Parker X: Delmar's
"What statesman, known as the Great Compromiser, often said, 'I would rather be right than president?'"
Charles rang in. "Henry Clay."
"Correct. Which US city contains these landmarks? Graceland, Mud Islands, and the Mississippi River Museum."
Cindy this time. "Memphis."
"Correct. Illustrator James Montgomery Flagg gave America what patriotic symbol?"
Parker knew this one because he'd learned it from Steve. He wasn't particularly fast on the bell, but it seemed nobody else knew because nobody beat him to it. "Uncle Sam."
"That's right. What famous military college was established by Congress in 1802?"
Flash rang in almost before Mr. Harrington finished reading the question. "The Naval Academy."
"No."
This time, Liz rang in. "West Point."
"That's correct. What pilot made headlines when he landed at Le Bourget field on May twenty first, 1927?"
MJ tapped her bell with her usual indifferent confidence. "Lindbergh."
"Excellent. A hellbender is what type of American aquatic creature?"
Parker knew this one from another documentary Daddell had made him watch. "A salamander."
"Yes. What composer, who conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra, is famous for film music, including Star Wars, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark?"
Parker rang in as quickly as he could, but Abe beat him to it. It was close, though. "John Williams."
"Correct. Love John Williams." Mr. Harrington turned the page in the practice book again. "MJ, will you go out with Parker?" He asked it so suddenly, without transition from the normal questions, that Parker had to stifle a croak. The entire room tensed up, every student shocked that he would ask such a question. Parker let a smile settle on his face, and some of them caught on that this whole thing was his idea. Liz shot him a thumbs-up.
"No." Every head turned to look at Flash, who'd just rung his bell to answer on her behalf. Parker's smile disappeared in an instant.
However, the smile returned when Abe rang in and claimed, "Flash is wrong." Parker couldn't believe he'd come to his rescue like that. The actual target of the question, however, remained silent. Parker had sat behind her instead of next to her so he wouldn't feel pressured to keep a straight face the entire practice while awaiting Mr. Harrington's question, but this also meant he couldn't see her reaction. Flash started humming the Jeopardy theme song, but Cindy elbowed him and he shut up.
Finally, MJ turned around. At first her expression was unreadable and Parker feared he'd made the wrong decision by asking like this. But then, she smiled—a rare expression for her that never failed to make Parker's heart race—and nodded. She turned back around, rang in, and answered, "Yes." The rest of the club erupted into applause. Mr. Harrington had saved that question for last, which was a good thing, because Parker didn't foresee them being productive after that excitement. They put their bells away, and Parker stood by the door waiting for MJ.
"This was your idea, right? Mr. Harrington didn't make an undue assumption?" she asked.
"I got him to do it."
"Clever," she conceded.
"Thank you." Not knowing what to really do at this point, Parker blushed and held out his hand. MJ took it and they walked out of school hand in hand. "So…that's as far as I got," he admitted. "I wasn't sure you'd say yes so I don't actually have a real date planned. Would you like to decide together?" He figured MJ would appreciate him putting them on equal footing within this relationship from the start. She was like that.
"I'd like that."
"What would you like to do?"
"I'm not sure," she said, but she trailed off as if that wasn't quite true. "Nothing too fancy."
"Okay. Do you want to just grab lunch somewhere this weekend?"
"Sure. There's actually this little deli on 2nd that I've always wanted to go to."
"Supporting a small business and kindling our romance?" Parker jested. "Sounds perfect. What's it called?"
"Delmar's."
The name instantly activated some long-unused neural pathway in Parker's brain. He hadn't recollected this particular memory since May died, but frankly he wished he had.
~0~
"You hungry, Peter?" Uncle Ben asked. Peter nodded. Ben paused on the street corner, briefly staring off into space as if deep in thought. "Have you ever had one of the best sandwiches in Queens?"
Peter had eaten plenty of good sandwiches before, but he had no idea which Uncle Ben considered the best. "I don't think so."
"Let's fix that." They started walking again and kept going until they reached a little bodega across the street from a bank a few blocks from their apartment. The man behind the counter greeted Ben by name when they walked in.
"And who's this little man?"
"This is Peter. Peter, can you say hi to Mr. Delmar?"
"Hi," Peter greeted with a shy wave. He maintained polite eye contact with the man for all of two seconds before he got distracted by a cat leaping onto the counter.
"That's Murphy," Mr. Delmar said. "He's friendly; you can pet him if you want. Now, what can I get you?"
