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Tony waited outside the school for one familiar teenager and his two less familiar friends. He was supposed to pick them up and take them to the Compound for a sleepover. The kids attended the school dance that the school organized on the last day before the Christmas break. Its theme was a mask ball, so there were a lot of other parents picking up various masked individuals. How they recognized their offspring without seeing their face was beyond Tony. He just hoped that he would pick up the right trio and not kidnap some random children.
Someone knocked at the window of his car. Tony looked out and saw a kid in a cheap knock-off of a Spider-Man suit.
He really hoped it was Peter.
He left a car.
"Hi, Mister Stark!" A cheerful voice greeted him.
"Hi, Mister Parker," Tony greeted back. He looked at the two people accompanying Spider-Man. There was a tall girl in a black ball gown, with her face covered with a black mask made of intricate lace, and a boy in a hat and a surgical mask, wearing the scrubs that were a bit tight on him. By the name tag on them, they were borrowed from May Parker.
"I gather you're Miss Jones. I heard a lot about you." Tony shook hands with a girl. "And Mister Leeds, we meet again." Ned looked like he was going to burst or pass out. "C'mon, kids, get in a car, and let's get going."
Immediately, the teenagers started shoving each other into the car.
"Peter, Ned, you know the rules, ladies first!" Tony called them both out. Then, they managed to get into the car, in a more or less orderly manner.
"So how was the dance? What did you nerds do?" Tony asked as he started the car.
The only answer was giggling from the backseat.
"What's so funny?"
"Flash smuggled his dad's whiskey," Ned said in between the giggles.
Tony looked at the three in the rearview mirror. So that was a reason why they were behaving weirdly quiet when he picked them up. He felt something unpleasant in his stomach.
"Whiskey?" he asked, with a worry in his tone.
"We drank it in the bathroom," Peter added to the story.
"Because there are no cameras there. I picked the place." MJ was definitely proud of herself. Tony was torn in half between praising her and grounding them all, in an instant.
"Yeah? And how was it?"
"Disgusting." Peter mocked retching. Both MJ and Ned nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, alcohol is disgusting," Tony said quietly.
"You." MJ pointed at him. "You used to get shitfaced every day."
Wow, she's blunt, Tony thought. Maybe he should get her in touch with Pepper. They would definitely like each other.
"You don't sugarcoat, Miss Jones. I did get shitfaced every day, and I regret it."
"Why?"
"I did a lot of gross things while being drunk. For example, I pissed myself in public." Maybe not the best educational story for the youth of America, but at least it was true. They could google it anyway. And if he could use his own example to stop them from doing stupid things...
"Gross."
"Yup. But I don't drink anymore."
He looked at the trio in the backseat. Drinking stolen whiskey in a bathroom was a behavior that made his heart beat faster. It made him want to ship Ned and MJ to their own parents and hide Peter in the Compound to shield him from every mistake that he might commit in the future. But logically, none of them were really drunk or in danger. Just a little tipsy or more likely excited after trying a forbidden thing. Which they probably did out of curiosity. He knew them. They were good kids. And there was no point in yelling at them, especially that they didn't even try to hide it.
"You know, I'm going to let it go this time. Just promise me you won't drink alcohol till you're of age and don't have to hide in a bathroom?"
"It was disgusting anyway."
"I don't want to do this anymore."
"That's good. Now, let's hope the police won't stop me with three drunk teenagers that are not mine," Tony joked, receiving three pairs of wide eyes staring at him from the back seat. He chuckled.
They were good. Those kids were better than him.