Peter's Godfather

Ch9

"Stop fussing, MJ."

MJ clicks her tongue stubbornly. "Not fussing."

Peter swats her hand away from his head and takes one last look in the mirror (button up shirt, black pants, blue tie, hair slicked to the sides and down the back kinda like young Rob Lowe) before ducking out of the bathroom MJ took over.

When Peter enters the living room and takes a bow, Ned whistles. "For someone who knows crap-all about fashion and presentation," Ned says, "MJ did nicely."

"I only look like I know crap-all about fashion and presentation," the girl drawls, "and that's exactly how I like it."

Peter waves his hands at his two friends, feeling frantic. "Guys! Mr. Stark's gonna be here in twenty minutes. Is everything ready?"

"I've got the checklist," Ned announces. MJ joins him on the couch, presumably to add things to the list as they go, while Peter remains standing, pacing.

"Phone?" Ned asks.

"Got it."

"Wallet?"

"Check."

"Deodorant, mint?"

"Check."

"Fake ID?"

"Wha- what would I need a fake ID for, Ned?"

Before Ned can respond, the intercom buzzes loudly, so Peter goes over to see.

He presses the button and says, "hello?"

"Peter Parker?"

Ned's jaw drops and he mouths Tony Stark! ; even MJ looks a bit shocked. A bit.

"Hi, Mr. Stark," Peter says, "you're early!"

"Well, you seemed like the kind of kid who would be ready half an hour before and just sitting around-"

"You're in, you can come up!" Peter interrupts with a groan. His friends snort with laughter and he glares at them.

No less than 26 seconds later, there's a knock on the door.

Peter answers.

Tony Stark, standing tall in a black three piece and a Beatles' Revolver-themed tie, waves.

"Ready to go, kid?"

"Yeah."

Peter says good-bye to his friends and follows Mr. Stark to his car. The license plate is STARK16, and the sports car is sky blue with purple edges. Peter hopes Mr. Stark doesn't catch him gawking before hopping in.

Tony starts the ignition and pulls onto a highway.

"So, kid, you look nice."

"Thanks. You too."

Mr. Stark guns the car the rest of the way there, so fast Peter considers saying something  a couple of different times. Mr. Stark tosses out conversational tidbits every couple of minutes, random comments and the like. Peter nods and replies as he sees fit. The drive is so long, they've even touched up on a bit of basic physics as Peter starts to see more and more people with mics and nice outfits.

Mr. Stark must've noticed Peter looking uncomfortable, because before exiting the sports car, he turns to Peter and smiles reassuringly.

"Just ignore them. I'll lead you in. You'll stick by me, then find a niche. But I'm not going to abandon you or anything."

"Are you sure we can't just talk science in here for the rest of the night?" Peter replies. Turn on the heater, recline the seats, and call that a night.

Mr. Stark laughs and claps Peter's shoulder.

"This was your idea, Pete. I can take you back if you need to."

"No!" Peter says. "No. I can do this."

Mr. Stark nods and leans over. Peter brings his arm over his back in a side- hug of sorts, but Tony clicks the handle and says, 

"This is not a hug. I'm just grabbing the door from you. We're not there yet."

Dammit. Peter cringes and sighs inwardly. Hopefully, that's the last screwup of the night. The rest has to go well.

Things start picking up next chapter! Thank you so much for reading! If you have any ideas of what else you'd like me to write, or if you just wanna talk about how your day is going, feel free to reach out! Have a great day/night!

Bye :)