A new chapter ^_^

In case you haven't noticed yet, I try to update at least every week-end.
If I do not manage to update as frequently as until now in the next few weeks, that is due to
my Abitur which is coming up all too soon ^^;.

Hope you enjoy it :D

Chapter 8

When Peter arrived in Stark Tower the next morning he was greeted by a young and blonde woman with pink painted lips and a very elegant looking coat and skirt. She approached him as soon as he entered the lobby and examined him with a depreciatory glance.

"Peter Parker?" she asked with a high, almost childlike voice. With that voice she reminded him even more of a living Barbie doll. He tried not to laugh and nodded in response to her question.

"From today onward you will be Mr. Stark's personal intern on his own request." The jealousy in her voice was only partially concealed and Peter couldn't blame her for it. She probably had been working for Stark Industries for quite a long time now without Tony Stark even noticing her and he, some random intern, got to work with him out of the blue.

"What will be my duties as Mr. Stark's personal intern?" he asked only to break the awkward silence.

"You will do whatever he tells you to do." the Barbie doll answered simply. "Now if you would follow me."

She led him to a couple of elevators on the opposite side of the room.

"This," she said portentously. "This is Mr. Stark's private lift. No one except for him, Mrs. Potts or the other residents of Stark Tower is allowed to use it. You will get this card "– she held a blue ID-card
up – "which will allow you to use this elevator as well." Another hint of Jealousy, even less good concealed than before. "You are however not allowed to go to the top floors of Stark Tower."

Peter nodded.

"Good. Mr. Stark is currently in his laboratory on the eleventh floor. He has requested that you join him there." She gave him the card. "Enjoy yourself, Mr. Parker." Those last words she said with so much open animosity that Peter wondered if she was maybe in love with Stark. Not so uncommon in Stark Tower he assumed. He chose to ignore the Barbie's poisonous looks and entered the lift by holding the card to the reading field next to the lift's door.

The eleventh floor was as white as all the floors Peter had seen the previous day. He found the laboratory quite easily. He only had to follow the loud Hard-Rock music. AC/DC he recognized.

Tony Stark was standing on a table and was working on some kind of robot. He had his back turned to the door so he didn't see Peter entering. The boy cleared his throat to call the inventor's attention, but it was less than audible thanks to the loud music. So he decided to speak.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stark…"

Tony whirled around. For a moment he looked alarmed, almost panicked, as if he would suit up and fight whoever was intruding any minute. Then he recognized Peter and a big smile spread over his features.

"Peter! Please call me Tony, Mr. Stark was my father."

"Tony then," Peter couldn't help but smile back. "So... what exactly will I be doing now that I am your personal intern?"

"Depends on what I want to do. And at the moment I want to repair that Dummy over here so that he stops spitting water in my face whenever I so much as approach him." He threw the motionless robot an angry glance.

"So… how can I help?"

"By handing me that screw over there for starters."

Peter smiled and obeyed.

They worked silently for some time, only interrupted by Tony's short instructions. Peter enjoyed working on that robot. He had built one himself when he had been about twelve years old, but Tony's robot was constructed a lot more complicated than any robot he had ever seen. It was simply brilliant and he understood that Tony Stark was indeed a genius.

"You're attending MidScience, aren't you?"

Tony's voice jerked Peter out of his thoughts.

"Yes." He answered simply. "I take it that you looked me up?"

"Of course I did," the inventor said. "I can't have anyone work for me whose biography I don't know. You could be some sort of terrorist who wants to spy on me. Or you could be an agent from SHIELD who pretends to be my personal assistant in order to make my psychological profile for a super secret superhero boy group." He smirked at the end of the sentence.

"You call the Avengers a super secret superhero boy group."

"Sure do."

"What about the Black Widow?"

"She doesn't count; she fights better than any man I know. And she is Russian."

Peter shook his head in amusement. Tony Stark was really some funny and definitely weird guy.

