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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
vi. BEST FRIEND

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   STUDIES HAVE PROVEN THAT nature holds therapeutic capabilities designed to make the human body, mind, and soul more felicitous, healthier. Whenever you spend even 10 minutes outside, your morale boosts staggeringly and you're overall left feeling much better than when you spend an excessive amount of time indoors. Or, at least, that was what Principal Morita was convinced of.

   However, for the campers at Camp Mirkhaven, they were left feeling sleepy and uncomfortably sweaty.

   Personally, Riley Stark couldn't tell if she was feeling troubled from the ant bites on her ankles or the dread building in her gut. All she could think about was how she promised herself that today, July 23rd, she was going to confess her stupid feelings to Peter Parker.

   It was daunting planning out the encounter in her head. She kept trying to predict every anticipated sentence like it would help her whatsoever. She'd been hoping it would come to her in a dream, but she was left unlucky. Riley had even thought about acting spontaneously, but thinking about talking to Peter constantly seemed to rule out any and all impulsivity.

   And so, Riley trudged through the dirt that morning with the weight of one thousand thoughts dragging her down. The sun leisurely warmed up the world, supplanting the previously cool climate. She and the campers were returning from a long morning jaunt through nature.

  She had also been hoping that her walk through the forest would clear her mind, but it did the exact opposite. All she could focus on were her nerves.

   Folding her arms over her chest, Riley attempted to tune out the sound of Warren's obnoxiously loud whistling. He had been leading the teenagers back to the campgrounds after talking their ear off about nature with Principal Morita. If Riley was being honest, all she wanted to do was make him shut up. His whistling was making her even more uneasy if that was even possible.

   "I can't do this," finally proclaimed Riley Stark. MJ was right by her side, one headphone in her ear. The two had been inseparable since camp started. "I can't tell him."

   "Wh—Riley!" hissed MJ. She squinted as the sun glistened against her eyes, coloring them gold. "Yes, you can. You're Riley Stark."

   "No," interposed Riley with a lowered voice, "I'm a nervous mess."

   "You've fought aliens, you know."

   "Yeah, but I wasn't exactly pining after them for, like, a year!" argued Riley. She puffed out her cheeks. "What if this ruins our friendship? Then what? It's not like I can avoid him. Dad loves him." She paused, remembering MJ didn't know Peter was Spider-Man. "You know, from the Stark Internship."

   "Which means he'll be the first one to jump on the ship when you guys inevitably get together," MJ supportively insisted. It was at that moment in which MJ suddenly remembered her bet with Ned. MJ had actually managed to forget about it in the process of helping her (best) friend.

   Riley took a moment to process MJ's words. She furrowed her eyebrows together. "...Ship?"

   MJ snorted. "Never mind that," she dismissed. "So when are you gonna do it? Do you need backup? Because if he hurts your feelings, I could step on him or something."

   Riley smiled at the sentiment. "I'm not sure. Later, I guess."

   "What's happening later?" Betty Brant moved toward the two, a gentle smile on her face. "Are you guys talking about seeing our parents later?"

   This time, Riley was caught off guard. "Our parents?" she repeated, perplexed. "What are you talking about?"

   Betty turned to properly face Riley as they continued their hike. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, her blue eyes clustering with warmth. Her typically transparent skin was stamped with a pink blanket from being outside. "Duh, today's Family Day," she reminded Riley factually. "Did you forget?"

   "I didn't," MJ mumbled to herself. "I just didn't... care." She frowned before shrugging it off. Riley and Betty didn't hear her.

   Riley sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Honestly, I would've known that if I read anything Pepper showed me about Camp Mirkhaven. I wasn't really all that excited to come here," she said. "So, what's Family Day, exactly?"

   "Well, about a week into camp, our families get to come and visit us. It's the last time we'll be able to see them until the end of camp," explained Betty. "I just hope my mom brought extra shampoo."

  As they laughed, a thought dawned on Riley. "How would they know how to contact our families? Through school records?"

   "Mm, not exactly," Betty answered. "The school had to update our records since it's been so long."

   "That's why a lot of people who were dusted didn't end up coming to camp," added MJ. "Their numbers and emails changed and the school had no way of getting that information."

   Betty continued, "Remember when we had to do that extra paperwork when we got here? There was a page about family contacts we had to fill out. Ring a bell?"

