Chapter 36

Super Family

It did not take long before all the Avengers were seated in the living room, all of them awkwardly holding their plates on their lap as they murmured about the kitchen's destruction in confusion, or just ignored it all together.

'Well, this is… cozy?' May said with a chuckle as she looked around, recognizing almost all of the heroes and mentally practiced their names as she looked at them. 'Hi, everyone.'

'Yeah, we are a very close team,' Steve smiled a bit awkwardly as he sat down in the tight space on the couch next to the woman.

'That's wonderful, isn't it? Almost like a big family,' May smiled as she stared into the blond's eyes, a slight blush coloring her cheeks as she noticed the bright blues staring back at her in wonder.

'I am Groot,' the Flora Colossus at her right nodded in agreement.

'I am May,' the woman replied cheerily, drawing some chuckles from the Guardians. 'What's wrong…? Did I say something funny?'

'Well, no, but you just made the same mistake as Goldilocks next to you,' Rocket chuckled as he sat on the tree's shoulder. 'But yeah, no, one big happy family.'

'I suppose we are more alike than we thought,' Steve's characteristic warm and gentle smile caused Aunt May to giggle and Tony to roll his eyes.

'Yeah, I think you two do have a lot in common,' Peter said as he smiled at the two, only to smirk at Tony as he noticed his irritated expression.

'Really?' May asked in surprise, quickly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. 'What do you mean, Pete?'

'Well, for example, I'd think you two have pretty much the same taste in music,' Peter smiled. 'Plus, you two are always the ones who make sure I do my homework even though it's Summer vacation.'

'Does he really?' the woman looked at the captain, her eyes bright as she waited his response.

'That happened once, Peter,' the slightly embarrassed smile that formed on Steve's face was almost too much for the woman to handle.

'Happens to me all. the. time,' she chuckled. 'I asked Peter only just now whether he had done his homework, so silly!'

'Sure is,' Steve agreed as he cast her a warm smile. 'Anyway, if it's really true that you like the same music as I do, maybe we could grab a coffee some time and listen to some songs together?'

'Oh, yeah, Steve's music is great, if you like the ye olde stuff,' Tony said with a chuckle as he, not so pathetically obvious, tried to intervene in the couple's conversation.

'Not everything has to be new and shiny to be worthwhile, Mr. Stark,' May commented coldly, hardly looking at the billionaire. Tony stared at her in bewilderment as he had forgotten that stinging pain of a cold rejection. He opened his mouth, wanting to counter her with a smooth line, but his boyfriend spoke up again.

'She's got a point,' Steve agreed, which caused Tony's eye to twitch in irritation. God, jealousy was such an ugly color on him. 'I mean, sometimes I listen to the radio and I just can't relate to the music at all, you know? I'm not sayin' everything used to be better, but...'

'Steve, you're sounding like an old man,' Bucky chuckled from the other side of the room, his 260 lbs pure-muscle-body seated on a small footrest. 'You put old people like us to shame.'

'No, not at all!' May countered, surprising the Winter Soldier. 'No, I know exactly what you mean, Steve. You hear the music, but you don't actually hear it, you know? It doesn't stick.'

'Right!' Steve sighed in relief, a bright smile on his face.

'Yeah!' May chuckled at the man's childlike enthusiasm. 'You know what? You could come over to my place and we could have some coffee! I still have some old records lying around somewhere, we could listen to those?'

'That sounds great!' The blond smiled. 'Ever tried forties coffee?' The question caused the group around them to snort and laugh, but the two conversationalists did not seem to notice. 'I can brew some by hand, it tastes really different from machine coffee.' He then looked at Tony and laughed softly as he remembered their coffee experience, his gaze growing softer as he smiled at his boyfriend.

'That sounds wonderful!' May agreed with a smile.

'Sorry dude, but it sounds like your boy is getting himself a date,' Quill softly mumbled towards Tony, hardly being able to keep himself from laughing out loud.

Tony sighed deeply and glared at the two Peter's who were both snorting and hiding their smiles behind their hands. 'Well, maybe we can continue on more important matters,' The playboy said a little annoyed, interrupting the laughing couple in front of him. 'Peter,' he continued, looking at the teen with a smirk. 'Now that we are on the subject of dating, isn't there anything you would like to tell your Aunt?'

Peter almost choked on his food and it took him a while to recover, noticing the whole assembly was waiting for his answer. 'Uh, well...' he hesitated as he cast a quick glance at his secret boyfriend, well, secret to at least one person in the room. 'So, Ned's got a girlfriend!'

