“The Lizard terrorized the public by attacking the Brooklyn Bridge earlier tonight…Spider-Man was seen attacking the beast. No word yet on what the web-slinger’s involvement was in the incident…Police have said that it is too early to determine the number of casualties from the event, but there have been over a hundred and fifty people injured from The Lizard attack.”

Kurt snorted. The Lizard? The news anchors had run out of creative names, for sure.

He glanced over his shoulder, checking to see if his dad was out of the X-Ray room. Kurt had already been bandaged up, despite his stubborn insistence that his father’s arm was a bigger priority. Mostly he had cuts and bruises, but he did have a small hairline fracture on his shoulder blade that was aggravated by his climbing. When they bandaged his back and immobilized his arm, Kurt yelped when he saw how bruised and swollen his shoulder was. After they gave Kurt some pain medicine, a wheelchair to sit in, and a nurse to look after him, they finally took care of Burt.

Kurt’s head lolled to the side, sleepy from the medication.

“Do you need some water honey?” the nursed asked for the third time. She was fidgety, her eyes darting around at the injured people in the waiting room. Babysitting duty didn’t seem to be suiting her.

Kurt shook his head.

He heard the sound of a door opening and turned around carefully in his chair. Burt was walking into the hall, a cast encasing his entire arm. Burt and the doctor walked over to where Kurt was sitting.

“Two minutes, bud. I just need to get us discharged. Uncle Nico should be here in a few minutes to give us a ride home.”

He tousled Kurt’s hair, much to Kurt’s annoyance, and continued walking down the hallway. Kurt slumped disappointedly in his seat. He was tired of waiting. He was just tired. He closed his eyes and drifted off a bit.

“Kurt!” Kurt opened his eyes to see Uncle Nico jogging toward him. Uncle Nico wasn’t really his uncle. He was a bulky Italian man with a head of thick black hair who owned a local deli down the street from their house and was a close family friend.

Kurt grinned at him sleepily, too tried to have much enthusiasm.

“You alright?” Uncle Nico looked him over as if he expected Kurt to not have a limb or something.

“Fine.” Kurt’s eyes drifted closed again. His eyelids felt so heavy, and his body felt so numb and tingly.

He vaguely felt him being wheeled somewhere and heard his dad’s voice join Uncle Nico’s. By the time they reached the car, Kurt was completely asleep.

***

Kurt woke up in pain. He quickly rolled over to relieve the pressure from his shoulder. He let out a long whine before sitting up. Every muscle in his body felt stiff and sore.

He carefully got out of bed and went to his bathroom. He needed to shower. He still smelt like smoke and could feel the oil on his face.

Once he was showered, wrapped his shoulder, and dressed, he went downstairs, each step sending a reminder of how much his body hurt. He found his dad in the kitchen, buttering toast.

Burt saw him come in and nodded toward some pills and a glass of water on the counter. “Take those.”

Kurt grabbed the pills and glass and sat down at the table. As he was taking the pills, he glanced up at the empty chair across from him. Suddenly the pain in his body didn’t seem as bad as the one in his heart. He bit his lip to keep it from trembling. He had forgotten. With everything that happened yesterday, he forgot that his mother was gone. He felt like he betrayed her for forgetting she was gone, if even for a moment.

Kurt was shaken out of his thoughts as when his father set a plate of toast in front of him. The toast was mutilated, partially burned with numerous indents from where the knife was pressed in too hard. Kurt looked up at his dad, unable to hide the amusement from his face.

“I’d like to see you try doing that one-handed, squirt,” Burt grumbled as he picked up one of the pieces and took a huge bite. Kurt smiled at him and nibbled at his own piece.

The doorbell interrupted their little breakfast. Burt grunted as he slowly got up and walked through the kitchen door into the living room.

Kurt stayed at the table, picking at some of the more burnt parts of his toast. He heard familiar voices come into the house and walk toward the kitchen. The kitchen door opened to reveal Aunt May, a kind older neighbor who occasionally came over to babysit Kurt, and a teenage boy.

Kurt’s eyes opened wide in shock, and he could help the yelp that escaped his mouth. He recognized that face, that messy brown hair, those kind eyes.