   Riley's eyes widened. "That... That was for the school's records...?" she apprehensively asked.

   MJ furrowed her eyebrows together. Was it not obvious? "Uh, yeah. What else would it be?"

   Riley's hand hovered over her mouth sheepishly. "Oh... shit." She let out a nervous laugh as she ran a hand through her messy hair. "I... might've made a mistake."

   A concerned look caught Betty's face. "What do you mean?"

   "Well..." lingered Riley. "I didn't really... understand what I was filling out. I wasn't paying much attention. S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tony and the Avengers have always kept up with records for me, so I've never had to do paperwork like that before. I thought it was one of those "get to know you" activities, you know? So..."

   "So...?" recurred MJ.

   "I kinda put most of the Avengers down as my family."

   MJ and Betty immediately exploded with giggles. "You did what?" Betty asked.

   Riley's cheeks burned as she blushed. "I guess that explains why it took so long to fill out," she sheepishly said.

   So much for a secret vacation...

   Riley sighed. "I'm sure they won't all show up," she unconfidently mentioned to her friends, "...right?"

○ ○ ○

   Tony Stark was a lot of things. He was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. He was an inventor. He was a son, a husband, a father. He was a friend, a hero, a foe, a survivor. But on top of all of that, Tony Stark missed his oldest daughter and close friend, Riley Stark.

   He had spent time away from Riley before. It happened so often to the point where neither ever batted an eye twice about it. But things were different now. Because now that Tony wasn't trying to be a hero, he was trying to be a father, and you'd be surprised how hard that is when one of your children isn't home.

   Sure, he had Morgan, and she was more than a handful. Hell, she was two handfuls. And, frankly, Morgan was one of the many lights of his life. Tony never thought he'd be able to say something like that before, but that's beside the point.

   The point is that he didn't want to have all of these precious family moments without a key member of the Stark clan. He had tried replacing Riley with the family alpaca as a joke, but then it got weird and—

   Long story short, Tony was experiencing just a little bit of empty nest syndrome.

   But today was the day parents and family members were allowed to come in contact with Camp Mirkhaven. He'd been counting down the days since Happy dropped Riley off last week. Well, Pepper had been the one counting down the days because she also really missed Riley. Nonetheless, Pepper, Tony, and Morgan were all ecstatic to finally reunite with Riley again.

   "Do you think she's taller?" Tony asked his wife as he stood around varying families, each of them pretending like they weren't totally starstruck by his presence (and failing).

   Pepper eyed her husband. "Tony, it's been a week," she lightly reminded him.

   "Maybe she did something crazy with her hair. Like... Like a mohawk or something," Tony continued to babble the way he always did when he was eager about something. "Teenagers still do that kinda stuff, right?"

   Meanwhile, Morgan was sitting at the table beside them. She was currently admiring a small flower she had plucked from the ground that she wanted to give to her big sister. She was too excited to see Riley again to wonder why her father was so fidgety.

   See, it should also be known that Tony had been pretending to not be as excited as he was to see Riley again.

   He couldn't help himself. Tony wasn't trying to be like his father or even Rob O'Dair by acting like he didn't care about seeing Riley. It was more so the fact that if Tony showed his nearly uncontainable excitement, he knew it would get back to Riley, who would ultimately never let him live it down.

   Too bad Pepper knew her loved ones better than anyone. "...Is everything alright?" Pepper questioned despite knowing the answer already. "You seem..."

   "I seem what?"

   "I dunno," recommenced Pepper. She folded her arms over her chest as her blonde hair fell over her shoulder. She glanced back at him and looked him over. "...Antsy."

   "Antsy?" repeated Tony. He scoffed. "I'm a grown-ass man."

   "Grown men can be antsy," insisted Pepper with a slightly furrowed brow, a little smirk on her face. It was like she could read Tony's mind.

   Tony peered back at her, lowering his tinted sunglasses further down the bridge of his nose. "Is that supposed to be an Ant-Man joke?" he interrogated. "'Cause that's not funny. You know what's funny? Jokes."

   "That was a joke."

   Morgan looked up from the flower in her tiny hands. "I thought it was funny, Mommy," she contended.

   Tony held up a finger toward his wife. "Oh no. My child is not about to get your sense of humor."

   Pepper's face skewered up. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded. Tony didn't reply. He merely pushed his sunglasses back up on his nose while Morgan giggled profusely.

