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"Later Mr. Stark, I'll see you tomorrow!" Peter called out across the room, hiking his book bag over his shoulders, making sure it was clipped and secure.
As he walked to the window, he heard Mr. Stark respond, "Peter, don't forget this time! Movie night Friday at six!"
"Got it!"
And with that, he heard FRIDAY slide the window open behind him. Walking backwards towards the opening, he said one last thing, "And I'll be bringing a friend again!"
"A friend?!"
"Bye!" And jumped out the window.
As Peter shot a web at the closest building, he swung from the Avengers tower.
"Incoming text from Mr. Stark!" Karen told him, a message bubble popped up in the corner of his lenses. The message read: don't invite any of those weirdos you invited last time!
And, ok, maybe he had invited some people that were a little more on the stranger side, but they were all nice! So what if one was an alien, or a mercenary, or a… ok he got his point.
But this time, this time Peter knew exactly who he would invite. This is gonna be perfect!
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It was Thursday night, and Steven was beyond tired. He hated when he had to go out at night, especially when he had to work the next morning.
He had managed to snag a seasonal job for the duration of their stay in New York. It wasn't the best but it would do for now, at least when they go back home to London, he can really look for work. Hopefully get in with another museum.
Anyway, he was close to being done with his, uh. Assignment from Khonshu, and he was craving sleep.
Just before he could slip into the shadows and make his way home, he heard a familiar voice call out to him,
"Hey, wait up!"
Strange that he could say a voice was familiar when he himself hadn't fronted very much through their time here other than to work.
Then he heard the thwip of webs being shot out. Spider-Man. Of course, that's why he sounded familiar.
He had met the boy two weeks prior, growing a quick sort of friendship. And yes, Steven knew that Spider-Man was young, his voice gave it away very quickly. Which was one of the reasons why Steven was one of the few people to know Spider-Man's secret identity.
Steven turned to where he heard the voice, just in time to see him stick the landing.
"Uh, hey!" Steven was anxious to get back to their hotel, all he wanted to do now was fall into bed and sleep for at least his necessary eight hours. But he knew that at this point it would more likely be four. "Can I help you with something?"
"Oh! Uh, no, actually I had an invitation for you. Well, not a physical one, it's actually just verbal so I hope that's alright but if it's not then I can-"
"Peter," Steven coaxed, "what's the invite for?"
"Oh!" He was sure the kid was flushed under his mask.
Steven found relief in other people's awkwardness, it made him feel better about his own.
"Would you like to come to the Avengers movie night with me?"
He stood for a moment, processing the sentence, then stood in disbelief. "The… Avengers movie night?"
"Yeah! It'll be lots of fun, I promise! They've got these cool plush couches and giant fluffy bean bags and-!"
Peter rambled on, unaware of Stevens' inner turmoil.
Would Marc and Jake be upset with him for accepting? Or declining? With them it could be anything, or both at once, oh gosh,
While neither of the other two had met the kid, he knew they thought fondly of him. But the Avengers, not so much. They didn't exactly hate them, but there was absolutely no love there. Maybe more of a neutral stance? He at least hoped so.
Anyway, did it really matter if they wanted to go or not if it would just be Steven going? Would they care? He wished he could just ask them, but they didn't seem to be… uh, awake right now. Steven still wasn't sure about much of the actual mental health terms. He should probably look more into these things before it became serious, but he was never one for reading up on the workings of the inner mind, having more of an interest in Egyptology himself…
Oh! But then what should he do? He couldn't just flat out say no , that would be rude. But he couldn't just go without discussing it, but before he could think any further he heard Peter stop his ramble and say:
"Uh, Mr. Knight?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
Steven stared. He was sure his eyes were comically wide.
"Uh, yeah! Yup! Perfect!"
"Oh, well then what do you say?"
What do I say?
"Uh- sure! Yeah I'll- I'll go!"
What?!
"Oh cool! Avengers tower on Friday, six o'clock! See you then!" And with that he jumped off the building and swung away.
Watching the child jump from the roof always startled Steven, no matter how many times he's seen him do it.
Welp. Looks like Steven has plans for tomorrow night.
Hopefully Marc and Jake will be fine with it…
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"I can't believe you agreed to go to the AVENGERS TOWER!"