"I'll have a number two with no mayo. What do you want, Peter? Can you see the menu?"
Peter stood on his tiptoes to see the sign behind Mr. Delmar. "A number five, please," he said. "Can you add pickles?"
"Sure thing, kiddo."
As Mr. Delmar relayed their orders, Uncle Ben asked, "Since when do you like pickles?"
Peter shrugged. "It only feels like a real order if you add or hold something. So I thought I'd try pickles."
"Can't argue with that logic." Ben ruffled his hair, then paid for their food. He took the sandwiches, thanked Mr. Delmar, and led Peter back out of the store. They walked all the way back home, Peter growing so hungry that by the time they got there he could've gnawed right through the paper. Peter got them both glasses of water and sat down across from Ben at the table. He tore open the paper and picked up the sandwich, the wonderful smell making his mouth water. However, he quickly encountered a problem.
The sandwich was piled so high with turkey, cheese, and pickles that he couldn't fit his mouth around it. That didn't stop him from trying. His efforts resulted in mustard all over his face and his mouth so full of sandwich he nearly choked.
"Whoa, whoa, let me help," Ben said, sliding the sandwich away from Peter before he could pick it up again. He folded the paper back over it and pressed down with all his might before sliding it back to Peter—along with multiple napkins.
"Thanks," Peter said. He wiped his face, picked up the now much thinner sandwich, and easily took a much more manageable bite. "You're right. This is the best sandwich in Queens."
~0~
He and Ben had gone to Delmar's at least every other week, sometimes more. Every single time, Parker had gotten the same order: a number five with pickles. Ben squished it down for him every time, even when Parker grew old enough to do it himself. After the shooting, he hadn't been able to go back because the inside of the little bodega looked too much like a grocery store. Further, the idea of going without Ben had been too horrible to contemplate.
But going there with MJ? His now girlfriend? That didn't sound so bad.
"Yeah, Delmar's sounds good," Parker said. "How about we grab food and then head to the closest park for a picnic?"
"That sounds great." MJ brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "This Saturday?"
"Sure."
"Okay. I'll meet you there at one."
Parker couldn't get home fast enough. And then when he got home, his parents couldn't get home soon enough. In the meantime, he informed Tony, Bucky, Steve, and Ned of his success. They were all enthusiastic, to say the least. As soon as they got home from work, Dad an hour after Parker and Daddell about two hours, he announced, "I have a date."
"Way to go!" they cheered, both offering high fives.
"We're having a picnic this Saturday."
"That sounds wonderful. Do you need cash?"
"Oh, uh…sure." They gave him way more than he could ever use on one date, but of course he didn't complain. School the next two days was an awkward in-between, because they hadn't actually gone on a date yet but were sort of together already. Parker found himself more freely staring at her, and they even held hands on the way from math class to lunch. By the time Saturday arrived, Parker's nerves awakened in full force.
"You eat lunch with her every day, this is no different," he told himself in the bathroom mirror as he adjusted his collar. He checked the time once again and gave his parents good luck hugs before heading to Delmar's.
"Don't you dare bring me flowers or something equally stupid," MJ had warned yesterday. Parker knew better than to go against her wishes, so he arrived with nothing more than the smile on his face. The bodega looked much the same as it had the last time he'd been here with Ben, the awning only slightly more faded with age. He beat MJ there by about three minutes.
"Hey," he greeted, internally cursing his voice crack. "You look nice."
"Thank you."
"I have to warn you about something," he said reluctantly. Parker had thought about this long and hard and the fact of the matter was he hadn't confronted any stimuli so similar to the grocery store since it happened. Having MJ there might prevent a panic attack, but he couldn't be sure. "I, uh…have a bit of a history with grocery stores, so being inside this bodega might…might freak me out a bit."
"Do you want to stay out here and have me order for us?" she asked sincerely.
"No, no, that's okay. I need to start confronting it at some point. I know a first date isn't the ideal time, but I want to do this with you."
"First dates are all about facing your fears." She smiled and extended her hand. Parker returned the gesture and they walked in together. He braced himself for flashbacks to gunshots, blood, and bodies, but focused his attention on his hand entwined with MJ's and the kind face of Mr. Delmar. No immediate panic struck him. The man smiled at him, eyes flickering with recognition even thought it had been years since Parker last set foot here.
"Number five with pickles," he said knowingly.
"How—how do you remember that?" Parker asked wondrously.
"I remember all my favorite customers' orders. Is this your girlfriend?"