   "Daddy's in trouble!" sang the five-year-old girl.

   "Daddy's not in—" started Tony before meeting his wife's hard gaze. "Never mind."

   Morgan continued to giggle at the conversation. Tony's ears perked up when he heard a chattering crowd approaching the general area set up for the families of all the campers.

   Turning his head, Tony spotted all of the campers returning to the campsite. He relaxed. "Saved by the—"

   "SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!"

   "Pete! Stop saying that!"

   "RILEY TRIED TO KILL ME!"

   "YOU SAID THE BUGS WERE BOTHERING YOU, SO I SPRAYED YOU WITH BUG SPRAY!"

   "ASSAULT!"

   Tony loudly sighed, watching as Peter Parker ran around the campgrounds with Riley Stark trailing after him, laughing hysterically. Families were gathered across the campsite, reuniting happily (and trying to ignore the chaos ensuing between the two).

   Tony could only imagine what everyone was thinking, considering no one knew Peter was Spider-Man. This meant that no one really got the joke he was making. Riley looked insane laughing as hard as she was.

   A smile tugged on Pepper's lips. "Ah, there's our girl. Hey, no mohawks."

   "Nope," Tony replied. His smile matched his wife's. The two quickly dropped their brief moment of casual bickering to rejoice at the sight of their first child.

   Meanwhile, in the midst of getting separated from Peter and striking up a brief conversation with one May Parker (who strangely had lots of questions about boyfriends), Riley nearly tripped over her own two feet when she felt something latch onto her lower half.

   "Riley, Riley!" a little voice squeaked.

   "Mo!" Riley beamed, leaning down to lift her little sister with ease.

   "Riley!" Morgan continued to squeal with her high-pitched voice. "I missed you!"

   She carried the child toward where their parents were waiting. "I missed you more, shortie," Riley insisted cheerfully before placing her on the ground again. "Miss me?"

   "Of course," confirmed Pepper, reaching out to hug the life out of Riley. "Come here!" Though Pepper was just an ordinary human, Riley was convinced that the strength of a mother was purely unmatched. She learned this after the time Pepper threw her shoe at Riley after sassing her, which surprisingly left a tiny bruise on her arm for two days.

   After hugging her mother, Riley turned to Tony. She gave him a cocky smile. "Hey, grandpa," she taunted.

   "Yeah, yeah," dismissed Tony. For once, he didn't have any quips to beat her with. Instead, he extended out his arms. "Give your old man a hug, would ya? Or else I'm putting your weapons on eBay." Laughter poured out from Riley as she embraced the man she used to jokingly refer to as her father. Oh, how the times have changed since she was 11.

   Being around her family always meant the world to her, even if this was a fraction of what her family truly was. Speaking of the rest of her family, though, Riley was unable to spot any of the other Avengers. For once, she wasn't disappointed. She really didn't need the press discovering her location and taking her away from Camp Mirkhaven before she talked to Peter. Then again...

   Maybe Riley could leak her own location to CNN if things with Peter went bad...

   "Tony, Pepper," Happy Hogan called, joining the family rather abruptly, "can I suggest we move to someplace more private?"

   Riley seemed to have ignored everything he just said. "Happy! For once I'm thrilled to see you," she teased.

   "Right. Anyways, it's getting a little crowded and I don't want to jeopardize Riley's trip with her being in the back of everyone's pictures," Happy insisted. He was always on duty, hardly ever taking breaks for himself even after all this time.

   And so, it was decided that the Starks would relocate at Riley's cabin. She wasn't exactly sure if that was allowed, but somehow, Tony Stark always found a way to bend the rules to his favor. She just rolled with the punches at this point.

   On the short walk over, Riley and her family exchanged short stories about the things that had occurred in their lives throughout the past week. Riley carried Morgan on her back effortlessly, smiling and laughing at all the little things she had missed out on. It was just enough to distract her mind from her constant thoughts concerning Peter Parker.

   Finally arriving at the small cabin (to which Tony instantly made several remarks about it needing "upgrades"), Riley placed Morgan on the ground and fumbled with her key as she proclaimed, "Sorry if it's a little messy."

   A little wasn't a big enough exaggeration. Riley knew for a fact that her cabin was a mess, and she knew that Pepper was going to scold her for it.