It was him.

It was Spider-Man.

“You okay, bud? It’s just May. No reason to be scared, “ Burt said with a short laugh. When Kurt still stared at the guests, his dad looked a little worried. Burt took off his cap and rubbed his head nervously. “I guess he is a little shaken from everything that happened.”

Aunt May walked over and gave Kurt a careful and sweet hug, kissing his forehead lovingly. “Everything is going to get better, sweetheart.” Kurt relaxed at the touch, but his eyes were still trained on the teenager in the doorway.

Aunt May noticed his gaze and said as she sat in the chair next to him, “You remember Peter, right? He’s my nephew. You must have seen him around.”

Kurt’s mind flashed back to times he remembered seeing Peter: block barbeques, skateboarding down the street, grabbing a snack when Kurt coloring at the Aunt May’s kitchen table. Peter had been there, but Kurt never really noticed him. Peter was always quiet, his nose in a book or just walking by up to his room. They weren’t the same age or anything so they had no reason to talk to each other.

Kurt noticed everyone was staring at him. He closed his mouth and nodded, but he kept his eyes on Peter.

Peter smiled and sat down a chair. “Good to see you, Kurt. Glad to see you’re doing alright.”

Kurt gave him a hesitant smile back.

This seemed to ease the nervousness in Burt and Aunt May, who started to move to make coffee and talk about insurance on the car that was lost yesterday, leaving Kurt and Peter at the table.

As soon as the adults turned around, Kurt’s smile dropped. His brain was having trouble processing everything.

Spider-Man was sitting in his mother’s chair at the kitchen table. Spider-Man lived across the street with Aunt May. Spider-Man was Peter Parker. Peter Parker saved his life.

Peter just kept on smiling knowingly at Kurt as the boy processed this information. He brought a finger to his lips and gave Kurt a meaningful look.

“I need one last favor. Don’t tell anyone that you saw my face. It’s just our secret.”

“I promise.”

Kurt’s eyes bulged as the realization hit him: he knew Spider-Man’s identity.

Kurt swallowed thickly, feeling the seriousness of the situation, and nodded at Peter.

Peter smiled widely and got up from the table. He gave Aunt May a quick kiss on the temple, interrupting her and Burt’s conversation. “I gotta go meet Gwen,” Peter said as he backed up toward the door. “I’ll be home for dinner, I promise. Nice seeing you, Mr. Hummel.” Peter turned to Kurt as his back pushed the door open. “If you never need anything, little man, just come find me.” Then he turned around, walked into the living room, and out of the Hummel house.

Burt chuckled, “It looks like you got yourself a new friend, Kurt.”

***

It had been two weeks since Kurt’s mother’s funeral and the incident on the bridge. His shoulder was still healing but the bruises and cuts had faded away. He still felt an ache in his heart every time he thought of his mother, but he was sure that was never going to go away. After a few days off to recover from the injuries, Kurt had to go back to school.

Kurt quickly learned that there was another reason for him to get picked on other than him being small and liking to hang out with the girls. That other reason was when people didn’t believe him.

“Stop lying!” August push Kurt so he stumbled back against the fence. They were in the back corner of the playground behind a large tree. It was after school, and Kurt had tried to hide there until he knew the other boys left. But they found him.

“I’m not!” There were tears in his eyes. He couldn’t help it. He was so frustrated because no matter what he said they never believed him.

“Yes, you are!” Jared rose the dodgeball higher, trying to look threatening. “Stop saying you know Spider-Man.”

Kurt yelled back quickly, “I never said that. I said he saved me, not that I know him!”

Ever since he came back to school and explained why he had been gone, some of the kids were excited to ask him all above being saved, asking him all about what Spider-Man was like. But the three class bullies—August, Jared, and Russ—had turned relentless in their picking on him.

“He just saved me,” he cried. He was frustrated and just wanted to go home. “He saved a bunch of people. Go bug on them instead!”

Russ grabbed Kurt’s purple backpack off his shoulder and threw it on the ground, stepping on it a few times.

“Hey!”

