I'll Carry You Home Tonight (Superfamily, genderbent!AU)
Patricia Parker tried not to squeal from excitement. Gavin Stacy had just asked her to prom. Her. The geeky girl that occasionally talked to him in the hallway and stuttered like heck when she did. The smile on her face was unmistakable as she walked into Stark Tower from school. "You look happy," Stephanie marveled as she looked up from her newspaper. "Something happen at school?" Patricia nodded excitedly, still unable to speak.
"Well don't just keep me in suspense, Pat! Tell me what happened!" Stephanie exclaimed, wondering what had her daughter so excited.
Patricia had all but forgotten how to speak when she squealed "Gavin Stacy asked me to prom!"
"Gavin Stacy.. is he that blonde you're always obsessing over at dinner?" Stephanie asked.
Patricia blushed and whined. "Maaaaa!" she moaned. "I don't obsess over him!"
"Sorry, sorry," Stephanie said with a laugh. "I was just asking. So are you going to tell your mother about this or shall I?"
"I think I should tell Mom... is she working?" Patricia asked, though she knew the answer was obvious. Talia Stark was always working.
"She is, but she might take a break if you tell her about this," Stephanie shrugged.
Patricia sighed. She didn't want this to be a huge deal, but that seemed an irrelevant request at this point. "Ma, I don't want her to have to stop working just because I got a date to prom... that doesn't seem fair.."
Stephanie just shook her head. "Oh nonsense! Talia woukd love to hear about this!" She got up and gave her daughter a tight hug.
Patricia smiled and hugged back, but she still felt uneasy about this. "Alright, if you say so. Personally though I would argue that making weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. is more important than-"
"Just go, Pat," Stephanie said with a smile as she let go of her.
Talia looked up from her work when out of the corner of her eye she saw her sixteen year old daughter standing behind her, a huge grin on her face.
"How was school?" she asked, turning around to face Patricia. "I'm assuming something particularly exciting happened."
Unable to control her happiness, Patricia let out a little squeal of delight. "That's right!"
"Well, tell me then," Talia said, smiling. "No, wait! Let me guess! You um… you got elected for club president.. or something?"
Patricia laughed. "Come on Mom, that's not even close. Maybe I should just tell you—"
"No! I'll get it!" Talia interrupted, a sudden determination- though it was joking determination- in her voice. "Did you get an A on some Chemistry test?"
Patricia flashed her mother a smile. "Well yeah, but that's not why I'm so happy."
"… Can I have a hint?"
"Well, according to Ma it involves a certain someone I 'obsess' over at dinner," the sixteen year old mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Aha! I got it! That Gavin kid asked you on a date, didn't he?" Talia asked confidently.
Patricia let out another squeal despite her annoyance that both her mothers thought she obsessed over Gavin. "He asked me to prom!" she exclaimed in excitement.
"Oh Patricia, that's great! No wonder you're excited!" Talia said happily as only a mother could.
"So when is prom?" Stephanie asked at dinner.
Patricia laughed quietly. "Ma, you both are acting like this is the most important event in the entire world. We all know I've done more important things than gone to prom," she said before putting a forkfull of pasta in her mouth.
Talia took this chance to speak. "Correction: /Spider-Woman/'s done more important things than gone to prom. Meanwhile, this may be a very exciting turn in Patricia's life." She smiled at her daughter.
Patricia stared at her mom in silence for a moment. "... anyway, prom's this Friday."
"What color are you going to wear?" Stephanie asked, the same eager excitement in her voice.
Patricia shrugged. "I'll probably wear red and navy blue... they're kind of my colors, y'know?"
Both her mothers nodded. "You should probably wear stilettos," Talia said. "You're going to want to be tall for what's-his-face."
"It's Gavin.." Patricia mumbled quietly, barely audible. She shook the small embarassment she was feeling and nodded. "Yeah Mom, that's a good idea. You'll have to teach me to walk in them though," she said, only half joking.
Talia laughed and nodded. "Okay, lessons start tomorrow, 4:30 sharp."
