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"Hey Peter," May called over her shoulder without taking her eyes off the stove and her as of yet unburned eggs, "do you have Tony Stark's number?"
"Mhm." Came the muffled reply, the teen's mouth no doubt full of cheerios and eyes glued to his phone.
"Do you think I could have it?" She asked, as nonchalant as she could manage. After four or five seconds of total silence she turned around to find Peter staring at her. He hastily swallowed his mouthful and dropped his phone to the table, wiping his hands on his jeans.
"Um what? Why?"
She shrugged and smiled. "In case I need it." Of course she had a specific reason in mind, but she wasn't ready to tell Peter yet. Not until she knew what the man would say.
Peter licked his lips, frowning uncertainly.
"I'm not supposed to give it out."
May started to laugh, then the smell of burning eggs reached her nose and she swore, turning back to the stove and pulling the pan off the burner.
She sighed, shaking her head at her ruined breakfast and turned back to Peter, who still looked conflicted.
"Peter sweetie, I'm your Aunt, not some kid from school. I don't think he'd mind."
Peter tipped his head to one side and then nodded.
"I'll ask him."
May smiled, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his hair. "That's all I ask. Now get going or you'll be late."
Peter nodded, still chewing and stood from the table and swiped his backpack off the floor in one smooth motion.
"I larb you Peter!" She called out as he jogged toward the door.
"Larb you, May!"
The door shut with a slam. May sighed down at her ruined eggs, shrugged, scraped them into a tortilla and smothered them in jarred salsa.
"The most important meal of the day." She informed the empty apartment, and headed back to her room to get ready for work.
May's phone buzzed in her scrubs pocket, reminding her of a new message. She put her last patient's chart under her arm and fished it out.
Peter: Here is Mr Stark's number. He said to tell you what he told me: 1- call anytime you need him. 2 - don't give the number out to anyone. 3 - don't get shot
May frowned slightly at the last rule.
May: That's not concerning at all.
Peter: :)
May: uh huh.
May: I think I can handle that. Now put your phone away and pay attention to your teacher.
With a sigh she approached the nurse's station.
"I know that look." Carla looked up, dark red lips spreading in a knowing smile. "What did Peter do now?"
May smiled, leaning against her chart braced on the top of the counter.
"What he's always doing. Making my life wonderful and complicated." She laughed slightly, then gestured toward the woman's hand, and her sparkling diamond ring. "How are the wedding plans going?"
Carla shrugged and huffed a laugh. "Wonderful and complicated."
"Yeah, I get it," May held out the chart. "I gotta make a phone call. Can you keep an eye on bed 204 for me? I want to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to the antibiotics."
"Of course."
May nodded her thanks and walked down the hall to the empty on call room.
She stared down at the phone number Peter had sent her, dialing before she had a chance to overthink it.
"Stark."
May was somehow surprised and also not by the terse way he answered his personal number.
"Hi Mr. Stark. This is May Parker. I got your number from Peter?"
There was some shuffling on the other end and then,
"I know who it is Mrs. Parker. Not many people have this number."
There was a pause where May almost felt like hanging up, but squared her shoulders instead.
"Right."
"Peter said you might be calling today. He wasn't sure if you had a specific reason or...?"
May was gratified to hear he sounded as uncertain as she felt, though she hoped she was better at hiding it.
"Yeah. Well I wanted to," she paused shrugging to herself. Better to ease into it. "Well I thought it would be good if we had each other's contact info. For emergencies. You know, since Peter spends so much time with you at the tower and, um, with the other stuff." She finished, words loaded with meaning. Stark seemed to catch on easily.
"Of course. Yeah. I, um, I probably should have thought of that." To his credit, the man sounded slightly chagrined. It was perhaps to be expected, after the verbal tongue lashing she'd given him about dragging Peter off to Germany.
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Stark. I don't imagine you're accustomed to all of this. Having a minor depend on you and everything." She laughed a little, an outlet for her nervous energy. "It takes some getting used to, believe me."
