Avians is going quite swimmingly. I've actually been updating on time (as opposed to Wither Wings which was three in a week, then none in two months). So enjoy this chapter and look for another one in around five days!
Max woke up and sort of spasmed, her hand clutching the bedspread in large fistfulls. These aren't my sheets, she thought frantically. This isn't my bed. Where am I? She opened her eyes hesitantly, just in case she had any ass kicking to do, and then realized where she was exactly.
Light blue paint covered the walls with a darker blue stripe running around the perimeter of the room. Her bed was made of a simple wrought iron with a yellow comforter. A whitewash armoire stood to the left of the window, a similarly-styled desk to the right. She was in her room, her old room in the mansion that Steve helped her paint when they first adopted her. The door was cracked open a few inches, the smell of pancakes wafting in from the kitchen.
Max stretched her arms and sat up in bed before swinging her legs over the edge of the frame. She yawned, taming her hair into a ponytail with a hair tie that was on the bedside table, and stood up. The door opened easily and she closed it behind her, walking leisurely into the kitchen.
"I smell something delicious, so what's cooki-AAH!" She jumped back a few feet in shock and a bit of disgust. Her eyes were wide, hands coming up to cover her face so she wouldn't have to bear witness.
Steve and Tony were wrapped in an embrace, Tony with his back resting on the kitchen table. Steve was leaning over him, their lips previously interlocked. Steve's shirt was almost completely off, Tony's hands on his perfectly sculpted abs with just thumbs hooked into the waistband of Steve's sweatpants. A stack of chocolate chip pancakes on a blue plate were three inches from Tony's head.
"God, you're worse than teenagers, you know that?" Max cried, exasperated. "Do you even cook in this kitchen? Or do you just make out? Maybe I'm not the animal hybrid here, because you two are obviously part rabbit!"
"You're not supposed to be here," Steve said, looking like a deer in the headlights.
"My apartment is flooded, where else was I supposed to go?" She crossed her arms. "Besides, I called both of you before coming over, but you didn't pick up."
"Yeah, we were..." Tony's eyes slid to Steve, his right thumb rubbing circles on the skin of Steve's stomach. Steve tried to keep his cool, his hands clenching into fists. "...occupied."
"Tony..." Steve said in a warning tone.
"This family is bizarre." Max shook her head and grabbed the plate of pancakes. "I'm taking these as ransom until you two get your raging hormones under control."
"You don't even have a fork!" Steve called out after her as she disappeared into her bedroom.
"I think I'll manage!" Max scoffed and latched the door behind her.
The pancakes tasted sensational, but left a bad aftertaste with the image of her dads making out seared into her brain. They hadn't been like that the two years she had lived with them. Maybe it was empty nest syndrome or something that had them acting like a couple of college freshmen. Maybe she just never noticed. That scared her.
They seriously needed to get a clue.
So in order to give them some space, Max went to her classes and attempted to spend some time at the library that she rarely, if ever, set foot in. That didn't last very long, so she went to Avengers Tower. Clint and Natasha were away on missions, Bruce had his own place, and Thor only ever stayed there if Jane was visiting, so there was a good chance that Max could get some work done on her history paper and maybe study for that quiz in herbology.
"Hey kiddo," Jane said, breezing by with a cup of water in her hands. "What are you doing hanging around here?"
"Oh, you know," Max sighed, her 18th Century English Poets book resting on her forehead. "Just studying. The dads are back at the house being toxically adorable."
"Are you staying with them for the weekend?" Jane sat down on one end of the couch.
"I'm staying with them for the foreseeable future," Max grumbled. "My apartment's flooded, so I have to do all of that paperwork and then I have to find a new place."
"I have a place you can live," Jane said, crossing her legs and taking a sip of her water.
"Really?" Max sat straight up, her English book in her hands. "I mean, I love the idiots, but they're better in small doses."
"I get what you mean." Jane set down her water glass and picked up Max's notebook and her pen. "May I?" Max nodded and Jane scribbled something down. "Her name is Darcy. She was my assistant when I first met Thor and recently lost her job so she can't pay for rent. I'll call ahead and ask her if she's willing to take you in."
"A roommate?" Max scrunched her nose up at the thought. When birds were in low numbers they mostly became solitary creatures. You don't usually see a starling going halfsies on a fresh earthworm.
