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“I know we aren’t supposed to say anything,” Twenty-year-old Shannon said, leaning on the counter in the near-empty coffee shop.
“Please don’t,” her co-worker Liza half begged as she started pulling down two coffee cups from the top of the coffee machine.
“But come on,” Shannon said, pointing to the two regulars who sat in their usual seat. “Something is up with them.”
Liza peeked around the coffee machine, eyeing May Parker and Tony Stark.
When the two had first started coming to the little coffee shop, always on a Wednesday afternoon, Shannon and Liza had both been a little star struck by the genius billionaire. The owner had warned them that there was not to be any social media posts about Tony Stark visiting their coffee shop and that generous tip that the genius left every time he came was more than enough for them to keep their posts Stark free.
Of course, it didn’t stop them from speculating on who the woman he came with was. It took a few weeks but they did learn that her name was May Parker. It took a lot of careful probing and a lot of eaves dropping to learn that the two were not having an affair and were currently in the middle of co-parenting a teenager by the name of Peter Parker.
Peter always joined the two of them at the cafe, always getting an ice chocolate and some sort of pastry. Shannon and Liza had discovered that May was Peter’s aunt and while they had yet to confirm it, they believed that Peter was Tony’s secret child.
Peter was always so polite when they took their orders and always asked how they were doing. He always showed an interest in what they were studying, even sharing his own plans to one day go to MIT.
“Okay, it’s odd,” Liza agreed as she tampered the coffee. She locked the head into the coffee machine, clicking the button.
“See,” Shannon crowed over the noise of the coffee pouring. “I’m going to ask them.”
“I’m pretty sure this is what the owner warned us not to do,” Liza said as she grabbed the milk jug and stuck it under the wand of the coffee machine.
“I have to know,” Shannon said. “Something is up, I know it is.”
“I want no part in this,” Liza said, turning the knob of the machine, the wand sputtering to life.
Shannon moved to get the two ordered pastries from the cabinet while Liza made up the coffee’s. When they were ready, Liza pushed them to the edge of the bench, giving Shannon a warning look.
“Oh please, like you aren’t dying to know,” Shannon said, grabbing the drinks and balancing them easily.
“It’s the dying part I’m worried about,” Liza drawled.
Shannon winked and spun gracefully, moving to her favourite table.
“Here we go,” Shannon said, placing each item down on the table. “No Peter today?”
“Who?” May asked, pulling her pastry closer and smacking Tony’s hand when he went to pull of a flake of the buttery goodness.
“Peter,” Shannon said, glancing at Tony and May with a grin. “You know, brown hair, teenager, smartest kid ever, also the kindest?”
Tony smirked at her, pulling his plate close. “Studying a little too hard their, Shannon?”
“Ha ha,” Shannon grinned. “No, but is Peter okay? He never misses your Wednesday afternoon dates.”
May and Tony shared a frown with one another before looking back at Shannon.
“I think you might be thinking of another customer,” May said gently. “It’s just the two of us. Always.”
Shannon glanced between the two of them again, the smile slowly fading from her face when she saw that the famous genius and his friend were not teasing her.
“Right,” Shannon said slowly, mind whirling. “Must be thinking of another genius billionaire and hot aunt. Enjoy your food. Let us know if you need anything.”
Shannon spun, hurrying back behind the counter and rushing to Liza’s side. She gripped her friends arm tightly, ignoring her yelp.
“They don’t remember Peter,” Shannon hissed.
“What?” Liza asked as she attempted to pry Shannon’s fingers off her wrist.
“They don’t remember Peter,” Shannon repeated. “Something is wrong with them.”
“Or they are pulling your leg,” Liza said.
Shannon shook her head. “See, that’s what I thought, but I don’t think they are. You have to go and ask them.”
“No.”
“Yes,” Shannon said, guiding Liza around the bench and gave her a light push. “Go!”
Liza gave Shannon a pained look before sighing loudly and made her way over to their favourites table. Shannon waited, her foot tapping impatiently for Liza as she talked to May and Tony. Her foot paused when Liza quickly spun, hurrying back to Shannon, her face pale.
“Okay, normally I wouldn’t indulge your paranoid delusions,” Liza said. “But in a world where a superhero dines in your cafe and aliens are a regular occurrence, I’m agree something is hinky here.”
“See,” Shannon hissed quietly. “They don’t remember Peter.”
“How is that possible?” Liza asked. “Do you think they were brainwashed?”
“Or drugged,” Shannon said. “Experimented on and set out in the world to take over the world so we all worship under the mighty Iron Man.”
