Never Again

Ch. 11

Tony's POV

The next few days after the funeral, Peter seemed to be getting better.  I refused to let him go to school the entire week.  I don't think he really wanted to go, though, so I didn't feel bad about it.  Instead, we stayed in the tower most of the time.  Peter had started telling me little things him and May would do whenever something reminded him.  He didn't cry as much anymore, but sometimes I would see him wipe his face after telling me something about May. 

"On Friday nights, we would always go to this Thai place with Ned and I always ordered larb,"  Peter told me at lunch.  He had finally started eating fairly regularly.  He ate three meals, but they weren't always at consistent times.  "She would joke about larbing me and stupid stuff like that."  He chuckled and I smiled. 

"How about you call up Ned and we can go to that Thai place?"  I suggested.  Peter's head snapped up from his plate.  His eyes were wide and he had a ghost of a smile.  "Oh come on, kid.  You didn't think I'd let you mope around all week, did you?"  His smile was obvious now and I couldn't help but smile back at him.  It was so nice to see him so happy.  "We can pick your friend up.  Unless you want to ride that god-awful subway there."  Peter nodded vigorously and I mentally groaned at the thought of riding that demon-train again. 

"Thank you so much, Tony!  It's gonna be awesome!"  Peter exclaimed.  "You'll love it!" 

"I better if I have to ride the demon-train again,"  I retorted.  Peter's smiled grew even more if that was possible.  I pointed at his spaghetti that I had managed to figure out how to make with FRIDAY's help.  "Eat your lunch, though, or you'll be too starved to make it to dinner."  Peter began to eat his spaghetti so fast I was almost worried he'd choke.  He finished in five minutes then ran off towards his room, probably to invite Ned to dinner. 

* * *

When we arrived at the Thai place, I followed Peter over to a table where two people were sitting.  I recognized Ned, but I didn't recognize the girl.  Peter happily sat down across from her, though, so I sat across from Ned. 

"I thought Ned was one person,"  I said.  "I didn't know he could become two people and a female at that."  Peter's face turned red. 

"I invited MJ as well,"  he muttered.  I grinned, looking at Peter then MJ who had just put her book down and was now giving me a funny look. 

"So this is MJ?  I've heard all about you,"  I said.  It wasn't entirely true, but I knew it would cause Peter to fluster and get embarrassed.  I'd only heard a little bit about her.  "Peter tells me about you all the time."  Peter turned even more red and tried to hit my chest.  I caught his hand and gave it back to him, though, and he just glared at me. 

"I do not!"  he told MJ.  I just smirked. 

"I've heard a lot about you too, Mr. Stark,"  MJ said.  I raised an eyebrow at Peter who groaned and laid his head down on the table to hide his face.  "I think it's pretty neat that you decided to put your technology to good use in helping the environment instead of for weaponry and destruction."  Peter lifted his head off the table to look at my shocked expression.  "You should have switched earlier, but better late than never." 

"Ha!"  Peter grinned.  I rolled my eyes as the waiter brought menus over.  "Now that we've gotten that over with..."  He trailed off, glancing at the menu even though I knew he already knew what he wanted.  Apparently I was the only one who didn't. 

"What's good here?"  I asked, which was a mistake because I got three very different opinions all at once.  "Um, maybe I'll just look at the menu." 

As I read through the menu, Peter, MJ, and Ned all talked happily together.  It sounded like they were mainly talking about their Academic Decathlon thing, but I wasn't paying well enough attention to know for sure. 

When the waiter came back to take our orders, I still hadn't decided.  Peter and his friends ordered first and when it was my turn, I just glanced at the menu and ordered the only thing I could remember reading about.  The waiter took our menus and left.  As soon as he was gone, the kids returned to their conversation. 

"You're gonna be able to go and actually make it this year, right Peter?"  MJ asked.  Peter hesitated, looking over at me.  I shrugged and MJ looked at me too. 

"Yeah, that's the plan,"  Peter replied.  They continued talking even once the food came, which was pretty good, and up until closing time when they kicked us out. 

"See you guys later!"  Ned waved wildly.  Him and MJ had walked here apparently, but Peter and I had ridden the subway.  Peter waved just as wildly while MJ barely raised her hand. 

"Bye, guys!"  Peter yelled.  They turned the corner, out of sight, so Peter and I turned as well and headed towards the subway.  Unfortunately, I had a full stomach now and the subway was not exactly something I was looking forward to.