Mamma Mia! But Make It Marvel Chapter 1: dot, dot, dot
Summary
Peter Stark lives on the picturesque Greek island of Kalokairi with his fiercely independent mother, Toni. As Peter gets ready to marry his fiancé, Harley, he can’t help but wish his father could be there. The only catch is that he doesn’t know who his father is; and despite Toni’s former fame, the details of her romantic past remain shrouded in mystery—one she refuses to share with Peter. The mystery begins to unravel, however, when Peter finds Toni’s old diary from the summer he was conceived, and decides that the only real option he has is to invite all three summer flings to the island, confident he will recognize his real dad immediately. If only it were that easy…
Notes:
Now I know I promised no more posting WIPs but the Tony Stark Bingo ends today so I’m out of time. Please enjoy the first chapter of my Marvel Mamma Mia! AU which I really do want to finish before I start law school and my ability to write becomes nonexistent. This fills my Adoptable: Movie Retelling prompt for the Tony Stark Bingo Mark IX. Many thanks to tinysugacube for her consistently amazing beta skills who along with Kotias and Fire_Phoenix2305 have all patiently tolerated and encouraged all my grandiose fanfic ideas in the group chats, servers, and DMs. I’m a menace and they are wonderful people instantly on board with this AU.
Chapter 1: dot, dot, dot
Stephen Strange. Bucky Barnes. Loki Friggason. The names turned over in Peter’s mind as he handed the three envelopes—envelopes which held more of his hopes than he’d like to admit—to the postal worker on the mainland. He’d brought them to the office personally, not trusting them to be brought there safely on the standard mail run and also not wanting to risk that they would be spotted by someone who would tell his mother about them.
Part of him felt guilty, doing this behind her back. But with all his questions going unanswered for so long, the larger part of him felt like this was the only way.
One Month Later
“Aaaaa, you’re here! You’re really here!” Peter ran towards his friends as they got off the boat, grabbing them into a group hug on the dock.
“You’re getting married tomorrow, loser,” MJ huffed as she pulled herself out of the hug. “Did you really think we would miss that?”
“Well, no. But I missed you!”
“We missed you too,” Ned said, giving Peter another squeeze before pulling away.
They continued to chat as they made their way to the villa.
“Ooo, is that the ring?” Ned asked, looking down at Peter’s finger.
“Yep,” Peter smiled. “The jewelry-maker on the mainland clearly has a sense of humor, because our rings match.”
“That’s how you know you were meant for each other.” Ned grinned, jostling Peter’s shoulder. “Proposed on the same night with the same ring.”
“That’s certainly one way of looking at it.” MJ rolled her eyes. “But no, I am happy for you. And this is a pretty nice wedding destination.”
“It feels more like my home than New York or LA, and with mom deciding to put roots down, this really felt like the spot.” Peter shrugged.
“Well if I had to choose anywhere in the world to live, this isn’t a bad spot.” Ned nodded, looking around.
“Yes, well, Harley loves it here, too, so it’s a good fit all around.”
“Now,” MJ said, closing the door behind them as she and Ned settled into the room they would be sharing. “Spill. What’s the big secret you didn’t want to talk about over the phone?”
“Well…” Peter took a deep breath. “I invited my dad to the wedding.”
“You’re joking!” Ned gasped. “How?”
“You finally found him? MJ asked.
“Not exactly…” Peter said, almost shy as he pulled a notebook out of his satchel. “I was going through a bunch of old trunks in the attic of this place, things Mom was keeping here over the years before she decided to come here and make it her latest personal project. And you know what she always said when I asked about my dad—it was a summer romance, and he was long gone by the time she knew she was expecting me.” Peter sighed and absentmindedly traced his fingers on the edges of the journal. “I’ve always just kind of accepted that was all I would ever know. But then I found this.” He held up the book. “The diary she kept the year she was pregnant with me.”
Ned gasped. “Did you read it?”
“That’s a huge invasion of privacy,” MJ said with pursed lips. “Tell us everything.”
Peter opened the diary to a page he had bookmarked. “July 17th—what a night!”
Ned scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know if I want to hear this.”
“I do.” MJ leaned forward. “Tell us everything.”
“Stephen rowed me over to the little island,” Peter read, then paused. “That’s here, Kalokairi. She spent the whole summer here.” He resumed reading. “We danced on the beach, and we kissed on the beach, and dot, dot, dot…”
“What?” Ned asked, confused.
MJ rolled her eyes. “It means they had sex. That’s how they phrased it in the olden days.”
“Stephen’s the one. I know he is. I’ve never felt like this before.”
“So this guy Stephen is your father?” MJ asked.
“The plot thickens.” Peter flipped to another page. “All this time, Stephen’s been telling me he loves me, and now he’s announced that he’s engaged, so he’s gone home to get married, and I’m never going to see him again.”
“Ugh, men,” MJ pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why are they like this? Toni deserves better.”
“August 4th,” Peter interrupted before MJ could properly get going. “What a night! Bucky rented a motorboat, and I took him over to the little island.”
“Bucky?” Ned furrowed his brow. “Peter, wait—”
“Hang on, let him cook,” MJ hissed. “It’s getting good.”
“Though I’m still obsessed with Stephen, Bucky is so wild. He’s such a funny guy. One thing led to another, and dot, dot, dot…” Peter smirked at his friend’s shocked expressions. “August 11th. Loki turned up, out of the blue, so I said I’d show him around the island. He’s so sly and intriguing, I couldn’t help it and—”
“Dot, dot, dot!” MJ and Ned exclaimed together.
“Oh my God.” MJ clapped her hands with delight.
“So any of them could be your dad?” Ned gasped. “Are there no other clues?”
“Nope. There’s no more mentions in the diary about which one it could be. But I feel like—if I could just meet them all, I would be able to just know, you know?”
MJ crossed her arms. “I don’t think it works like that.”.
“Knock knock,” Toni said as she opened the door.
“You know,” Peter said, slipping the notebook behind him, “knocking and waiting for a response is the more traditional method of entering a room.”
“Since when have I ever done anything the ‘traditional’ way?” Toni asked, hands on her hips.
“She has a point there,” MJ laughed, and Ned also let out a giggle.
“Wow, you’ve not even been here for an hour and you’re all already ganging up on me,” Peter sighed.
“Dramatic, much?” Toni asked, eyebrow raised.
“Learned it from the best!” Peter singsonged.
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Toni patted him on the shoulder. “Now, will my two favorite groomsmates give me a hug, or what?”