Liza snorted. “Pretty sure a lot of people think Iron Man is a God.”
Shannon smirked. “He’s hot enough for it.”
“Okay, for real. Do you think something happened to Peter?” Liza asked, her amusement falling away into a worried look.
“I hope not.” Shannon bit her lip.
Liza glanced back at the May and Tony who were talking quietly, their expressions not the usual ones filled with joy and amusement but ones of concern. Looking back at Shannon, she lowered her voice even further. “Do you think we should call someone?”
“The Avengers?”
“Like we could get their number,” Liza snorted.
“Maybe we leave a message with Stark Industries,” Shannon said. “See if they will pass it a long.” At Liza’s stare, Shannon sighed. “Yeah, okay. They’ll think we are crazy.”
Liza tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “This goes against everything our boss told us but…”
“But?” Shannon prompted.
“Maybe we look for Peter on social media and send him a message,” Liza said quietly.
A grin grew on Shannon’s face and she gently hit Liza in the arm. “I knew you were sneaky! Let’s do it.”
“Later,” Liza said as a customer approached the counter. “Hi! What can I get you today?”
It was only the sudden rush of customers that stopped Shannon reaching for her phone and searching for Peter. Instead, she waited on the new customers and cleared the tables, did the dishes and swept the floor. She managed to catch Tony and May leaving, unable to stop herself from saying,
“Tell Peter we say hi!”
She received another odd look as Tony and May left but she didn’t care. They were onto a mystery and they would be getting to the bottom of it. When the rush finally died and they had cleared away all the tables, they used their phones to search for Peter.
“I think I found him,” Shannon finally gasped as she flicked through a Instagram feed.
Liza pocketed her phone, leaning in closer to get a better look at Shannon’s screen.
“You did it,” Liza said, sounding impressed. “Okay, what are you going to DM him?”
“Hey Peter. We missed you today. Your aunt and we-think-he’s-your-dad didn’t remember you at all. Everything okay?” Shannon looked to Liza. “What do you think?”
“I think we could break it a little more gently than that,” Liza said.
Between the two of them, they crafted a message that showed their concern but didn’t invite themselves into whatever was happening, and Shannon hit send before Liza could talk her out of it.
“I guess all we do now, is wait,” Liza said, moving around Shannon towards the coffee machine.
“And now we wait,” Shannon sighed, tucking her phone back into her pocket and getting back to work.
They didn’t hear from Peter. The message remained on read and the girls didn’t try to reach out again. They went to their classes and their shifts at the cafe, their curiosity running wild, sharing theories but nothing more than that.
The next Wednesday came but there was no May, Tony or Peter. The shift was long with the worried looks that Shannon and Liza kept throwing one another.
“You don’t think something happened, do you?” Liza asked in the quiet moments between customers.
“I’ve been scrolling the news sites. There isn’t any Iron Man news,” Shannon said. “You don’t think we made it worse, do you?”
Liza shook her head. “No. Our message was just sharing our concern with Peter, nothing more. We did the right thing.”
Shannon held on to that.
Another week passed of late night study sessions and hurrying to finish assignments before their deadlines. By the time Wednesday came back around, Shannon and Liza had little time to wonder about Peter.
Until halfway through their shift, May and Tony walked in, followed by Peter.
“They’re here!” Shannon hissed, nudging Liza in the ribs as a wide smile spread across her lips.
“I can see that,” Liza hissed back as they trio took their usual table, grinning just as wide, relief sweeping through them.
Before either of them could approach the table and attempt to be casual, Tony Stark was sliding out of his chair and coming towards the counter.
“Shannon, Liza,” Tony greeted them when he reached them.
“Mr. Stark,” they chimed back in unison.
“We’ll have out usual,” Tony said with a smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
Shannon and Liza’s eyes widened as Tony pulled out a thick wad of cash and squeezed it into their tip jar.
“Thank you for your outstanding service,” Tony smirked, giving them a wink.
“I see Peter is back,” Shannon said carefully.
“Thanks to your enquiries,” Tony said, giving them a grateful nod. “We really appreciate it.”
“Any time,” Shannon said.
“We love you guys,” Liza squeaked.
Tony laughed and started backing away. “Don’t tell your boss but you’re out favourite too.” He winked one more time before going back to his table.
Shannon and Liza smiled as Tony sat back in his chair, casually throwing an arm around Peter and drawing him close.
While it was still a mystery as to why Tony and May had forgotten Peter, the happy ending was more than enough for Shannon and Liza. And with the way that Tony and May looking at Peter with such fondness and love, they knew that whatever happened, Peter wouldn’t have been forgotten for long.