STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES
CHAPTER COMPLETED: 9/9/2018
CHAPTER START
Peter Parker, "Bachelor" Pad
The day of the party finally arrived. After a few days of adventuring through dozens of thrift stores, Teresa was able to give Peters apartment a decent makeover and make it presentable to his future guests. The annoying part was Peter had to carry or arrange for all the furniture and draperies to be moved to his apartment which meant incredulous wait times on the moving teams to get to his apartment building, and even greater time to have them move it up to the 5th floor where Peter was staying.
'The people on HGTV always have so much fun, this is so boring to do in real life.'
Home decor was not something Peter liked to deal with and with Teresa dragging him along for the whole ordeal it was officially on his Don't Do list. But his issues with home décor didn't mean he would be a bad host to all his friends. He was lazy is somethings but making sure everyone enjoyed themselves was not somewhere he would like to disappoint. So, he did his best in providing all the snacks and drinks he could. Cooking was not his strong suit either, but thankfully Aunt May had volunteered to do the heavy lifting on the main course, lasagna.
'I need to ask for her recipe book, imagine how much better everything would taste with a bit of bacon.'
Peter insisted that Aunt May add some bacon to the lasagna and the other dishes, but she countered that all the fat in bacon would cause problems for Peter's and his guests health down the line. She was always looking out for him in small ways but denying him some bacon on his apartment warming party was a bit too cruel for Peter's taste. He would just have to make due with non-bacon eats.
Aunt May showed up first to help Peter set everything up and make sure he had not made too much of a mess so soon after getting the apartment. She was complimenting all the choices in furniture and décor that Teresa had made for Peter. May did not realize she was praising her niece. Peter and Teresa had not talked to May about their parents or who Teresa really was. There have been run ins with Teresa and May, but no revelations were made over her heritage, just comments from May to Peter about how much Teresa resembles his mother. They needed to tell her soon or she might assume they are together which is a situation neither Peter nor Teresa want to explain or deal with. Maybe once the night winded down and Peter could get Teresa and May alone everything could be explained.
After Aunt May had set things up the other guests started pouring in. Teresa and MJ were the next to show up and then Anna Maria joined soon after. All the ladies greeted Peter and May and then toured the house admiring everything Teresa had bought for Peter's apartment. Harry and Liz arrived without their sons and we're in a festive mood after FINALLY being invited to a party at Peter's place.
It had been ages since Peter had his own place and was on good terms with all his friends. Octavius time as Peter didn't lead to great times with his already established friends due to Otto's behavior. He had an apartment before Parker Industries exploded in size, but he wasn't single back then and didn't invite people over as much as he would have liked since he was always busy. During Parker Industries rise, Peter didn't have a stable home, always on the move from office to office, continent to continent, living as CEO Peter Parker and The Amazing Spider-Man. Now that he was stable in New York and was a bone fide bachelor once again, he had to invite another famous bachelor for this occasion.
Johnny Storm was the best bachelor Peter could think of. Being the best of friends it was a no brainer that Peter had to invite Johnny to celebrate his new abode. Johnny would have no problem keeping Peter's secret, even though a handful of others were already in on it. Hopefully May wouldn't be able to coax anything too embarrassing out of Johnny about their misadventures, but luckily he had a few bags with him .
"So Pete, how does it feel to have your own place again?" – Johnny asks Peter off to the side from everyone else.
"It's nice to have a private space again. I don't have to sleep at work anymore." – Peter
"Then how about a celebratory drink man, I brought some wine." – Johnny
"I guess one drink wouldn't hurt." – Peter
"What about us ?!" – MJ asks with everyone else staring at them with an eyebrow raised, silently asking the same question.
"Plenty to go around." – Johnny responds and he and Peter get a glass for everyone and get ready for a toast.
"To friends, family, and futons." – Peter
"To friends and family." – Everyone says in unison, with only Johnny keeping the futon part in.
Once everyone had a sip of their wine, Teresa, May, and MJ began setting out the food so everyone could have dinner together.
"Teresa, how did you meet Peter? I've seen you and him together a lot lately, but never had enough time to talk with you." – May
"We ran into each other years ago when he worked for the Bugle. He helped me out on a case when I was a PI." – Teresa
"You two were dealing with treasure hunters, right?" – MJ
"More like petty thieves, but Peter was nice enough to help the story not show up on the paper." – Teresa
"That was very nice of him. Too bad he does not tell us more interesting stories. How about you MJ? Has he shared anymore adventures with you?" - May
"A couple yes, maybe tonight we'll see a repeat of one of them." – MJ
"Oh, what happened?" - May
"He got drunk one time with Johnny." – MJ
May was surprised because drinking was one of the few things Peter did not do often. (Unless you know an evil doctor takes over your body.)
"How bad did it get?" – Teresa
"He's a happy drunk so it was entertaining…. until he threw up and started talking to Johnny about the vomit."