'Oh, does he now?' May smiled. 'Well, good for him. He's a good kid, he deserves it.' She then fully turned her attention towards Peter, a teasing smile on her face. 'So, how about you, Peter? When am I going to meet your girlfriend?'

'...Girlfriend?' the teen asked confused.

'Yeah, girlfriend,' May nodded. 'Mister Stark told me you went to prom with a very lovely young lady, and I want to hear all about her.'

'Did he now?' Peter smiled as he looked at Tony with clenched teeth. 'What else did he tell you?'

'Not much,' the woman shrugged. 'He did send me a picture though.' As she said this, May managed to grab her phone out of her pocket, showing the teen a picture of him and Meya rehearsing their slow dancing. 'You two look really cute, and she's very pretty, Pete.'

'A...' Peter muttered as he stared at the picture, his eyes growing wide.

'You took a photograph?!' Loki asked his host in outrage as he stood up from his seat, earning him a surprised look from his boyfriend's aunt. 'That... that would be a violation of their privacy,' he continued calmly as he sat down again.

'It's just a picture,' May said soothingly though she suddenly wondered who the raven-haired stranger was as she had never seen him before. He did looked familiar though, somehow. 'That's all. But when do I get to meet her?' she then continued to Peter, an enthusiastic smile on her face.

'I- I don't think...' the teen started, his eyes darting from his aunt to the trickster in panic.

'Peter,' Steve started calmly, a gentle smile on his face as he noticed the teen's panic. 'Maybe you should... take a walk outside, with May? The weather is great, so,' he added with an encouraging nod.

'Yeah… Yeah, that might be a good plan,' Peter sighed as he cast the captain a thankful smile.

'Oh, but we haven't finished eating yet,' May said, a little taken aback.

'Well, I'm not really hungry anyway,' the teen stood up from his seat. 'So, uhm, you, you coming, or...?'

His aunt stared at him a moment longer, eventually smiling as she took the hint. 'Okay, you're right. Let's go for a walk.'

Working their way through the rubble in the hallway, May and Peter finally made it outside, strolling through the gardens of Stark Tower. 'It sure must be nice to live here,' the woman noted, looking around at the lush greenery. She then turned to Peter, enthusiasm brightening her face. 'So, tell me, your date, your prom, how was it? Did you have fun?'

'Yeah, it was, it was really… interesting, great, actually.' Peter replied quickly, trying to calm down a little from the intense moment of interrogation inside. 'Yeah, great, amazing. Meya is a great dancer and we had a lot of fun. I think Ned likes her too, in a friend-way! Not in a like-like-way. She also went to this pool party with us, some classmates had invited us over and-'

'That's amazing, Pete!' May exclaimed happily. 'You got invited to a pool party? Mister, what have you been up to? You haven't told everyone you're Spider-Man, right? 'Cause we talked about that, people are supposed to like you for you, not for-'

'No, no, it ain't that,' Peter chuckled. 'It... Well, you remember Flash, right? So, he kinda had this crush, well, huge crush on Meya, and I could come to his party, but only if I brought her, but then things got a little weird and-' He looked at his side, the wondering eyes of his aunt leaving him to sigh and stop his rambling. 'Okay, so, what I'm going to say to you is kind of hard to explain, so bear with me, alright?'

'Teens and their complicated relationships,' May chuckled, earning herself an annoyed sigh from her nephew. 'Okay, sorry, yeah, I'll bear with you. Tell me.'

'Okay, here we go.' Peter took a deep breath, his hands twitching nervously as he was about to try and tell his aunt that he was having a relationship with an Asgardian god. 'So, Meya, the lovely girl you saw in the picture, is actually, uhm, a guy...' As his aunt stopped walking and blinked in surprise, Peter just started to ramble again. 'I mean, he's a shapeshifter, so he turned into a girl, because I couldn't find a date for prom and Tony wanted to help me, and then Loki didn't, but then he did and-'

'Loki?' the woman interrupted him. 'You mean, the guy from the news? Who attacked New York with those- those alien monster things?'

'...Yes and no,' Peter said slowly. 'Yes, it was him, but he's not that guy anymore.'

'Stark and Steve let you go to promwith him?!' She then shook her head in confusion and started to pace back and forth. 'Wait, does that mean he lives here? You've been living with that, that- criminal all this time?!'

'...You kinda just had dinner with him?' Peter said with an awkward chuckle, though a shiver ran down his back as he saw his aunt's expression darkening.

