May liked cooking for Peter even though she didn't often have a chance to do it in their reality. She also always had her mind on a million things so she'd end up burning the turkey meatloaf or forgetting the boiling water back home. However, she was a good cook when she concentrated on the task at hand. Her Italian mother and father taught her plenty of good recipes. Still, she'd never turn down some good New York City food truck goodies.
She decided on tacos first so she got on line and smiled at the people milling around.
"Hi, May! Isn't this great?," Gert gestured around at the food trucks, "Mr. Stark is the first billionaire I've ever met who wasn't a sociopath, it's awesome!"
She was carrying a veggie burger, curly fries and a coke, "Did you find your kid? I'd like to meet him!"
May smiled at the young woman. She may have laughed off Gertrude's sociopath comment before living through aliens and blips, but now she was pretty sure the self-prescribed hero-adjacent was serious. "Tony is pretty okay," she teased. "He has good taste in food trucks at least." She accepted her tacos with a thank you and turned back to the girl. "I found Pete, thank God." She wasn't sure she could survive without her last family member. "You'd get along, I think."
"Seriously, I met a lot of billionaires back when..." Molly was about to say 'when I was with my parents and PRIDE', but stopped herself. Explaining her parents, their space alien death cult, it just seemed a little much. ".... I was in LA" She took a sip of soda.
"I'm so glad you found him, that must have been so scary!" Gert knew that even though Stacey and Dale had been evil, they had been worried when she and Molly had run away."
"I can't wait to meet him. I bet he and Molly will get along too!" She appraised the older woman, "Do you ever get tired of the whole superhero/ super villain/ homocidal alien thing? I'm doing this workbook on radical acceptance, but it doesn't seem like the authors really understand the reality of genocidal aliens."
May had to laugh at the girl's question. Did she ever! "It is our life," she said, "But I do wish the bad guys would stay away for a while. I am sure all aliens aren't bad, but my experience so far..." She shook her head. "But we can't judge everyone, right?"
"I wish I knew what made a bad guy into a bad guy....like maybe we could make a vaccine?" Gert smiled, "It would be nice if they would coordinate with one another so that we could arrange our schedules better." She chomped a couple of fries, happy that May hadn't seemed to care a single thing about what Gert was putting into her mouth.
"Well, I mean, I think if someone is trying to blow up our planet, steal our moon, or use us as food, then I think we totally have the right to judge them." She thought for a few minutes. "My friend, Karolina is nice and her friend Xavin was nice after she stopped being creepy, "But a lot of aliens are real jerk faces."
"Wouldn't that be something?" May replied. "But, you know, besides born sociopaths, some evil is home-grown too. People get caught up in their experiences and next thing you know, they are caught up in a life of crime." May wasn't sure how they ended up discussing such things in the middle of the food trucks, but it was nice flexing her brain. Sometimes she got so caught up in work and taking care of Peter, she didn't have time for such discussions.
"They are aliens then?" May guessed. "Your friends who aren't jerk faces?"
Tony stuffed himself with all his favorite dishes at each truck and was finally settling down with some coffee when he decided to check on the residents running around. "Anyone need anything?" He asked no one in particular.
Peter thanked the guy behind the counter of the pizza truck a took the giant slice of pizza and the 32 oz vat of Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, Orange Crush and Sprite that he'd been given.
Tony turned toward the voice, eyes landing on Quill. "Hey, man," he said. "No problem. You and Gamora still doing okay in your ship?" He'd offered Gamora an apartment, but she mentioned the ship was fine.
Stalling for time, Peter took a large bite of pizza, chewed it and then replied, "I appreciate the offer of a place, but if you're cool with us taking up a chunk of the landing pad, we're both used to living on it." He took a swig of his drink, "Plus, if Gamora decides to kill me, hosing the decks is easier than getting blood out of of carpet."
Tony laughed. "Sounds like Pepper after I do something she's warned me not to do a million times." His smiled faltered when he thought of his wife. He loved having his daughter back, albeit a different age, and, naturally, he adored having Peter Parker back, but he missed his wife. "Ah, Pep is my wife," he added. "She is forever trying to keep me from dangerous shit."
