Wrong Number!!

25

Peter grinned, reading the chat, and signed off at last. The three friends had come to a collective agreement that suddenly disappearing with no warning was the best way to leave the group chat, leaving the adults confused and slightly wary.

Finally exhausted, he dropped face-first into his pillow and immediately fell into the realm of Morpheus (that is to say, asleep).

Meet Andromeda, Vasileios and Sláine, Jaty's adopted triplets! (She/her), (He/him), (He/her) 
*,*
")
^,^

Three busy weeks later, Peter had fallen into a unique routine.

Each morning he would be woken by his alarm, late. He'd run to the subway, miss the train and end up skating to school. He'd inevitably arrive late, and possibly receive a detention or warning depending on if his teacher (Mr Harrington) was in a good mood or not. At lunch he would talk to Ned and MJ, and be harassed by Flash. After school he would go on patrol as Spider-Man (after detention), using his breaks to do homework and text Shuri and Loki, as they'd become quite close, or his pseudo- family. Between 12 and 3am Peter would return home; sometimes passing out immediately and sometimes going onto the Avengers chat.

Peter was happy. He really was! Except... May was staying out later each night. Multiple times she had arrived from her work shift after he'd returned from patrol- something that had been rare in the past. Gently, he'd asked her about it, but got no answer. Instead, she had apologised profusely, and promised to return home earlier.

And she did, the next night.

But the night after, and the one after that? She'd get home only when Peter had given in to the fuzzy state of oblivion.

There was nothing wrong with that, Peter knew. He knew how to make meals for himself, which were usually better than the ones his aunt would provide. The only problem he really had, the boy mused, was that he never saw her anymore. Only for a few brief moments in the morning when he would kiss her cheek and run out of the door on the way to school.

That night, Peter dragged himself home from patrol early. Despite the urge to continue stopping crime into the early hours of the morning, he was determined to talk to his aunt. 

It seemed she had the same idea, as when he crawled in his bedroom window, he was met with the comforting scent of home: burnt meatloaf. Smiling, he made his way towards the kitchen where he was greeted with a hug.

Minutes later, he sat down across the table from his aunt and picked up a pair of chopsticks for his Thai takeout. Before he could take a bite, though, May stopped him.

"Peter, we need to talk."

The sentence no teenage boy wants to hear. Swallowing, Peter nodded his head in agreement and let her speak.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but lately I've been coming home later than normal." Peter had noticed, he'd also had late nights worrying about it. She continued.

"And, well, you deserve an explanation." He nodded again, nervous at what she would say next. 

Was she sick? What if she was dying? 

Or being threatened, and he hadn't noticed? 

What if she didn't want him anymore? Or couldn't afford to look after him? 

No, that was ridiculous, he decided. He knew she loved him as her nephew, and, sure, the rising 'cost of living' was making it expensive to breathe, but Peter knew his aunt and she would never. 

Could she have won the lottery? Or a cruise to the other side of the world, and he wouldn't come?

Wait... Peter knew what this was about. She was going to give him the talk, again. Second thoughts, maybe a trip around the Caribbean wouldn't be so bad.

"I've met someone."

Time ground to a halt. Of all the things he had considered, this had never occurred to him for a moment. She had always loved Ben, his Uncle Ben, and Peter had never pictured her with anyone else.

He stayed silent.

"His name is Juma. Juma Bahati. I met him nearly a year ago, at the hospital. We met again a few months ago at the shops and I've been seeing him since then. Oh, please say something Pete. I really like him, and want you to meet him."

"It makes sense." May paled, worried she had upset her nephew further.

"That you like him, I mean." Peter added quickly. "His last name means luck. And, Juma? It was Juma, right? Means Friday. Which is a good day." At this point Peter was speaking on autopilot, but as he glanced up and saw the fearful look on May's face, he snapped out of it.

"I'm happy for you, Aunt May. Really," he hastened to reassure her. "I don't mind meeting him if you want to, either."

She clapped her hands in delight. "Lovely. Thank you, Peter. Now than, shall we eat some larb before it goes cold?" She smiled humorously.

"Larb you, Aunt May."

"Larb you too, Peter."

I was going to kill Aunt May off, or possibly have her as abusive, but- 

Spider-Man No Way Home SPOILERS!

- then I watched NWH and I couldn't.

Peter will probably go through less pain (but no promises) this way, and I can't kill her off after seeing her die in NWH.

I also hope you liked Andromeda, Vasileios and Sláine!

Andromeda: An Ancient Ethiopian princess in Greek mythology, who was saved from being sacrificed by Zeus's son, the hero Perseus. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word for 'man', combined with either the words for 'to be mindful of/ to provide for', or 'to protect/ to rule over'. There is a constellation and galaxy named Andromeda.

Vasileios: An alternate name for the Ancient Greek word which translates to 'Vasilios', which is the modern Greek form of 'Basil', which comes from the word 'king'. Two Byzantine emperors were called Basil (I think).

Sláine: From the old Irish word for 'health/ safety'. It was the name of a high king of Ireland, and the daughter of another high king, Brian Bordu.

Juma: Means 'Friday' or 'week' in Arabic. The name is used in a couple of different places, including Swahili.

Bahati: Means 'luck' or 'good fortune' in Swahili.

Please correct me if any of this ^ is wrong.

All facts came from behindthename.com

I was half-way through a practise paper for maths, before deciding that this was more interesting, so I spent ages procrastinating :/