'Oh- this is just- okay, Peter, grab your bags, you are not spending another minute here!' She turned around, wanting to march straight back into Stark Tower. 'I need to have a word about this with your tutors right now!'

'No, no! May, hear me out,' the teen quickly took a few big steps forward, blocking the woman's path. 'You said you would bear with me, right? You promised!'

'But-!' May stared at the tower before glancing at Peter again, a sigh following. 'Okay, I'll, I'll listen...'

'Okay.' Peter took a deep breath as he fumbled with the hem of his shirt. 'So, Loki and I went to prom, but he looked like the girl in the picture. We did our best to make sure no one knew about this, but Ned found out and he already gave me the whole talk about what Loki used to be like.' Peter then frowned as he came to realize something. 'I also got lectured by Mister Stark... and Mister Barnes... and Thor...' A pathetic sigh left his lips before he quickly continued. 'Anyway, so really, I know. But I got to know him a little, May, and when you hear the story from his side, about all the things he has been through, well, I think you'd see him in a different light as well.'

May remained silent for a moment as she let her nephew's words sink in, a sigh following as she crossed her arms. 'Look, Peter, I know he must have given you a very sad sob story, but that guy's dangerous.' As she noticed the teen's hurt gaze she continued more cautiously, 'I mean, how do you know he's not lying to you? What if-'

'We went to Asgard together,' Peter interrupted her. 'And there, o-other people confirmed his story. I even got to meet some of the people who made his life so tough for him, but I also got to know some of his friends. So, you can imagine, after all that we had been through up to that point, we were becoming pretty close friends, right? He told me a lot about his life and I, in hindsight, didn't tell that much about myself, okay, we have to work on that, but I started to understand how he had become the guy he is now.'

'... So, you really trust him?' May asked doubtfully.

'With my life,' Peter nodded. 'Really, May, I...' his lips started to tremble as he fought back his nerves. 'I really love him.'

Completely taken aback by the teen's determined words, the woman blinked her eyes before continuing cautiously. 'You... You love... him?' she asked as she tried to take in the information. 'The god... of lies? Uhm, Thor's little brother, right?'

'Maybe we could just call him Loki?' Peter tried with an awkward chuckle. 'Really, he is good at speaking and diplomacy and, sure, when needed even lying, but he doesn't lie that much anymore. We talked about that.'

'I- I have to say, Peter, it is a lot to take in...' May sighed, but then quickly looked up at her nephew. 'N-not that you love a guy, I don't mind that, at all! It's just... I wasn't really expecting that guy, to be honest... but if you say he can be trusted...'

'I know, I know!' Peter said hurriedly, but then he tilted his head. 'You... You're kind-of cool with all this?'

'Well, no, not really, not yet, anyway, but... I only know Loki through the news and, if all the Avengers thought it was a good idea to let him live here, then, well, surely there must be something good about him, right?' she suggested, though it sounded more like she tried to convince herself than to pose a question.

'Perhaps you should judge that for yourself,' a voice said and as the two turned around they saw the trickster looking at them. 'Rest assured, I was not eavesdropping, I merely... I was just wondering if all was right,' the prince explained with a nervous smile.

May gulped, tensing up at first as the trickster had clearly startled her. 'Uhm, yeah, hey,' she started awkwardly, shifting on her feet as she could not help but take a protective stand in front of her little.

'Please, Lady Parker,' Loki tried calmly, his voice still soothing though slightly imbalanced. 'I understand if you are in doubt and question my intentions and I will not pretend like I could lift these with sheer words. My actions, perhaps, have spoken for me yet again, but I will not let them define me any longer. So, please, anything you want to know, any time you need to think this over, I leave it all in your hands, for I know you will judge fairly what is best for Peter.'

May gazed at the Asgardian in surprise, her sharp eyes noticing how the trickster tried to stand confident and calm but still nervously twitched a finger. 'Uh, well, thank you? Yes, thank you. I, you see, Peter just told me what is going on and I'm trying to process things, but I appreciate your openness.' As the three looked at each other in turns, May just simply sighed and shrugged as she smiled. 'So, what do your parents do?' she tried awkwardly.

'M-my parents?' the trickster looked up in surprise, his eyes darting between his boyfriend and the woman. 'W-well, my mother was a very skilled Seiðr-bearer. She was kind and clever, and, of course, she was the Queen of Asgard, the Allmother of the Nine Realms. My father, he is the king.'

'Lovely,' May said with a slightly confused smile, not understanding half the words the raven just said. 'My parents had a farm once, in Omaha. They moved to Brooklyn before I was born, though, so I never saw much of it, but, yeah...'

