"He was great." Peter recalls almost absently. "I really thought he just wanted to be my friend and I started talking more. Aunt May and Ben were so relieved. I've always been really smart for my age and kinda observant so even though I was ten I knew they were relieved when I actually made a friend." He's not entirely sure why he keeps bringing that up but it feels important. Maybe to really underline that it wasn't May or Ben's fault. How could they have possibly known? They're good people. They took Peter in when he lost his parents and they took care of him through the worst moments of his life.

"Anyway, his parents were divorced and his mom worked so I used to go to his house after school. He let me do whatever I wanted which was mostly watch science documentaries or just talk about things that interested me. Just one day while we were playing pool I was talking about how the balls kinda reminded me of the planets in the solar system and he pulled this box down from his closet and said that he had something that would get my mind off science for a while-that we always did what I wanted to do and he wanted to do something he wanted. I think about those words a lot. Now I think he only let me do what I wanted so that he could make me feel guilty when I tried to say no." He admits. Maybe some of those feelings are trying to seep back in, building just beneath the service of the imposed calm. That wasn't an important detail so maybe somehow he's still trying to stall.