"Hi, Aunt May."
Ben spotted May standing under the streetlight, nestled in its faint glow, from afar.
"Benny?" May called out, her voice laced with surprise and relief. Her graying hair drooped as she hurried towards Ben, her wrinkled hand gripping his wrist.
To keep this family afloat and raise two children, she and Ben had endured countless hardships.
Aunt May hadn't had much education. For so long, she'd only been able to do menial, back-breaking jobs like washing dishes, earning a pittance. Yet, she never complained.
"What are you doing here?"
'Of course, I'm worried,' Ben thought.
For most Spider-Men across the universe, the Spider-Web Incident was an unavoidable fate. Sometimes, you'd stop one, but others would trigger one after another.
Ben worried that preventing Uncle Ben's death might put Aunt May in danger, so he'd specifically reminded Peter after school not to forget to pick Aunt May up. But even so, he couldn't shake his unease.
Now, it seemed he was right, because Peter had indeed forgotten.
Thinking of this, Ben felt a flicker of annoyance. But to avoid worrying Aunt May, he said, "Peter went to the Osborn Corporation to see Dr. Connors, so he didn't have time and sent me to pick you up instead."
As soon as May heard Dr. Connors' name, her heart skipped a beat. She knew the doctor had a close relationship with Peter's parents, and Peter was likely looking for him to learn more about them.
Ever since Peter found the suitcase left by his parents in the warehouse, he'd become so fixated on it. This inevitably made May, who had raised him and was gentle and sensitive at heart, feel a pang of sadness.
She had always treated Ben and Peter as her own sons, but Peter's recent behavior had her worried.
Perhaps the children didn't see it that way.
Perhaps…
Of course, more importantly, after leaving young Peter behind, his parents had left abruptly and hadn't been heard from since. She and Ben had tried reporting them missing, but there was no news. They had clearly gotten involved in something terrible, and there was nothing she and Ben could do about it.
Because of this, May worried even more that Peter would get too deeply involved and put himself in danger, and then they truly wouldn't be able to do anything.
"Don't worry, May," Ben said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Peter's just encountering information about his parents for the first time in so many years, so he's gotten a little too engrossed."
May nodded, her eyes red. Her rough palm tightly gripped Ben's hand, as if letting go would mean her two children would immediately fly away and disappear.
She really wanted to ask Ben if he, like Peter, desperately wanted to find his biological parents.
But she didn't dare.
Because she knew that if a child wanted to return to their parents, it was a reasonable thing to do. She had no reason to stop Ben, just as she had no reason to stop Peter from investigating his parents' affairs.
But if that day ever came, and she might lose Ben or Peter, she wasn't sure she could bear it.
Fortunately, Ben squeezed her hand back tightly. "Let's go home, Aunt May. I'm starving!"
Into the night, Ben and May walked home side-by-side.
When they arrived, Uncle Ben had already been waiting anxiously by the door for a long time. Seeing Ben and May walking back together, he quickly jogged over.
"Benny, May?" Uncle Ben's expression showed surprise. Clearly, he hadn't expected Ben to be the one picking May up instead of Peter.
"Where's Peter?" he asked.
"Peter went to see Dr. Connors, so he sent me to pick Aunt May up." Ben had to repeat what he'd told May earlier.
However, Uncle Ben wasn't as easily fooled as May.
He looked at Ben with a complex gaze. Clearly, he had realized Ben was lying for Peter. But in the end, he didn't call out the lie or criticize Ben for it. Instead, he felt comforted.
Lying was wrong, but he also understood that Ben was doing it for the family.
Both children in his household had always been sensible, but Ben was never quite like Peter. He was much more mature. Many times, Ben felt that Ben's presence was a gift from heaven to their family.
"Thank you, son," he said.
"It's nothing. It's what I should be doing," Ben replied. "You can leave these things to me from now on. I'm free every day."
"I'd like that, but you left too early this morning." Uncle Ben chuckled, his eyes moist, and patted Ben's shoulder with his thick palm. "Alright, you take May home. I'll wait for Peter."
"It's so late, let's go inside and wait," Ben said, putting his arm around Uncle Ben and trying to pull him into the house.
But Ben held out his other hand and pressed it against Ben's arm. His tone was gentle, but his eyes were firm. "No, no. I'll just wait for him here."
With Ben's current strength, he could have pulled Uncle Ben into the house with a pinky finger. But as he held Uncle Ben's arm, it felt like he was trying to move a heavy mountain.
He knew Uncle Ben was staying here because he wanted to have a serious talk with Peter. He also knew that in this conversation, Peter, who had just gained powers and was consumed by thoughts of his parents, might impulsively hurt Uncle Ben and Aunt May.
Moreover, it was precisely because of this argument that Peter stormed out, and in searching for Peter, Uncle Ben was shot by a robber. Although Ben had dealt with Dennis beforehand, at this crucial moment, he still couldn't relax.
If not Dennis, perhaps Sandman…
He desperately wanted to stop this conversation, to resolve this crisis preemptively like he had dealt with Dennis.
But it wasn't as simple as killing a person.
In the end, he could only nod and walk into the house with Aunt May.
Compared to Ben, May looked even more worried. She had clearly also realized what was about to happen.
"It'll be alright," Ben whispered in her ear, trying to comfort her. "I think we should go to the kitchen and prepare something to eat. I suspect they'll both be arguing until they're hungry."
Aunt May chuckled at his words. "No, you and Peter would never argue with us. Never."
She said it with great certainty, but her feet faithfully carried her towards the kitchen.
Ben looked at her slender back and nodded seriously. "You're right, Aunt May, we won't. If Peter dares to do that, I'll show him who's boss!"
"No fighting," May said, opening the refrigerator. "What do you want to eat tonight?"
"How about something simple?" Ben sat down at the dining table. "Fried chicken or pork chops? I'm so hungry right now I could eat a whole pig!"
Ben wasn't kidding.
Because of the Omnitrix, he had gained spider-like abilities just like Peter. However, these superpowers weren't fully developed from the start; they were constantly strengthening over time. Clearly, Ben's superpowers were still growing rapidly.
This growth brought about physical changes far exceeding those of his entire puberty, which inevitably meant he needed to eat a lot to replenish his energy until his spider abilities stabilized.
On the contrary, repeatedly transforming into alien heroes didn't consume much of his physical strength.
That aspect consumed the Omnitrix's own energy.
Just then, a sound came from outside the door.
Peter was back.
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