"Do you have a girlfriend Peter?"

"Sort of," he replied shortly.

"A boyfriend then?"

Peter looked up in shock for a minute before putting the screwdriver he had been using away.

"No, Gwen is definitely a girl, but we haven't met for some time and… well her father died and it wasn't quite easy for her."

"Shouldn't you be helping her then? I mean I'm no expert in human relations…"

Peter shook his head sadly.

"It's more complicated, her father didn't like our relationship and… well, the last time we spoke he asked me to leave her alone."

"Ah, so you are trying to fulfil her father's dying will."

Peter nodded. "First I didn't want to do it, but now… Anyway, who are the other residents of Stark Tower that woman downstairs warned me about?"

"She warned you?" The inventor smiled amused.

"Well maybe not warned, but – "

"Sir, your presence is requested on the top floor by Mr. Rogers. There is a situation he needs your help with."

Tony frowned. Peter noticed that he looked a little worried.

"Tell Steve I'm right there."

"Yes Sir."

"So… I'll better leave then," Peter said, feeling a little awkward. Tony looked at him for a while.

"No, come with me." he said then. "I want to introduce you to the other residents. By the way, that was JARVIS, my AI. JARVIS stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System."

Tony smiled and let Peter back to the elevator.

"Oh, and don't worry, they are all rather nice." he promised, still smiling. Peter couldn't say anything. He was about to meet the Avengers!

"No! We watched Star Trek last week already and – "

Steve Rogers was at his wits' end. He had thought it a good idea to propose to watch a movie along with Loki to get to know him better. He still didn't trust the trickster one bit but after meeting him the previous day he now was sure that he wasn't a threat at the moment. He even hoped that if they treated him nicely he could change.

He had expected that Loki would decline the invitation. He had even half expected him to be gone when he went looking for him. He hadn't expected him to come and then simply sit in a corner while Clint, Thor and Bruce argued about which movie they would watch.

"I vote for the movie called The lord of the rings!" Thor claimed in a booming voice. "The brave people of Middle-earth are true warriors!"

"We've already watched this movie three times!" Clint complained. "Why don't we watch the new Star Trek? There are fights too!"

"And why not simply watch a good movie for a change?" Bruce asked. "I would like to watch Some like it hot!"

"That movie is black and white!"

Steve sighed and looked over to where Natasha was standing. She was observing the fighting men with some amusement. Loki on the other hand looked utterly bewildered. It occurred to Steve that the trickster had never seen anyone discuss over such a trivial matter.

He turned around at the sound of a lift door sliding open. When he saw Tony enter the room he couldn't help but smile in relieve, something he rarely did when meeting the billionaire.

"Hey Cap" he was greeted. "So where's the fire?"

Steve frowned in confusion.

"There is no fire, did JARVIS get me wrong?"

Tony face palmed.

"I mean: where is the problem" he then said, very slowly as if the soldier had problems hearing him.

"Oh." Steve felt bad for misunderstanding, but he just couldn't memorize those modern expressions. "Well, we wanted to watch a movie and –" he gestured in the direction of their still arguing team members. Tony nodded.

"Hey guys, that's no way to behave yourselves in front of two guests!" he shouted.

It was only then that Steve noticed the young looking brown-haired boy who was standing behind the inventor without attracting attention. The other's noticed him as well and stopped fighting, looking at Tony inquiringly.

"Don't tell me this is your long lost son, Tony!" Clint was the first to speak up.

"What?! No, he's my personal intern and I wanted him to meet you. His name's Peter Parker."

The boy smiled, looking a little insecure.

"Since when do you have a personal intern?" Natasha asked and eyed the boy.

"Since today. So now about that movie, I'd say we watch Star Wars, the old ones."

Clint wanted to object something but Tony just waved one hand.

"My tower, my rules Barton."

Tony walked over to the big sofa in the middle of the room.

