Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00072. Don’t tell your mom!

Monday, June, 15th, 1998

The entire week went differently than expected for Theo. Theo’s mother had taken the week off from work and Theo’s father decided to bring Theo along with him to work for the week. While it was a big change from his normal routine of going to aunt May’s, Theo was excited to do something new. As they were leaving the house Theo noticed that it was only himself, his father and uncle Ben. Normal Peter’s parents would also join his father and Ben on the walk to work.

As they started walking out of the neighborhood, Theo asked, "Don't we have to wait for aunt Mary and uncle Richard?"

Jacob patted Theo’s head as he said, "Not this week, they have some things they have to take care of with the company they started."

Ben looked down at Theo as they walked and asked, "You sure you don't want to be carried?"

Theo shook his head as he said, "If you and dad can walk to your work, so can I."

Both men chuckled before Jacob asked, "Are you excited to see what we do for work?"

"Yes, but if it's not fun, I’ll just read instead." Theo stated matter of factly.

Jacob smirked as he said, "That's fine, but I doubt you will be reading much today."

Once they arrived at the warehouse Ben went to unlock the main gate and secured it. Jacob walked past the gate with Theo and opened up the front door, before disarming the security system. He then took Theo with him as he started to unlock and open up a couple of roll doors.

Once finished they moved over to the office area near the front of the building. The first part of the front office area where customers could enter was a unique design. When a customer entered from the front door, they were in a lobby area which had floor to ceiling windows. The windows allowed customers to see out into the warehouse and people in the warehouse to see into the lobby area.

As they moved closer to the lobby area Theo asked, “Why are the windows so big?”

Jacob smiled as he said, “It’s mostly so we can see when a customer comes in, since we don’t have an employee dedicated to customer service running the counter.”

“That doesn’t sound normal. There is always a person at the front counter of the library when we go in. Shouldn’t you have someone here?”

Jacob patted Theo’s head as they entered the lobby area as he said, “You’re correct, it’s not normal. But me and your uncle would rather hire people to work on cars than sit around and chat with customers. Plus we almost never get walk-ins. Our business is special like that.”

The main lobby area that was used for customers, had a few chairs and a couch. There was a coffee table in front of the couch with some magazines on it. A water cooler was off to one side and there was a counter where customers could check in or out. On top of the counter was a buzzer to call someone in case no one noticed them as they walked in. Behind the counter was a single office chair, a locked cash drawer hidden under the counter and a credit card machine.

Jacob led Theo into the back of the office area where there was a small kitchen area setup, which also served as a breakroom. It had a countertop with a decent sized sink, a refrigerator, a microwave, along with some cabinets. There was also a decent sized stove at the end of the countertop, which had a vent extractor above it. Next to that room was an office, which seemed to be shared by Jacob and Ben.

Inside the office next to the door were a few worn out but comfortable looking leather chairs, it also had a bunch of filing cabinets that lined half the entire wall opposite of the door. The other half was lined with bookshelves that seemed to be full of books and manuals. On the other side of the room was a single small desk along with an office chair. Next to that desk were some TV’s that were connected to a box and playing on the TV’s was camera footage from all of the security cameras hooked up to the building.

Jacob turned to Theo as he said, “You can join me and Ben while we finish opening up or you can stay in here for a little while if you want.”

Theo glanced around the room for a moment and paused on the bookshelves before he said, “I’ll join you for now, if I get bored I’ll come back here to read.”

Jacob glanced at where Theo was looking before he patted Theo’s head for a moment. Jacob smirked before he placed down a backpack he was carrying on one of the chairs. Then he looked at Theo as he said, “Alright, your books are here if you get bored.” He then pointed to the bookshelves as he said, “You could read something from there too if you want, but those are all car manuals and reference guides. Wait here a few minutes, while I go change.”

The last area at the end of the main office was what seemed to be a locker room and bathroom. It had a handful of decent sized lockers placed at the back wall along with a washer and dryer unit. Beyond them were some closed off rooms that turned out to be dedicated bathrooms, which also had showers. There were only four of those rooms, but it was still impressive to Theo.

When Jacob returned a few minutes later, he was in a set of coverall’s and some work boots. He smiled at Theo as he asked, “Ready to see what I do for work?”

Theo nodded his head as he followed his father out of the room and into the shop area. The main work area was big and could easily hold up to dozen cars all being worked on at the same time. Instead there were only five cars currently in the shop for work. There was also another car off to the side that was completely stripped down to the frame. The engine for the car was currently placed on an engine stand next to a big table along with a big tool box placed on it.

Theo followed his father around as he checked a few things at each car currently in the shop. Once finished he moved over towards a workbench where a stereo receiver was and turned it on. After a few moments the entire shop was filled with music as a guitar riff started to play.

