Flower Child (Peter Parker, MCU)

The Blip

Sky Full of Song - Florence and the Machine

The occasional downside of being in a science school was that most of the field trips and extracurricular activities revolved around science and technology. Which was fine with Lila, she heavily enjoyed plant biology, and considered herself well-versed with other sciences. But part of her did also enjoy the more contemporary part of education, which was why she was particularly thrilled with the idea of going to the Museum of Modern Art, one of her favorite museums.

Lila was thrilled to spend some time with her friends, as spring was finally just around the corner. She'd practically been begging Peter and Ned to come with her and MJ and do a museum crawl since the New Year, and though they were polite about it, Lila could tell they weren't as into the idea as she was. Now that they were going for school, both Peter and Ned seemed to have the brilliant idea of the three of them working together on the worksheet they'd been handed, since Lila had extensive knowledge of the museum at that point.

And so it was that the three of them sat on the bus together: Lila in the window seat, Peter next to her, and Ned in front of the two of them. Peter and Ned had been planning to sit next to each other, but with Ned just getting over the flu and coughing into his sleeve, Peter opted to sit next to his other friend. Not that Lila in any way minded, she loved that she could sit so close to Peter and no longer feel so nervous. It didn't stop her heart from beating a little faster any time he looked at her, but for the most part, she had schooled her expressions.

The bus was just crossing the George Washington Bridge when Lila got a text from her dad. She answered it, thinking it was about her field trip when instead it was about something else entirely.

We were thinking daisies, right? White daisies?

Lila's face scrunched up in distaste, and she replied, There's too much white already. What if we put something blue in her bouquet, maybe Chinese Forget Me Not's?

Her dad texted back within a minute, approving the choice. Lila felt that same rush of excitement she always got when thinking about the wedding. And not just any wedding: the wedding. Pepper Potts and Tony Stark's wedding was announced just days after the Coney Island mishap with the Vulture, and two weeks later, Tony Stark came in with Pepper to Landry's Flowers and hired the family to be their florists for the big day.

Ted had, of course, gratefully accepted, bewildered that his business would even be considered, but happy to supply what they needed. Lila, however, knew better, and when Tony gave an all-knowing wink upon seeing her, she could only blush deeply and hope that her gratitude would be reflected in their work on the wedding. Even Sophie was working overtime, despite Lila trying her best to get her to study for school. She was on the cusp of graduating, and Lila tried to remind her of that fact. But every time Columbia was mentioned, Sophie suddenly became deaf, and wouldn't answer any of Lila's questions until she changed the subject.

She had a smile on her face as she put her phone down, and glanced over at Peter. Peter had his head down, his arm resting on the seat in front of him while he looked at something on his phone. Her gaze turned to the window, and what she saw made her stomach jolt. A giant spaceship was hovering over the island of Manhattan, ring-shaped, and spinning rapidly. Lila knew instantly that it was something threatening, and turned to Peter. He seemed to know that something was wrong, for he was already looking up at Lila. His eyes flickered over her shoulder, saw the spaceship hovering, and straightened up in his seat. He cast his gaze on everyone else in the school bus, who hadn't seemed to notice what was going on. Without looking, his hand reached out for Ned, hitting his face multiple times.

"Ned," He hissed, looking to his best friend, who could barely keep his attention on Peter in favor of the spaceship out the window. "I need you and Lila to cause a distraction."