Chapter Eleven | What Just Happened?
Alaina
Peter Parker was a very awkward kid but it was endearing in a way. It reminded Al of herself when she was his age; he was good at talking and giving clear answers but it was always said nervously like he thought he was being tested or something. Only she got in a few dozen more fights than Peter.
Al decided to ask him what his interests were, remembering to put her degree to good use. Asking closed questions like do you want to go to university or what are your future plans is easy for anyone to answer, but Al learned that asking about someone's interests would both make them warm up to her and it would create a conversation. It was what she did with MJ, although the girl was a natural conversationalist and seemed to like Al, it helped Al get to know her a bit more.
And it worked, since Peter's eyes lit up as he began talking about quantum physics or something similar.
Alaina couldn't lie, she did zone out after half a minute, but nodded along and smiled encouragingly to keep him going. Science wasn't her cup of tea but this kid was clearly passionate about it and made it sound more interesting than it probably was.
"-and Mr. Stark lets me help him out in his lab, with the internship and everything-"
Alaina did a double take. "Tony Stark?" she clarified. Tony Stark asked some student to help him in his lab? On an internship?
"Oh, I, uh," Peter stumbled over his words, realising what he said. "I mean, he- he didn't really ask me to help him out in the... the lab... I was just, exaggerating..."
"I won't tell anyone, Peter." She gave a breathy laugh, both surprised and annoyed that she couldn't escape from the mere mention of The Avengers for two hours. Next, the kid would tell her to ask Natasha out on a date. "So you intern for To- Mister Stark?" This is a professional environment, Alaina. You do not know Tony Stark personally.
"I, uh, really shouldn't have said that," he said with wide eyes. There was sweat beading along his eyebrow and his breaths came out as shaky. "I'm not an- an intern or anything, that would be ridiculous." He laughed awkwardly, falsely. "Mr. Stark doesn't even know me, I've never even met The Avengers-"
And then Alaina remembered.
"Yeah, going for my interview at Midtown High School tonight," Al told him, smiling a little. "Tony thinks my qualifications could get me anywhere, but he seemed adamant on getting me to work at Midtown. Any child superheroes I should know about?" She chuckled.
"Uhh..."
Alaina's smile faltered. "Please don't tell me there are any child superheroes who study at Midtown High School."
"Uhhhh..."
"Sam!" Al exclaimed in a hiss. She ducked into a nearby alley and held her hand over the speaker, keeping her voice low. "You recruited a teenager to be part of The Avengers? Are you insane?! Oh, god, don't tell me it's Negasonic Teenage Warhead or something."
"First off, it's actually Spider-Man," Sam corrected like it would help this case.
"Oh, shit." She breathed, straightening in her seat. "You're... him."
"What?" No, no." Peter chuckled nervously. "I'm Peter Man- Spider Parker- I'm gonna be late for class," he muttered with wide eyes, grabbing his backpack and standing up with great speed.
"Wait, I know Tony-" Alaina went to grab his arm, but was thrown back when something hit her wrist and stuck her to the table. She automatically tried pulling her hand away but... the thing sticking her to her desk didn't budge. It looked like a web, but felt much stronger.
"Oh, my god." Peter looked horrified. "Yo-You know Mister Stark? I'm so so sorry, I thought... I thought you were gonna..."
"Hey, Peter. Calm down, alright? You thought I was going to hurt you and you defended yourself, okay?" Peter was pacing in front of her, eyes bulging out of his head as he breathed frantically. He was on the brink of hyperventilating. "Please stop for a second and look at me, Peter." The teen froze in place, frightened eyes flickering between her trapped hand and the calm expression on her face. Al breathed out, relieved. "Do you know how to get this off me?" she asked.
He shook his head rapidly. "N-No, and it takes like 2 hours for it to wear off," Peter answered. "I-I think Mister Stark has a... some solution that could, that could get it off. Maybe. H-He's been working on it since he found me."
"Okay," Al replied calmly. She deliberately kept her breathing loud and steady, knowing that Peter would eventually match her pace. Alaina felt ridiculous trying to console a child while literally stuck to her desk. "Can you do me a favour and pass me my phone? It's in my bag, behind the desk."
Peter quickly complied, dropping his backpack on the floor next to one of the desks in the front row. He moved behind her desk with a swiftness that surprised her, but, well, he was Spider-Man.
