ofthespider

Title; In Which They Deal With The Awkward Stuff
Fandom; Marvel (Spider-Man/Daredevil)
Characters/Pairings; Peter Parker/Matt Murdock
Theme; 23. You remind me of me
Canon; A couple days after In Which Peter Is Orally Fixated
Rating; PG, at worst
Warning(s); Aunt May badassery, yo.
Summary; Peter and Matt have a 'meet the parents' type dinner---except it's less parents and more Aunt May and Foggy, which is cool, too. Theme is present if you squint, maybe; it's obvious to ME, but I wrote the thing.
Notes; All this is turning into one storyline, so there's a little index here underneath the table if you'd rather read in order. :D


It had all been Aunt May's idea.

May was strangely okay with Peter bringing home a blind lawyer who was supposedly a violent masked vigilante. (The press was right, of course, but Peter swore it was all just rumors.) She was enthusiastic, she called ahead to see if Matt was around when she came over so she knew to bring more cookies or pie or whatever she'd made that day. She scolded Matt when he called her Mrs. Parker and insisted he call her May.

And now, she wanted to meet Matt's family. But since Matt didn't really have any family (his mom didn't count; she didn't even use her old name anymore. oh, and she lived in a convent and the last time Matt had seen her had nothing to do with Matt himself. She wasn't invited), he brought Foggy Nelson instead.

Foggy. Who thought Peter was sensitive and delicate and incapable of handling the big things in life. ...Kind of like May, actually, except May had that mother's bias thing going for her. Foggy was just totally clueless.

Peter hadn't really helped with dinner, but he was setting the table when Matt and Foggy knocked on the door. Almost dropping his plate, he went to the door, reaching out for a hug from Matt---and getting a good, solid kiss to the mouth instead. In front of Foggy and Aunt May, no less, making Peter pull back and try not to blush while Matt grinned.

Foggy cleared his throat, patting Peter on the shoulder. "Hey, Pete."

"Hey, Fog."

"Hello, Matthew. ---And you must be Foggy Nelson." Aunt May slipped easily into the warm, welcoming hostess (slipped into? May was perpetually that way, who was he kidding), holding her hand out to Foggy, who took it like he was happy to see someone normal.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Oh," Peter piped in, busy taking off Matt's coat when he looked over. "Foggy, this is my Aunt May. Aunt May, this is Foggy Nelson." Holy redundancy, Batman.

"Call me May. Peter, why don't you take Matt and Foggy into the living room? Dinner will be a bit." With that, Aunt May retreated back into the kitchen, leaving Peter to show Foggy the living room. Matt just wouldn't appreciate the aesthetics the way Foggy would (though he did use the guise of keeping his hand on Peter's back for guidance as an opportunity to discretely squeeze his ass).

"Nice house your aunt's got here," Foggy commented---without looking at Peter. Or maybe he was avoiding looking at Matt. It was hard to tell with Matt so close to Peter.

"It is. I grew up here. It---"

"Excuse me, boys, I need to steal one of you." May came to stand in the doorway, looking expectantly at Peter---but when Peter moved toward her, she shook her head. "I need Matthew's help in the kitchen."

Peter frowned. "But Matt's---"

"I know."

"Ohhhhkay." Peter glanced at Matt, who shrugged before heading for the kitchen, disappearing with Aunt May. They left Peter and Foggy in a rather uncomfortable silence, neither wanting to look at the other.

Eventually, Peter cleared his throat, moving toward the couch. "You can sit. Just so you know."

"Yeah, thanks." Foggy lowered himself down into the arm chair, and the silence stretched before: "Peter. Matt told me you know about his ... hobbies."

Peter, who had been looking around the room, snapped around to meet Foggy's eyes before looking down. "Yeah, I do."

"And you're ... okay with that?"

Peter nodded.

"Have you been---I mean, has anyone hurt you yet?"

"You mean because of Matt?" Peter looked up again and shook his head. "No."

Foggy shifted uncomfortably. "Someone will. You know that, don't you?"