"JARVIS, bring up the movies. And make some popcorn. Peter you wanna watch with us?"

The boy nodded, smiling. "I love the old Star Wars movies."

"Great! Sit down then!" The billionaire rubbed his hands. Then he spotted Loki who was still sitting in the corner. "And you too, Loki. You are my guest and I don't want you to feel like an outsider."

"I am an outsider though" Loki answered quietly but approached the sofa hesitantly. Steve almost felt bad for him. From his point of view, the trickster was surrounded by enemies who just didn't behave the way they should. It was probably very confusing for him.

The boy, Peter seemed to notice the man's discomfort towards the other's and offered him a seat next to him. Steve couldn't help but smile at this. He already liked that kid, although he was a little worried about seating a former villain next to an unsuspecting boy. He chose not to say anything and sat down in one of Tony's very comfortable armchairs that were standing next to the sofa.

The movies were great. Steve hadn't known them before but he liked that they didn't seem to be as modern as some others. He instantly took a liking to Luke Skywalker, an ordinary boy who was suddenly made hero. Somehow that reminded Steve of himself. Tony and the others seemed to have a lot of fun and even Loki, though suspicious and cautious in the beginning couldn't hide a smile at the dialogues of R2D2 and C3PO.

After the first they decided to watch the second right away and Steve was touched by how Han Solo cared for Luke when he didn't return in the beginning. Later he laughed at Yoda, he was just so small and yet turned out so strong.

It happened during one of the last scenes.

"Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."

"He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"

"No. I am your father."

"No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings, you know it to be true!"

"No! Nooooo!"

A sudden whimper made him turn his face away from the screen. It came from Loki who was staring at the TV, eyes wide in shock, terrified. Steve frowned. What was wrong with the trickster? Thor leant over to his brother and whispered something into his ear. The trickster seemed to relax slightly before throwing Thor a poisonous glare, as if remembering only then that he should hate his brother.

Steve remembered Thor saying that Loki was adopted, but he hadn't been giving it much thought back then. Maybe the trickster had been reminded of something unpleasant of his past. He decided to later ask Thor about it.

After the movie they noticed that it was already six o'clock in the evening.

"Am I the only one who is hungry?" Tony asked. It was only then that Steve noticed his stomach growling.

They ordered Pizza and it was a really funny evening. Loki didn't eat much and said even less if not necessary but he seemed less suspicious around them.
The boy, Peter, on the other hand turned out to be very intelligent and nearly as sarcastic as Tony. Steve understood perfectly well why the billionaire had taken a liking to him.

It was around ten when Peter suddenly rose.

"I have to go home now. My aunt will be worrying. It was nice to meet you all." He gave them a genuine smile.

"It was a pleasure to meet you too." Steve said, smiling as well. The boy's eyes grew a little wider.

"Well, maybe I will see you tomorrow, I mean if I am allowed to…?" he glanced over to Tony.

"Sure. You can come up here whenever you want. Even on week-ends." the billionaire said brightly. Peter nodded and then left.

"I will go to bed as well." Loki said then looking at them a little frightened as if they would deny him that.

"That's a good idea, you're still not fully healed." Bruce agreed.

"Oh, Reindeer Games," Tony said as if remembering something. "I had a new room being prepared for you. Thought you might like to leave the infirmary. It's on the 25th floor, JARVIS will lead you there. If you need anything…"

Loki looked at him, seemingly alarmed by the unsuspected kindness, then he nodded.

"JARVIS, could you take me to that room?"

"Certainly."

Steve noticed that Loki was using the walls for support when he left. He also noticed Thor noticing it and frowning in concern. But oddly enough the God of thunder didn't offer any help to his brother. Maybe because he knew that Loki would have declined any help.

A few minutes later Steve decided to go to bed as well, although he probably would be unable to sleep. When covering in his stars-and-stripes-patterned blanket, he thought about what had happened in the last few hours, unsure what was about to follow.