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wordsablaze · 6 years

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A Moment Is Worth A Thousand Notes

A totally average day in which Peter is a polite catastrophe, Bucky snorts in amusement twice, Loki cares and doesn't want people to know, Thor says what we're all thinking, Tony can't control his emotions, Natasha tolerates no nonsense, Bruce has to demonstrate his medical skills, and more totally average things happen. Enjoy!

A/N: *shrugs* my procrastination comes in the form of playing around with the Avengers' dynamic... Peter & Bucky & Loki centric, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

An alarm in the Avengers' Tower is generally met with a wide range of reactions.

Tony is usually somewhat omniscient and is already moving before it chimes; Clint tends to groan and share a look with Natasha before grabbing a quiver; Natasha is on her feet and muttering to herself before anyone else has time to verbalise their emotions; Steve looks over to Bucky, glances at where Tony would be, and arms himself with a shield; Bucky rolls his shoulders, cracks his knuckles and rattles at least one glass ornaments as he stands; Thor laughs heartily and sticks his hand out for a hammer before remembering he doesn't have one anymore and grinnng; Wanda takes a breath and clenches her hands with a small, determined smile; Vision looks around before nodding to himself and floating towards the nearest exit; Bruce sighs and takes off his glasses, getting ready to change into stretchy pants; Loki debates whether or not to help before deciding he has nothing better to do and smirking; and Peter... Well, Peter jumps. Every single time. He also mumbles an apology every time, without fail, but it's rarely given a reply.

This time, the threat isn't large enough to warrant all of them going. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Thor are unanimously chosen to go, the five of them nodding to each other in affirmation. Bruce won't let Wanda leave the complex anyway, not since she broke her leg three days ago, and Vision seems to have taken to satiating Wanda's boredom as well as having the occasional conversation about infinity stones with Peter. Tony's already muttering to FRIDAY about choosing the right suit by the time Natasha and Clint have shared a conversation that might be a pep talk but could double as an inside joke.

Bucky and Loki are left with Peter, who looks mildly heartbroken at being left behind.

Despite their obvious differences, Bucky and Loki share a sympathetic look as Peter sighs and carries on re-writing the physics notes that'd been half-burned last time he'd stopped a fire on a school night, which happens more than you'd expect, as Happy is more than well aware of and can complain about for longer than Peter can make up excuses that range from reasonable to utterly nonsensical, and that's saying something.

It takes approximately nine minutes and a quiet phone call for Peter to burst out with: "Mister Barnes? And, Loki... Uh, Your Majesty... Please, can I go and help? I promise not to get in the way and I'll just help the civilians and I won't get hurt but I can't just sit here and do next to nothing, not that physics as a whole is nothing, but- so please-"

"Kid," Bucky interjects, barely processing the rambles. "Don't call me Mister Barnes."

"I'm really sorry, Mister Ba- uh, Mister James? I'm sorry, Mister James, I didn't mean to-"

Bucky snorts. Loki stares at him and even Tony, in the middle of shooting someone about to shoot Steve but alerted by FRIDAY, who he'd programmed to inform them if Bucky ever expressed amusement because he's just that kind of person, pauses for a second.

"How do you even know my name?"

Peter blushes. "I might have read some books in a few different libraries after Mister Rogers told me who you were..." he mumbles.

"Mister Rogers...? Wait, Steve? Steve told you to look me up?"

"Uh, not exactly... He might have sort of said not to...?" Peter bites his lip, more or less regretting both his sleepovers at the libraries and his lack of a brain-to-mouth filter.

For the second time in five minutes, a bemused Bucky snorts and Tony almost forgets his left from his right in his shock, resulting in a very annoyed Clint who ends up firing half a centimetre off target and even though that wouldn't be a big deal for anyone else, it's a mild tragedy for him.

"That's a yes, spiderling." Loki nods. He'd taken after his step-brother in the choice of nickname, one of the few things they actually agree on.

Peter beams at them and the two adults barely have time to blink before a worn school textbook is being thrown frisbee-style at the table and red and blue is zooming to the door. Loki blinks at Peter's passion, wondering if he'd even be here were it not for his similar and yet completely different childhood passion for creating mischief at every opportunity, but quickly dismisses the infinite possibilities in favour of donning a smile and getting ready to follow the spiderling to see what happens this time because he's truly unpredictable but it's always entertaining.

