A Visit
Later, a knock on the door makes me drop the book I’m reading. May sits at the table with the takeout, along with MJ. She’s come over again after we went on a date this afternoon.
“Who could that be?” I mutter to myself as I walk to the door and open it. Mr. Stark stands before me, and puts his sunglasses in his chest pocket.
“You okay?” he says. “What’s with the shocked face?”
“Um…nothing,” I say quickly. Shit, I totally forgot I invited him over tonight! What’ll I do? MJ’s here. Last time they met was the first time they’d ever seen each other, and it ended in a sarcasm battle. What’ll happen this time?
May speaks from across the room. “Peter, why don’t you invite him in?”
I jump, and open the door fully, letting Mr. Stark walk in. “Sure, sorry.”
He looks across the room, and his eyes land on MJ. He looks at me and smirks.
“So MJ’s here, huh?”
“Yup,” she says from the table. “You surprised, old dude?”
He frowns. “Old dude?”
She shrugs. “Sorry, that’s the best I can do on short notice. If Peter had let me know you were coming, I could have come up with something really good.”
He chuckles, then looks at me. “Don’t worry, Peter. No sass battles this time. Right?” He turns to MJ.
She bites a nail and says, “Sure, whatever. Truce, then.”
Mr. Stark nods, and he and I come to the table.
“Took you long enough,” MJ says as she sips her tea. “I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” I say.
“So?”
“So, aren’t you ever full?”
She sighs and says with all seriousness, “Peter, I’m an ancient eldritch beast trapped in a human body, I’m never full.”
I throw my head back laughing, and get even more joy from the little smile she gives me.
“Oh for god’s sake, save the flirting for after dinner,” Mr. Stark says.
That shuts MJ and I up really quick. We’re still new to this whole couple thing, and any comments about it get us blushing fast. Like right now, as we look away from each other with flushing faces.
The rest of dinner passes in companionable conversation, with MJ making smart comments, Mr. Stark and I laughing, and May keeping the peace when Mr. Stark and MJ go head to head. Because of course, Mr. Stark can’t resist a little sass battle.
As soon as they’re done, Mr. Stark says, “Hey Pete, can I have a word with you real quick?”
I frown. “Um, sure. Why?”
He stands and says, “Just hear me out, kay?”
I nod, and follow him to my room. I sit down on my bed, tapping my foot on the floor. I look at him for a few moments, not sure of what to say. He hasn’t said anything yet either. Finally I clear my throat and say,
“So…”
“Right.” He looks down at me, standing a few feet away. “What have you found?”
“Found?”
“You know.”
“Oh.” I wring my hands. “Uh, right. Well, I talked to Norman Osborn today.”
“What are you guys talking about?” MJ says from the door. I jump, and see her leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.
Mr. Stark is about to say something, when I say,
“Um, nothing.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You can’t fool me, dumbass. I know it’s something important.” She comes and sits down beside me. “So tell me.” Her voice is a command I can’t ignore. Mr. Stark looks at me with a questioning expression, but I give him a nod. This is okay, I mentally tell him. I could never keep a secret from MJ anyway.
It only takes a few moments to fill her in on everything that’s happened in the past week. She nods and listens as I explain, everything from the finding of the briefcase to meeting Norman Osborn earlier today.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asks. “I would’ve helped you.”
I look down. “You know how I get. Secrets are second nature at this point.”
“And I’m trying to help you with that,” she says patiently, putting a hand on mine. “You shouldn’t have to feel like you have to hide stuff from me. You know that, idiot.”
A smile comes to my face. “Right.”
Mr. Stark groans and says, “I feel like I’m watching a teen romance movie. Can we get back to the subject please, now that we’re apparently all here?”
I laugh. “Sure.” Shifting a little to hold MJ’s hand, I say, “So he told me my parents made the spider that bit me. That’s the most important thing.”
“Is it though?” Mr. Stark says. “I don’t really see how it relates.”
I hold up a finger. “Sure it does. It…huh.” I lower the finger.
“No, I kind of do,” MJ says.
