May's POV
The front door swung open before Peter even got his key out of his pocket. I'd been pacing between the kitchen and the living room for the better part of an hour, phone in hand, alternating between texting Peter and texting Ben and getting nothing back from either of them. So when I heard footsteps on the porch I was already there, one hand on the doorframe, ready to deliver the lecture I'd been rehearsing since Tuesday.
Then I actually looked at my nephew.
His hair was a disaster, sticking up at angles that defied gravity and basic grooming. His lips were swollen and flushed a deep pink that had nothing to do with the cold. He was walking with a careful, deliberate gait, slightly bowlegged, wincing every time his right foot hit the ground. And his shirt, his favorite science pun shirt that I'd ironed for him last week, was wrinkled beyond salvation, buttoned crooked, and streaked with multiple pale stains that caught the hallway light in a way that made my stomach do a complicated flip.
It did not take a rocket scientist.
Dennis stood beside him, leather jacket draped perfectly across those broad shoulders, looking annoyingly composed. His arm was hooked casually around Peter's waist in a way that was equal parts protective and possessive, and the easy confidence radiating off him made Peter's wrecked appearance even more obvious by contrast.
I looked at the stains. I looked at the limp. I looked at the swollen lips and the bird's nest hair and the dazed, slightly guilty expression on Peter's face.
And honestly? A small, traitorous part of me exhaled with relief.
Both of the men in my life had been keeping secrets lately. Ben with his new job that required mysterious late nights and phone calls taken in whispered tones behind closed doors honestly if it wasn't for the news this afternoon she would have thought he was working with S.H.I.E.L.D again which even she would have struggled to forgive him for. Peter vanishing for days at a time no if he hadn't come back today it would have been a whole week to stay at Dennis's place, dodging my calls, sending one-word texts that told me nothing if it wasn't for Ben by some act of god managing to convincing her that Peter was fine and coming back soon she would have stormed Dennis's place looking for him. I'd been lying awake imagining the worst, drugs, gangs, some kind of trouble that would land one of them in the hospital or worse. But this? This was normal teenage stuff. My nephew had a boyfriend and they were clearly very, *very* active together, and while we were absolutely going to have a long conversation about him answering his phone when I call, how he can in fact not spend all day every day with Dennis and especially safe sex the moment Dennis left, at least this was a problem I understood. This was a problem that came with pamphlets, parenting books and awkward talks and not with police reports.
Unlike with Ben's situation I could handle this.
"Peter Benjamin Parker." I put my hands on my hips. "No phone calls. No texts. You haven't been home for almost a week. Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
He had the decency to look ashamed. His eyes dropped to the welcome mat and his shoulders hunched inward, and for a moment he looked twelve again, caught sneaking cookies before dinner. "I'm sorry, Aunt May. I really am. It won't happen again, I promise. And I realized how little time I've been spending with you and everyone else so from now on I'll make sure to spend more time with you."
The guilt in his voice was real enough to soften the edges of my anger. I stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, squeezing tight, pressing my face against his because no matter how tall he got he was still my baby. "I'm glad you're home," I murmured. "I missed you."
He hugged me back fiercely, and for three perfect seconds everything felt right.
Then my palm pressed flat against his lower back and I felt the dampness of his shirt. Slightly warm. Slightly sticky. Definitely not sweat.
I pulled back very quickly, holding him at arm's length, and made a deliberate decision not to look at my hand. "Go shower," I said, keeping my voice admirably steady. "We are having a conversation when you're done."
***
Peter' POV
I practically sprinted for the stairs, which was a grave mistake because sprinting while walking bowlegged sent a white-hot reminder of the last half hour shooting up my spine. I grabbed the banister and hauled myself up at a more dignified pace, face burning so hot I could've cooked eggs on my cheeks.
The guilt was genuine, though. Not about Dennis or about what we'd done, no we had been dating for a week before having sex the first time that's more then most their age group can say, but about disappearing on the people who loved me. I'd already called Ned and Harry earlier after the news about Harry's dad got out. Ned had forgiven me instantly because Ned was physically incapable of holding grudges. Harry had been quieter, and I'd heard the strain underneath his voice, the weight of everything suddenly happening with his dad. We had plans for Saturday, all three of us, pizza and movies and aggressive normalcy, and Harry needed that more than he'd ever admit right now.
*I meant to ask Dennis if there's anything we can do for Mr. Osborn before we left but I kinda got distracted.*
The thought surfaced and immediately got tangled with the memory of what had happened in the SUV, Ben's hands on my hips, the way he'd said *call me daddy*, *ask me properly*, and my brain short-circuited for a solid five seconds before I forced it back on track.
*Dad.*
The word sat in my chest, warm and complicated I hadn't had the time to ask if that was a sex only thing or not. I hadn't said it out loud yet. Ben got this look whenever Peter-from-before slipped and called him anything to close too paternal, this flash of guilt like he was stealing something he didn't deserve from his brother. Which was ridiculous. My parents had been gone since I was four. The love I had for them existed in photo albums and stories May and Ben told at Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was real and permanent and completely unthreatened by the fact that Ben had earned the word *Dad* a thousand times over through years of packed lunches, science fair projects, and sitting up with me through every fever and nightmare. May had earned *Mom* just as thoroughly.