It takes Bucky all of four seconds to make a decision. It takes one look for Loki to agree and, within a heartbeat, the two of them are getting ready to slowly follow in case Peter gets hurt, purely because Tony would kill them if anything bad happened and not because they care for the teenager in any way, of course not.

By the time they get there, Peter's already pulling a mother and child out of the way of falling debris and gently handing a man his guide dog back. The two of them settle on watching, ready to move in if necessary. If anyone could see them, it might look comical: a frowning former soldier with a metal arm trying his best not to let a smile through and the God of Mischief leaning on a bricked wall with a soft, nostalgic and almost proud look in his eyes.

Peter, however, doesn't notice them.

When his spidey sense goes off, he assumes it's because someone is in danger and turns to try and locate the people who need his help. Coincidentally - or perhaps not - there just so happens to be three teens who clearly can't see the section of building about to crush them in front of Bucky and Loki. Literally jumping into action, Peter pulls them backwards and slides under the debris to stop it shattering on impact with the ground.

It continues like that, with Peter making sure people's cars aren't crushed or families aren't separated, as well as the odd pep talk here and there to stunned observers and getting occasional, surreptitious help by two very concerned and protective, well-hidden figures until some of the men on the same side as the ones the Avengers are fighting - but not the Avengers themselves - take notice of the red and blue figure flying all over the place.

"Oh, shoot," Peter whispers as a bullet flies towards him. He ducks and sends a wad of webbing back, catching the man and causing him to stumble backwards as he struggles to breathe through the makeshift gag.

Peter's not exactly had time to be trained in hand to hand combat so he has to rely on webbing the next man's hands together to avoid getting shot. The third mad ends up upside down, hanging from a balcony, and the fourth underestimates Peter and gives him an opportunity to shoot his webs at the gun, yank it towards him, and send the man flying into a car that's promptly locked so he can't get out.

Unfortunately, he doesn't sense the fifth man until his back has hit the floor with a silent but painful thud.

He's dimly aware of the knife aimed at him but he's too focused on making sure the man's legs are attached to the nearest streetlight to really comprehend it. The smug-looking man is saying something in what sounds like gibberish but is probably some extremely obscure - i.e alien - language when Peter rolls to his side and kicks the man, sending him flying in the air towards the streetlight, but not before there's a sharp pain in his side.

Ignoring it and somehow fooling Loki and Bucky into thinking he's unhurt, he pushes himself up and concentrates on getting people away from the action so they don't get hurt.

Once the fighting dies down, the thunder fades into silence and buildings are no longer falling apart, Peter stops to breathe. He then realises he can't breathe very well and staggers, trying to grab onto something, but finding nothing solid enough to support him as he wobbles around so, in no time at all, he ends up making a beeline to the floor.

Said beeline is thankfully interrupted by a metal arm.

A metal arm and the Avenger attached to it, of course. The Avengers may be a peculiar bunch but a sentient, protective metal arm existing without the rest of a body has not yet become a part of their team. And since metal arms don't have minds of their own, it's the mouth of the person the arm is attached to that says, "You're bleeding."

"I am?" Peter blinks, dazed.

Bucky shakes his head before he places an arm under Peter's neck and another under his knees, lifting him up despite the faint protests he receives.

"Uh... Mister Bar- Jame- Uh... Mister Bucky, you don't have to-"

"Shut up, Peter."

Peter, now letting himself register the pain of a bullet having scraped his side instead of worrying about how to address the other Avengers, gasps and shuts his eyes, letting himself be carried back to the tower.

"Curiosity hurts the cat," Loki teases, trying to distract Peter from the pain after seeing his scrunched up face and terrible attempts at appearing perfectly pain-free.

"Good thing I'm not Catman then..." Peter mumbles, feeling the vibration of Bucky chuckling rather than hearing it.

The three of them make their way back to their tower, Loki constantly casting a glamour around them so nobody has a chance to gape or take a picture that'll expose them to the press or wherever else rumours are born.

"How do you do an MRI scan?" Peter mumbles, his eyes only half open and his skin pale as he lets his head rest on Bucky's shoulder.

"What?"

"Doesn't your arm get in the path- in the way? Not that it's a bad thing! I love your arm, it's so cool! But surely it must get in the way, right?"

Loki's glamour falters for a split second as he sees the confusion on Bucky's face, the former soldier choosing not to reply to slurred, unfiltered questions in favour of speeding up.

"He takes the arm off," Loki answers just because he can.

Peter's eyes widen. "Really?"

