A Bottle of Jack Daniels
I woke up with the sun hitting my eyes. My head was throbbing and my body was sore. I groaned and turned onto my other side to find another person in my bed. Oh no we didn't.
“Peter. Peter wake up”. I whispered, nudging the sleeping boy next to me.
“Just a few more minutes and I'll be down”. He said back.
“Peter!”. I said louder.
He finally turned around and squinted at me, “Iris?”.
“Yeah. Do you remember anything about last night?”.
“What do you mean?”.
I gave him a look and he realized we were both very naked. “Did we…?”.
“I think so”.
“Mr. Stark is gonna kill us”.
“Not if he doesn't know”.
“But Mr. Stark knows everything”.
“Peter, I think we should just forget about all of this. I think that this was just a lack of judgment on both of our parts. And I don't want the whole team to know we, ya know”.
“I agree. You are one of my best friends Iris. I don't think we should jeopardize that with this silly incident. I don't even remember what happened last night”.
“I mean I guess the first thing they don't know about is two minors got drunk under their watch”. I laughed.
“That would be the worst”. He laughed and then got dressed and snuck out. Hopefully not being seen.
I can't believe that happened. I mean the night started off fine. I had gotten a hold of the bottle of Jack Daniels and I didn't think we drank that much of it. Hell, I didn't know Peter could get drunk. How did we get back here?
“Hey Friday, could you pull up the video of Peter and me from last night. I want to know how we got back here”.
“Of course”.
The video began with Peter and I sitting in the lounge in the far corner of the common room, talking and laughing. We were passing the bottle back and forth trying not to get caught. At some point, I had even become Bucky to avoid suspicion.
“We should go back to my room. All of the old people are starting to get wined down”. I slurred out.
“Ok”. Peter agreed and we slipped out giggling and stumbling back to my bedroom.
The video switched to the room and we were sitting on the bed.
“Hey Ris, you're really cool”.
“You're really cool”.
“I think you are one of my best friends”.
I smiled then leaned in and kissed him, “Thanks bro”. I slurred as I pulled back.
“You kissed me”. Peter laughed.
“I did. Sorry”. I laughed back.
“It wasn't bad”.
“Really?”.
He shook his head, “You know I’ve never kissed anybody before”.
“I was your first kiss”.
He nodded again, “Yeah. Thanks bro”. He slurred.
Then he leaned in and kissed me again and I guess you know what happened after that.
“Fri thank you”.
It was Peter's first kiss and he had never…. I put my head in my hands. What am I going to do? I love Peter but this was much more complicated than it should be. I guess he doesn't remember anything but still.
“Miss the team is asking if you will be down for breakfast”. Friday chimed in.
“Yeah, I'll be down in a minute”.
I got dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of bike shorts and checked myself in the mirror. Jeez. My makeup from last night was still half on so I washed my face before heading down to the dining room.
“Hey, guys”.
“Well, thanks for finally joining us Miss Moore”. Tony Stark was at the head of the table drinking his coffee and looking smug as per usual.
I smiled and sat down next to Wanda and started to butter some toast.
“Would you care to explain why a bottle of Jack is missing from my bar, Miss Moore?”. Tony asked.
“I don't know what you are talking about”.
“You see I thought you would say that but I have proof that you did take the bottle. Friday pull up the video”.
The same video I watched this morning played without the part in the bedroom.
“Now Iris I'm not mad cause I get it kids are kids so no missions for two weeks and we will call it even. Just don't let it happen again”.
“I'm sorry Tony”.
“Thank you and Peter will also be getting the same punishment. You can serve it together”.
I shuddered a little.
“You ok Iris?”. Steve asked across from me.
“Yeah, I'm fine”.
“Hey everybody. Good morning”. Peter finally had made it downstairs.
“Underoos no missions for two weeks for the bottle of Jack”.
“But Mr. Stark-”.
“No buts and Iris got the same punishment”.
I looked at him and shrugged.
“Fine”. He sat down next to Steve and avoided any eye contact. I wonder if he watched the video too.
