Male Friends...

After that whole conversation which I rudely listened in on and finishing my wheat cakes while having some normal small talk with the Parkers which was not as heavy as the previous topics and not as emotional where we just talked about what we've been up to and me and Peter pretty much just took over the conversation as we started to talk about new advancements in the field of science and bringing up any theories or papers that were published and while that meant we started to exclude uncle Ben and aunt May from the conversation at the table they didn't seem to mind as Ben just went back to reading his newspaper while aunt may just went somewhere to presumably start doing some housework after she finished her meal though me and Peter didn't really mind as we were so caught up in our conversation but that changed after aunt may came back into the room, by this point we had already finished all of our meals and we were just sat there talking about science as Peter has a pretty interesting brain to pick and he has some 'outside the box' thinking so it's always interesting to hear his views and it was at this point that May came in and took all of the plates off of the kitchen table and headed towards the sink to start doing the dishes and since I was a guest in this house and it's etiquette to help in these situations I quickly stood up and tried to go and help May with the dishes since she cooked for us. "Here May, let me do that. It's the least I can do since you cooked such amazing food for us, at the very least I'll help you do the dishes."

I move towards her to try and take the dishes from her hands so that I can wash them myself because that just what passes for being polite when you are a guest in someone's house in America but it was way different in my past life and I'm not sure if it was because of my nationality or my culture but usually we would just let the owner do the work since the guest would be treated as a guest and it would be seen as rude to try and help out at the house you are visiting which is why I'm pretty awkward when it comes to social situation since it just such a large difference for me and I've not socialised properly that much since I've been here so I might be a bit awkward when trying to talk to others but I'll just ignore that and continue trying to help aunt May, unfortunately for me it seems aunt May took offence since she swerved the dish's out of my way before I could even touch them and she did it so fast I nearly assumed she had spider powers as well though it was quite clear that she just doesn't want anyone messing with her work. "No you don't mister, this is my job and I'll be darned if anyone takes it from me. Anyway you didn't just come here to talk to us two fogies did you, I'm pretty sure you came here to talk to Peter so you both can go and do whatever it is you boys do these days while I wash up, okay?" May says while starting to busy herself by washing up the dishes and she does it with such haste that I think she's afraid of me trying to help probably thinking I'm gonna mess it up which I guess is normal for old women like her since back in her day a man couldn't be trusted to do anything besides work as they'd mess everything up and I guess she thinks the same of me and Peter since she such a strong stubborn old woman and I'd rather not fight with her right now so I turn around and look to Peter who looks very confused, he looks like a deer in headlights as I look towards him and nod my head toward the kitchen door to suggest to him that we should leave the room and he seems to get the message as he quickly gets up and says something to his aunt and uncle before leaving the kitchen room and gesturing for me to follow him to the living room where we both just stand in the middle of the room looking at each other before he decides to speak first.

"So, what did you want? Did you just come here to offer me the Stark Industries internship again or was it something else?" He questions trying to get to the crux of the reason of why I'm really here because while it might appear to aunt May and uncle Ben that we are friends we are actually more like acquaintances who saw the benefit of hanging out together while in Midtown High because he could hang around with me and I'd end up protecting him from the bullies like Flash (I know he grows up to be a good guy and he has his own problems but at that moment he was a bit of an asshole and so I didn't give him any slack because when he grows up no one in the real world would treat him like he was treated in high school though I suppose he already has a healthy dose of reality given that his father is a grade A drunk asshole who gets physical a lot) and I would listen in and look at whatever book he was reading or notes he was making plus he also took up a seat next to me which was good because that only usually left one seat free which was taken by Mary Jane who I much preferred to all of the other thirsty girls who were trying to claw at me like one Liz Allen who got a bit obsessed with me after I slept with her one time because Flash really pissed me off that day and I regretted it ever since because she became an annoying person who was always trying to get a repeat though I don't think Flash ever found out about it since he still just acted like he usually does, he's right to be kinda cautious of why I'm actually here and to be honest I don't actually have a good reason since I'm only here to somehow get him to become a better SpiderMan who won't die so easily (I don't actually know how I'm supposed to do that now that I think of it) and that's only because Mary Jane asked me to since she'd feel guilty if he ends up dying on one of his escapades as SpiderMan and she didn't do anything about it like telling his aunt or uncle to try and stop him from going out.

"I'm just here to have a chat Peter and see how you guys were doing since I do feel kinda guilty about my part in what happened to your uncle, but I can see that you guys are doing all right so that's good. I also thought that maybe we could chat about some stuff and what's going on at Midtown High since I left, to be honest I don't have have many male friends and Earl has been on my back about going out and relaxing since I spend too much time working on my own projects and so I thought I'd come and see what you were up to since I didn't really have many other options." I just made up a shitty excuse because I really had no other reason to come or prolong my staying here but in the end my excuse made me seem kinda sad and lonely which isn't the case since I specifically mentioned that I don't have many male friends (ie I have a lot of female friends) and I also didn't deign to mention Johnny Storm who is probably the closest thing I have to a friend right now because if I did mention him then Peter would ask why I didn't go to him instead and I just can't come up with more bullshit, I decide to just barge on past what I just said and take a seat on the couch before Peter can try and make an excuse but he reaches out to stop me at just above human speeds so he's lucky that I already know about his powers as that would be suspicious to any one else but I don't mention it as I instead just look to him in question at why he stopped me from sitting hoping that he isn't just trying to get me to leave as that would make my job really difficult and I promised Mary Jane that I would try and improve Peters chances of surviving his chosen career whatever that entails because I honestly don't know.

"Uh, let's go up to my room and chat instead. Don't want to annoy aunt May or uncle Ben with our chatting do we?" He splitters out nervously while scratching the back of his head with the hand he just removed from my shoulder and I don't mind it since this could be better for me as I can be a lot more open and hinting with what I say in his room rather than if we were to have a conversation within earshot of his aunt or uncle so I nod towards him plus I'm pretty sure he only wants to go upstairs because I said we'd chat about Midtown high and while I'm sure his aunt and uncle knows he get picked on there I don't think they know that actual scope of the bullying and so he must want to go upstairs to keep them dorm actually finding out how bullied he is because he must downplay it at home and it must be a lot worse since I left even with his spider powers as he can't use them to defend himself or he'll risk exposing himself, I direct my hand towards the stairs while smiling at him. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Lead the way my friend, I hope you cleaned up your room though because I don't want to find any of your material lying around." I finish with a joke in the hopes of lightening up the mood but it seems that instead of doing that I've made it more awkward as Peter just laughs nervously at my words, and then he quickly bolts up the stairs towards his room before I can even say anything. "Hold on a second Nick, just want to make sure my rooms tidy. Won't be a minute, just hold on."

I chuckle amusedly watching him rush up the stairs to tidy up his room but instead of waiting down here like he asked I instead begin to follow him up the stairs at a leisurely pace and I make it to the open door in the hallway in time to see Peter flinging a backpack into his closet and just before he closes the closet door I manage to catch a glimpse of red and blue so two guesses as to what he's just his in there, peters quickly turns around after slamming his closet door shut and presses his back up against it totally not acting suspicious and he spots me at the door and tries to play it off cool. "So Nick, what did you want talk about? Should we start with Midtown, because things have been pretty different since you left..."

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<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

Currently 34+ Chapters.

(www.pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

A special thank you to my patrons Stormrall, Turtle, Matthew Laird, Sage Honos, Derrick Porter, Manuel Arauio, Darth Bane, napier Crawford, Marcus Lane and Arun. Thank you for the support.