Ding-dong!

"That's the door." Hiro commented, as Peter got up to answer it.
"I hope it's not a salesman." Peni grumbled.

A happy squeal from Peter made them look up. "Harry, Miles!" Two boys around his age were at the door, one had swooped up black hair, blue eyes and a blue shirt. The other had short dark brown hair, golden-brown eyes, and a grey hoodie.

Ari, who had been in the kitchen, poked her head from the door frame at the sound. "What's going on?"
"Some of Peter's friends are visiting." Peni explained.

"Cool! Can we meet them?"
Peter's laughter cut off Peni before she could reply. "Relax Ari, it'd be awkward if I didn't introduce you." He turned back to his friends. "Miles, Harry, this is my cousin Ari. Ari, these are some of my friends and classmates from Horizon."

She gave them a friendly wave, then paused. "Wait, how come Hiro didn't get introduced?"
"I met Harry once." Hiro shrugged. "Haven't met Miles though." He looked over to Peni, who was sitting next to him. "Don't you guys have two other friends?"

"You mean Gwen and Anya?" Peni gestured. "Well, Gwen's been staying at home for stuff, Anya's been helping her." Her neutral expression turning into a frown made Hiro guess what it was about. Guess they were hurt by the spider monster thing a whole lot.

He turned back to the front door as Ari was walking over to Peter, then looked over to his friends. "So, you all go to Horizon?"
"I used to." Harry shrugged. "But then some stuff happened."
"You could still attend back, Harry." Miles pointed out. "I bet if you talk to Max about it he'll-"
Peni and Harry both groaned, then looked at eachother. "Miles, don't even mention that guy around me." The former glared.
"Oh, right. Forgot you don't like the head of Horizon's high school students." Hiro commented.
"Why does-"
"Don't ask Ari, just don't." Every now and then when he called, Peni would often rant about Max Modell, though the man had allowed her cousin into Horizon, the constant badgering about the pricey tuition and about some venom thing was what came up the most. Whoever Max was, he was not on Peni's good side anytime soon.
His sister paused. "Okay…"

"Anyways." Peter cleared his throat, turning to his friends. "You want me to put on some Dragon Prince?"
"Hell yeah!"

"Yes!"


Several minutes after the tv show was running, Ari noticed that Peter was rather close to Harry on the couch, their arms nearly touching. "So, Harry." She spoke up.
"Hm?" He turned to face the sweater girl. "What's up?"
"You're friends with Peter, right?" Ari raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been friends for?"

Harry had chuckled, a look of nostalgia on his face. "Oh, we've been friends for ages. Since elementary school! Me and Peter go way back."
"That's right." Peter nodded. "And we've been best friends ever since."
For some reason Peni snickered, but then awkwardly coughed. "Miles, haven't known for long. But he's alright."
"Hey!" Miles pouted. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know you, much." She shrugged, looking over to her cousin. "Most of my close friends are out of the city on vacation, or they don't live here. So I'm not as close as the others-" Peni gestured to Miles and Harry. "As Peter is."

"Hm." Hiro hummed. "Do I count as a close friend?"
Peni flashed him a deadpan stare. "You're family. Family has ascended to another plane of closeness. But you're on thin ice for talking during all the emotional parts!"
"I've seen this before, Peni! Calm down!"
"You HAD to talk during the memorial scene, did you!?"
"Oh, get over it!"
"You-" They dissolved into playful bickering, Peter rolled his eyes and paused the tv.
"Children." He sighed. "Guess we're done watching tv for the day."

Miles was the first one to get up. "Alright! How about we get lunch!"
"It's not even afternoon, Miles."
"Brunch it is!"


They ended up visiting a pizza parlor called Rica's for brunch. Peter explained that it was a favorite of theirs, so Ari was excited to try it out.

"Y'know, pizza isn't a normal breakfast option." Peni had commented to Hiro, who had huffed in response.
"Don't talk to me or my pizza ever again." Causing his sister to giggle.

Their cousin shot them a weird look. "You guys have pizza in San Fransokyo too." Peter pointed out."
Hiro shrugged. "True, but we're mostly Noodle Burger fans."
"Noodle Burger Boy…"

"Oh my gosh Ari, we already have Fred complaining please not now."

Miles raised an eyebrow. "Who's Noodle Burger Boy? What's a Noodle Burger?!"