Stark blew out a breath, he sounded tired and a little bemused.
"Yeah. But I'm a quick study," he assured her. May thought his bravado was easier to hear on the phone than it was at his press conferences. "And Peter is...I wouldn't, um. I wouldn't change it. Anything. He's...a really good kid."
May nodded, warmth filling her chest at the compliment toward her nephew.
"Yeah. He is." She rubbed her hand on the thighs of her scrubs. "Well, I know you're busy, but I did have another reason for calling."
"Oh. Okay. Shoot."
She took a deep breath, steeling herself. She could be making a huge mistake. It had been so long since she'd had to ask anyone for anything, since there had been anyone to ask. She found herself riddled with anxiety over what his reaction might be. He could laugh. He could say no. He was busy after all, a super hero and owner of a multi-billion dollar company. This was probably a huge mistake. But...For Peter, she told herself. And it was enough. Anything for Peter.
"Well, since its a new year I have some paperwork I need to fill out for Peter's school. One of the forms is an Emergency Contact sheet. I'm Peter's primary contact, obviously. But with my job I'm not always able to get to my phone. And there's allowed to be a secondary contact, but, um, well there just hasn't been anyone else, for a long time..." she trailed off, the silence on the other end deafening in its intensity. "Anyway. You're under no obligation, of course, I just thought that if-"
"Yes."
May paused, "what?"
"Yes. I'll be Peter's secondary Emergency contact. If...that's what you were asking?"
"Yes." May nodded, tucking a nonexistent errant hair behind her ear. "Oh. Okay. Good. Thank you. I mean, he's in high school, I don't anticipate he will need either of us in this capacity often but...it makes me feel better knowing you're on there. So. Thank you."
"Of course, Mrs. Parker. Anything for Peter." He said, then coughed like he hadn't meant to say the last bit out loud.
May nodded, embarrassed at the tears that sprang to her eyes from the sentiment.
"Yes. Exactly."
They lapsed into comfortable silence for a moment before May's pager began buzzing on her waistband.
"Oh, okay, I have to go."
"Sure."
"Alright, oh! Should I put down this number for the contact?"
"Uh, no. I don't give this one out." He said. "I'll text you a number you can use. It will forward to this phone and I'll always know its his school if I see it."
May nodded, standing and moving toward the door. "Sounds good. Thanks again Mr. Stark."
"Call me Tony." He said, quick and genuinely earnest, in a way that made May feel like she was talking to a man, instead of Iron Man.
"Then you may as well call me May then," she said, hand on the doorknob. Then, with a wicked thrill of delight, she added, "or Aunt Hottie, if you prefer."
Tony sputtered and May laughed, imagining him turning the same shade of red that Peter had when he let slip that Tony sometimes called her that.
"I'm gonna kill that kid." The man grumbled, sounding well and truly miserable.
May shook her head. "You wont but I know the feeling. How about I don't tell him who his secondary contact is and we call it even?"
"Ha! I knew I liked you."
May smiled. "Goodbye Tony."
"Bye May."
As May made her way back out to the Nurse's station she thought back to the first time she met Tony Stark. After the awstruck stars in her eyes had faded she'd been barely tolerant of the man. She found him to be a shallow, self-involved man-child who put her nephew in needless danger. If anyone had told her two years ago she would essentially be coparenting with the Billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist she probably would have booked them an appointment for a CT scan.
"What's with the look?" Carla asked when she was close enough to the Nurse's Station, gesturing at May's face.
May sighed and shrugged.
"I just asked Iron Man to be my nephew's emergency contact."
Carla raised both eyebrows in a look that said May had been working too many double shifts in a row.
"Riiight. Well bed 204 is asking for you."
May nodded and took the chart she held out, heading back toward the patient's room.
Iron Man. Spiderman. It certainly wasn't what May thought she was signing up for when she married Ben all those years ago, nor when they got custody of Peter a few years after that.
But, life is funny sometimes. And she meant it every time she said it, and she had a feeling Tony did too.
Anything for Peter.