'I see,' the raven nodded a bit nervously as he had no idea what to do with this information. 'That sounds lovely.'

'Okay, uhm, Pete, perhaps it is a good idea if you go get your things anyway.' May clasped her hands as she turned to her nephew in a bright voice to clear the awkward air. 'Empire State U is expecting you to check out your dorm room tomorrow so you better hurry.'

'Yeah, you're right, I just-' Peter's eyes then grew wide, his shoulders tensing as his aunts words got through to him. 'Wait?! That's tomorrow?!'

'Yes?' May replied with a frown. 'Why else do you think I'm here? I came to pick you up.'

'…Shit... I, I still have to get my stuff, I have to say goodbye to everyone, and I have to clean up my room!'

'Take your time, Pete,' May chuckled as she rested her hands on the young man's shoulders. She then looked up at Loki, noticing the glimpse of confusion that shone in his bright green eyes. 'You... you okay?' May asked gently as she took a step closer to the trickster.

'... Yes,' Loki nodded slowly, though he still looked puzzled. 'Peter, what is Empire State? Why would you... why would you have to say goodbye to everyone?'

'It's- it's the university where I'm going to study,' Peter started hesitantly. 'It's in New York, so I'll be visiting! But since I'll be living on campus and following classes most of the day, I'm afraid that I might not have time to be an Avenger anymore...'

Loki blinked in complete disbelief, his heart racing in his chest. He stared at the ground beneath his feet for a moment, a heavy frown on his face as he thought this through. He then took a quick deep breath and conjured a calm and collected smile on his face. 'I see,' he nodded, trying his best to hide the sudden heavy feeling in his stomach. 'Well then, I wish you all the best of luck. I am quite certain that most of the others will enjoy the peace and tranquility that will fall upon us again when you are gone.' The raven spoke in his characteristic sassy tone, the indifference in his voice making the remark sound colder than he had intended.

May sighed and cast the trickster a smile. 'Peter's right: you are good with words. But don't think that they can fool me,' she warned him, causing the raven to look up in alarm.

'I was not-' Loki started but got interrupted as the woman took a step forward. She wrapped her arms around the trickster's shoulders, her shorter body leaving her head to rest just upon his chest. The sudden contact left him speechless, the motherly warmth of her embrace and the sweet smell of her parfum caused him to freeze completely, the sudden image of his beloved mother flashing before his eyes.

'It's alright,' May said warmly as she let go of him again, noticing that the trickster was nearly forgetting to breath. 'I'll give you two some time alone,'

Loki blinked his eyes, his gaze locked on the ground beneath his feet as the woman walked away. He took a deep breath, trying to relax his muscles. 'Well then...' His voice was soft. He cleared his throat and spoke up, 'Let's get your bags packed, shall we?' he cast Peter a quick smile.

'Lokes,' Peter gently caught hold of the trickster's arm and he took his hands in his own. 'I'm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you... Really, I forgot. I was so caught up with everything that happened this Summer, I-'

'It is quite alright,' the raven nodded, though he was not able to keep himself from asking the teen another question. 'So... How long will you be gone? Will you come back here once you finished your studies?'

Peter chuckled painfully and shrugged, his heart shattering at the small and cautious voice of his boyfriend. 'It will take me a few years to complete college. After that, yeah, I might come back here, or get a job and a place of my own, become a part-time Avenger. I don't know. I just, there's no telling what will happen, you know?'

'I, I do not, really,' Loki looked away from the teen and took a deep breath. 'However... I trust you. So, if you say that things will work out then... Then I'll believe you.'

'You do?' Peter asked, his voice growing softer.

Loki nodded, 'Yes, though I am not saying that I am happy with this... nor with the fact that you did not tell me sooner.' He managed a sincere smile, ruffling the teen's brown curls before folding his arms. 'What am I to do with you?'

'Okay, I had that coming,' Peter laughed as he combed his hair with his hands.

'Oh, you have a lot more coming,' the trickster smirked. 'Do not think for a second that you will be safe from me in your new abode.'

Peter laughed, 'Yeah, no, I'll live in dread and pure terror for the rest of my university days. That will set me up with a nice reputation, won't it?'

'One that would fit you quite nicely,' the raven chuckled. He then wrapped his arms around the teen's waist, pulling him against his chest as he whispered, 'You better promise to come and visit...'

Peter in turn wrapped his arms around the trickster's shoulders, giving him a kiss. 'Try to keep me away.'

NOTES:

Just one more chapter

I literally have tears in my eyes

Someone send help XD