"Noodle Burger Boy is this mascot turned villain back home and-" He froze. "You don't know what a Noodle Burger is?"
The teen frowned. "Nope. We don't have them here."
"Aw, that stinks." Ari pouted. "Noodle Burgers are tasty! I like Yaki Tacos more."
Harry shook his head at the group, silent during their meal. "You guys have weird food at San Fransokyo."
"You're one to talk." Hiro crossed his arms. "Last time I was here I tried some of New York's street food, and it was not as tasty as you told me!" He stuck his tongue out at the memory. "You guys just smash food together and call it a meal."
"We do not!"

Peter was just laughing at their antics. "I mean, he's not wrong Harry." His friend gave him a dramatic look of betrayal.

"I'm gonna refill my soda." Ari noticed her cup was getting low. "Be right back!"

She ran to the door, not wanting to miss much of the conversation, but she bumped into someone who was walking outside. What was left in Ari's soda cup spilled on his suit.

"Oh!" Ari noticed the stain on their suit, thanks to her soda. "I'm sorry-"
But the man in front of her merely smiled with a cold blue stare. "Don't be sorry, accidents happen after-all. But be careful where you're going next time." He chuckled dryly. "This suit is expensive."
The sweater girl sniffled as guilt weighed in her chest. "S-Sorry sir, I-"

"Now, what did I just say?" His grin grew a little sharp. "My suit may be made with money you can't even dream of, but that's no excuse to ignore my words little lady." He tugged at his suit, as if trying to hide the spill. "Not like I'll make you pay for my dry cleaning."
"Oh." She blinked, as the man laughed again, like he was telling his own little joke.
"Hey Ari!" Harry ran up to her, noticing she was still at the door. "What's the hold up-?" He froze upon seeing the businessman. "August?!"

"Hello, Mr. Osborn." He greeted him.

Immediately, Harry's demeanor changed, nudging her away from the man for some reason. "Get away from her!"
The rest of the group followed, Hiro tapped his sister on the shoulder. "You okay?" He saw his cousins looked stressed and panicked around the strange businessman.

"I'm fine." Ari huffed. "What's going on?"
Hiro glanced up at the businessman, he was a tall man with blonde hair, wrinkles around his eyes and streaks of grey in his hair and goatee, there was a small scar on one of his bushy eyebrows, and his cold blue eyes stared back at Harry's warmer ones.

"I don't know, but I think we're going to find out." The robotics genius commented.

"Mr. Osborn." The man named August greeted him. "Fancy seeing you here?"
"Drop the act, August!" Peni glared at him. "What do you want?"
He chuckled again. "Can't someone get lunch without being interrogated?"

Harry didn't budge. "I already told you a dozen times, Oscorp isn't doing business with you anymore." He stated. "Especially not the kind you like dabbling in."
"Why bring up business when we're not in the office?" The businessman cooly replied. "Such a shame, we would've done great things together, Harry. But I suppose you want to run things different than Norman." Hiro noticed the teen flinching. "Your father built Oscorp into the great company it was today! I do hope you can follow in his footsteps, it's what he always wanted, after-all."

"Don't bring up his dad, man." Miles spoke up. "That's cold, even for you!"
Ari frowned in confusion, August seemed like an okay guy, she didn't know why her friends and cousins were reacting so hostile. "I'm cold?" He raised an eyebrow. "Interesting choice of words, considering you blamed me for things out of my control-"
"I know what you did, August!" Peni cut him off, standing beside Harry to glare at the man. "You did something to Tess!"
Hiro seemed to recognize the name, as the same fear over her cousins' faces went over his. "Ari, get behind me." He ordered.

She blinked in confusion, but complied, while the conversation still rolled on. "Now, I am honestly tired of you accusing me of being responsible for my poor daughter's disappearance." August murmured. "Heartbreaking enough that she and my wife went missing, must you add more by blaming me for it?"
Peter opened his mouth to say something, but Hiro placing a hand on his shoulder stopped that. "Don't let him rile you up." He told his cousin.

"Right…"

Despite not saying anything, August continued to ramble. "It's such a tragedy when someone goes missing." His gaze passed over Peni and Peter. "But who am I to continue on about it? Tess was always such a free spirit, just like her dear friends. Imagine what trouble she'd be up to now if she was still here. But worrying about it doesn't matter, she's still gone!"
Something about the way he was so casual about his daughter's disappearance was what made Ari realize why her friends were so tense.

Wouldn't August react in anger at the accusations, Ari certainly would if she was accused of causing her brother to go missing. "Um… It was nice meeting you sir, but we should go back to eating." Ari spoke up, not liking how quiet everyone had gotten.

