I'm going to start by apologizing for the teaser last chapter. I'll just let you guys read this and allow you to judge me.
This chapter is much shorter than the others because it's the only way I could make it work with how I wanted the next one to end. I didn't want it all in one but the last scene wasn't enough for a lone chapter. So, compromise. I'll be posting the second half of this in just a few hours.
So this is progressing a bit faster than I thought it would. But I don't care because I'm excited to know what you guys think! So please let me know!
Also, do you guys read all my author notes? Because I know they can be long most (all) of the time but it's usualy important information. Usually. It's okay if not, just wondering! Happy reading!
Words: 1,807
Queen: Sup, lady? Stay over after we ditch the losers next Friday night?
Chuckling, Ada types out her response to MJ as she walks down the hall to the kitchen. She hadn't been able to stay on the roof to watch the sunrise. She'd nearly fallen asleep on the roof when she was nudged awake and Loki 'ordered' her back to bed. She would have put up a fight if she wasn't so tired.
"Huh," Ada mumbles while plopping into a chair next to Peter, ignoring the way his hair stands up in odd directions. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing Captain America cook scrambled eggs."
"You want some?" The man himself asks over his shoulder.
"Please?" Ada nods before turning to her friend. "Are you awake?"
"No," Peter shakes his head, eyes closed.
"I think it's time for a hair cut."
"No," Peter repeats, lifting his arms over his head protectively.
"Relax, it's not like I'm about to chop it off with scissor." Ada tells him but he still doesn't move. Ada thinks he might've fallen asleep. "I don't even have scissors."
"I do," Mr. Stark announces as he enters the room, grinning at the teenagers when Ada chuckles.
"Don't encourage her," Peter tells the billionaire, lifting his head from the counter in time to accept the plate of eggs and pancakes slid towards him. "She'll do it."
"Cut off your precious curls? Never." Ada scoffs before shoving a fork full of fluffy, golden eggs into her mouth. Looking up, the teenager pauses when she sees Mr. Stark take a big gulp of steaming hot coffee. "That's not- why? That's not healthy."
"Trust me, I've tried to tell him." Pepper appears, ruffling both teenager's hair before pouring herself a cup of coffee. "I have to run by the apartment soon. I left some stuff I need there."
"You guys have an apartment?" Ada asks, not caring in the least that she was listening to their conversation. They were having it in the middle of the kitchen, if anything, it was their fault.
"Yeah. You think we live here all the time?" Tony questions while handing Pepper the sugar and raising a brow at the girl. "I would've strangled someone by now."
"'Iron Man, Tony Stark arrested for the murder of Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye'" Peter narrates the imaginary headline in a slightly deeper voice, drawing laughs from everyone in the room.
"They'd never find the body." The billionaire tells him with a smirk, raising his mug towards him.
"Dissolve it," Ada nods while stabbing a piece of egg. "Sulfuric acid can eat through bone."
Pausing, Tony opens his mouth and closes it once before speaking. "I'm not gonna ask how you know that and I'm still trying to decide if I'm impressed or worried."
"How about terrified for your well being?" Peter asks, face completely serious before both teenagers start laughing.
"Bunch of psychos," Tony mumbles before refilling his coffee.
"Oh, hey, look at this," Ada whispers to Peter while pulling out her phone. "I found Thor's theme song." My name is - Once Monsters appears on the screen and Peter accepts the single earbud Ada gives to him.
Chuckling, Peter continues to eat his food while nodding along to the song. "Fitting." He mumbles.
"Also," Ada states louder than she meant to. "I named the cat."
"Crazy cat?"
"No, Peter, my other cat." Rolling his eyes at his friend's sarcasm, Peter takes both their empty plates. "Athena."
"Is this the cat you were killing people for yesterday?" Clint asks. Tony's mumble 'what' goes unheard as the teenager rolls her eyes.
"I wasn't killing people."
"You have a cat?" Sam raises his brows and sits next to her with his bowl of cereal.
"She lives in the alley next to my apartment." Ada informs him. "She doesn't like me very much now but I will make her love me."
"Can't force love, Princess."
"I'm not forcing," Ada twists her seat around, leaning her back against the counter. "Just, you know, gonna give her food and hope for the best."
"Yes, food, that'll work." Clint points to her seriously before stuffing something edible into his mouth.
Staring at him with an unimpressed look, Tony asks. "Really?"
"So, do you understand now?"
"Uuh..." Ada drags out, waiting until Peter turns a blank look to her. "I'm kidding, yes, professor, I understand. Ish."
"Good enough," Peter mumbles before snapping the thick book shut.
"Break?" Ada asks hopefully, cheering when Peter nods. "Okay, uh, can I tell you something?"
"Is this the kind of something I can't tell anyone else?" Peter questions while giving her his full attention. He'd normally be more worried about a question like that but Ada doesn't seem troubled.
"Yes, no, maybe," Ada furrows her brows. "I haven't decided."
"My lips are sealed until told otherwise."
"I talked to Loki."
"What?" Peter asks, quite calmly, he'd like to add. He hadn't known what to expect but it definitely wasn't that.