   "Mommy says Daddy's a mess," Morgan innocently commented while clinging to her sister's side. Riley snorted, adjusting the small flower from Morgan that was now perched on her ear.

   Riley bit her lips once she entered the quaint cabin and flicked the lightswitch, knowing that Pepper was going to criticize her for letting her temporary home grow so cluttered. It was like all of MJ and Riley's belongings had exploded from their respective sides of the cabin.

   "Oh my God!" Pepper immediately cried out. The neat-freak scanned the area, bright blue eyes wide. She was used to Tony's messes in the lab and at home, but this... this was certainly something else. Riley could have sworn it wasn't that bad in here earlier...

   "I said it was a little messy!" Riley defended wimpishly. She awkwardly pushed one of the t-shirts on the floor to the side and flashed her a runty grin. Riley missed the days in which she was young enough to let her cuteness get by.

   "That might be the understatement of the week, shortie."

   "Hey, in my defense, I've been really busy all day everyday and—" began Riley. She faltered as the words soaked into her brain. It wasn't necessarily the words that caught her off guard; it was the person who said them.

   Riley whipped her head around in search of the one who had sassed her. It wasn't Tony, nor Pepper, nor Morgan. Instead, it was a red-haired Russian spy with a smug smirk on her face. "Well, are you gonna keep standing there all starstruck or are you gonna explain yourself?" the ex-assassin queried.

   "Hey, give her a break, Romanoff," another voice chimed. Riley's attention snapped to the being beside Natasha Romanoff. Steve Rogers smiled warmly at Riley. "The kid's been busy."

   Riley looked around the room furthermore, her heart skipping a beat. Natasha, Steve, Rhodey, Sam, and Bucky were all gathered around her cabin. Her agape jaw morphed into a big smile. "I... What? I can't believe you're all here!" Riley exclaimed, walking forward to hug Natasha first. "But... How? What about the press?"

   Steve was quick to explain. "We all got an email from your school. All of us talked to Tony and he snuck us in. We all thought it'd be good to check in on you."

   "You'd be surprised by how easily people get distracted by your old man over the rest of us," Rhodey mentioned, walking over to collect his hug from Riley. "Twitter thinks he's doing random charity work." Bucky made a face, unsure of what "Twitter" was. Nonetheless, he offered Riley a nod and gently fist-bumped her.

   Riley was beaming. "I can't believe you're all here!"

   "Yeah, yeah," dismissed Sam. "Everyone wants a piece of the Falcon these days."

   "At children's birthday parties, maybe," mumbled Bucky, gaining a good laugh out of everyone.

   Riley couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. For the first time in a long time, she was with (some of) the Avengers for reasons that didn't involve the end of the world. She was over the moon.

   Riley didn't know where to begin. She hadn't seen Steve and Nat in almost two months now. She wanted to know what they were up to. She wanted to know what Sam and Bucky had been up to, too, and what kind of hell Rhodey was raising up in the capitol. Yet, all that left Riley's mouth when she looked around the room was:

   "Hey, Dad," called Riley. "Before I forget, when the hell did you buy Area 51?"

   And that alone caused a series of explosions in the cabin.

   Pepper practically leaped out of her own skin. "You what!?" she shouted.

   "Why would you need to buy Area 51?" Natasha added. "I thought we were all traumatized from the past, what, 10 years of dealing with aliens. Or was that just me?"

   "Hang on," Bucky mumbled, turning to Sam. "I thought Area 51 wasn't real. That's what T'Challa said?" Steve shrugged, just as surprised as his best friend. Meanwhile, Riley had to quickly explain to her little sister what Area 51 was.

   Steve furrowed his eyebrows together. "Hang on, you own Area 51?" he inquired. "Since when?"

   Tony shrugged, hoping to get the entire cabin to settle down. "Alright, look, the government quietly put it up for sale and I bought it," he nonchalantly answered.

   "Was I the only one who knew about this?" Rhodey questioned. He wasn't fazed whatsoever. "This was awhile ago. Maybe back in 2019?"

   Steve made another face of bafflement. "I thought you were broke?"

   "Broke?" repeated Pepper. "Hang on, when were we ever—?"

   Tony shook his head. "My broke isn't the same as your broke," Tony intercepted, managing to calm Pepper down instantly. "And this was years ago." He faltered, turning back to his oldest. "Hang on, how do you even know this, Tink?"

