For months before Kamala and Peter had made any official moves, Carol had suspected their relationship would blossom into what it had become. They had bonded since Kamala’s arrival; she knew they spent plenty of time together, and Peter was without a doubt her protégé’s favorite person to talk about, in nearly all circumstances. Her crush was obvious, and her obliviousness to said crush was cute.
Silly, in Carol’s opinion, as someone who had rarely been hesitant to go after the people she was interested in, but not everyone was as bold as she’d been as a teenager. Still cute.
Now that the kids were officially dating, Carol and Emme were seeing much more of Peter Parker around the house. He seemed to treat Kamala well, and she seemed to utterly adore him, so Carol wasn’t too concerned anything would go wrong. And she wasn’t some old-fashioned dad who cleaned a shotgun in front of the kid’s date. That was crude and ridiculous, and she was beyond thinly-veiled threats like that.
That didn’t mean she stayed entirely out of Kamala’s relationship. She checked up from a distance on occasion, and she’d held to that ‘door open when the boy’s here’ rule when they hung out at the house. Kamala’s values were strong, and she doubted there would be any trouble in that department, but it felt like the parental thing to do. And in the absence of Kamala’s parents themselves, she and Emme were what the kid had. She wanted to do right by her – and by her parents – as respectfully as possible.
She knew the kids had a date tonight, and while Kamala was getting ready, Carol was sitting in the living room, waiting to answer the door. Ms. Marvel usually beat her to it, but Carol could still hear the shower going upstairs, so she figured letting Peter in would be her job today. He was typically timely, unless he was in the middle of stopping bank robberies or purse snatchers, and as someone who still stuck by the military promptness several decades out, she appreciated that about him.
When the knock came at the door, she went to open it, grinning as she greeted him. “Hey, Peter Parker. Come on in.”
“Hey, Carol Susan Jane Danvers,” Peter said, shooting Carol an obnoxious grin as he came in.
Peter was, overall, glad that Kamala lived here in Vallo, with Carol and Emme. He was comfortable with Carol, comfortable making jokes with her and spending time with her, and he was also 100% certain that she wasn’t secretly a supervillain who was planning a massive heist on his Homecoming.
He wanted to meet Kamala’s family. He wanted to meet them a lot. But from what she said, her parents could be a little strict and very intense and… well, maybe it was better, at least for the first few months of their relationship, for Kamala’s parental figures to be people who Peter could relax around.
“Is Kamala still getting ready?” he asked.
The full name greeting earned Peter a roll of the eyes, but Carol allowed it with a fond shake of her head as she closed the front door. She really did think Peter was a good kid. She remembered meeting him for the first time, on that battlefield with Thanos and all his troops and their lives on the line. Poor little spider boy, clutching the Infinity Gauntlet in his arms, beaten and bloody.
They’d come a long way since then.
“Yep, she was running a little late getting back from Looking Glass,” Carol reported dutifully. Emmeline was out with Marlene for the evening, and Carol had been the one home to witness Kamala bounding up the stairs in a rush to get ready. “Where are you two off to tonight? Is this a crime fighting-and-dinner or a laser tag kind of date?”
“I thought maybe we could pick up some tacos and go sit up on Prosperity Tower,” Peter said, referring to one of the mid-sized skyscrapers in downtown Vallo. Peter didn’t especially like heights, though he knew that the two Peters he’d already met had. But he was working on it, with Kamala. Probably the more he exposed himself to excessively high heights, the less his stomach would churn when he happened to look down.
“I don’t know if there will be any crime-fighting tonight, but I’m not totally discounting it. We won’t be out looking for criminals up to no good, but we’ll be out and about so…”
“That sounds like fun. Call me if you need me.” The offer was as automatic as breathing. It was rarely needed. Peter was a hero in his own right, and Kamala had come a hell of a long way over the last year thanks to training with Carol and Natasha. They could hold their own if it came down to it. But they were still her kids, and she was still going to worry.