"You'll love her. You guys are so alike it's creepy," Jane said, dialing Darcy's number. "Hey Darcy? Yeah, it's Jane. I think I have someone you can room with..."
Darcy's apartment was not something to brag about. It was a simple affair in Chelsea that was farther than she liked from Avenger's tower for both school and hero reasons. The place had two bedrooms and a small breakfast bar kitchen with a living room that held a couch and a television. The window opposite the breakfast bar and over the sink connected to a fire escape. All in all, better than other places Max had lived in, but she had gotten used to the lush surroundings of her hero life. Time to return to normalcy.
"Wooh, cool new person!" Darcy vaulted herself over the back of the sofa as Max hobbled in, up to her arms in distressed leather luggage. She let her bags drop on the welcome mat and closed the door behind her. "I'm Darcy."
"Max," she replied, shaking Darcy's hand. She looked at all of her bags. "Where should I...?
"The blue door." Darcy gesture with her thumb to a door behind her. "I have the green one. You can decorate it however you like. I've never had a roommate before, so this should be interesting."
"One time I had five." Max smiled ruefully, picking up her bags and shuffling into her new room.
"Oh, yeah, Jane mentioned you were one of the heroes. What's your schtick?" Darcy wandered back into the kitchen and got out a beer from the fridge.
"My schtick?" Max asked, sitting down at the breakfast bar and muttering a thanks when Darcy handed her a beer.
"You know, do you have x-ray vision, can you levitate things, ooh!" Darcy became excited. "Can you turn onto one of those lizard people like you see on tv?!"
Max snorted. "I don't think the tv is the most reliable source of information."
"Thor's and his tightly suited ass are from a different planet," Darcy pointed out. "Anything they say on there could be the truth. So what is it? Magic bread? Ice powers? Time manipulation? What?"
"I can turn into Godzilla." Max took a swig of her beer.
Darcy's eyes bugged out. "Seriously, dude? That's awesome!"
Max burst out into laughter. "No, I just have wings."
"Of the angel or bat variety?" Darcy asked.
"Neither," Max replied. "Hawk."
"You'll have to show me them sometimes." Darcy finished her beer and put it in the recycling bin.
"Yeah, if we could just get some of this clutter..." She trailed off mid sentence as something in the window caught her eye. A flash of red and blue as Spider-man swung onto the building across from them. She got up from the breakfast bar and grabbed her keys.
"Yeah, I always thought that- Hey! Where are you going?" Darcy exclaimed.
"I'll be right back!" Max yelled in return, zooming to the front door.
"Yeah, yeah," Darcy muttered bitterly, going to get another beer.
The street was devoid of arachnid vigilantes for the moment, litter coasting on the occasional thermal at around knee level with a slight rustle. Max did a 360 and took off running when she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. He was fast, flitting from building to building as she pursued him.
Max didn't want to open her wings in broad daylight even thought it would be faster. The space in the alleyway was limited and the hobos talkative. She stuck to running on foot for the time being until she reached a chain link fence and vaulted herself over it. The speck of red was getting closer.
"Hey asshole!" Max shouted.
Spider-man faltered and lost his footing, landing in a crouch on the ground.
"Got your attention, didn't I?" She grinned, walking slowly towards him. "You ran off so quick last week that we didn't even get to have a decent chat." Her demeanor quickly turned sour. "Spider-man."
He rose up to his full height, the bug eyes of his super suit reflecting her image. He didn't speak.
"Who are you?" Mas asked him in a near whisper. "You can tell me, I won't squeal. One outcast to another."
The space between them was no more than a foot. Spider-man tensed, his fingers clenching and then relaxing. "You're not an outcast."
He shot the building next to him with his webbing, planning to take off, but Max wasn't willing to let this go.
"Oh no you don't," she muttered, grabbing his mask in her fist. The spandex stretched in slow motion as it pulled off of his fac. Spider-man's web took him upwards and gravity pulled Max back down from her leap. Tufts of brown hair blew in the breeze as the maskless Spider-man disappeared over the roof.
Max looked down at the mask in her hand and then at the roof where he had once stood. "I'll find you," she said. "I swear, I'll find out who you are."
Now that Max has his mask, Spidey can't do any patrols and fight crime, which is a serious stitch in his side. And the question of the day is...
When Max meets Warren Worthington III what do you think will happen?
Next chapter is the gala, which I am doubly excited for. Stay lovely!
-Acca