The Burlesque Lounge (MCU AU)

Chapter 10

Peter

"Hey Shuri, let's go. Let's go! Five minutes. Petey, you're up next." Rhodey ruffles my hair.

"My uncle used to call me Petey."

"Did he really? That's so fascinating." He pinches my cheek and I laugh, fixing my makeup.

"Why don't I have a nickname?" Flash asks.

"Oh, you do." Shuri laughs.

"Well, he never uses it."

"No, I do."

"When?" Flash goes down stairs.

"When you leave the room." He waits for Flash to disappear. "Slut."

"I heard that."

"So sorry! I had no idea! Oh, my God." We all laugh very loudly. "Children, come on! We have a show to do! Let's go, let's go! Let's go! Hurry up! Come on!"

~~~

~~~

After the show Tony drops a newspaper on the table, and on the front page is us. Me and MJ, and the rest of the dancers.

"That's major." Shuri touches it.

"Oh my god." I say. It's all I can say.

"Major? Check again. The only thing major is the size of Shuri's ass."

"You guys are doing amazing, keep it up." Tony pats me on the shoulder as he walks away.

"Hey, Stane is at table twelve, asking for you." Abe winks at me and I roll my eyes. Everyone keeps obsessing over the article.

"There he is, the man of the hour." I roll my eyes. I kinda want to punch him, but I'm glad he did what he did.

"I'm starting to think, you'd go to any length."

"I just made a call to Greg at the Times."

After he's done trying to chat me up, I go talk to Tony.

"Hey." I walk into his office.

"Hey. That really is a great shot." I'm dipping MJ, and everyone else is doing something similarly sexy.

"It's so weird seeing myself in the paper like that."

"Well, you might have to get used to it."

"I don't think I ever could." I sit in the chair.

"You know, I don't wanna come off like the wise old fairy godmother, especially since I am a man," We laugh lightly, "but maybe you could learn from my mistakes."

"What do you mean?"

"You gotta learn who are the people that you can trust, who are the people who really like you for you, and who are the people who just want something from you." Obadiah.

"You don't like Stane, do you?"

"No, I don't. I don't like him. I don't trust him. I don't think you should trust him."

"But is that really what's best for me or what's best for you?"

"I don't know. I hope it's best for both of us."

"Alright, well, See you tomorrow."

~~~

~~~

"He took you to a party." Harley asks.

"Yes." This is the first real conversation we've had since.

"At his house."

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"Nothing, Harley. He gave me food, introduced me to some people, offered me a drink, I refused, he took me home." He pulls a face as he hits a few notes.

"Then he got us on the cover of the Times." I roll my eyes. "I'm just saying that there is only one reason someone doe—"

"So what if I'm getting a little attention?"

"You're getting a lot more than a little."

"Not from anyone that matters." I mumble. He's seriously starting to annoy me. Not like, in a bad way, I love him, he's one of my good friends, and I definitely am attracted to him, but it's not like anything happened.

"I just think you should be careful—"

"And I think that if you really feel the need to tell someone what they should and shouldn't do, you should pick up the phone and call your boyfriend."

"You—"

"You're acting like a total prick. Is there something you wanna say?"

"It's not just me. The people that care about you, are worried."

"What people?"

"People, you know? People. Your friends at the club. We're like a family there, and we look out for each other."

"You all look out for each other? Like Abe looks out for Caleb and like Flash looks out for everybody."

"And Stane? He's gonna look out for you?"

"I don't—"

"No, it's fine. It's fine. He can make things happen for you. So go ahead, make a deal with the devil."

"First of all, Stane is not the devil. He's a smart businessman who oddly enough happens to be a gentleman who knows what he wants and he goes for it." Why are we yelling at each other? We literally never yell at each other. I don't even like Obadiah, he just has a weird obsession.

"I'm just saying. Life is about the choices you make."

"The choices I make? Oh that's rich. You're a bartender-slash-piano player who writes songs that are never ready." I snap.

"Wow!" He looks at me. "That's perfect. Perfect." He slams the doors to the bedroom closed.

We've never fought before. I'm worried for what this means, what if we never get past it?

My phone starts ringing, and I sigh, happy to hear from May.

"May." I smile sitting on the couch.

"Hey, how's everything going?"

"Oh, you know. Normal."

"That didn't sound too sure."

"Just... The club is going under. I'm worried."

"Yea, but I saw the paper. You looked amazing."

"Thanks, May, but I don't know what to do. I heard Tony and Rhodey talking, we'd need to fill the MetLife for a week to save it."

"Oh, hun, I'm sorry. You can always come home."

"I don't want to need to, I want to be able to come home on my own, to visit, and what about everyone else?"

"I know you're worried, but it will work out, honey." I sigh, about to say something else. "Do you remember when we would sit together and roll coins?"

"Yea." I smile.

"And you asked why, and Ben said because times are tough, and you said that times are always tough. Do you remember what he said next?"

"Tough times lead to good times, sometimes it just takes a little longer."

"Good. Remember that. And remember that I larb you." I smile.

"I larb you too, May."