"It was an accident." Ada shrugs innocently, shifting her legs under her from her position on her bed.
"How do you accidentally talk to someone?"
"I couldn't sleep, went to the roof to see the stars, he was up there. That's that."
"Alright," Peter nods slowly. "What's he like?"
"Not evil," Ada answer easily. "He misses home while also feeling like he doesn't have one. He's distancing himself from everyone because he feels he doesn't belong. He thinks no one likes him."
"You got all that from one conversation?" Peter waves his arm around. He shouldn't have expected anything less.
Shrugging, Ada looks down and picks at her fingernails. "I feel bad. He thinks everyone sees him as someone to be feared. That no one loves him. That no one can."
"Wow," Peter huffs, straightening in the desk chair he sits in. "This conversation got depressing fast."
"Yeah, sorry," Ada winces before climbing off the bed. "Uh, my dad should be home soon, if you wanna stay, or something."
"Like, to say hello or stay for dinner?"
"Either one," Ada shrugs. "We're ordering pizza because why not? I'm trying to get him to live a little more...less strictly?"
"Sure, I'll stay."
"No need to be nervous." Ada says casually, leaning her shoulder on the wall.
"I'm not," Peter clears his throat when his voice crack, folding his arms across his chest.
Raising a single brow in a very Ada way, the girl looks him up and down. "You straightened your posture and started bouncing your leg as soon as I mentioned meeting my father." Peter stops doing everything she'd mentioned. "And then you crossed your arms in a defensive manner when I called you out. Anyway, relax, it's not a big deal."
"Right," Peter shakes his shoulders and sits forward. "It's fine."
"Good because he's here." Ada says, lifting a finger as the sound of the door opened sounds throughout the apartment.
"Dude," Peter says, all coolness gone as he jumps to his feet.
"Dude," Ada repeats back to him. "Chill out, you're Spider-Man. My dad's not a villain." Pausing, Ada stands up straight before leaning forward to knock on her desk. "Knock on wood." Peter's eyes widen and she laughs. "I'm kidding!"
"Ada?"
"Coming!" Ada shouts back to her father before grabbing Peter's shoulder and dragging him behind her. "Hey dad, this is Peter, he's my friend and he also volunteered to be my tutor because he likes me so much."
"In a very platonic way, sir." Peter tells Nathan, eyes still wide and Ada places a hand over her heart.
"Ouch," She mumbles, smiling when Peter looks down at her. "Kidding. Anyway, is it cool if he stays for dinner?"
Nathan narrows his eyes, looking between both teenagers before taking a deep breath. "Sure. I have a few things to do for work but then we can eat."
"Okay, I'll order now." Ada calls after him as he walks into his office. "Anything you want? I'm getting what I always do and what my dad likes."
"Whatever is fine."
Pausing with the phone halfway to her ear, Ada looks Peter in the eye. "I'll get you an extra one." She was aware of how much he eats and he refused to be paid for tutoring her. Though if fifty bucks found its way into his pocket somehow, well, if he doesn't know where it came from, he can't give it back.
Ada has to go get her father when the pizza arrives, pulling him to the table to sit.
"So, Peter, where do you go to school?" Nathan questions, ignoring the overly loud sigh Ada releases.
"Midtown," Peter clears his throat before taking a sip of his drink.
"He's my friend, dad, not my boyfriend, no need to question him." Ada tells her father.
"I've never met one of your friends before." Nathan shrugs. "Well, not since you were eight."
"Yeah, well, I know you'll question them so I keep them away."
"Fair point." Nathan nods before turning back to Peter. "I apologize."
"It's fine." Peter shakes his head, sharing a glance with Ada before forcefully relaxing his posture. "Uh, thanks for letting me stay."
"Why are you two so awkward?" Ada groans, nearly smashing her head onto the table.
"You're right," Nathan sits straighter in his seat with a deep breath. "Peter, has Ada ever told you about that time she-"
"Dad, no."
"She married her classmate." Nathan ignores his daughter, smiling as he recounts the story. "What were you? Six, I think. She came home all excited, telling me and her mother about how she'd married Johnny from school."
Chuckle, Peter turns to Ada with a fake offended look. "How could you have never told me you were married? I'm hurt."
"Okay, yeah, laugh it up," Ada leans back in her seat, waving both her father and friend off as they laugh. "And I will have you know, Johnny was a very good husband. That marriage lasted a whole week before we ended things. Mutually, I might add."
"She marched over to us that next week, stating her new relationship status with the most confidence I've ever seen six year old have."
"Sounds like her," Peter says. Ada sits back in her seat, a soft smile on her face as she watches her best friend and father talk and wonders why she'd so been worried.
Sorry for the teaser last chapter, it was very misleading. But it was to good of an opportunity to pass up. I was a little nervous of what would be thought but I couldn't not do it. Don't hate me.
Check back in a few hour for another chapter! It's short like this one, I think 2,000 words. It's the one after that where things...happen. What happens? I can't say but I wanna know your theories!
Teaser: "Nothing goes on here without me knowing about it."
'-'