"Yeah." Holy shit, he'd never said that out loud to another person before. It felt amazing.
"What can I get you?"
MJ told him her order and when Parker tried to pay for both of them, she glared at him. "That's an archaic, sexist tradition."
"Sorry. My bad."
"I forgive you."
As Parker handed over money just for his order, he asked, "Would it be possible for you to…squish mine? So it's flatter?" Ben had always done it for him, and if Parker took the time to do it himself he didn't trust that he wouldn't start crying or something equally as embarrassing.
Mr. Delmar only appeared slightly perturbed by the request. "Sure thing, Peter."
He even remembered his name. That was impressive. "It's…actually Parker now," he corrected hesitantly. "Parker Weaver. I got adopted."
"No way, the Weavers finally adopted a kid? Good for them."
"You know my parents?"
"Number one with jalapenos and a number eight."
"They didn't tell me they come here often."
"They don't. Only a few times a while back. But they're a memorable pair."
Parker chuckled. "Yeah, they are."
Mr. Delmar handed them their sandwiches. "Enjoy."
"Thank you," they both said. Parker walked out of that bodega feeling a thousand times better than when he walked in. In one hand he held the best sandwich in Queens, and in the other the hand of the best girl.
~0~
They found a lovely shaded spot beneath a tree and sat down to eat. Parker tried to remind himself it was just like lunch at school, but he still felt nervous. MJ had pinned a lock of her hair on the left side of her head and she looked so beautiful in the spring sunlight that Parker's stomach fluttered every time he looked at her.
"You didn't freak out," MJ stated, breaking the silence.
"I guess not." Parker had surprised himself. Dr. Wilson's exposure therapy must have worked even better than he expected.
"I know this is a really sensitive topic and it's only our first date, but I've wondered this from the first day you came to live with us," MJ said. "I understand if you don't want to tell me, but I just have to ask. What happened? How'd you end up in foster care?"
Parker sighed. He knew this topic would come up eventually, and he was frankly shocked that MJ hadn't asked sooner, inquisitive as she was. He wasn't reluctant to discuss it like he used to be, recognizing the tragedies as a part of his story, while also knowing he could now control how much they defined him. MJ deserved to know.
"My parents died in a car crash when I was six," he began. "My aunt and uncle took me in after that. Then when I was eleven, my uncle was killed in a shooting at a grocery store. I was there too, and saw the whole thing." Parker pretended not to notice the horrified expression on her face and kept going. "Then the year after that my aunt got food poisoning from E. coli in undercooked beef and it killed her too. Then I came to live with you. That's about it."
He'd rendered her speechless. MJ just stared at him for a solid minute before asking, "Can I hug you?"
"Uh, sure."
She put her sandwich aside and wrapped her arms around him. Parker focused on the scent of her shampoo and not the slight tremble he could feel.
"I'm okay," he assured her.
"I know you are now, but I just wish I could have done more earlier."
"You were a great sister. And, at least so far, you make a pretty good girlfriend."
That at least made her laugh, but Parker noticed a single tear escape her eye before she wiped it away.
"You make a pretty good boyfriend so far."
"Thanks." He paused. "Hey, do your parents know about this? About us?"
"That I'm dating their ex-foster son?"
He nodded.
"Yeah."
"So they also know that I got adopted? That I'm alive and well?"
"Yes."
"Good. I still feel bad that I put them through all that."
"You shouldn't. Your reaction to trauma is not your fault."
"I know. I just don't want them to think they failed as foster parents because they didn't see what was wrong with me."
"Well, if things go well with this," she gestured between the two of them, "Then one day I'll bring you home with me and you can tell them yourself."
"Sounds good." Parker took another bite of his sandwich. "That might hold the record for deepest first date conversation."
"Well it's not every day former foster siblings reunite and start dating."
"True, true. I wonder if it's ever happened before."
"Statistically speaking, probably."
"I guess you're right. But it's fun to imagine we're the first, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I think the only reason my dad let me go on a first date unsupervised was because he'd already met you and knew you weren't trouble."
"Really? He knew I wasn't trouble? What if I'd come out of Gravesen a hardened bad boy?" he asked. MJ burst out laughing at his ridiculousness, and soon Parker joined in. As far as first dates went, Parker considered it a great success, even though he got mustard on his sleeve and narrowly avoided rubbing it off on MJ when they held hands on their way home.
This is one of my favorite chapters because it's just so darn cute. I love the flashback to young Parker, and of course I just had to give a backstory to his "squish it down flat" line from Homecoming.