When her phone was in her left hand - it was very awkward handling her phone with the opposite hand - she unlocked it and scrolled down to her contacts page. Al hit Sam's contact name, which was 'big daddy' because Sam thought it was hilarious and she didn't care about changing it back, and then called him.
He picked up after a few rings. "What does my third favourite gay woman want on this fine evening?"
"I..." She glanced at Peter to see him go back to pacing back and forth, chewing the end of his thumb. "I got myself in a bit of a predicament-" she cut herself off. "Wait, third?"
"Yup," he answered with a pop. "I recently discovered the joys of Ellen Page. Anyway, what's up? Didn't threaten a student, did you?"
"What?" she asked, lip curling. "No, Sam. I... I'll be blunt. I met Peter Parker, I told him I knew who he was, and now I'm stuck to my desk with a web." There was a pause. "Apparently Tony has some kind of solution that can get me unstuck, and I have to go to the principal in 30 minutes so please..."
"Only you, Al," Sam muttered, sighing. "Right, I'll... I'll go and ask Tony now. We'll talk about this later."
"Thanks, Sammy," Alaina murmured with a small smile. "Make sure to tell him to delete this classroom footage, too."
"You want Tony Stark to hack into a high school in order to delete CCTV footage?"
"Yes."
"You know that's illegal, right?"
"Are you saying he won't?"
"Fair point. Got it. Have fun, babe. Try not to unnerve the kid. Bye."
He hung up.
Alaina locked her phone and placed it on the desk next to her hip, watching as the kid deliberately avoided her gaze.
Spider-Man, a member who wasn't exactly a member of The Avengers, was a 15-year-old boy, half the age of Alaina. He probably went on the same missions as Captain America and Iron Man, but... Okay, deep breaths, Al, don't get mad by just thinking about it. Sam was right when he mentioned that Al was too protective for her own good, especially when it came to situations like this. When Sam told her that he was an official member of The Avengers, an actual superhero, her initial reaction was to punch him in the face. Partly because he hid it from her for months, but mostly because he told her that he was close to death multiple times during the fall of Manhattan. Looking back now, it was an exaggeration, but finding out that your best friend, your brother, was risking his life every day... it struck a nerve. But Sam was a grown adult. Peter wasn't.
A part of Alaina - a huge part of Alaina - wanted to go right up to Tony Stark and demand why he thought it would be a good idea to hire someone three times his junior. She knew a little bit about Spider-Man from Sam, like his name and a bit about his abilities from the YouTube videos she watched. He seemed more than capable to defend himself because Al caught a few clips of Spider-Man in action on YouTube, but... he was a kid, for Christ's sake. A kid who was studying in high school.
But maybe shouting at Tony twice in three days wouldn't be the best course of action.
"Are you... uh, are you hurt?" Peter asked, his voice quiet. He stopped pacing a few moments ago and settled down on top of one of the desks instead, legs swinging idly.
Alaina smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, Peter. Don't worry about me," she said. He nodded, lowering his head to the ground. "I'm guessing you've met the team, then?" she asked, relaxing her backside against the edge of her desk.
"Yeah," he answered timidly. "Have you?"
"Mmhmm," she hummed, lightly clenching her fist against the webs. Not even a twitch against the tight material. "I'm actually friends with Sam Wilson. I've known him since we were kids."
"Really?" Peter asked, surprised. He grew the courage to look and meet Al's eyes.
"Yep," she answered with an easy grin. "Man, the stories I have. He used to be a card collector, you know? Denies it now but I have the evidence in a box somewhere in my apartment."
Peter's mouth quirked into a smile, a quiet breathy laugh escaping him. "He's the last person I would have thought to collect cards," he commented. "Was it Magic: The Gathering?"
"Yeah," she answered, her eyebrows pulling together in amusement. "I'm guessing that you... are also a collector?"
"What? No, no, no" Peter laughed skittishly. "I just know of them." Al's eyebrow rose as she gave him a disbelieving expression. "Okay, I have a few." Her brow rose further. "I-I... I wouldn't call it a collection."
Alaina snorted and for a second, Peter looked like he thought he said the wrong thing, but when he saw that her eyes were crinkling from laughter, he looked down again, this time sheepishly. He was trying to hide his own laughter, Al decided.
They talked for a while about their favourite cards, in terms of aesthetic. Al's personal favourite was Jeska the Warrior and Alesha, Who Smiles At Death and she learned that Peter liked Fencing Ace who he argued was underrated, and Ana Amari because he was just badass looking. He still shifted in his seat like he wanted nothing more than to run out of the classroom without turning back, but the fact that he didn't was a good sign in her eyes.