"You think she might end up here?" Peter studied Tony's face, "I thought I'd never see Gamora again. It was bad." He took another drink, "I did shit I regret, so if you need anything... I'm around."
Peter looked over where Gamora held Groot, they weren't okay yet, but he thought they might be started that direction, "Gamora usually tries to get to the dangerous shit before I do, it's like her thing." He lowered his voice a little, "We need to talk about Thanos. We need a plan."
“Stop trying to bite the truck, Groot. No, I know it looks yummy but it’s made of metal.” Gamora scooped the tiny tree up off the ground as he tried to sprint past her to terrorize a pigeon who had landed near where someone dropped a French Fry.
Setting him on her shoulder, she stepped to the front of the line and ordered.
“I am Groot?” He asked, pulling in her hair.
“You need to eat food, buddy, then we can talk about a Drax sized Sundae, ok?”
When the food came, she handed him a fry, before balancing their hot dogs, fries and drinks and turned to find a table. “You are so your father’s problem at bedtime though.”
"Peter, I am capable of carrying my own food," Gamora slid onto the picnic bench, and set Groot on the table top next to the hot dog that was bigger than he was. "And I was planning on giving him twice his weight in ice cream next so he never sleeps again. Right kiddo?"
"IAMGROOT!" the tiny tree shouted, smearing mustard all over his bark as he attempted to stuff the entire thing in his mouth.
Peter started to sit down, stopped himself and stood awkwardly for a moment, What the hell did I do now? he thought. He realized immediately, that he'd done what he'd always done, just rolled in and assumed Gamora wanted or needed him. Now what the hell do I do? Is this a give her space thing or a don't make it a thing thing, or a throw myself at the mercy of the court, thing?.
He set his drink down on the table, "I wanted to help, but you're right. You got it under control." Picking up the drink again, he leaned over and touched the top of Groot's head, "Be good, little man."
"Let me know if you need anything," Peter said and headed back towards the building.
As inexplicably annoyed at him as she had been a few seconds ago, Gamora's heart sank when he turned away. She sighed, wondering whether they were ever going to get things right again.
At the sound of her voice, Peter turned and came back to the table. Looking at her face, Peter said quietly, "It's okay, Gamora. Do you want me to grab you guys something?"
He smiled at her, "I want you guys to have a good time. You can meet people and he can go P-U-N-C-H a seagull after he eats."
Look, he loved his aunt, right? But that didn't mean he wanted to have every meal with her. He wasn't hiding from her - he could see her from where he was sitting - but he wanted to sort of hang out on his own for a little bit. Also, he ate a lot and his table was covered with plates. Don't judge - his metabolism was ridiculous. 2000 calories for him was breakfast.
Not that everyone knew that, so he could validly claim 'growing teenager' if he had to.
"Can I sit here?" Molly had chosen the only other person she saw who was around her age, and was already sitting down across from him with a boatload of cheese fries, a giant slice of pizza, and an Impossible cheeseburger. "My sister will just start on the carbon footprint of making vegetables act like meat and while I appreciate her wanting me to be 'woke' or whatever, sometimes you just want to eat, you know?"
She took a sip of her drink, and smiled, "I'm Molly. I'm guessing you're not from around here either?"
He nodded, pulling at a stretch of cheese so it would break free from his slice of pizza. "I think you should just eat what you wanna eat." He was pretty sure there were much more efficient ways to handle carbon footprint reduction. And he was pretty sure Mr. Stark was already working on solutions for that - it's what he did.
"I mean I do. God knows I work off enough of it between dance team and..." she had been about to say 'crime fighting,' but remembered that she had promised Gert she wouldn't do that. Until of course it was sanctioned by Iron Man himself. Then Gert could clearly not argue.
She dipped a fry in cheese sauce and took a bite. "It's weird right? I mean I was in California, just getting home from school, and then I was on the east coast and it's a year later and we're living in Iron Man's house. I mean crazy shit happens to me all the time, but this is up there."
