Chapter 25

"So how do I look?" Ben said looking himself over in Perenna's mirror as she wrote yet another letter to Max. "You don't know what I went through to get this."

"You look fine." Perenna said distractedly. "Shouldn't you be going to Gwen's to pick her up though? If you think the Look is scary when she's annoyed, you don't want to see it when she's mad."

"It's okay; I called her up earlier to tell her that we'd be going as a group." Ben replied easily.

Perenna paused, her brows furrowing as she looked over at Ben. "What are you talking about? I thought we established I wasn't going to that dance tonight."

Ben's eyes shifted sly over his suit. "Yeah, but someone might have told Aunt May that you changed your mind, and that another someone will be arriving in, like, another ten minutes." He said and made his way over to the window.

Perenna opened her mouth to speak, but just as Ben jumped out the window, Aunt May opened the door with a smile on her face and a fuchsia dress in her hands. "What is that?"

"I know you don't like pink, but it matches you so well, and no offense dear, but blue tends to make you look washed out." Aunt May said.

Perenna grimaced. "Gee, thanks for letting me wear blue all these years then." She muttered and held up the dress at arms-length. "Is there any reason for the dress?"

"The dance silly." Aunt May said. "Mary Jane will be here shortly, so you should be ready at that time; I'm so glad you changed your mind, you really need to get out more."

Perenna sighed. "She does know I'm a girl, right?" she asked, this not being the first time her nickname confused people who hadn't met her.

"Of course, just think of this as a friendly outing, like those playdates you used to have when you were younger." Aunt May said.

Holding it to her chest, Perenna peered down at herself. "Well, it's…kinda nice, I guess." She said reluctantly. "I'll go change then." She added and walked into the bathroom, and when she came back out several minutes later, she found Ben sitting on her bed, a camera in hand. "Hey, what are you-"

"Smile." Ben said taking her picture, which had her blinking the bright spots away. He shook the photo that came through, and smiled as he wrote something onto the back of it. "Don't forget to send this in with your letter to dad."

Perenna rolled her eyes and snatched the photo from him, setting it down on the desk without a glance. "Now, do I need to keep my phone on, or am I going to have at least one normal night?"

Ben smiled; looking like he knew that those extra minutes in the bathroom were Perenna debating whether leaving her costume on underneath the dress was a good idea. "You'll need it."

"Can you tell me why-"

"I gotta get down to the door, and so should you, since your 'date' is about to arrive." Ben said as he tucked out of the window again.

Perenna groaned, rubbing her temples as she found herself once again annoyed with Ben. Marching down the stairs, Perenna saw Aunt May peering out the window.

"There you are, Perry, I was just going to call you down." She said. "You're simply going to love, Mary Jane, dear, she's got a wonderful personality."

Perenna raised a brow. "Really now?" she questioned and when the doorbell rang, she opened it, expecting to find someone matching Aunt May's definition of a 'wonderful personality,' and instead found an attractive redhead standing there.

The redhead smiled at her. "Hey there, you must be Perry."

Perenna smiled back at her. "Yeah, sorry about my aunt roping you into her master plan of getting me more social."

The redhead's smile widened. "Always happy to help."

Perenna rolled her eyes, but her still remained. "I hope you don't mind, but this is going to be a group date, and my friend Ben is-"

"Someone say my name?" Ben asked showing up just in time. "If it's alright with you two, we should really go pick up Gwen; do you think Captain Stacy is going to pull the 'overprotective dad' thing?"

"Tell him you're too young and he'll back off." Perenna explained.

Ben raised his brow, expression skeptical. "Somehow I don't think that's going to make either of us look good."

Perenna sighed heavily and Mary Jane chuckled. "See you later, Aunt May."

Aunt May smiled at her before she closed the door. "Have fun, dear."

Ben linked one arm with Perenna and insistently pulled her down the sidewalk. "Come on, if we miss the bus, then we're going to have to walk to Gwen's."

"I can't believe we have to take the bus, this is going to be so embarrassing." Perenna whispered and glanced down at herself. "Not to mention that I have to wear this too."

Mary Jane linked her other arm through Perenna's. "Lighten up, Perry; that color really goes with your tone."

"Yeah, she kinda looks washed out when she wears blue." Ben smirked and Perenna scowled at him. "Easy there, your face might stay like that."