"Ah yes, I shouldn't dilly-dally, I do have important work to be doing right now." He turned to the door to exit. "You be careful, young lady, it would be a shame if you went missing as well, New York is a dangerous place…"
His words felt cold as he closed the door, and left the teens alone.

"That better not be a threat he just made." Peni's gaze darkened with anger. "Swear if he lands a crusty old finger on my precious new cousin he's gonna-"
"Peni, no arson." Peter scolded her.
"Awww…"

Ari felt fear. "Um… Hiro, do you know that man?"
Her brother frowned. "I've heard of him, but I never met him until now."
"Too bad that got broken today." Peni shook her head. "Ari, that man was August Wilkins, the CEO of I-Tech Corporation and a menace to society."
"Because he did something to your friend?" Ari frowned.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, he was Tess' father, and he's the reason she's missing." He explained. "But when the trial came… He was declared innocent."
The sweater girl frowned. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it was a long time ago." Harry sighed. "But at least she left before things got bad for her, him and my dad were gonna force us to marry." Both him and Peter shuddered.

"At least I exposed some of his company's shady dealings!" Peni reassured her. "So at least he didn't get away scot-free for what he did to her."

She was leaning on Peter's shoulder. "I hope she's still alive." He muttered. "She's just gotta be."
"If she's alive, she'd have told us by now." Miles frowned.

Peter glared at him. "Don't say it like that, he couldn't have gotten rid of her!"

"Then where's the proof?!"
"Guys, not today, please?" Harry interrupted them.
Miles and Peter looked away. "Sorry Harry." They chorused.

"We should head back." Hiro stated. "Maybe we could play that new Wormhole game that came out, you have it, right?" He asked Peni.

She nodded, happy to change the subject. "Of course! As long as we can play Smash later."
"Dibs on playing Pikachu!"
"No one was going to take it from you Miles…"


They had headed back home afterwards, playing video games until the evening.

But Ari had noticed the mood of her friends and her cousins had dimmed after the encounter with August at the pizza parlor.

Peni wasn't very chatty, only speaking in small words to Peter and Hiro. Peter himself was quiet, but he was cracking lots of jokes to try and make himself laugh.

Harry seemed to be more in thought, but the jokes managed to get a chuckle out of him. Ari had tried talking with him for a bit, but he really wasn't in the mood for it anymore.

Miles appeared happy as ever, but she could sense some sadness in his eyes.

Why did that man have to show up? She grumbled, angry at the CEO for making everyone upset.

But in a way… She could understand why he got away with it. August had a charming persona, but when she thought back on the encounter, some of the words weren't as friendly as they appeared.

Despite the encounter with the CEO, it didn't ruin her day.

Ari and Hiro made sure to cheer their cousins and their friends up. They had gone through a lot in New York, so the least they could do was try to bring some joy into their lives.


EDIT 10/13: Made some edits to the confrontation scene w/ August

AN: MSM Miles and Harry make a cameo! I wasn't sure how to write Gwen and Anya so they're not part of this chapter... sorry.

Oh yeah and plot that's not from the show. Yeah it'll appear way later for HOF. I have some plans with the MSM cast : ))).

Hope you guys enjoyed, don't forget to comment or ask a question to the cast!

ANYWAYS speaking of that. More questions from AgentOfAngst

To Karmi: Tell me about your dogs!

"Oh my dogs? Well I have two, Diggs and Domino. German Shepard and Dalmatian respectively. Diggs is my dog, I've had him for years. Domino is my lil' siblings dog, they got him while I'm at SFIT so I haven't really bonded with him, except when I was home for the summer. They're both good boys"

To Hiro: Favorite thing about Mochi?

"Currently it's how he brings a smile to my sister's face. I can tell that Mochi cheers her up whenever she's down, I'm really glad he can do that for her."

To Aunt Cass: Least favorite thing about Mochi?

"Aww I can't really answer that! But the least favorite thing was when I heard some nutty show host kidnapped him! I'm annoyed Hiro and Ari didn't tell me, I mean they had their reasons but I'd have liked to known so I could have a word or two with that Sparkles guy!"

To Honey Lemon: If you could have any pet in the world what would you want?

"A Pegasus!... Okay realistically I'd really love to have a Savannah or Bengal cat, but they're so expensive! Or even a cheetah... only because Gogo likes one. And I'd be happy with a pet that makes her happy."