a pirate spy who took us to his flying invisible ship, where he sent us on a mission. We went and fought an entire military army and won, took down the entire Soviet Union from the inside, hacked into a government-affiliated system, and stole all their information. So, nothing out of the ordinary. By the time we got back, school was already over, so we went to our internship. On our way out, we were mugged, which was fun. Afterward, Gwen and I took some super-strong drugs together."

There was a heavy silence at the table, the only sound being Peter using his utensils against the plate. When Peter looked up, he just saw Uncle Ben and Aunt May staring at him, their eyes and lips twitching.

"So, how was your day? Any crazy adventures you two had without me?" Peter asked with genuine curiosity.

Uncle Ben couldn't help but put his utensils down and sighed heavily. "Can't you just have a single normal day for once? Does every day have to be an adventure?"

"Danger is drawn to me, unfortunately. I'm too handsome for my own good."

Aunt May just held the bridge of her nose and also sighed. "First things first, are you hurt?"

"Emotionally, probably, but physically, I've never been better," Peter shrugged. "Ah, actually, I have a question," Peter said, turning towards Uncle Ben. "Does she know?" Peter motioned towards Aunt May.

"Huh?" Uncle Ben said, tilting his head in confusion. His eyes then shifted as he went over everything Peter had just said. "My goodness, Peter, you met up with S.H.I.E.L.D.? That pirate spy you mentioned is Fury, isn't it?"

"Ah, so she does know. And yes, it's little Nicky, but I don't think he likes me very much," Peter said with a smirk.

"With how you're referring to him, I can see why," Uncle Ben scoffed. "So, I see you also found out I worked for them," he nodded.

"How come you never told me you worked as a spy?"

"Well, for one, you were a literal child. And two, not having people know what you do is the whole point."

"Aunt May knew," Peter pouted.

"She's my wife," Uncle Ben said with a straight expression. "Anyway, so you hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. and stole all their information? You know you can get into serious trouble for that," Uncle Ben said with a serious expression.

"Well, I'm glad I did it anyway, since I found out Hydra is alive and has taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. without anyone really knowing about it. But, you know, that's here and there."

*Slam* "WHAT!!!"

Both Aunt May and Uncle Ben exclaimed, slamming the table and pushing their chairs back as they stood up.

"Can you please pass me the maple syrup?" Peter asked calmly, with his hand out. Seeing how they were looking at him with shocked, horrified eyes, Peter sighed. "Fine, I'll get it myself," he muttered as he leaned across the entire table to grab it.

"Peter, what do you mean Hydra's alive?" Uncle Ben asked, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter felt his grip tighten, causing Peter to raise an eyebrow as he looked at his shoulder and then back at Uncle Ben.

"Right, sorry," Uncle Ben muttered as he softened his grip.

"Well, actually, I've known for a while, even before I hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. I just found out they took over S.H.I.E.L.D. recently…"

Both Uncle Ben and Aunt May sat back down and looked at Peter, waiting for him to explain everything.

"Well, for starters, I don't have any definite proof, but from everything I've been able to gather, Hydra was the one who killed my mother and father."

Peter saw Uncle Ben's mouth clench while Aunt May put a hand over his arm in support. "How did you find out?" Uncle Ben asked.

"The proof that cemented the idea was something Harry was able to gather. He found out and recorded his father, Norman, talking to someone from Hydra and saying their catchphrase."

"I see. And you've known for a while?" Uncle Ben asked curiously.

Peter simply nodded. "The reason I didn't tell you both is because you were both normal people—well, to me, anyway. The less you knew, the safer you were."

"But didn't Captain America take down Hydra? He gave his own life to take them down," Aunt May asked.

"They have this crazy motto: 'Take one head off, and two more shall take its place.' Cap only took one head of the Hydra while many others lived in hiding so the world wouldn't discover them," Peter explained.

Peter pulled out his phone. "Here, Aria, pull up what we've been able to find out about Hydra."

A light shone from his phone camera, and holographic projections appeared in front of them. After they began discussing what Peter had discovered, they heard a knock on the door.

When he opened it, he found MJ looking at him with a concerned look. "Are you okay? We should hurry."

"Oh, right, I forgot about it. Hold up."

Peter went toward Uncle Ben and Aunt May. "We'll discuss this later. Bye, love you," he said quickly, taking everything with him.

"Yeah, sure," Uncle Ben said, plopping down in his seat with a sigh. As they heard the door shut, Aunt May went and kissed Uncle Ben on the cheek. "Don't worry, everything will be alright. Don't tell him I told you this since he would never let me hear the end of it, but I believe in Peter. He'll be able to solve what's going on. He's a very smart boy."

Uncle Ben just patted her hand. "I know, but I'm just worried about him having to deal with everything. He's just a boy, after all."

Aunt May smiled. "I know, but you seem to have forgotten, he isn't alone in this. He has friends that are just as amazing as him to help him and watch his back. Not to mention he'll have us to come back to when he gets tired of everything and needs time to rest."