"No." Bucky glares at Loki but he doesn't get time to do anything else because they're back at the tower. FRIDAY must have informed Bruce because he's waiting for them as they enter, making a face at the blood.

"Severity?"

"A bullet grazed him," Bucky answers, knowing Loki will be more or less exhausted after keeping up with his pace, worrying for Peter, and maintaining their glamour at the same time. Bruce nods and waves a hand to let Bucky know he should follow. Peter's more or less fully unconscious by the time they get to the infirmary but he wakes up when the top half of his suit is hoisted upwards.

"What-?"

"We can't bandage you up over the suit, kid," Bucky explains. Nodding, Peter sinks backwards and lets Bucky pull his mask off so he can breathe better, not having had a chance to do so before.

"You still good?" Bruce asks as he starts to apply an antiseptic that has to sting badly for someone with heightened senses.

Peter nods in reply, once again trying to hide his wince and, naturally, failing at it. Nevertheless, he doesn't complain until there's a gauze on his graze and a bandage wrapped around it for good measure. It's only after Bruce leaves that he lets his face scrunch up in pain.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow-ow ow ow ow. Owwww..."

"Composing?" Bucky raises an eyebrow.

Peter freezes, sheepishly smiling. "Uh... Yeah, totally. Practice for my, uhm, school music... festival? Annual festival! That I totally take part in! Every year! Because that's what annual means... I'm fine!"

"I see that."

"Should I allow Loki into the infirmary?" FRIDAY asks them.

Peter jumps, nods, remembers he's addressing an AI and mumbles a 'yes' that Bucky can barely hear but FRIDAY manages to catch.

"Who would name a voice after the most existential weekday?" is the greeting Loki goes for.

Peter laughs and Bucky rolls his eyes, Loki smirking in satisfaction and then raising an eyebrow, "Don't you need to get changed into something else... Perhaps something more casual?"

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me, Mister Loki- Your Majesty- uhm, I'll be right back!" and with that, Peter's all but sprinting out of the room, heading to where he thinks he'd left his clothes earlier and hoping he hasn't forgotten again.

He's gingerly pulling his hoodie down over the already-healing injury when FRIDAY buzzes to let the rest of the Avengers back in so he flops onto the sofa and shoots a web to get the physics textbook back into his lap, earning an odd look from Loki, who then drapes himself over a chaise because he might be the God of Mischief but he's basically trying to earn a place as honourary God of Dramatic Flair.

"It's 'curiosity kills the cat' by the way," Peter says, having internally argued with himself about whether or not to correct a God on his use of idioms.

"Anyone else injured?" Bruce asks before Loki can do anything but tilt his head in paltry confusion, their designated doctor having appeared from nowhere as pieces of Tony's suit fly over their heads and assemble in a workshop they can't see.

"Anyone else?" Clint echoes, "who else was injured?"

Peter's eyes widen in a panic and he coughs before Bruce can say anything in reply to the raised eyebrows. "I got a papercut!"

"Is that what made Bucky laugh?" Steve asks, having been informed by Tony of the amusement expressed on the way to the tower.

And, because he can't resist supporting lies of any kind, it's Loki's turn to chuckle. "He can't be blamed; it was fairly amusing to see the spiderling defeated by processed trees."

Tony looks sceptical but doesn't question it, simply making a face and heading to the kitchen to acquire a caffeinated beverage. Steve follows, pinching the bridge of his nose as he goes, and Natasha smirks.

"Someone's lying."

"Someone's always lying, we live a world of deceit..." Loki dramatically states, leaning back even more.

"Quit the melodrama, trickster," Natasha mutters - except her muttering is akin to an order - before turning back to Peter. "So, why are you lying?"

Resisting the urge to grin at the unintentional vine reference, he shrugs. "I lied about my physics notes... It's not easy to explain that you accidentally dropped them in a burning building six blocks away from your house. I mean, it's hard to explain anything to him anyway because he's always... Well, he's always sort of cynical, kind of like Mister Rogers - not that I compare Mister Rogers to my physics teacher because, if anything, he'd definitely be a history teacher. Or maybe a sports teacher? I mean, I know he's in those videos we always get shown but I think he'd be a better history teacher because he's already a part of the subject and he could, like, give first-hand accounts and, um, stuff..."

Natasha makes a face at the idea, settling onto a beanbag. "You talk a lot, kid."

"Uh. Thank you?"

