“You’re scared of dogs?”
Peter, Mj, Ned, Betty and Wanda were crowded around their regular booth at the diner, all of them slurping on milkshakes and eating the fries they had bought to share. The diner itself was rather quiet; except from them, there were only a couple of other people. Not that that bothered the group of teens, they preferred it when it was quiet. There was less of a chance of Wanda being recognised. Plus, when the diner wasn’t busy, Tilly the waitress would often give them drinks on the house. Apparently, the Avengers saved her nephew’s life one time, so she was ‘eternally in their debt’. Wanda and Peter felt a little bad about it, but their friends didn’t have the luxury of being employed by Tony Stark. So, they guiltily accepted the free drinks every time Tilly offered.
On this specific occasion, the group had been given a round of their favourite flavoured milkshakes for free after they had popped by the day before to surprise little Nathan on his birthday. The boy had been ecstatic, and Tilly was grinning ear to ear the entire time.
“I’m not scared of them” Wanda insisted indignantly, her usually pale cheeks flushed red.
“You totally are” giggled Peter. His eyes danced with glee as he laughed. “You ran away from that Poodle like your life depended on it!”
“It was massive!” she exclaimed. Her face was stern but her slightly upturned lips betrayed her. Betty and MJ chuckled as the pair bickered with each other whilst Ned just shook his head.
“You know what, Wanda. I’m on your side, that was an abnormally large Poodle”
“Thank you!” she cried a little too loudly, attracting the attention of a grumpy man a couple tables away. Wanda apologised with a wince, her cheeks burning once more.
“Ned, what the hell man?” Peter asked in an accusatory tone.
“Sorry dude, but she’s right. It was freaking huge” Ned shrugged. Wanda raised both eyebrows at Peter as if to say I told you so, prompting Peter to open his mouth to argue back. He was interrupted however with a clap of MJ’s hands.
“Right! As entertaining as it is to watch you losers tear into each other, I think we should actually focus and talk about…you know, what we were going to talk about” MJ declared, fumbling for words at the end. Wanda noticed not for the first time that evening that MJ looked rather nervous and she sent Betty a questioning glance.
“Right. Yeah.” Peter agreed lamely, suddenly going very quiet. Wanda and Betty both squinted at the pair with raised eyebrows whilst Ned shifted excitably in his seat.
“Is it just me that’s confused?” Betty asked irritably, eyes flickering between MJ and Peter like she was watching a tennis match.
“Nope. I have no idea what’s going on” Wanda admitted. Peter and MJ looked at each other and for a moment they were quiet, though it was clear that they were still silently communicating with each other.
“I swear to god if one of you don’t fill us in right now-” Betty started, though she was interrupted.
“MJ and I are dating”
“I asked Peter out”
They said simultaneously. Wanda’s mouth dropped open in an almost comical manner and Ned squealed, bouncing up and down in his seat.
“I knew it!” Ned cried.
“What?!” exclaimed Wanda as she choked on her strawberry milkshake.
“Is that it?” Betty asked, one sculpted eyebrow raised as she carefully drank from her cup.
Peter and MJ laughed at their varied responses and their hands slipped together on top of the table.
“Yeah. That’s it” Peter smiled, his brown eyes searching MJ’s face. She returned his smile, but never said anything else. She didn’t find the whole ‘public affection’ thing easy, so Peter knew that even holding hands in plain sight was a big deal for her.
“I’m sorry, what?” Wanda repeated with brows furrowed in shock.
“We’re dating” MJ announced as she squeezed Peter’s hand.
“Since when?”
“A month or so ago, we wanted to keep it quiet for a while, but we thought you guys should know” Peter confessed sheepishly.
“I knew it!” Ned clapped his hands together in glee. “You two are like, soulmates. You’re destined for each other!”
“I knew it too, but by the looks on your faces I thought somebody had died” Betty chuckled as she tucked her blonde locks behind her ears.
Wanda, still stupefied, was tempted to exclaim “what!” again, but she managed to bite it down. Instead, she settled for “How did I not notice this?”
“Like I said, we kept it low-profile for a bit”
Wanda shook her head in disbelief, but a smile had crept onto her face.
“Well, I’m happy for you. You guys are good together”
“Yeah?” Peter asked, the smile on his face growing hesitantly bigger. Wanda was touched that her opinion meant so much to Peter. The boy got on her nerves more than anyone she had ever met (except Pietro. Wanda was starting to think it was a ‘brother’ thing) but they shared a fierce bond and cared a lot about one another. He wasn’t a replacement, because nobody could ever replace her twin, but it was nice to have someone to look out for again.