Patricia wobbled and struggled to stand in the stilettos her mother had bought her. "Mom, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I /could/ just wear flats or something..."
Talia scoffed at tge mention of flats. "Nonsense, Pat, you just need practice. Now walk across the room."
Patricia sighed. Standing was hard enough, she couldn't possibly imagine taking more than two steps in those. Nevertheless, she outstretched her foot, and began to slowly make her way across the living room.
"No, no, NO!" Talia said, trying not to shout. "Walk like you normally would!"
"But Mom, I-!"
"Unless, of course, you /want/ to walk so slow that snails can pass you.."
"Fine, whatever," Patricia muttered as she turned around and walked, her foot twisting so the side of it hit the ground. She continued walking, trying not to trip over her own toes.
Talia sighed, placing her head in the palm of her hand. "We've got a long way to go..."
Friday came, and Patricia had miraculously learned to walk in her heels. It was about 5:30 and she was getting ready. She almost immediately regretred buying an above-the-knee tulle strapless dress as she was putting it on. She was probably going to freeze to death. And if it didn't look so good on her she would probably walk to the store just to return it.
She pulled her hair into a bun, allowing a few curled strands to fall in front of her ears. Next she put on mascara. She laughed quietly. It was probably the first time she was ever wearing makeup - aside from that time when she was home alone at age nine, but she didn't like to talk about that.
Once she was finished plastering ridiculous makeup all over her face, she took a test-stride across her bedroom floor, dress and all. She didn't trip once. But when she finished walking she caught a glimpse of the full-length mirror on the wall. She slowly walked over to it.
Patricia sighed as she stared herself down in the mirror. Gavin would be coming to take her to prom any minute now, but she didn't feel right. She felt so different in her short red and blue dress and red stiletto heels. And it wasn't just because she could barely walk in those stupid shoes. She didn't feel complete.
Stephanie walked over to her daughter and looked at her. She handed her a small box. "Just a little finishing touch, if you're interested," she said.
Patricia stared at the box for a moment, wondering when her Ma had taken the time to wrap the box. But soon the curiosity got to her and her red and blue fingernails tore the box open. She let out a little gasp when she saw what was inside. There were two silver bracelets, one for each wrist. And they had built in web-shooters!
"Ma... they're perfect!" she said as she slipped them on before giving her mother a tight hug. Stephanie hugged back, and they were having a nice mother daughter moment until the doorbell rang.
"That must be him!" Stephanie said, almost more excited than Patricia was. Patricia did something a lot like trembling. She couldn't move. She wasn't ready. /What if he doesn't like me?/ she thought. /Or what if he looks amazing and thinks I'm hideous?/
Stephanie took a hint, giving her daughter one last squeeze. "I'll go get the door. Don't worry Pat, you'll be fine. I'm surprised he doesn't love you already." With that she left the room and went to answer the door.
Patricia found herself blushing at her Ma's last comment as she stared at herself in the mirror, forcing a smile on her face. She knew the smile would be genuine soon enough, however. She managed to walk down the stairs without tripping over her own feet. "H-hi," she stuttered, looking at Gavin, who smiled at her.
"Patricia, you look amazing," he said with a smile, and it made Patricia blush even more.
"I-i um, thanks. You l-look great too," she stammered.
Gavin offered a brighter, sweeter smile. "Well come on, we should get going. The limo's out front."
Patricia stared at him, eyes wide. "You rented a limousine?" she asked, both surprised and impressed.
Gavin laughed. "I didn't think it would be this easy to impress the girl who lives in Stark Tower."
Patricia laughed nervously at that comment. "Regardless of that, I really love limousines," she said. "Bye Ma, and tell Mom I said bye when she's done working."
With that, they both walked out the door.
Once they were on the way to school, Patricia had to break the awkward silence that had ensued. "I um, I just want to warn you now, with my luck, something's going to go wrong.."
Gavin looked at her, puzzled. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"O-oh, nothing."
Gavin shrugged at her and once again silence ensued until they arrived at school.