I needed to tell them that. Both of them. After May got the full explanation tonight, after Ben walked through that door and they sat down together and laid everything out, I'd find the right moment. No more guilt. They deserved better than guilt.
I turned the shower to scalding and stepped under the spray, letting the water hammer the soreness out of my muscles while my enhanced healing did the rest.
***
Dennis's POV
The second Peter disappeared up the stairs, May turned back to me with the particular expression of a woman who had questions and the patience to wait exactly zero seconds for answers.
"Hello, May." I stepped forward, extending my hand with what I'd been told was a disarming smile. "It's really nice seeing you again. Sorry for keeping Peter so long. Won't happen again I promise you."
She took my hand. Her grip was firm, no-nonsense, and her eyes were doing that thing where they cataloged every detail of my face looking for evidence of wrongdoing. I liked May Parker. She was ferociously protective and genuinely kind, and in approximately five seconds she was going to be family in a way she couldn't currently imagine.
The moment our palms connected, I pushed.
Chi flowed through the contact point like warm honey, invisible and soundless, threading through her nervous system with the precision of a needle pulling golden thread. The Dawngleam tether manifested in my mind's eye, thin and delicate compared to a Rank Two or Three bond, but real. Rank One. The lowest tier, support class, but even if the benefits were weaker it carried the essentials: healing just enhanced enough that it would quietly erase the early arthritis in her hands, the chronic lower back pain she never complained about, the subtle cellular decay of a woman approaching fifty. It would add a decade to her life but unlike a Rank Two or Three bond she would still look her age no getting younger, it would sharpen her senses just enough to notice things she'd previously missed, and anchor her to the Pack with a foundation of trust and warmth that would make everything Ben and Peter needed to tell her tonight land softer.
It would not make her a puppet unlike usually. Rank One bonds while the weakest were also the only ones that directly rewrites the personality unlike the others that only weakened certain personality traits or gave one or two after all they are disposable assets if it didn't completely rewrite their personalities would they be as willing to die on command and think it a privilege doing so. They also smoothed edges, opened doors, made the truth feel less like an assault and more like an invitation. May Parker would still be May Parker, still stubborn, still sharp, still entirely capable of grounding Peter for a month if she decided he deserved it. She'd simply be a version of May Parker who could process the impossible without it breaking her.
She blinked. Her grip on my hand tightened briefly, then relaxed. A tiny furrow appeared between her brows, the kind of micro-expression people made when a headache they'd forgotten about suddenly vanished.
"You okay?" I asked, releasing her hand with an easy smile.
"Fine." She shook her head slightly, like clearing water from her ears. "Actually, I feel great. Must be the relief of finally having my nephew home." Her eyes narrowed. "Speaking of which. You two are being safe, right? Because I am not above having the safe sex conversation with both of you present and with visual aids."
"Always," I said, and I did feel slightly bad for the lie as I've never practiced safe sex once since I was reborn here nor was I going to this god liked it raw. After all there was no better feeling then my cock in another man's ass panting his insides with my cum or vice versa and them mine. Plus there was no need to as a Succubus I can neither catch nor transfer human Std's and to be honest I've been encouraging the others to do stuff like not use condoms and swallowing the others cum because even if they did catch something he could just by a cure from the System Shop for peanuts for how cheap they were. Honestly let's not even talk about how shocked I was when I saw the cure for Aid's, crabs and all the other Std's in the shop for only three sex points each as if the System didn't consider these cures impressive at all and was ready to all but hand them out for free if that didn't go against it's core programming. "Peter's lucky to have you looking out for him."
Something in her expression softened as she remembered that I was a orphan. The tether hummed, quiet and golden, settling into place like it had always been there. She gestured vaguely toward the kitchen. "Do you want to stay for tea? I just put the kettle on."
"I'd love to, but I've got to get back. Ben should be here in about 5 minutes, he's wrapping up some work stuff. He and Peter have some things they want to talk to you about tonight." I held her gaze, letting just a thread of warmth pulse through the new bond. "Important things. Family things. I think you'll be glad you listened."
May studied me for a long moment. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her, because she nodded slowly. "All right. Thank you for bringing him home, Dennis."
"Always."
I walked back down the porch steps into the cool night air. The BMW waited at the curb, engine still ticking as it cooled, and beyond it the quiet neighborhood stretched in both directions under amber streetlights. I clocked the replacement surveillance van, still parked four houses down, and the sedan at the corner. Truly persistent.
The Succubus God System materialized as I pulled away from the curb. Nine hundred and two Sex Points glowed in steady gold numerals. Not enough for Zatanna or any of the other magic users on my list. Not yet. But climbing.
My phone buzzed against my thigh. Legion's voice came through the BMW's speakers, crisp and measured. "Sir, Chef Ramsay reports the feast is plated and holding temperature. All Rank One through Three harem members are assembled in the second-floor dining room and awaiting your return. Additionally, Mr. Specter has flagged three contract clauses you missed requiring your signature before midnight."
"Tell Harvey I'll sign between courses." I merged onto the avenue heading back toward the Upper East Side, the mansion, and around a hundred waiting souls bound to me by threads of gold. "And tell Scott to save me the seat at the head of the table."
The city blurred past, neon and shadow, and behind me in a modest Queens house, a family was about to become whole in ways none of them had dared to hope.