Peter could feel the blood thrumming in his veins as he swung from building to building, adrenaline and nerves coursing through his body, but it was more than the usual thrill of patrolling his city, oh it was so much more.

His stomach did a flip as he glanced above him, searching the sky for about the millionth time since they left. And just over the building rooftops, Peter could make it out, the sleek and gleaming raven soaring through the air, keeping pace with Peter easily.

He couldn't help the awe that took over, and he especially couldn't keep the grin off of his face, because Loki had turned into a raven. And was currently following him through the city. Because that's what Peter's life was now.

Peter's heart had been in his throat when he offered to show Loki what he did "for fun", but he ignored the warning signs blaring in his head, and he did it. And it sounded like so much fun, also a bit terrifying, but Peter said what the hell. A metaphorical YOLO, if you will. He took the leap, and then he realized, with terror, that he had no idea how to get Loki there. It was halfway across the city and his options at that point in time were limited. Loki's disguise was pretty flimsy by himself, let alone the attention being with Spider-man would draw, they'd figure Loki out immediately. And Peter definitely couldn't be seen gallivanting across town with a known villain, even if he is an ex villain, that would be a PR nightmare and also would get him grounded for life by Tony.

And a "Okay, Loki, literal God and ex-villain, I'm just gonna carry you and swing us across half of NYC real quick, sound good?" Was too embarrassing to even think about. So Peter's solution was a smooth and quick explanation of the predicament.

"So- er, I don't, I mean how do you… Uh…" He cleared his throat and tried again, "it's kind of far away… I don't know, how do you um wanna get there?" His voice went up in pitch at the end, his nervousness abundant as his words tumbled out, his hands gesturing wildly.

Loki only continued to smirk, a vague gleam of cutting amusement in his eyes as he waited for Peter to finish his rambling. "Hmm, you go ahead and do your thing, Spider-man." The way he spoke his name sent shivers down Peter's spine, like a malicious melody.

"Er, are you sure…?" Peter rubbed the back of his neck as he frowned over the rest of the long city, not understanding what Loki's plan could be.

"Trust me, I can keep up." His tone was smug and his eyes seemed to hold a challenge, which Peter felt in his bones.

And that's how he ended up swinging through New York City with a raven God as a flying companion. Now, he couldn't help himself but to push faster and faster, subconsciously testing just how well his new friend really could keep up.

Peter glanced up again, his eyes finding the raven easily, darting through the sky, matching Peter's speed effortlessly. A grin took over his face and he reveled in the feeling, he felt alive, like fire was running through his veins. He hadn't only befriended Loki, he was practically racing him through the sky, and it was the best night he's ever had, and he hung out with the Avengers on a regular basis. But this was a new kind of fun, a new kind of dangerous, and he was eating it up.

"Oh shit!" Just as Peter glanced away from the mesmerizing raven, he realized he was heading straight for a neon sign on the side of a building. Peter threw out a frantic web and managed to just miss it, but he felt the embarrassment course through his whole body and could only hope Loki hadn't noticed. "Okay, Peter, stop ogling the raven and keep your eyes in front of you." Peter mumbled to himself as he focused on swinging.

Peter finally reached the building he wanted in the financial district a little bit later. He leapt onto the rooftop and landed in a crouch, standing up to look around for Loki, making sure he knew they reached their stop.

And just as he spotted the bird flying towards the rooftop, there was a flash of green and out of the color came Loki, rolling onto the building and landing perfectly. Before he even finished standing up Peter was bombarding him with questions.

"That was so fucking cool! I mean, I knew you could shape shift already because of Thor's stories, but hearing it and seeing it, holy shit! What else can you turn into? Like you just have unlimited shape shifting abilities? That is so dope! Oh my god, dude what is it like flying? Can you still think as an animal? I mean do they have thought patterns different than us? Or does your mind stay the same even if-" Peter cut off suddenly, finally taking notice of how much rambling he was doing, his cheeks heating instantly at the thought. He finally stopped and took notice of Loki. At first he'd looked genuinely surprised at the onslaught of questions, but quickly that had been covered with a look of horror, and now he looked greatly pained. "Uh, sorry, I might've gotten a bit carried away there." Peter said sheepishly.

Loki's face smoothed out a bit, but his eyes still looked a bit narrowed in suspicion, but Peter was beginning to think that was just his natural state. " No matter, though maybe give me a warning next time you want to give a frenzied monologue?" Peter was never as grateful for his mask as he was now. "So, there doesn't seem to be much going on in this part of town, where are we exactly?" Loki was inspecting the buildings, having already moved on from Peter's outburst.