"We're here," he said, getting out of the limo.
"Oh, thank goodness, I was hoping I'd be able to stretch my legs," Patricia said as she got out after him.
Gavin laughed at that as they walked into the gym, stopping in the doorway.
Patricia's eyes widened. Her spidey sense was tingling. /No,/ she pleaded to herself. /Not now, please!/
"Patricia, are you alright?" Gavin asked, noticing how tense she'd gooten.
Patricia flashed him a nervous smile. "Yeah, everything's fine! Just peachy!" she lied.
"Well if you say so..." Gavin muttered. "Come on, let's dance." He pulled her onto the floor.
The longer they danced, the stronger and more painful the tingling of Patricia's spidey sense was. After a while she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm gonna go um, get some punch.." she mumbled, untangling herself from Gavin and walking over to the refreshment table. /Ugh, I have to do something. This is really bad- no. I'm not going to do anything. I didn't spend three hours making myself look this nice so I could ditch the guy I've had a major crush on since fourth grade to go fight crime. Besides, if things get too bad, New York has The Avengers to../ her thoughts were cut off by the sound of breaking glass and screams.
"Everybody get on the ground! This is a robbery!" the loud voice of a tall muscular man in a ski mask echoed through the gymnasium.
Patricia crouched down on the ground, nervously scanning the room for any sign of Gavin. Unfortunately, when she saw him, she didn't like what she saw. Another bulky man, part of the robbery, was escorting him outside with a gun to his head.
/Of all the guys to take hostage, why did it have to be my date?/ she thought, knowing she had to do something. But she didn't have her suit, and she knew she couldn't use webs. Either way, she had an idea. Other than the guy who'd grabbed Gavin, there were two robbers. She could definitely take them. Slowly, she slipped off one of the stiletto heels she had barely been able to walk in, and aimed it. She launched it at the one man, and it pinned him to the wall by his shirt.
"Who threw that?" the man pinned to the wall demanded.
Patricia stood up slowly, knowing she was just looking for a fight. "That would be me," she said, quickly pulling off her other shoe, ready to throw it at the other robber, who was already charging at her.
"You'll be sorry, kid!" he shouted, throwing a fist at her. Patricia easily dodged the punch and threw one of her own. Again, he tried and failed to punch her. Patricia kicked his feet out from under him and pinned him onto the ground, whistling a few football players over to keep him down as he dealed with the other robber. At that point he'd ripped his shirt and was also charging at Patricia, who threw her other shoe at him. It missed by mere inches. She cursed under her breath.
"Aren't you a little young to know words like that?" he asked, smirking.
"Aren't you a little old to be getting beaten up by a girl?" Patricis asked him.
"What? I'm not-"
She kicked him in the gut and he fell on the floor.
"You were saying?" She asked him with a smirk as she pinned him with her foot.
She stared at the other high schoolers for a moment before facepalming. "Someone stop updating your stupid facebook profile and call the police!" she shouted. Almost all of them responded and did so.
And all was well until she remembered- Gavin.
She gave the robber she was on top of a few punches in the chest hoping they'd hold him iff while she ran outside. She gasped when she saw him.
"Patricia?" Gavin asked before a hand cupped over his mouth.
Patricia didn't like it, but she knew what she had to do. Extending her index and pinky finger, a web shot out of her wrist and wrapped around the robber. His first reflex was to shoot at her, but Patricia dodged the bullets easily until the gun was empty. A few more webs and the robber couldn't move, and Gavin ran over to Patricia as fast as he could, shock coming over him.
"Oh my... Patricia, you..." he stammered helplessly for a few moments, eyes wide.
She just smiled and pressed a finger against his lips. "Don't tell anyone, okay?" she asked him, and he replied with a nervous nod before pulling in an pressing his lips gently against hers. Well, he tried to, but Patricia's fingee was still in the way. She laughed.
"Oops," she said innocently as she pulled her finger away and grabbed a chunk of Gavin's shirt, pulling him into a passionate kiss.