   Riley shrugged. "MJ said she Googled it one day," she simply replied. Tony's entire face contorted with puzzlement. Was it really just as simple as a Google search to learn this? Maybe Tony needed to buy Google or something...

   And then, as if the cabin couldn't get anymore crowded, Michelle Jones went walking in.

   Shower caddy and towel in hand, the brown-skinned teenager froze. She furrowed her eyebrows together, gazing upon each individual in the quaint cabin. "...Uh..." lingered MJ, extremely disconcerted.

   Riley had to take a second to remind herself that it was just MJ. This was nothing to freak out over. "What... What are you doing back so early?" queried Riley.

   "Well..." began MJ. She wasn't sure if she was more starstruck, puzzled, or nervous. "My... parents left early to beat the... the traffic... And then I took a shower while you were gone... And now the Avengers are in our cabin and I'm wearing a shirt with a cat on it."

   Riley released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, laughing. She decided this was the perfect opportunity to introduce MJ to her family. After all, everyone knew of MJ. It was just a matter of time before she got to meet them.

   With a big smile, Riley joined MJ's side and tenderly yanked her forward. "Mom, Dad... uh, family," started Riley, "this is Michelle Jones, my best friend."

   "C...Call me MJ," the brunette insisted. Then, MJ tensed as she peered back at Riley. Her heart actually skipped a beat. "Wait, we're best friends?" asked MJ, smiling subtly.

   Riley froze up, her muscles constricting. Were those the wrong words? Should she have just said they were casual friends? Temporary roommates? Acquaintances? Schoolmates? This was incredibly embarrassing.

   MJ nudged Riley. "You're my best friend, too," she assured.

   Riley sighed out of pure relief. "Oh, thank God," she replied. But before Riley could say anything else, Tony walked forward.

   "Hang on," Tony said. MJ felt incredibly intimidated standing before the man. What was he going to say? He gave MJ a hard stare. "I love sentiments and all, but..."

   "What?" demanded Riley, feeling protective over MJ immediately.

   Tony removed his glasses from his face, gesturing with his hands. "I'm your best friend," he stated rather simply.

   Riley couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. "You're joking, right?" she demanded lightly. "You're... both my best friends. I have a lot of friends now."

   "Hang on, what about me?" Rhodey wondered, raising a hand.

   Tony motioned back to Riley. "C'mon, we'll always be a pair, but she's also my kid," he insisted. "You can have more than one best friend, but I'm #1."

   "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Pepper mumbled to herself, picking up her daughter from the ground and propping her up against her hip.

   "Uh, no offense, Mr. Man," MJ began, confidence washing over her, "but aren't you a little grown to be fighting over a kid's best friend?"

   Quiet snickers filled the atmosphere. Natasha smiled a lot more than Riley had ever seen in her life. "I like your friend, shortie," commented the redhead.

   Morgan perked up at the familiar nickname. She pouted momentarily. "I'm shortie!" she exclaimed, almost as if she was offended.

   As everyone broke out into laughter and broken up conversations with one another, Natasha found herself thinking momentarily about Morgan and Riley. She glanced over at Riley before her gaze shifted to the youngest Stark. Somehow, deep down, the idea of Riley passing down the nickname of "shortie" to Morgan warmed Natasha's heart. It had her wondering she truly was a sisterly figure for Riley all this time.

   Whatever it was, Natasha was just pleased to see that Riley was happy and carefree for the first time in years. Whatever this place's gimmick was (Natasha had no clue), it certainly was doing something right. That was more than enough for the woman who once despised Riley.

   Riley personally wanted to soak in the feeling she was experiencing in that moment for the rest of her life. There truly was no one else who loved the Avengers quite like Riley did. And for a moment there, her mind was wiped from all of her worries...

   ...until Riley found herself looking around the room, almost as though she was searching for something or rather, someone. Every time she'd speak or crack a joke, Riley found herself instinctually searching for someone. That was when it dawned on Riley that she still needed to talk to Peter after everyone was gone.

   For now, she could ignore him. For now, she could forget about the boy who was always on her mind these days. As for later, though?

   Well, there really was no telling what would happen next, but if Riley could save the world a few hundred times, then maybe everything would be okay. Maybe everything would go smoothly for once in her life.

   Maybe.