"That boy." – May
While MJ, Teresa, and May were continuing to talk about Peter's weird drunken antics while setting everything, Peter, Johnny, and Harry were able to have some bro time while Anna and Liz talked about work.
"It is great you finally have your own place Pete, we can finally throw parties at your place instead of mine." – Harry
"This is barely the first party and you guys are already planning another one?" – Peter
"Maybe, depends how good of a host you are." Johnny says with an obvious hint that Peter should Johnny's glass.
"You need to slow down Fireman, foods almost set out. I don't want a repeat of you know what." – Says Peter while only giving Johnny a teeny bit of wine.
"Ya, thanks for the invite to you know what." – Harry says sarcastically, obviously a little hurt he wasn't a part of their little adventure. Maybe Harry would be able to join them soon.
"Come on everyone, food is ready." – May
Once everyone is tightly packed around the dinner table in the kitchen.
"Considering you boys have been holding the wine hostage, we won't have a prayer before eating. You all need to get some food in you quickly. Dig in everyone." May announced to everyone gathered.
Nothing was more awesome for Peter than finally digging in. With his serving of lasagna, creamy mac and cheese, and cheese topped mushroom risotto, Peter felt like a mafia boss with a monopoly on all da cheese. He also had all the carbs that would knock out an unprepared soul if they ate it all in one go.
"I can't have bacon with any of these, but I can have all the carbs in the universe. It's going to be clogging a lot more than just my veins." – Peter thought.
The food was amazing, maybe a little too amazing. Peter and Johnny were entranced by the food in front of them.
"The only thing to make this better would be some Cool Ranch Doritos crushed all over them." – Johnny
"Or some Chile Verde Doritos to add spice." – Peter
"Or Cheetos to make it extra cheesy." – Harry
"IT AIN'T EASY BEIN' CHEESY." – Peter and Johnny said in unison.
"Boys… I think it would be best if we ate in comfort. No more debauchery." – May reprimands the boys while giving Peter the stink eye.
"At least until we finish eating, then you can get 'crunk' like the kids say these days." – May
Everyone tried their best to stifle their laughter at May's attempt to be up to date with modern terms, but Johnny broke down first and started the roar of laughter from the table.
"Wow May I didn't know you were such a connoisseur of modern English." – MJ
"I like to think that I am still young at heart and well cultured." – May
"You should start saying "Litty" if something is really awesome May. It is all the rage right now in the clubs." – MJ
'Oh my god, Wade is always sending me damn messages trashing litty.' - Peter thinks to himself
"Well, who here thinks my lasagna and mac and cheese are litty?" – May
"They're okay, maybe if they had bacon on top it would elevate them to the Litty zone." - Peter
"Just cook it yourself Peter." – MJ
"But it won't turn out as good if I make it." – Peter said with a pout.
"Lazy butt." – Anna Maria adds.
"Yup." – is heard from all the ladies in the apartment.
"Just take it Pete, you can't win this one." – Harry whispers to Peter
"Fine, but I'm having bacon in the morning and no one can stop me." – Peter
"Not if you get hungover and barf your brains out." – Johnny responds while giving Peter more wine.
"I'll prove you wrong." – Peter
*40 Minutes Later*
Everyone had finished their dinner and were lounging around Peter's apartment. None of the dishes were washed or even in the sink, everyone had slowly stepped away from the table after eating and were drinking wine chatting. Even May, who keeps the messes to a minimum, abandoned her plate and was enjoying herself with the ladies. Currently Peter was laying in the middle of his living room looking straight up through his skylight.
"I feel like I'm going to pass out." – Peter
"You did suck a bunch of the food up like a vortex." – Harry
"At this point you'll be food wasted instead of hungover tomorrow." – Johnny added with a light chuckle.
"That still means I proved you wrong so ha I win."- Peter
"We still got time." – Johnny
The guys kept lounging around the living room under the skylight for a good amount of time before guests started leaving. First Anna Maria was picked up by one of her friends to make sure she got to her apartment safely. Then Harry and Liz left as well, with Johnny soon after getting picked up by one of the Avengers. This left only Peter, MJ, Teresa, and May still at the "party", if you could even call it that anymore. Those who were left were exhausted and resting wherever they could find a comfortable spot. Even May was exhausted, and she had not drunk as much wine as the others.
"Um tiurd." – Teresa exhaustingly spouts.
"Meh tooo." – MJ agrees
Peter is pretty out of it and on the verge of passing out. However out of the corner of his eye he sees Aunt May dozing off on the couch. He goes over to Aunt May and picks her up so he can place her in his room to sleep for the night.
"Yu two crhashing hear toonight?" – Peter asks MJ and Teresa.
"It scheems fery lickly, I caunt schpeek." – MJ
"Uh huh." – Teresa
Peter was effectively kicked out of his room and the couch, even the recliner. The only spot left for Peter to sleep on was the floor, sleeping on a kitchen chair or stool would not make an ideal sleeping spot. He scrunched up with a small blanket and a few of the extra couch pillows to make do with what was available.