The boys froze as they saw an older boy running toward them. Kurt let out a sigh of relief when he noticed it was Peter. The other boys looked at each other for a moment and ran back toward the school.

Peter slowed to a jog when he saw them running away and stopped in front Kurt. He grimaced as he watched the boys run away. He picked up Kurt’s backpack, dusting it off and putting it on his shoulder along with his own backpack.

“Are you alright? They didn’t accidentally get stupid on you or anything.”

Kurt huffed, ignoring Peter’s little joke, and pushed himself off the fence, wiping his wet eyes on his sleeve. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Peter looked like he wanted to say something but started walking toward the front of the school instead. Kurt followed and was soon walking by Peter’s side. When they got to the school’s entrance, Peter kept walking down the street toward their houses, still carrying Kurt’s little backpack.

Kurt paused a moment before running to catch up with Peter. He looked up to see the older boy smiling, completely amused. Kurt shot him an annoyed look, and Peter finally said, “I came to pick you up.” When Kurt’s look turned to confusion, Peter added, “Your school is on the way from my high school, and you’re just a kid, Kurt. You shouldn’t be walking home by yourself.”

“I can take care of myself,” Kurt said, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

Peter gave him a sad smile. “Everyone needs a little help now and then.”

Kurt kept his eyes on the sidewalk as they walked, but he could see Peter’s occasional glance at him out of the corner of his eye. They walked a little further until Peter broke the silence again.

“You know those kids are just jealous of you, right? That’s why they’re picking on you.”

Kurt shrugged, looking at the ground. He had heard it before from so many adults. It didn’t make any difference. Jealous or not, the boys would still bully him.

“Do you ever tell anyone?”

“Yeah.”

“Do they do anything about it?”

“No.”

Peter scoffed. “Never changes.” He looked down at Kurt again. “You know, I’ve been bullied most of my life. Never really fit in and never thought it could be different. It took me a while to learn that the only thing that can change is your attitude about it. You can not let it effect you. You can fight back in your own way. You can refuse to be the victim.”

“I don’t need a lecture,” Kurt mumbled defensively, but couldn’t deny that something Peter’s words seem right, made him feel a little better.

They walked silently again, making their way through the streets of Queens. Kurt would occasionally glance up at Peter, but the teenager just walked on as if he didn’t notice. Kurt bit his bottom lip in thought.

In the past two weeks, Peter gone from being some semi-familiar neighbor to inserting himself into the Kurt’s life. He offered to watch Kurt when Burt went to buy a truck to replace the car. He suddenly appeared when they were at the park. He seemed to be around the house more when Aunt May babysat him, even offering to color or have tea parties with him.

As nice as Peter was, Kurt felt uncomfortable whenever he was around, feeling like the weight of the secret got heavier. When he saw Peter three times at three different places in one day, Kurt was just getting annoyed, even if his father didn’t seem to notice Peter’s constant presence. Kurt almost felt like Peter was watching him.

Kurt ducked his head, feeling more nervous than before. He looked to see if anyone else was around before he whispered, “I didn’t tell anyone about you. I said I wouldn’t.”

Peter stopped walking and smiled down at Kurt. “I believe you.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before Kurt nodded and started walking home again. When their houses were in sight, Kurt noticed a strange car outside his house. He didn’t think much of it though. There were a lot of different people showing up lately, distant family members with condolences, insurance people, friends with casseroles. Kurt stopped at his gate and held his hand out for Peter to give him his backpack.

However, Peter wasn’t paying attention. He was intently watching Kurt’s father talking with a short man in a suit through the window.

Kurt cleared his throat and tugged at his shirt. Peter jumped and looked down at Kurt before his eyes flicked back to the window.

“Do you want me to come inside?” Peter asked as he slid Kurt’s bag off and handed it to the boy.

Kurt huffed and rolled his eyes, putted his backpack on. He glared at Peter, really annoyed at the teenager. “Just go home, okay? My dad is right there.” He pushed through the gate and walked onto the porch, not even bothering to look back. “If I needed a watchdog, I’d ask my dad for one.”