“Yeah?” I say, turning to her.
“It’s not that they made the spider that bit you that matters, it’s that they made the spiders at all. I mean, they engineered an organism that can give select parts of its DNA to others. Like how you can climb walls, but you don’t have eight eyes. Which would be totally gross.”
I laugh. “True.”
“But what I’m getting at, is that their research was super important. What if someone was after it? I mean, Mr. Osborn said no one was able to understand those notes. No one’s been able to replicate your parents’ research, since they’re not here to explain it. Does what I’m saying make sense?” She looks from me to Mr. Stark and back.
I sit frozen on the bed, thoughts whirling through my mind. Holy shit, she might be right. I don’t want her to be though, just this once. Please be wrong, I plead mentally. Because what if she’s right? What if my parents didn’t just die, but were killed for their research? I bow my head and place my face in my hands.
“Shit,” I mutter.
“Peter?” MJ says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “What’s wrong?” Vaguely I note Mr. Stark sitting down, on my other side.
“You know what you’re implying, right?” I say through my hands. “That they were murdered.”
She falls silent.
“I’m sorry, Pete. I had considered it a possibility,” Mr. Stark says. “For people with rare research, this kind of stuff does happen sometimes.”
“But… you don’t have any proof that it did happen. That they were killed. Maybe their plane was just faulty or something,” I say, straightening and lowering my hands.
“Pete,” Mr. Stark says with a sigh.
“Peter,” MJ says from my other side, squeezing my hand. I turn to her. “Both are possibilities. That they died, or were killed.”
“And there’s the other thing,” I say. “That they made the spider that bit me. That’s got to count for something.”
“I don’t know. It might.” She releases my hand and crosses her arms. “Well, it might not relate to the murder, but I know it does relate to you.”
“What do you mean?” I tilt my head.
She blushes and looks down. “You’re gonna think it’s stupid.”
“Hey, you’re not the stupid one in this relationship. That’s me.”
She chuckles and sighs. “Yeah.”
“You sure agreed with that fast.”
“Whatever,” she says with a smile. Her expression fades into a wistful sort of frown. “But what I was going to say is, I think it means your parents are watching over you.”
“Really?”
She nods. “That spider came from their hard work. From their dedication. And it ended up passing to you. Isn’t that neat? You ended up receiving your own parents’ life’s work. I think they’d be proud of what you’ve done with it. What I’m trying to say is…I think they’d be glad that you were the one that got bit.”
For several seconds no one says anything. Finally Mr. Stark scoffs and says,
“Well damn, I wish Pepper would talk to me like that.”
I give him a playful shove, then kiss MJ on the cheek. She goes red but gives a small smile. “Thanks, babe,” I say.
“Well, glad you don’t think it’s stupid,” she says.
“So what should we do next,” Mr. Stark says, clearing his throat. Emotions have never been his thing, so I understand his change of subject, and go along with it.
“I dunno. I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d been so caught up with the subject of the research, and me, I guess. I’m not really sure what we should do.”
“You could look into that file. You know, the one you’re really not supposed to have,” MJ says.
“True.”
“Maybe you should talk to this Curtis Connors guy first,” Mr. Stark says. “I looked into it, and he knew your parents well. Better than Norman did. Apparently he and your parents had been friends since college.”
“He really knew them that long? Damn,” I say.
“Language. And, yeah, from what I can tell, he did. They did research together, occasionally. He was as much a genius as they were. I mean, he’s done some fairly impressive work with biology.”
“Then let’s visit him,” MJ says.
“When?” I ask.
“Right now.”
“Really?”
She shrugs. “Why not? Look up his address, and you’re there.”
Mr. Stark nods. “Sounds good. But why don’t just Peter and I go?”
I expect MJ to disagree, but to my surprise she nods. “I’m going to look into that file. Plus, someone’s got to explain to May where you guys are going. That and I’m fucking tired.”
“Sounds good,” Mr. Stark says. I note that he didn’t correct her language. “Come on Pete,” he says, rising. “Let’s go visit this guy.”