*The next morning*
"Man, I need to stop letting Johnny peer pressure me into drinking." – Peter woke up with an annoyed groan. He wasn't throwing up, but the slight headache was the best thing to wake up to. Peter walked over to the kitchen to get something cold to drink when he saw a note.
Went out for Mimosa's with May and Teresa.
Bacon in the fridge.
From: MJ
P.S. Your apartment, your dishes, your problem ;p
Peter then looked at all the dishes piled up in his sink. At least they had put them all in one spot.
'I've got 99 problems and all of them are dirty dishes.'
At this moment Peter wished he had Johnny's abilities, then he could just burn the dishes out of existence. But if he did that, he'd be out of plates and utensils along with an apartment he might of accidentally burned down in the process. So the only thing left to do was clean, but it wasn't going to be like doing chores, it was going to be tough work, a lot of work.
Peter Parker, Avengers Mansion days later
Speaking of work, over the past couple days Peter had come together to realize the plan he had proposed to Johnny. Working out all the details took a while, but Stark was fine with the limitations between their companies and was all for bringing the heroes together while also helping out the little man.
Just inside the front doors of the Avengers Mansion, Peter, Johnny Storm, and Tony Stark, were preparing to make an important announcement to the whole world.
"Should we come up with a team name? We could be SPS or something." – Tony suggests while they wait inside.
"Seems a bit bland. Sounds like we are a lame college club filled with nerds talking about blackholes." – Johnny
"I take offense to that." – Peter
"Me too." – Tony
"Did any of you rehearse what you are going to say?" – Peter
"I don't rehearse, I just wing it." – Tony
"Speeches are tough man, I'm going to mess it up no matter what." – Johnny
"Then just smile, keep the big words to us." – Peter
"Oh and what big words you have in mind to catch everyone's attention." – Johnny asks
"Only one; Partnership." – Peter
"Should I bring some rings to make it official? I know a good jeweler." – Tony
"I think we're good with just signing the papers." – Peter
"Keeping it simple, that's good. Let's get this done, I need to catch up on my beauty sleep." - Stark
As the trio of bachelors headed out of Avengers Mansion, they hoped their venture would be well received. Coming together in this manner was probably the only way to unite the world's heroes again and get a sense of normalcy back in their lives. And for Peter, well, this had the added benefit of letting him keep his day job for once.
CHAPTER END
A/N:
Sorry but no mom's spaghetti this chapter only lasagna. Fun Fact: apparently "Litty" is a thing on the East Coast, I didn't even know about this until a friend came back from an internship in DC. Also, people don't use bed covers either over there, WTF. I have no idea why they would kill a perfectly good term like "Lit" and make it seem so white washed. And the bed sheets stuff, well that's just disgusting but hopefully they were isolated instances.
Moving back to the story having the guys be dorky seemed like the right thing to do, it's Peter's place so he might as well let loose a bit. Things were rushed in the end to make sure this gets out as soon as possible. Its par for the course, but for the next arc I'm planning on making things as detailed as possible.
Feels like chapters are taking a bit longer than I planned since ideas for another story have been popping in my head lately rather than ones for this. The other story is not remotely related to Spider-Man and won't come out anytime soon, but it's been cutting into brainstorming moments for Great Responsibility. September is not going to be friendly to writing since I have at least 2 weddings to go to.
Work has also shifted into busy mode suddenly even though things were supposed to wind down. Things happened before I started (i.e. "losing" 80 Macbook Pros) and now they are coming back to bite our asses. We haven't lost any laptops since I started, but it's just a clusterfuck with like 6 executives and managers trying to work out details. New processes and a lot of impromptu meetings with executives is leading to a tightly packed workday(Workday is who we provide service to ;p) . A team member is also leaving for a better job so that means my team lead and I need to learn new things outside our current positions until someone new is hired(If anyone new is even hired). That means September will be busy at work as well. I can't guarantee another chapter soon, but since this one is coming out super late it could still happen if I downsize and do short chunks of writing to build to the next arc.
Beside all the stuff going on, I'm super excited to finally get to the next arc in this story, ever since I saw the potential for the kind of event I've planned to occur it's like "OMFG this would be the coolest thing to ever happen EVER." The only problem is I need to get the details perfect for it to be a success and that could take a while since I only have a very skeletonized draft and accompanying character history and events that need a lot of work and consolidating. There are tons of ways I could get from beginning to end, I need to find the appropriate way, though, to fit in with everything. But it's not just going to be about the story, it'll be fun as hell and I have plenty of ideas for the characters and fans like us to enjoy what will happen.
HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE NEW SPIDERMAN GAME! OOOOOOOO IT LOOKS SO GOOD AND THE STORY IS GOOD TOO. THEY GOT PETER PARKER AND SPIDER-MAN RIGHT!
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