The moment that Kurt shut the front door behind him he knew that something was wrong. Burt and the man in the suit froze, staring at him. Not knowing what to do Kurt halted too. Kurt recognized the man. He was one of his mother’s doctors. His face look scared, pale with purple shadows under his eyes. Burt’s face was worried as well. He had only seen his dad’s face like that a few times before, and each time it was never good.

Burt put on a strained smile. “Hey, buddy, how was school?” Kurt opened his mouth to answer, but his dad continued, “You remember Dr. Sherman. We have a few grown up things to talk about. We’ll be in the kitchen. Start on your homework.” And the men left.

Kurt’s mind was racing. Was his dad sick? Was Kurt sick?

Something was wrong. He could feel it. He wondered if he should go get Peter, but when he looked out the window, Peter wasn’t there anymore.

Kurt could hear the muffled voices of his dad and Dr. Sherman, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Kurt took a deep breath than acted quickly. He dumped everything in his backpack onto the coffee table, making sure to make as much noise as he could. He rushed over to the radio, turning it on. Finally he quietly moved into the laundry room that was next to the kitchen. Kurt climbed onto the washer and opened the heating vent above it. He had done this before when he knew his parents were talking about Christmas presents. The vent was warm against his ear, but he could hear the voices pretty clearly over the low hum of the heater.

“What do you mean by a problem?” asked Burt.

Dr. Sherman paused. “I ran some tests on Elizabeth’s blood. Her condition just didn’t make sense. It just felt too odd that a healthy woman with no family history of cancer would develop it so rapidly. In mere weeks.”

“You guys said that it was an advanced case. That we just didn’t catch it earlier.” Burt’s voice was growing angry.

“Mr. Hummel, that’s what we thought. We had no other explanation. But I ran some tests,” the doctor paused. “Independently. The hospital doesn’t know about the tests or that I’m here.”

Kurt leaned closer to the vent. He didn’t understand what all this meant, but it didn’t seem good.

“I found a chemical in her blood.”

“What kind of chemical?”

“I’m not sure exactly what it is exactly or where its from, but I know what it does. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. The chemical binds with cells, mutating them rapidly. Without knowing what the chemical was, we could only assume it was cancer.”

Kurt heard a chair scraping across the floor. Burt’s voice trembled as he said, “Doctor, w-what are you trying to tell me?”

“Mr. Hummel—“the doctor took a deep breath “—your wife was poisoned.”

Kurt gasped and quickly covered his mouth. He could feel the tears filling his eyes. He climbed off the washer and ran out the front door, not even bothering to close the door.

“Peter!” Kurt yelled, sprinting across the busy street, barely registering a taxi skidding to a stop as he rushed past it. He ran up the steps of the Parker house and pushed through the front door without knocking.

Peter screamed when he entered the house, “Peter! Peter!” When he didn’t get a response, he ran up the stairs, half yelling and half sobbing Peter’s name. He pushed into Peter’s room, but the teen was nowhere in sight. Kurt was breathing heavily, his throat hoarse from yelling and his cheeks wet with tears. “Peter! SPID—“

Just then Peter swung in through his open window, landing gracefully on the floor. Kurt rushed him, grabbing onto him and crying into Peter’s shirt. He could barely register what he was saying as he sobbed about what he overheard. Peter knelt down, hugging the distraught boy, letting him cry into his shoulder. Peter spoke softly, trying to explain that he heard the conversation as well, but Kurt couldn’t stop talking. It was like he had to get it all out. Peter just held him and let him talk, occasionally acknowledging a piece of information.

When Kurt ended his story, Peter pulled back so he could look the boy in the eyes, holding his shoulders in a firm grip. “I need you to stay here, Kurt. Stay here in this room.”

Kurt nodded, still crying silently. Peter picked Kurt up and set him on his bed. Peter moved quickly to his closet and grabbed his hidden Spider-Man suit, putting it on with practiced speed.

Kurt stared in complete awe as Peter Parker changed into Spider-Man right before his eyes.

Spider-man walked over to the bed and squatted so he was eye level with Kurt. Kurt gaped at the masked teenager before him. Even though he just saw Peter put on the suit and he had known Peter was Spider-Man, Kurt had trouble processing it when it was right in front of him.