There's a slight roll of his eyes. "Tell me about it." He's had his share of 'weird shit' happen. "I was on the East Coast, in New York, actually. I'm from Queens. But there are a lot of things different here. It's weird."
"So what do you do around here?" Molly asked, "Like for fun and stuff? Mr. Stark said I probably don't have to do high school, since it was technically last year when I was a senior, but that leaves a lot of time on my hands."
She took a bite of her impossible burger, which was impossibly delicious, as advertised.
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May | Open
She decided on tacos first so she got on line and smiled at the people milling around.
Re: May | Open
She was carrying a veggie burger, curly fries and a coke, "Did you find your kid? I'd like to meet him!"
Re: May | Open
Re: May | Open
"I'm so glad you found him, that must have been so scary!" Gert knew that even though Stacey and Dale had been evil, they had been worried when she and Molly had run away."
"I can't wait to meet him. I bet he and Molly will get along too!" She appraised the older woman, "Do you ever get tired of the whole superhero/ super villain/ homocidal alien thing? I'm doing this workbook on radical acceptance, but it doesn't seem like the authors really understand the reality of genocidal aliens."
Re: May | Open
Re: May | Open
"Well, I mean, I think if someone is trying to blow up our planet, steal our moon, or use us as food, then I think we totally have the right to judge them." She thought for a few minutes. "My friend, Karolina is nice and her friend Xavin was nice after she stopped being creepy, "But a lot of aliens are real jerk faces."
Re: May | Open
"They are aliens then?" May guessed. "Your friends who aren't jerk faces?"
Tony | Open
Re: Tony | Open
"This was a good idea, Tony. Thanks"
Re: Tony | Open
Re: Tony | Open
Re: Tony | Open
Tony | Open
Peter looked over where Gamora held Groot, they weren't okay yet, but he thought they might be started that direction, "Gamora usually tries to get to the dangerous shit before I do, it's like her thing." He lowered his voice a little, "We need to talk about Thanos. We need a plan."
Gamora | Open
Setting him on her shoulder, she stepped to the front of the line and ordered.
“I am Groot?” He asked, pulling in her hair.
“You need to eat food, buddy, then we can talk about a Drax sized Sundae, ok?”
When the food came, she handed him a fry, before balancing their hot dogs, fries and drinks and turned to find a table. “You are so your father’s problem at bedtime though.”
Edited 2020-09-23 09:14 pm (UTC)
Re: Gamora | Open
Re: Gamora | Open
"IAMGROOT!" the tiny tree shouted, smearing mustard all over his bark as he attempted to stuff the entire thing in his mouth.
Re: Gamora | Open
He set his drink down on the table, "I wanted to help, but you're right. You got it under control." Picking up the drink again, he leaned over and touched the top of Groot's head, "Be good, little man."
"Let me know if you need anything," Peter said and headed back towards the building.
Re: Gamora | Open
"Peter," she called after him.
Re: Gamora | Open
He smiled at her, "I want you guys to have a good time. You can meet people and he can go P-U-N-C-H a seagull after he eats."
Edited 2020-09-24 05:22 am (UTC)
Peter | Open
Not that everyone knew that, so he could validly claim 'growing teenager' if he had to.
Re: Peter | Open
She took a sip of her drink, and smiled, "I'm Molly. I'm guessing you're not from around here either?"
Re: Peter | Open
"Peter," he said. "Not exactly from here, no."
Re: Peter | Open
She dipped a fry in cheese sauce and took a bite. "It's weird right? I mean I was in California, just getting home from school, and then I was on the east coast and it's a year later and we're living in Iron Man's house. I mean crazy shit happens to me all the time, but this is up there."
Re: Peter | Open
There's a slight roll of his eyes. "Tell me about it." He's had his share of 'weird shit' happen. "I was on the East Coast, in New York, actually. I'm from Queens. But there are a lot of things different here. It's weird."
Re: Peter | Open
She took a bite of her impossible burger, which was impossibly delicious, as advertised.