“Yeah” she affirmed, nudging his shoulder playfully. MJ visibly relaxed in her seat (or maybe it was only visible to Wanda, she’d spent far too much time with Natasha lately) and smiled gratefully at her. Apparently, her opinion mattered to more than just Peter, Wanda realised with surprise.
“I’m not going to lie though, if you guys continue to be this mushy, I will have to hold an intervention” Betty warned them, her eyes shining mischievously. Before MJ could grow uncomfortable again, Ned grabbed Betty’s arm and pulled her up from the booth.
“Refills?” He asked, and everyone bar Betty nodded.
“Why do I have to come?” She complained, shaking her arm out of Ned’s grip.
“I can’t carry them myself” he shrugged, already walking away from the table. With a sigh, Betty trailed after him but not before rolling her eyes in Wanda’s direction. Wanda put her hands up in faux innocence, giggling at Betty’s irritated expression. Everyone knew that Ned was crushing on Betty, but nobody could truly gauge how Betty felt about it all. MJ and Wanda reckoned she liked him back and was only pretending to be disinterested, whereas Peter was sure she didn’t feel the same way.
“She doesn’t like him; did you see her face there?” Peter asked the pair of girls as soon as they were out of earshot. His face, which had been bright and happy before, had now fallen.
“Don’t worry, she does. It’s obvious. She’s just putting on a front” Wanda assured him confidently.
“I just don’t want him to get hurt, you know? He really does like her” Peter sighed as he dragged a hand through his unruly curls.
“You need a haircut” MJ announced abruptly as she tilted her head to peer at his head.
“What? No I don’t” Peter gaped at her, though he couldn’t help running another hand through his hair self-consciously.
“Yeah, you do” Wanda agreed as she studied the mess of hair on his head. Peter swatted at her and Wanda ducked away from him.
“I’m just telling the truth!” She laughed, and she quickly raised a hand to ruffle his hair. Peter pushed her away with a groan, eyes skittering around the empty diner to ensure nobody was watching them.
“You guys suck, you know that?” he moaned, embarrassment tinging the top of his ears scarlet. Chuckling, MJ and Wanda shared a knowing glance with each other and Peter paled slightly, anticipating their next moves.
“Wait, no!” he cried out just as MJ and Wanda launched themselves at Peter, fighting against his flailing limbs to ruffle his brown curls. Peter wriggled underneath them weakly, too busy laughing to actually fight back.
“Oi! Settle down you lot!” Frank called out from the kitchen and immediately the teens quietened. Frank was a large, burly man who just so happened to be head chef. Despite two of the five of them being enhanced, they were still reluctant to get on his bad side.
“Sorry Frank!” They chorused, earning a glare from him as he poked his head out the kitchen door.
“I should’ve known it was you kids, you’ll drive me out of business one day, I’m telling ya!” he grumbled, but he never kicked them out. The Avengers didn’t just save Tilly’s nephew, they saved hundreds of lives, which earned them quite a bit of special treatment and in Frank’s case, a bucketload of extra patience.
Thankfully, Ned and Betty were quickly making their way over to the table, each holding a couple milkshakes in takeaway cups.
“Tilly said that we better go, they’re closing early tonight” Ned explained as he handed out the drinks to the group.
“Yeah, I think that’s probably a good idea” Wanda giggled as she caught sight of Frank’s scrunched up face over Betty’s shoulder.
Gathering their things, the teens thanked Tilly (leaving a generous tip in the jar) and strolled out of the diner and down the street. Once they got to the junction, they parted ways, calling goodbyes over their shoulders as they walked home.
“So…you and MJ, huh?” Wanda teased. Peter nudged her shoulder with a roll of his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile that slid onto his face.
“You really like her, don’t you?” Wanda asked fondly.
“Yeah, yeah I really do” he replied seriously, making the smile on Wanda’s face grow.
“Good. You better not break her heart, Parker” she warned him, and Peter properly swatted her this time.
“As if I’m going to do that” he cried out in an aggrieved tone.
“Okay, okay. I’m just making sure” relented Wanda, satisfied with his answer.
They approached the car that was parked at the end of the street, with blacked out windows and the driver Tony had hired in place for Happy. According to Tony, Happy ‘worked far too much’ and ‘deserved a holiday’ and so now said man was currently in the Bahamas. It was weird not having Happy in the front seat, but everyone agreed that he needed a break.
“Where to, Mr Parker?” the driver asked politely as they climbed into the back of the car.
“Take us home, please sir” he answered, just as politely.
“Are you staying over at the complex tonight?” Wanda asked happily.
“Yeah, we’re due a Star Wars binge session” joked Peter.
Wanda scoffed lightly at his obsession with the Sci-Fi series but begrudgingly agreed.
“Fine, but only if we watch My Girl too”
“Deal”