Jacob turned to look down at Theo as he said, “You’ll hear a lot of new music today. The kind of stuff your mom might not want you to hear just yet… But I can trust you to keep this a secret right?”

Theo nodded his head as he said, “You can count on me, dad.”

Jacob reached down and patted Theo’s head as he said, “Great! Now how about I show you what Ben and I will be working on today and maybe you can help us.”

Theo followed Jacob over to the stripped down car as the music kicked up a notch and someone could be heard singing.

‘End of passion play, crumbling away. I'm your source of self-destruction. Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear. Leading on your death's construction.’

Ben joined them after a few moments and asked, “You think we should be playing something like this with Theo here?”

“Theo said he wouldn’t tell Daniel, so we don’t have to worry about getting in trouble.”

Ben laughed as he said, "You’d be the only person getting in trouble if she finds out."

Jacob smirked back at Ben as he said, "Are you sure you wouldn't get in trouble with May, once Daniel talked with her about it?"

Ben’s smile faded away before he turned serious and looked down at Theo as he asked, "You don't want me and your dad to get in trouble, do you?"

Theo nodded as he said, "I don't. But it's also been a while since aunt May made me pancakes…"

Jacob laughed at that as Ben paused in shock. Ben then shook his head before he said, "I’ll let her know you miss her pancakes. I’m sure she’ll gladly make you some soon."

Theo stuck out his hand as he said, "Then we have a deal."

As Ben and Theo shook hands, two people walked into the warehouse from one of the roll doors. The man was familiar to Theo, since he had seen the man just recently when Tao scanned the future with him. It was Jonathan Pangborn, semi-master of the mystic arts. He was holding hands with a woman. She stood about a head shorter than Jonathan and had her bubble gum pink hair in a pixie cut.

As they approached Jacob picked up Theo as he said, "Theo, I want you to meet Jon and his fiance Sara. They both work with me and Ben. Jon, Sara, this is my son Theo."

Jon smiled along with Sara as they both greeted Theo before Jon said, "So this is the rugrat you can't stop talking about. The one you said is the next Tony Stark and is making a video game?"

Jacob nodded as he said, "The one and only. But I am hoping he gets interested in working on cars as he gets older."

Ben nodded in agreement before he said, "Hopefully Theo and Peter both take a liking to it."

"I am hoping Milly takes a liking to cars also."

Sara smiled as she said, "Another girl around the shop would be nice, it's rare to find girls interested in cars."

Jon placed his arm around Sara's waist and pulled her closer to him as he said, "Then it's great that I found you."

Sara pushed Jon away playfully as she said, "You only got lucky because these two guys were already taken when I showed up."

Everyone shared a quick laugh before Jacob said, "Alright, get changed and let's get to work. I want the 68 Mustang and that Chevrolet 3100 truck finished today. I am going to work on the engine for this Barracuda rebuild project."

Jacob turned to look at Ben as he asked, "Do you still have work to do on the frame?"

Ben nodded as he said, "Just two places, then I will start on the body work."

"Great." Jacob smirked as he set Theo down and said, "Alright Theo, you are with me until you get bored."

Theo nodded in reply as he followed his father over to the engine he was going to work on. Jacob picked up Theo and set him on the table next to the tool box as he said, “I am first gonna show you how my tool box is set up. Afterwards if you want to help you can hand me tools. Does that sound fun?”

Theo nodded his head as he said “Sure.”

Jacob spent the next half an hour as he explained to Theo the different tools in his tool box. Once finished he pulled on some gloves as he said, "Alright, since the engine was already pulled from the car. The first thing we need to do is remove…"

Theo spent the rest of the day as well as the rest of the week either with his father or Ben as they worked on the barracuda. As they worked, both of them spent time explaining what they were doing and why they were doing it to Theo. While it was different, Theo had to admit that he was having a lot of fun. He could definitely see himself getting into working on cars as he got older.

Another thing he realized as he spent the week with his father was his business wasn't what Theo originally thought it was. He thought his father ran a small repair shop with Ben. What they actually did was restore cars and make custom modifications for them. While it might seem like a bad business model not doing normal repairs, it was actually pretty successful.

They were one of the few places in the New York state area that did this type of work and they were considered one of the best in the business. Almost all of their jobs came from word of mouth from their previous clients or return customers. They didn't advertise the business at all and the building they owned didn't even have a sign on it. Apparently Theo’s deceased grandfather had started the business over thirty years ago with uncle Ben’s father. It was mostly a normal repair shop at first, but as time went on it turned into what it was today.

The building and property itself was fully owned by Jacob and Ben after their fathers passed away. The place they were currently in was the accumulated work of both Ben and Jacob’s fathers, along with Ben and Jacob themselves. Richard also helped with the business when he was younger, but stopped when he went off to college and started his career. But now that he was using part of the basement for his new company, he started to work at the shop again a couple times a week. Which made both Ben and Jacob happy to have him around again.