Perenna rolled her eyes again as the three of them walked toward the bus stop, and when they arrived at Gwen's house, it was amusing to see Ben wilt under Captain's 'overprotective father' stare while Gwen looked embarrassed as the age difference was brought up.

Taking pity on them both, Perenna stepped in. "Don't worry, Captain Stacy; Ben knows better than to try anything, his mom raised him to be better than that."

Captain Stacy still looked a bit skeptical, but nodded reluctantly, though he did give Ben a pointed stare. "After the dance is over, you will bring Gwen straight home, understood?"

Ben nodded rapidly. "I understand completely, sir."

Relaxing slightly, Captain Stacy smile slightly. "Have a nice time, Gwen."

Gwen smiled back, if a bit nervously. "I will, bye dad."

Once Captain Stacy shut the door and the group set off for the bus stop, Ben sighed in relief.

Mary Jane peered at him over Perenna's shoulder. "So how do you know Perry? Are you her cousin? You look kinda alike."

Ben shrugged. "I get that a lot." He said and paused. "Though sorry if Perry's gonna ditch you later; she gets called away by the Bugle." He said and Mary Jane raised a brow. "I'm 'psychic', so I know things."

Gwen snorted, but Perenna only rubbed her brow. "Ben," Perenna said in warning, "please don't make Mary Jane think you're weird; you just met her."

Mary Jane chuckled. "It's okay."

Perenna smiled, feeling somewhat relieved. Now if only Ben would tell her just what was going to happen, then maybe she could get through it faster.

When they arrived at the school, Ben felt two flashes of anger wash over him; one from himself, and the other from Toxin as they spotted Brock at the top of the school steps. 'What's he doing here? He's not a student.'

"He just doesn't stop, does he?" Toxin complained. "I knew we should've offed him!"

Ben privately rolled his eyes though he was seething on the inside. 'We can't do that; as much as I don't like him, he's still Mom's friend. For now he is-that is. Besides, he's only going to be a real threat once your Gramps shows up, we need to worry about Goblin Junior right now.'

"I keep telling you, Benny, two birds with one stone."

'No, now stop suggesting murder.' Ben thought and noticed that by Perenna's surprised expression, that she had also seen Brock.

"Eddie?" she asked once they were close enough. "What are you doing here?"

"I was actually hoping to catch you here; it's just like when I'd be your date for this, remember?" Brock questioned.

Ben narrowed his eyes; apparently his mother had never told him everything about her past. No wonder his mother didn't want to come tonight; the thought made him sick though.

Perenna bit her lip. "I remember." She said and shifted on her feet. "I wasn't going to come tonight, but Ben here tricked me into it."

When Brock looked at Ben, there was a familiar gleam of disdain in his eyes. "So I have you to thank then?"

Ben bit back a snarl. "No thanks necessary; Perry is my friend, I thought she could get out more."

Dismissing him, Brock looked back at Perenna and grabbed her by the arm, tugging her inside. "You look great by the way."

Perenna looked back at them, shrugging a bit haphazardly as though she wasn't sure what do to. While Ben made a show of waving her off, inside he was silently freaking out. Brock would never had hurt his mom; it was Ben's father that he hated, but it struck in that moment his mother wasn't hadn't him about her relationship with Brock.

'Toxin, do you know if Mom and Brock were ever together?'

"Benny, that's not how we symbiotes work. If it did, I could tell you everything from Brock's memories to whatever fantasy he's had about Mommy."

Ben gagged and caught Mary Jane and Gwen looking at him. "Sorry, thought I swallowed a fly."

Mary Jane raised a brow. "Was this the 'ditch' I should have expected?"

Ben shook his head. "This wasn't supposed to have happened. I didn't know Perry and Br-Eddie came here together."

"You're admitting you're wrong?" Gwen questioned.

Ben turned up his nose. "Never," his tone wavered for a moment, "just a bit worried."

Walking into the gym, Ben was not happy to note how Brock immediately pulled Perenna in for a dance, hugging her all the way. While Ben could see his mother seemed a bit uncomfortable, likely with whatever inner conflict she was having, it only drove home one point for him.

Ben had underestimated Brock's feelings for Perenna and now it made Ben wonder what else he'd changed.