“Aunt May will be home soon,” said Spider-Man, picking up a throw and wrapping it around the boy. “Stay here until then.”

Spider-Man stood up, but Kurt grabbed his arm. He asked anxiously, “Where are you going? What about my d-daddy?”

“He’ll be fine. I’ll take care of him. You’ll both be safe. I promise.”

Spider-Man looked out the window for a moment, thinking something over. He took Kurt’s hand again and said in a hurry, “Kurt, this is very important. You need to act like you don’t know what happened. You never heard that conversation. You came over here to look at some magazines or books or something that I had and then asked Aunt May to help you bake something. I know this is a lot to ask from such a young kid, but you have to be strong.”

He patted Kurt’s head and swung out the window before Kurt could ask anything.

Kurt sat there in the eerie quiet. It was even like his soft crying was too loud. He pulled the blanket around him tightly and waited.

After a long time, he heard someone come into the house downstairs. He tensed at the footsteps.

“Peter?” Kurt recognized Aunt May’s voice and relaxed slightly. When she didn’t get a response, Aunt May said to herself, “Silly boy forgetting to lock the door. Head way up in the clouds.”

Kurt quietly sat there, listening to Aunt May move around downstairs. He thought about what Peter said about going downstairs with May, but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

He didn’t understand how Peter could do it. How could he just act like everything was okay? How could he lie to everyone like that? Kurt shook his head. He could never do that.

But then Kurt thought about what Peter did, what he was probably doing right that moment. He protected people. He saved people when no one else could.

Kurt’s mind wandered to his mother. Poisoned. He didn’t understand how that could happen. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. This wasn’t a show or a comic. People couldn’t be that evil. Kurt couldn’t understand who would want to do something so awful to his mother.

Kurt got off the bed, shaking the blanket from his shoulders. He walked quietly into Peter’s bathroom and look at himself in the mirror. He looked like a disaster. His eyes were blood shot and his cheeks were sticky with dried tears. Kurt turned on the tap as low as it would go and washed his face. Then he grabbed a brush that was sitting on the sink and tried to tame his hair. He looked a little better.

Kurt sighed and walked back into Peter’s room. He glanced at the door, but he wasn’t ready to go downstairs yet. His eyes flicked to the open closet door. Kurt bit his lip nervously. He didn’t want to be nosey. However, he was in Spider-Man’s room and he saw Peter pull his costume out of that closet. He couldn’t help the mischievous grin that spread across his face.

Kurt opened the closet door wider. He huffed when he saw the state of the closet. No wonder Peter could hide his suit in here. Kurt doubted anyone could find anything in this closet. Kurt looked down at the only clear space on the floor. Something seemed off about that. His curiosity got the better of him, and he kneeled down to inspect the floor. He almost yelped as one of the floorboard shifted when he pressed down. He looked over his shoulder quickly before lifting the floorboard.

Kurt gaped when he saw the contents of the hiding space. There were four suits, two masks, a few of the odd devices that Kurt saw attached to the suits, and a case of small tools. Kurt looked through the space more carefully, finding a few gross magazines, a photo album with pictures of a little boy that Kurt assumed was Peter with a man and a woman, and what looked like a glass snow globe.

Kurt lifted the snow globe out of the hiding space looking at it carefully. It looked like it was empty, but then Kurt’s eyes were drawn to the movement. There was a spider crawling around in the glass. Kurt brought the container closer to his face inspecting the red and blue markings on it. Something about the spider seemed wrong, and the more Kurt looked at it, the more it scared him. Suddenly the spider jumped right to the glass right in front Kurt’s face. Kurt yelped, quickly shoving the container back into the hiding space and placing the floorboard over it.

Kurt stood up and moved back into the bedroom. He knew he had to go downstairs now. As much as he wanted to crawl back onto Peter’s bed and cry, he couldn’t. He had to go and pretend that everything was normal. He had to protect his father and himself, even if it was by lying.