"Oh yeah, most of the places are closed right now." Peter looked around, trying to distract himself from how fricken awkward he was. He found the vent he'd been looking for and eagerly set to task, lowering himself to begin taking out the screws, he glanced back over and did a double take when he saw the expression Loki wore as he leaned against a pole, looking completely at ease, and wearing a most cunning smile as he stared down at Peter.

"What…?" Peter asked apprehensively. Peter might genuinely believe Loki isn't a bad guy anymore, that he's grown and changed at his core, and he might even sincerely like the guy, but Peter wasn't an idiot. Loki was still the god of mischief and chaos, and even his most innocent pranks likely held a bite.

Loki seemed to sink into that smirk, his entire body conveying trouble. He held himself like a dare, taunting and goading everyone, "Why, Spider-man, are we breaking and entering?" His voice was full of mock innocence, and he still managed a note of amusement behind it.

"What?" Peter yelped, "No, I was-"

"I should've realized fighting humans was pointless, they're just too easy. You've definitely got the right idea here, under the radar criminal activity is really the best way to alleviate boredom."

Peter jumped up, "No no no no, that's not what I was saying whatsoever!" Peter couldn't get the image of Loki being caught in the middle of a bank robbery and Tony finding out that Peter gave him the idea, "I'm not even breaking in really! They never even know I'm here, I'm in and out and honestly if I asked them they'd probably give me a key! And- oh." Peter caught the self satisfied grin Loki was now wearing. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"God of Mischief after all." Loki elegantly shrugged one shoulder, "But dress it up how you want, hero, you're definitely still breaking and entering."

Peter gave a chuckle and an eye roll as he went back to taking the vent cover off. Loki was poking fun at Peter now, and sure, he might be making fun of him more than anything, but Peter couldn't help feeling like he was onto something here, like he might really have a chance at a friendship here. Peter wasn't sure he'd be able to wrap his mind around it.

He pulled the cover off the vent and set it aside, looked down the familiar tube, and back up at Loki with a smirk of his own. "Well, lets see if you can still keep up then." And with that, Peter jumped right into the vent.

He shot webs at his sides as he fell, landing smoothly at the bottom. He was sure Loki would easily find a way down, but it was a long drop down and Peter was hoping he'd at least be able to have a fun with it.

He made his way through the rest of the pipe and he heard a small buzzing noise, and then, just ahead of him a hummingbird came into view. It was gorgeous, black with a shine that looked almost green, with wings beating so fast they were practically invisible. "That is so fucking awesome." Peter breathed without even meaning too. And then the hummingbird proceeded to dart all around him the rest of the way through the vent.

"And here we are!" Peter definitely felt weird talking to a hummingbird, but he tried not to overthink it. He rested over a vent cover in the ceiling and popped it open in a swift move, and then lowered himself into the room easily. Loki darted out of the vent and in a flash of green, this time Peter was more prepared, and he turned back into his normal self, smirk and all. Peter still had to work to keep the out pour of his inner thoughts contained.

Loki took a sweep of the room, but his look turned dubious quickly. "And where exactly is here?"

"Wait, you don't know what this is?" Peter lost all thoughts of shape shift and magic, his mind latching onto a new topic of interest.

"Should I?" Loki said, looking for all intents and purposes, completely unimpressed with Peter's mystery location.

"Should you? Of course you should! It's like a hallmark of childhood!" When Loki still gave him a blank look, Peter continued his tirade, " You haven't lived until you've spent hours in an arcade. And do you know what's even better than an arcade?" Peter was grinning now, his excitement outweighing any nervousness.

"Anything?" Loki muttered.

"A closed arcade." Loki looked at Peter like he might've been dropped on the head as a small child, which Peter ignored. "Come on already, you said you wanted to see what I do for fun, didn't you? Well don't knock it till you try it." Peter turned back around, surveying the room. "Okay, I'm gonna go flip the breaker so we have some power."

Peter didn't have much trouble finding it in the employee room, he had done this a few times before. Though usually he never had company with him, so that was new. "Ah, here we are." Peter mumbled to himself, opening up the breaker box and searching for the correct switches. He didn't need all of the place on so he tried to work out which levers turned on which games. He took the mask off so he could see easier as he read through the breakers. "Let's see here." Peter flipped a few and turned to look through the main room and see what was on. The machines gave off enough light for them to see by and not too much that they'd get caught. Peter shut the breaker box and turned toward the door, about to put his mask back on.

"You could leave the mask off you know."

Peter jumped at the sound of Loki's voice coming from right in front of him. "Jesus Christ you really know how to sneak up on someone." He cleared his throat, finally recognizing Loki's words, "Um I just took it off to read the switches easier." He mumbled while awkwardly gesturing behind him, twisting the mask in his hands now.