“What video”. Wanda whispered next to me.
“Wanda we talked about this”.
“Sorry”.
“It's fine and it's nothing. Don't worry about it”.
“You seem paranoid”.
“I'm fine. I swear”.
She just rolled her eyes and went back to eating her waffles. Breakfast went on like normal. The usual chatting and teasing ensued. We mostly talked about the party which was the only thing on my mind. I felt bad for the whole night. It was my fault that Peter and I got drunk and did it and now we were suspended. It was only two weeks but still, it sucked. I wanted to talk to him after breakfast. Just to clear the air a little. I tried to get to him but was stopped by Wanda.
“What happened between you and Peter?”.
“Nothing”.
“You seemed anxious during that video we watched earlier”.
“It was nothing. I just feel bad that we both got suspended”.
“You sure it wasn't something else?”.
“No Wanda. Now I'm going to go say I'm sorry”.
I walked to Peter's room. Anxiety grows with every step. I knocked.
“Hey, Pete, can I come in?”.
“Yeah”. He yelled back.
I came in and he was seated at his desk working on what I assumed was homework.
“I just wanted to say I'm sorry I got us suspended and I'm sorry for last night”.
“I'm not sorry. I watched the video. It looks like we had fun and I wasn't lying. I think you're really cool and you are one of my best friends”.
“It did look like we had fun. I guess I'm just sorry it went that far”.
“Iris I'm the one who went in for the more intense kiss and we were both drunk. It's ok”.
“But-”.
“No buts”. He impersonated Tony this morning.
“Fine. Like I said earlier we should just move on and pretend it never happened”.
“Yeah, we can just remember the fun stuff”.
I smiled and left his room. If anyone in the tower could get over this it was Peter and me. And we did actually. The suspension went by quickly and we were back going on missions. I had to pretend to be the governor's assistant to get access to files attached back to the Red Room for Nat and that was fun. I haven't been feeling the best recently. I've been nauseous and tired. It hasn't been fun and the others are taking notice. Especially Nat and Wanda. They won't stop bugging me and asking if I'm sure I'm ok. I tell them I am but I'm starting to get concerned.
We all went to Ukraine to take down an old Hydra base that had been hidden for a very long time. On that mission, I got hit pretty badly in the side of the face and had a cut and probably a concussion. I went to the medbay when we returned and got the cut stitched up.
“Hey Iris, were you aware that you are pregnant?”. Dr. Cho asked.
“What?”.
“I'll take this as a no”.
Oh my god. It all makes sense now. Nausea and fatigue and shit I did miss my period now that I think about it.
“I know that this is probably a lot to process. We can talk about your options”.
“No um, thanks Dr. Cho”.
I quickly ran out of the room and tried to find Peter. I had to tell him. I was stopped when I saw that Peter was with MJ. They had started dating a few weeks ago shortly after our little drunken accident.
“Hey Iris. You remember MJ”. Peter gestured for me to come in and say hi.
“Oh yeah. Hey”. I waved.
“Hey. It's good to meet you again. You're a badass”. She said,
“Thanks, I try”, I laughed, I'll leave you guys. See ya later”.
Great. Now I have to keep this a secret much longer than I wanted. What are we gonna do? I mean I know what I want to do but I have to ask Peter. He's going to want to keep it. I know it. I don't know if I can do this though. I don't want to be a mom. Not yet. And what is everybody going to think? And MJ. It's not fair for her to be dragged into this whole mess. I went to my bedroom and stood facing my mirror. I put my hands on my stomach and breathed and began to cry. This can't be happening. I sobbed for what felt like hours. This was all my fault. I wanted to end it. There was a knock on my door and I went to answer it to find Wanda standing there.
“Iris what happened?”. I pulled her into the room and we sat on my bed much like Peter and I did all those weeks ago. I told her what happened that night all the way to this evening.
“...And then Dr. Cho told me that I'm um pregnant”.
“Are you kidding me”?
“No, and it's Peters”.