"Come on, Marc, it can't be that bad, can it?" Steven responded to the man reflected back at him in the hotel's full length mirror.
"Esto es estúpido." Jake added in.
"Jake, for the last time I learned French, not Spanish!" Steven was already nervous and guilty for accepting the invite, but talking to his head mates right now was only making his guilt worse. "I promise I'm still learning but only speaking Spanish to me is not helping,"
Steven was exhausted. He had just gotten off of work two hours ago, and sure, he had taken a half hour nap, but that still wasn't enough when they were out almost the entire night doing Moon Knight business.
He just hoped he could keep his eyes open long enough to actually watch the movie.
He heard a deep sigh, then Marc mumbled under his breath. Before Steven could ask what he said, Marc spoke again without mumbling, "Just, don't get into any trouble. Have fun, I guess." And with that his image faded, shifting back to Stevens' reflection.
He hoped Marc wasn't angry with him.
Looking at the time on his phone, Steven jumped.
5:14? It takes at least half an hour to get to the bloody subway!
And with that, he slipped on his coat and was out the front door of his hotel room.
The subway to the building was packed, Steven wanted to say it was strange, but again, he wasn't usually the one fronting as of late, not really interested in New York city. So he had no idea if it was normal for this time of night.
Luckily enough, he made it to the right block with a few minutes to spare.
But now that he was so close, he realized that Peter had never actually told him how he was supposed to get into the building. Was he supposed to use the front? Or was there a back door they'd prefer he use? It wasn't like he could just call and ask, since he had never gotten Peter's phone number.
He felt the soft wrappings of his Mr. Knight suit wrap around him as he walked down a deserted alleyway, encasing him at his call.
He climbed the fire escape of the flat at the end of the alley, making his way to the top. Once there, he looked down at the people below him, at least five stories below. Steven wasn't necessarily afraid of heights, but anyone would be nervous at this height.
Well, almost anyone.
As if on cue, he heard the once again familiar thwip of Spider-Man approach from a few buildings down.
What convenient timing.
"Hey, Mr. Knight! What're you doing out here? I thought I'd be the only one late," Peter let out a small laugh at the end of his sentence.
Steven glanced between the imposing building and Peter. "Well you never told me exactly how to get in the building, so uh…" Steven would have just gone through the front door had he not thought that there would be a problem. Or if he knew he wouldn't draw attention to himself from the public.
"Oh! Oh, uh, sorry about that," Peter rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, "just- follow me, I'll show you,"
And with that, Peter approached Steven, and hooked his arm around his middle. As soon as Steven realized what was about to happen it was too late to do anything about it, because the very next moment he was falling off the building Peter had just jumped off of, pulling Steven with him.
And no, Steven did not scream at the top of his lungs. He probably would have if he could have managed to force out any sound of his throat beyond a quick gasp.
And okay, maybe he did clutch onto Peter for dear life.
The fall and swing were so sudden that he was sure he was about to die.
He wished he could have said goodbye to Layla at the least.
At this point, Steven had his eyes firmly shut, refusing to open them and watch himself plummet to the ground.
It wasn't until he felt solid ground beneath himself that he finally was able to take in another breath. He gasped repeatedly, trying to take in as much air as he could. He hadn't even realized he had stopped breathing.
His legs felt like jello, not wanting to hold him up any longer.
He could feel Jake pushing on his consciousness, trying to take over.
"I'm okay- I'm okay," Steven muttered to himself and Jake. He was curled up in the fetal position, lying on his legs, back up.
"You sure? Because you sound like you're about to pass out."
That. That was not Peter.
His head shot up and his eyes finally opened.
He- he didn't know where he was, but damn was it fancy in here. The place looked like it cost more than the entirety of the museum Steven had previously worked in. Which said a lot since he worked where priceless artifacts were kept.
By now he was sitting up, still sitting on the floor, which now he could see was a comfortable plush looking carpet.
He wanted to retract his gloves and feel the carpet, but decided against it, he knew Marc would be cross with him had he given the Avengers any ideas as to who they were… wait.
The Avengers!!!
He finally looked at the people surrounding him, half of which looked nervous, the other half indifferent. And yes, it was the Avengers around him. Oh gods .
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