The closed-door being tapped from the other side made the two abruptly stop their conversation. Oh, shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...
"It's Natasha."
Peter and Al simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that it wasn't another teacher about to walk in on the awkward situation.
Wait.
Why was Natasha here?
Can Sam just stop and not try and force-
Who the hell looked that good in leggings and a hoodie?
Alaina, focus.
"Hi, Ms. Romanoff-" Peter started.
"What did I say last time I saw you, Peter?" Natasha asked with a teasing smile. "You're allowed to call me nothing but Spider Mom or Mother Widow. No missus or misters around me, 'kay?" She patted his cheek, not waiting for a response when she turned to Alaina. "Hey."
"Hi," Al breathed, smiling like a nerd.
Natasha pressed her lips together to hide her smirk and reached into her hoodie pocket, pulling out a small vial filled with a clear liquid and a pipette. "Got the cure," she said.
To my heart?
Nope. That's too gay, Al. Don't say that.
"Are you sure it isn't water?" Al settled with instead.
"I could always give it a try," she said, walking towards where Alaina was stuck. She popped the bottle off the vial and gave it a sniff. "But it smells like vinegar mixed with carbon monoxide, so I'll probably pass."
"Good call." Al nodded. Natasha gave a closed-lipped smile and sauntered over to the woman, dropping the pipette in the vial and squeezing so some of the liquid into the clear tube. She reached the desk and cocked her hip against the wood, right next to her trapped hand and only a few inches away from Al's body. Al kept her body facing forward but turned her head towards Natasha, looking down as she dripped some of the liquid on the edges of the web. "So, uh, no offence or anything, but I thought... Sam was coming?"
"That was the plan," Natasha replied smoothly, eyes focused on what she was doing. Alaina looked into her eyes anyway, watched as Natasha chewed her full bottom lip softly, saw her eyes move with the actions of her hands. "He encouraged me to go in his place. But..." Her green eyes darted upwards and Al felt a flush of embarrassment flush through her. She was just... staring at Natasha. "I wanted to talk to you anyway."
"O-Oh?" Al stuttered, her pulse skipping a beat. This could either end with Al pissing herself from fear or... well, Al pissing herself from happiness. Either way, it would end in piss.
"The boys have been pretty adamant on trying to get us together, I'm sure everyone in New York noticed," she laughed softly, eyes drifting back down to the web. Oh no. "I don't want you to think that I'm doing this so they'll leave us alone or anything like that. This is all coming from my free will." She added a few more drops of the liquid to the centre of the web and Al felt it drip through and onto her hand. "I want to go out with you, Alaina. On a date."
"Hum, hn, what?" Alaina flustered. "You want...?"
"To take you out on a date, yes," Natasha finished with a small chuckle. "I won't hold it against you if you say no-"
"No!" Al practically shouted. "Um, I mean, yes. To the date, not the no. I accept the date- your date."
Natasha glanced up at her coyly, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Good." And then got back to removing the web.
Peter, from the corner of Al's eye, had the biggest smile on his face.
Holy shit.
Author's Note: ahsbBDuas it happened. I was gonna wait longer but I just couldn't, there's going to be quite a bit of angst very soon so here's some happiness for the time being.
Okay, so I'm going to clarify the timeline of this story because I haven't been very good at explaining it, so the following paragraph will have spoilers for Captain America: Civil War and (major spoilers for) The Punisher and season 2 of Daredevil. Be warned.
NM is set after CACW but the Civil War part didn't happen. The Accords don't exist, but the team were on a hunt to find Bucky. Steve didn't know that Bucky killed Tony's parents and Bucky slipped through their grasp and is currently missing, but Tony is still trying to track him down. All the events of CATWS happened, including Fury's 'death' and the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. As for The Punisher, Frank's family do eventually get killed but Frank doesn't go on the same redemption mission as he does in the show (there will be one but I won't spoil that as it will ruin this fic), nor does he 'die' in Daredevil, so Frank Castle is very much alive. In the show, Frank's family were killed years ago but in this, it's going to be very recent. As for Peter, everything that happened in Spider-Man: Homecoming happened in this fic and the events took place before this.
THANKFULLY, I'm not including Infinity War in Night Moves, both for the fact that it will just complicate this fic and because the way I would write it would leave you all an emotional mess. Ya welcome.
Edited: 29.08.18.