Opening Ceremonies
(Six months later.)
“Come on! Let's get funnel cake!” Sharon yelled as they were walking into the Stark Expo.
Maria just shook her head at her cousin's antics. “No. We don’t need to stop at every single concession stand.”
Sharon nudged her younger cousin. “Pete, help me out here.” She told him in a mock whisper.
Peter stuck out his bottom lip and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. “Please Aunt Ria. Please can we get funnel cake?”
Sharon knelt down so that her face was next to Peter’s. “How can you say no to this face?”
Maria looked down at the two of them. “Like this. Noooooooo.” And kept walking.
Peter looked at Sharon with his mouth open in shock. “She’s mean Share.”
Sharon nodded her head in agreement. “Now you’re starting to see what your dad and I go through.” She stood up and took Peter’s hand.
The pair were walking through the entrance when all of a sudden Peter yelled at two police officers. “Uncle Ben!”
Ben turned around to see his nephew running at him, dragging a laughing Sharon along with Maria following behind.
“Hey Pete. What are you doing here?” He asked. He had already known his nephew would be there but he wanted to humor his nephew.
“We’re here for the Expo.” Peter told him when he reached his uncle. “Why are you wearing your uniform?”
“Because I’m working Pete.” Ben told him as he knelt down so he was eye level with his nephew.
“But I thought you were a detective and didn’t have to wear a uniform anymore.”
Ben ruffled his nephew's hair. “I am a detective. I’m just wearing this for tonight so I can get overtime.”
“Oh.” Peter simply said. “Where’s Aunt May?”
“She’s working tonight too.” Ben told his nephew when his radio went off. “Sorry Pete, got to get back to work.”
Before Ben and his partner could leave, Peter called after him. “Wait! Uncle Ben, can I have money for funnel cake?”
Ben smiled down at his nephew as he reached for his wallet, while Maria looked incredulously down at him, and Sharon was fighting the urge to laugh hysterically. “Go have fun Pete.” Ben handed Peter the money.
“Thanks Uncle Ben!” He called as he dragged a laughing Sharon to the nearest stand.
“I told the two of them no funnel cake.” Maria sighed as she turned to follow the two of them, and Ben just laughed as he got back to work.
Maria finally caught up to the cousins just as they ordered the funnel cake. “Aren’t you an adult with an actual job? Why do you need someone else to get you food?”
Sharon just looked at her cousin. “What can I say, Peter brings out the kid in me.” She said as she took the funnel cake from behind the counter. “Plus it's a lot of fun to annoy you.”
“I hate you.” She told her cousin as she glanced at her watch. “Come on. Tony’s entrance is coming up, we need to get to our seats.”
Maria led them to their seats for the show, Peter and Sharon eating their funnel cake the whole way. When they finally reached the main stage pavilion, she turned around to give Peter his ticket. She saw that Peter was covered in powdered sugar and Sharon wasn’t much better.
Maria pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just…How?”
“It kinda got away from us.” Sharon said sheepishly.
“It was good.” Peter said happily.
“I’m sure it was sweetie.” Maria said as she knelt down and started to dust her nephew off.
“Eww. Aunt Ria.” Peter squirmed as she cleaned off his face.
“Did you eat any of it or did you decide wearing it was a better option?” She asked him. “I blame you.” She looked up at Sharon.
“Okay. Yeah, that's fair.” Sharon said.
Maria rolled her eyes before she looked back at Peter. “Remember. When you see your dad fly in…”
“I can’t yell dad or call him dad while we’re here.” Peter proudly told his aunt, having remembered what his father, Pepper, and aunt had all told him.
Maria nodded as she stood up. “That's right. Come on.”
The group made their way into the pavilion and found their seats, Peter in the middle of the two adults. Soon enough, the lights dimmed, dancers made their way onto the stage, and AC/DC started playing over the sound system. As the audience stood up in anticipation, Peter struggled to see the stage through the crowd. Maria took pity on her nephew and picked him up so he could see better.
“You’re getting too big for this.” She told him.
Peter merely smiled at his aunt before looking back to the stage. Suddenly, Tony came flying through an opening in the roof and landed on the stage.
Sharon moved over to Peter’s vacant spot. “You gotta hand it to him! He has always known how to make an entrance!” She yelled over the crowd noise to her cousin.
Maria nodded in response, alternating between watching her brother and the wonder in her nephew's eyes.
“Oh. It’s good to be back. You missed me?” Tony said to the crowd.
“Blow something up!” Sharon yelled to him, causing Peter to start laughing and Maria gave her a disapproving look.
Tony looked directly at his cousin, knowing it was her that yelled at him. “I missed you too.” He said looking at her, causing her to laugh. “Blow something up? I already did that. I’m not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me. I’m not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I’m not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven’t come across anyone who’s man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day.”
“His ego is going into overdrive and you just had to feed it!” Maria yelled at Sharon.
Sharon laughed in response. “Oh live a little.”
They turned their attention back to Tony on stage. “And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it’s all about, please welcome my father, Howard.”
Maria watched the video with indifference. He may have been her biological father but she had never met the man and she had no idea if he had ever even laid eyes on her. As far as she was concerned he was just another rich asshole.
She shifted her gaze to Peter and saw him watching the video of his grandfather in amazement. Tony and her never talked about Howard around Peter so this was his first real opportunity to see him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sharon watching him as well, with a smile on her face.
After the show, the three of them made their way out of the pavilion with the rest of the crowd. Peter and Sharon made their way into one of the gift shops while Maria hung back, letting the two of them have fun. When she looked inside, she saw Peter and Sharon trying on the novelty Iron Man masks that were being sold at the Expo. She took a quick picture of them with her phone and sent it to her brother. Just as she was putting her phone away she got a text from her brother.
Tony: Got subpoenaed. Have to go to DC and appear before some Senate committee. Watch the kid for a couple of days?
Maria quickly responded. Yeah I’ll watch him. Don’t do anything stupid
Tony: Doing something stupid is what I do best.
Maria shook her head as she put her phone away and made her way in to get Peter and Sharon.
“I just heard from my brother, I’ve got to watch Pete for a couple days.” She told Sharon as she reached the cousins, careful to not use her brother's name.
“So what are we doing for the next couple days then?” Sharon asked as she put the masks back on the shelf.
Maria raised an eyebrow at Sharon. “We?”
“Yes we.” She said as she took Peter’s hand and began heading out of the gift shop. “I’m still off for the next week and you now have access to both your brother’s plane and his money. So I ask again, what are we doing?”
Maria thought as they walked towards the exit. “I don’t know.” She looked down at Peter. “What do you want to do Pete?”
Peter scrunched up his face, deep in thought before it lit up. “Can we go to Disney World?”
Sharon looked to Maria. “I like Peter’s idea. Let’s go visit the mouse.”
Maria laughed at the two of them. “Okay then, let's go to Florida.”
Peter let out an excited yelp while Sharon looked over at Maria with what could only be described as a shit eating grin. “Hey Ria, did you ever hear why Mickey wanted a divorce from Minnie?” Maria slapped Sharon on the back of the head before she could continue. “Ow!”