Foggy didn't know, Foggy didn't know, Foggy didn't know. Peter repeated it in his head like a chant or a mantra, carefully watching what he said, running it over and over in his mind before speaking out loud. "It's a risk I've decided to accept."

Foggy hesitated, and then: "Do you love him?"

That caught Peter by surprise. Maybe it shouldn't have. Peter looked down into his hands, chewing on his lower lip. It was nearly a full two minutes before he finally replied, "No. ---I don't know. Maybe. I might." He looked up, looking Foggy in the eye and hesitating a little before adding, "I'm getting there, I think. It's hard to tell from here."

Peter's honesty caught Foggy off guard, making him look away. The air between them was tense and awkward, uncomfortable with no real respite, and Peter wondered what Foggy would say if he knew the real truth.


* * *


"So, Matthew."

Matt couldn't remember the last time those two words were so unnerving, especially with the sound of the kitchen door closing. Aunt May had been nothing but kind and warm to him, and now there was something a little colder about her. Not .. bad cold, but hardened, maybe. Protective.

"Yes, May?" Matt tipped his head toward her to make it clear he was listening.

"Do I have a reason to be worried for Peter?"

Yes, May, you do. Your precious nephew is a masked vigilante who dresses like a spider and fucks Daredevil when no one's looking. But Matt couldn't say that, so he had to lie. Sort of. "Why?"

"I can't ignore what I read in the papers, Matthew." She sounded like she didn't want to believe it, but there was no getting around this. She moved around the kitchen, stirring something that smelled phenomenal before covering it with a lid again. "Now. You're blind, I know that. But people believe the papers, whether they're right or not." May obviously didn't believe Matt was actually Daredevil.

"It's just a rumor, May," Matt assured her, lying easily. "I can't pretend that Peter's completely safe, but nobody is. The press gets nasty, but if anything happens to him, we can always file a lawsuit." Hah. See? ...Lawyer joke.

May didn't laugh. "I may be an old lady," she said. "And I may be overprotective. But if you put him in danger, I will find a way to make you wish you'd never touched him. I can promise you that." The sudden chill in the room made Matt flinch.

With that, May sighed, turning off the stove and turning back to him, the warmth back in her voice when she said, "Now, would you mind calling Foggy and Peter back in? Dinner's almost ready."


* * *


Three awkward, almost painstaking hours later, Peter and Matt were headed back to Peter's apartment. They'd both put off some work to go to dinner, but Peter hadn't been ready to let Matt go for the night, so they'd ended up on Peter's couch, Matt going through some legal papers while Peter rested against him, sifting through his finances.

"Shit," he muttered, staring at his papers like they'd offended him.

Matt shifted a bit. "Hm?"

"You know how I said I was looking to sell this place and move sometime next year?"

"Yep."

"I think I'll have to move it up. Without MJ I can't pay for spider repairs and the rent here long enough." Dropping money on medical, suit repairs, webshooters, and his spider tracers was getting expensive---not to mention the work he missed last month after taking a nasty beating or two. Peter groaned, resting his head on Matt's shoulder for a moment.

Matt was silent at first, turning to idly kiss the top of Peter's head. "You---hm."

"What? I what?"

"You could move in with me."

Peter looked up, staring at Matt for a moment---and actually considering it. "I ... ngh. I don't know." It was a big step. "You think we're ready for that?"

Matt shrugged, trying to look nonchalant about it. "We could split rent and it would give both of us more money to spend on our, you know ... hobbies. If need be." He was a little uneasy, probably nervous about the idea of sharing his space. Matt was pretty solitary, but he seemed to tolerate Peter's presence pretty well.

Peter leaned up, kissing Matt gently on the cheek. "Thanks, Matt. I'll think about it."

"Mm." The suggestion had left Matt vulnerable, and he turned, kissing Peter softly on the mouth once---and then he paused before leaning in for a longer one, lingering.

Peter lightly kissed the side of Matt's mouth before pulling back, kissing his shoulder before going back to his finances. Living with Matt, sharing a space with someone again. It was an odd thought from here. But maybe ... maybe it could work.

He really would have to think about it.