Loki still stood there, leaning against the threshold, looking content, but also a bit pleased with himself for catching Peter off guard. "I'm just saying, I of course already know who you are so it's kind of pointless at this point. Plus I'm pretty sure no one else is here to see you, so you're safe... Mostly." Peter rose his eyebrows at the last part and Loki just shrugged, "I do have a reputation to uphold." And with that he walked back out to the main room, leaving Peter with his mask in his hands and his stomach in knots.

Peter decided to leave the mask off. He'd probably need it off for most of these games any way, right? So really it's a smart move, he's not really doing it for Loki.

Peter walled back to the main room, trying to play it cool as he looked over the games in the room. "okay so, where to start…" wearing his suit but no mask felt weird, even though he knew he didn't need to keep his identity secret any more.

Peter tried to shake out the thoughts in his head like an etch-a-sketch and focus on what was right in front of him. He looked over the games, all your basic arcade games, and really, he loved them all. Especially here at night, there was something magical about being alone in an arcade after hours.

But this was going to be the first arcade game Loki has ever played, it had to be a good one. And then Peters eyes landed on it, a crane machine in the back corner.

"Perfect!" He spoke under his breath. his face lit up with excitement. He turned around and took Loki by the wrist, pulling him along as he bounded across the room.

"And, here we have it, the perfect first arcade game, a crane machine!" Peter held his arms up to show off the game, in classic Will Smith fashion. Loki regarded the machine like it was a zoo animal that just laid there and disappointed all the hyped up kids, before turning the unmoved gaze back to Peter.

"You can't be serious." Peter's stomach dipped in nervousness at the weight of those intense green eyes and the sound of Loki's condescending voice.

Peter swallowed as he attempted to stick to his guns, "It's a staple in American arcades, and practically a right of passage for every child" He kept his eyes on the machine to try and quell the nervousness.

"This heap of metal is a right of passage? No wonder you mortals are hopeless." Loki shook his head as he looked at the game with disdain.

Now Peter was a little offended on behalf of crane machines and arcade rooms everywhere, "Hey now, this heap of metal may not be some sophisticated technology from Asgard-"

Loki scoffed, "Clearly."

"But it's beloved here, and it's actually a lot harder than you might think!"

"Doubtful."

Peter gave an exasperated chuckle, "Then by all means." He directed Loki to the joystick. "You use the joystick to move the crane and pick up one of the stuffed animals, press the button to-"

Loki was already moving the joystick, aiming for a stuffed animal with a very smug look on his face, "It's pretty self explanatory, Parker." Peter Focused on the moving crane in order to ignore the sudden goosebumps he got when Loki called him by his last name.

They both watched silently as Loki adjusted the crane over an odd looking teddy bear lying on top of the rest of the stuffed animals. It looked to be in a good position, but you really never knew with these games. Loki hit the button, and Peter couldn't help but hold his breath as they watched the crane slowly descend on it's target.

The bear was snatched up easily, the Crane grabbing ahold of him and pulling it upward. Peter felt a grin taking hold, even though he'd started with hopes of showing Loki just how difficult the game could be.

Just as the bear almost reached the top of the trajectory, it began to slip from the cranes grasp, and the tension skyrocketed as Peter watched it move towards the corner of the machine, but the bear kept sliding out of its grasp the whole way.

"Come on... no no no!" Peter grimaced as the bear fell just out of reach of the exit and it plopped right back down on the pile of stuffed animals, his lifeless eyes staring at them mockingly. "Well, what can you do? Hardly anyone actually- Loki!"

Peter swiftly stepped in front of Loki just as he pulled a knife out of thin air and raised it above his head, a look of determination on his face "Whoa, Loki, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting what is rightfully mine from that cheating piece of junk, now move." Loki sidestepped Peter and lifted his knife again, but Peter followed him, putting his hands up and tried to reason with him.

"You can't damage the game Loki! This is someone's property, kids play this-"

"Then I'm doing them a favor!"

"Oh my god", Peter looked at him in disbelief, "stop being a sore loser and put the knife away." Loki stopped glaring at the machine and instead started squinting menacingly at Peter, causing the younger boy to cringe and get a little flustered.

He was almost worried he'd gone too far and Loki might go on a rampage just out of spite, and boy wouldn't that be fun to explain to the Avengers, but eventually Loki just let out a wry laugh and put his knife away in a flash of green. "Fine, but I have a request."

Peter looked the God over warily, "And what would that be?" He hoped his voice sounded more confident than he felt

"Well I hope you're not afraid of a little friendly competition, Parker."