And Kurt did just that. He walked down the stairs with his head held high and a Batman DVD in his hand (he thought it was appropriate). Although Aunt May was surprised to see him, she agreed to bake cookies with him as a surprise for his dad. They made small talk and prepared the cookies. It was hard. Kurt knew his smiles and laughs were forced but that it was something he had to do.

When he heard a thump come from upstairs an hour later, Kurt jerked his head, looking at the ceiling with wide eyes.

Aunt May noticed this and said, trying to reassure him, “Oh that’s just the heater. It does that sometimes.”

Kurt nodded but sat there, listening intently for any other sounds.

Kurt jumped as the front door swung open. Peter walked into the house, looking distracted but smiling. So in his own way, he looked normal.

“Hey pretty lady,” greeted Peter as he casually strolled into the kitchen, grabbing a cookie. He walked around the table and ruffled Kurt’s hair. “Heya little man.”

Kurt quickly patted down his hair. “I really hope that isn’t becoming a habit for you.”

Peter shrugged, taking a bite of the cookie.

Aunt May smiled at them fondly. “You two act like brothers. If it wasn’t for Kurt’s eyes, you might even look alike.” The timer dinged, and Aunt May turned to check on the cookies.

As soon as he back was turned, Kurt looked at Peter, desperate for information. Peter gave him a reassuring smile and mouthed, “I took care of it.”

Kurt was confused. He didn’t understand what Peter had taken care of.

Aunt May turned around, setting the new batch of cookies on the table.

Peter looked at the clock. “Aww Aunt May, look at what time it is? You’re keepin’ the poor kid up. I’m sure Kurty doesn’t mind, but someone’s gotta lay down the law around here.”

Aunt May chuckled and gave him a loving swat with the oven mitt. “Well, if you’re the responsible one, then we’re all doomed.”

Kurt thanked her, grabbing the Tupperware box of cookies and the DVD. He and Peter walked out and across the street to Kurt’s house. Once they were outside Kurt’s house, Kurt let his panic out.

“What happened? What did you do? Is my dad okay? Does he know where I am? What’s gonna happen?”

Peter grabbed his shoulder, “Woah slow down, turbo. I can only answer one thing a time.” He took a deep breath and said, “I did what I could to protect you guys. I’ll look out for you, but you should be safer now.”

Kurt’s eyes brows knitted together in confusion. “That tells me absolutely nothing.”

Peter looked at Kurt seriously, “When you go in there, your dad is going to tell you something you may not like, but you have to go along with it. It’s for both of your safety. I can’t be around all the time to protect you two, and this may be the only option we have for now.”

Peter gave Kurt a sad smile and pushed the gate open, gesturing for Kurt to go to the house.

Kurt stared up at him. “There’s something you’re not telling me.” It wasn’t a question.

Peter nodded and ruffled Kurt’s hair. “You’re a good kid, Kurt.”

***

Kurt walked into the house to find his dad sitting in the living room with his head in his hands. Burt’s head shot up when he entered and he rushed over to his son, hugging him tightly despite his broken arm.

Kurt let himself be held for a moment and then wiggled out of the embrace. His father’s eyes were red and he looked so tired.

Kurt handed the box to him with a small smile, “I went to over to grab a movie Peter said I could borrow, and then Aunt May and I baked them as a surprise.” Kurt cringed at the lie. Lying to Aunt May was one thing, but to his father was completely different.

“That’s great, kid.” His voice was rough and distant. He guided Kurt over to the couch, and they both sat down. Burt looked worried and he held Kurt’s hand tightly. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Kurt tensed, waiting for the bomb to drop.

“I had a visitor while you were gone.” Kurt nodded. He knew Dr. Sherman was here. Burt saw this and shook his head. “No, this was after the doctor left. I can’t say who, but we had a long discussion.”

Kurt looked at his dad, confused. Then it hit him: Spider-Man. Peter came over to talk to his dad about what happened. Kurt swallowed thickly and looked up at his dad, wondering how much Peter told him.

“I’ve been thinking.“ Burt paused, trying to find the words. “Maybe New York isn’t the right place for us. With your mother gone. It may be easier to be somewhere else.

Kurt didn’t hide his shock. He gaped at his father, unable to say anything.

“Kurt, we’re moving to Ohio.”