Uncle Ben kissed her hand. "I suppose you're right."

…

Peter was walking with his arm around MJ.

"Why are you dragging your feet?" MJ asked, noticing he was walking slowly.

"Because I'm terrified of being in the same space with everyone right now," Peter said with an awkward expression.

"You say that, being who you are. Don't you get into dangerous situations every day?" MJ teased.

"I'd rather face ten times what I go through every day than face Gwen and Felicia right now."

"Hmmm, that's not the Tiger I know. The Tiger I know wouldn't be dodging responsibility right now."

"This Tiger is just a little cub being thrown to the lions," Peter sighed as MJ giggled, both making their way to school.

When they arrived, they found Gwen by herself, tapping away on her phone with a bored expression. She noticed them immediately, looked up, shut off her phone, and put it in her back pocket as she leaned against the school gates with her arms crossed.

"Took you guys long enough. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought everyone was ignoring me."

"I was talking to Uncle Ben and Aunt May, which took longer than expected," Peter muttered, not daring to look Gwen in the eyes.

"Did he tell me?" Gwen asked MJ.

MJ decided to play dumb, looking at Gwen in confusion. "Tell me what?"

"You haven't told her?" Gwen glared.

Peter looked toward MJ with worry. "Why are you getting me into more trouble than I already am?"

MJ just stifled a laugh. "Sorry, I wanted to see what she was going to say. Don't worry, he told me everything."

MJ joined her hands together. "Just please don't get too mad at him. He's already ashamed of what happened and is sorry," she pleaded for Peter's sake.

Gwen just scoffed. "We'll just have to see how he behaves moving forward."

Just then, they saw Felicia moving slowly towards them, taking her time as if she was dreading every step.

"Hey, guys," Felicia said lightly.

Gwen sighed heavily. "You know, I expected to be angrier when I saw you."

"So you guys know? I expected as much," Felicia nodded. "Wait, you're not?"

"I'm a bit angry, yes, but not to the point that I dislike you or anything like that," Gwen mumbled.

Gwen then sighed once more and hugged Felicia. "I'm sorry to hear about your dad."

Felicia was taken aback and looked towards Peter and MJ in confusion. "Ah, thanks, I guess. I haven't really wrapped my head around it."

MJ went and hugged Felicia as well. "If you ever want to talk, you can always come to me."

"Aww, look at this! I love a group hug," Peter said, stretching his arms out.

"Join in, and I'll rip your balls off," Gwen said.

Peter faltered for a bit before shrugging. "They'll regrow," he said as he joined in, which caused Gwen to grumble a bit.

The students passing by looked at them strangely, giving them weird looks, causing Felicia to turn red in the face.

"Please stop this. I hate this. People are looking at us..." Felicia pleaded.

"No," Gwen said with a smile. "I know how much you hate affection. You deserve this. Think of it as your punishment. Not to mention the embarrassment is an added bonus."

"Get off me! Please! I learned my lesson! I won't do it again!" Felicia kept pleading.

MJ and Gwen looked at each other, smiled, and released her. Felicia was holding her knees as she gasped for air. "I thought I was going to die. Never do that again."

"Then don't kiss my boyfriend next time," Gwen scoffed.

"Touché," Felicia said awkwardly.

Peter then looked around in confusion. "Where's Harry? I thought he'd be here by now."

Gwen shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since I arrived—" She then froze and stood with her mouth agape.

"What? What's wrong?"

They kept looking at Gwen weirdly when suddenly Peter began to laugh. It wasn't a normal laugh—he was wheezing, holding his stomach.

Felicia and MJ just looked at each other before giving him puzzled looks.

Gwen put a hand over her forehead and sighed. "Jesus Christ."

Just then, they saw why she had that reaction. Harry and Lizzy came around a corner, Harry holding Lizzy's arm with a bright red face, while Lizzy was limping with an equally red face.

"Phttttt," Felicia covered her mouth as she leaned against the gate, trying to stop herself.

Peter reached into his pockets and pulled out $20, which he handed to Felicia, who happily snatched it from his hands.

"What was that?" Gwen asked, looking at them with a raised brow.

"Remember when Felicia said she felt bad for Lizzy since Harry was going to destroy her when they did it? She and I secretly made a bet. She said it would be obvious when they did it, and I said Harry would have more self-control and be gentle. We both bet $20 on it. And from the looks of it, I lost," Peter whispered in amusement.

MJ covered her eyes and pretended she didn't even know them.

When Harry and Lizzy appeared, they just walked past them as Lizzy gritted her teeth and said, "Not. A. Word. I got this from training, got it?"

Felicia and Peter just began laughing at them, secretly high-fiving each other.

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A/N: Did Anyone watch the new season of the Umbrella Academy? I'm curious what everyone thoughts are because what the fuck was that. 

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