“Oh Ris”. She pulled me into a hug and I continued to cry. After a while, Wanda asked me if I wanted to go down to dinner with her and I agreed. I looked in the mirror and tried to compose myself. I didn't want to look like a complete disaster. I stayed quiet for most of the meal. I couldn't even focus on eating. The events of the past few weeks played in my mind.
“Iris, you ok down there?”. Sam spoke up.
“What?”. I snapped out of my thoughts.
“I asked if you were ok”.
“Yeah yeah I'm fine”.
“You've been saying that a lot recently. Are you sure there is nothing going on?”. Nat asked.
“Yeah, just school is stressful. The play I'm in is next week”.
“Oh yeah. We will all be going to Iris’s play next week so everybody better have free schedules”. Tony said.
That shifted the conversation off of me to Sam trying to get out of seeing the play. I went back to my entranced state. I couldn't make an appointment for next week because of the play so it would have to be the week after and I will be about 9 weeks at that point. I still had to talk to Peter. He was laughing about something with Sam and Bucky. I wish he knew. I knew what I had to do though. We couldn't have this baby. We were both just in high school and Peter was supposed to go to MIT and I was undecided but still. We had this whole future ahead of us. We couldn't risk all of it for something that only half of us want. I excused myself after dinner.
“Peter, can we talk?”. I asked him discreetly before I went back to my room.
He followed shortly behind and went to sit on my bed.
“Is everything ok?”. He asked.
“Um no not really. I'm just going to get right into it, um, I'm…pregnant”.
He sat there, his mouth agape, staring at me with expressionless eyes. I studied his face trying to get anything. Anything that would tell me how he was feeling. His eyebrows kept jumping and he was moving his mouth in a way that made it seem like he was trying to say something but he couldn't.
“I know it's a shock. I just found out a few hours ago. I'm just going to be honest with you because I feel like we can be honest with each other. I don't want this baby. I think I'm going to get an abortion the week after the play. You don't have to be there or anything. I just wanted you to know”. I said quickly.
“Iris…don't”.
“What do you mean “don't ``''?.
“Don't get rid of the baby”.
“Peter, we are seniors in high school about to leave for college and you have a girlfriend and we are Avengers and there is no reason for us to have a baby”.
“But this is my kid Ris. Our kid. I've lost so much family already and I don't want to lose this either. I mean can't you understand that?”.
“Yeah but I don't want to be a mom. I know that sounds selfish but this is my body and my life that is completely being invaded by something I'm not ready for”.
“But what if you could be. We could do this. And we have the help of the team and-”.
“What about MJ?”.
“I'll be honest with her about everything”.
“That's not my point. Do you think she wants to help raise a kid that's not hers at 17?”.
“No but she won't have to raise it. We will. We can do this Iris”.
“I know we can do it but I don't want to”.
“Please Iris”.
“I'm sorry but I'm not ready Peter”.
“Whatever”. He got up and started to walk away.
“Whatever. That's all you have to say, Whatever”.
“YES BECAUSE YOU ARE RIGHT YOU ARE BEING COMPLETELY SELFISH. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU ASKED ME IF YOU ARE JUST GOING TO GET AN ABORTION ANYWAY”.
“BECAUSE I WANTED YOU TO KNOW. YOU KNOW YOU HAVEN'T EVEN ASKED ME HOW I'M FEELING OR IF IM OK SO YOU CAN'T STAND THERE AND CALL ME SELFISH WHEN YOU HAVE ONLY TALKED ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT AND YOU WON'T EVEN HAVE TO CARRY THE THING FOR NINE MONTHS OR BREASTFEED AND HAVE YOU EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT POWERS THIS KID COULD HAVE”.
He stood and stared at me. Regret is what filled his eyes.
“I'm sorry. You're right. Are you ok?”.
“For now”.
“You know, I can hear the heartbeat. I could hear it earlier but I wasn't sure what it was until you told me”.
I gave him a small smile.
“Just think about it. Please”. He turned and left.