“And bring me back tacos,” she added with a smirk.
“Extra guac, right?” Peter confirmed, making a mental note to remember. Assuming nothing went crazy, like some sort of alien invasion or something, he would remember.
“I’m sure we got it, but we’ll call you if something comes up.” Peter and Kamala could handle most threats, but Peter had learned in his time as Spider-Man that there were some threats he couldn’t handle on his own; he’d learned long ago how to ask for help, and Carol had always been good help.
“Sit a minute,” Carol said, gesturing toward the couch while she sat back in her armchair. “I wanted to check in with you. See how you think things are going. You two look like you’re having a good time.”
Peter hesitated, suddenly looking Very Uncomfortable, but he did as Carol bid him, perching on the edge of the couch cushion. “Uh, just so you know, Aunt May already gave me The Talk. There were diagrams and models and everything, so you really don’t have to. You know. If that was your plan.”
Not that he and Kamala were doing anything that required the talk just yet, but he knew that sometimes adults liked to get that out of the way early.
“I’ve been banned from discussing teenagers’ sex lives in this house,” Carol informed him with a smirk. She had made assumptions about Kamala being interested in that side of things before, and Emme had given her a talk about letting up when she’d been shut down by Kamala for the implication. “That wasn’t where this was going. Just checking it to make sure everything’s really going well. Kamala’s happy, and I don’t want to see her unhappy.”
Peter relaxed, sinking more comfortably into the couch. There was nothing more awkward than getting The Talk; it had been bad enough with May. He did not want a repeat experience with Captain Marvel.
“Everything is really good,” he said, beaming. “Mala’s great. Really great. She makes me laugh, and when she gets excited she has that cute smile… I’ve only really dated two people before her, and one of them didn’t really… go anywhere. Her dad was a supervillain so…” he waved a little awkwardly. “And she’s really different from MJ. So I don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. But I like her a lot, and I like just spending time with her. She makes me laugh. She’s brave, and she’s strong.” She’d literally gone to Hell and pulled him back from it. “I don’t know how someone couldn’t fall for her. I’m pretty lucky.”
That was exactly why Carol had been asking: Peter’s history. Kamala didn’t have any dating experience, and while she knew Peter didn’t have much himself, he still had the upper hand in that arena. She didn’t think he’d be pushy, not even close; she knew he was a good kid. But she wanted to make sure he didn’t have any higher expectations.
“Yeah, you’ve got that right,” she agreed. “She’s a good girl, and you couldn’t do better if you asked.” There was some parental pride in those words when she spoke. Kamala may not be hers, but she’d taken on the guardianship role, and she loved her just as much as she’d loved her own kid back before everything changed – just as much as she still did.
“I’m glad the two of you are having fun,” she went on. “Keep treating her right, alright?” It wasn’t a threat, but there was a glint in her eye that would probably be considered close enough. She couldn’t help it; she was protective.
Peter nodded. “If I ever don’t, then you have full permission to kick my ass,” Peter said. Kamala deserved the best and Peter would always do his best to give it to her. She also understood the whole superhero thing, and Peter knew that she was strong enough that he didn’t have to worry about his enemies coming after her. Peter might not have had any enemies, but he knew better than to think that he never would have any, or that enemies of other Peters might not find their way to Vallo.
“That’s what I like to hear.” Carol turned her head toward the stairs when she heard footsteps above them, and she stood up, moving over to give Peter’s shoulder a squeeze – with maybe a hint of super strength. Maybe she wasn’t entirely above veiled threats.
“Here comes Ms. Marvel now.”
Peter muttered a quiet ow and rubbed his shoulder, shooting Carol a mildly annoyed look, but his face brightened immediately when he saw Kamala and he stood a little straighter.
“You ready?” he asked, and when she confirmed, he turned to Carol before they headed out. “And don’t worry, I won’t forget your tacos.”