"I'd stop talking as much until you fully heal if I were you; you keep half-reaching for your side and it's a dead giveaway." Her casual but knowing look makes Peter once again blush and he smiles as if the gesture can erase his guilt.

"Sorry Miss Romano-"

"Don't even think about calling me that, kid. Call me Natasha, like everyone else."

"Right. Sorry, Miss Natasha."

"Who missed Natasha?" Clint asks, having grabbed another hearing aid because his last one fell into the path of Thor's thunder and didn't make it out alive.

Natasha shoots him a blank, pointed look that says something along the lines of 'I'll deal with you later' and turns back to Peter with a much gentler expression as she says, "Just 'Natasha', kid. I don't call you Mister Kid."

"Halle to the lujah for that," Tony mutters as he walks in.

"There seems to be another food delivery at the door," FRIDAY informs them, "The last one arrived when nobody was here to receive it."

"Who ordered food?" Steve asks.

In all honesty, Peter can only quietly sigh in relief because he'd rather they question the presence of food itself as opposed to wondering why nobody was here to receive it when there should have been three of them capable of doing so. He also wonders who'd told the delivery guy to come back but leaves that to FRIDAY, knowing such a sophisticated AI system must have seen weirder things in its admittedly short time.

Everyone who hasn't noticed Peter's relief - which is all of them sans Loki and Bucky as the two of them still feel guilty for letting him get injured and haven't really taken their eyes off him since - is on their feet in an instant, the tension of unwanted visitors immediately buzzing in the air, but Peter stands with his hands out in front of him, fingers splayed in surrender, before anyone can come to any conclusions or shoot something, and admits, "So, it might have been me?"

"When did you have time to order food?" Loki asks, knowing full well that even someone with advanced healing can't place an order for food immediately after being scraped by a bullet.

Well, aside from Deadpool, but that's a whole other story...

If Peter was any redder, he might be able to camouflage with Tony's suit. "I ordered it just after you left... I, uh, figured you'd be hungry after fighting again... But I might have overestimated how long it, um, it would take for us- for you to get back?"

There are an entire two seconds of silence before anyone moves. In the end, it's Tony who breaks the silence by saying, "Well, we might have been here earlier if someone, not naming names, hadn't decided to blindly throw their ridiculously patriotic shield at an obviously unstable building extension."

"You know I had no choice!" Steve argues, clearly exasperated, and his tone suggests this isn't the first time they've had this argument even though the situation had only just occurred. Typical...

"What did you order?" Clint asks to take the attention of their argument.

Peter has to think about it, almost having forgotten. "Shawarma."

Despite being halfway through building a straw man for his conversation and having a reputation of never letting anything go until it's literally impossible to keep it going, Tony pauses and stares at Peter incredulously. "Did you just say shawarma?"

"Yeah?"

"Pete, if you weren't an avenger already, I'd have given you an invitation just for that."

"Ordering shawarma?" Peter frowns.

Thor beams at them. "Like father, like son, eh?"

Even Tony could camouflage with the outside of his suit after that comment. Ironically, the fact that both he and Peter have experienced the same extreme blood rush only further proves Thor's point and neither of them can argue against such compelling evidence without obliterating their respective reputations and end up walking into a myriad of jokes.

Before Loki can make a joke about families - and probably one about their dysfunctionality - Peter gasps. "Wait, did you just say you think of me as an Avenger?"

Natasha raises an eyebrow. "Weren't you telling your chair friend that you're an Avenger just a few days ago?"

"Well, yeah, that's N- should I say his name? I mean, you're the Avengers and you probably know all about him anyway- so yeah, that's Ned for you, I have to tell him that so he takes it all seriously and doesn't tell anyone else! And just because I think of me- Of myself- as an Avenger doesn't mean I think you think of me as an Avenger and- wait, you listened in on my phone call?"

"Gods, kid, you're a verbal catastrophe," Bucky mutters.

"Gods?" Steve echoes, puzzled.

"I'd say 'God' but we have two of them in the room."

"I wasn't aware you cared so much for me, metal-limbed mortal," Loki drawls and earns himself a stifled giggle from Peter.

"The shawarma!" Tony exclaims, now having recovered and decided to sound-proof a room for phone calls in the near future, "FRIDAY, accept the delivery and charge it to my tab if you will."

"I already have. Vision is bringing it up now."

Clint claps his hands and smiles softly as Wanda walks in. "You're just in time for shawarma!"

"Like that time in Budapest, huh?" Natasha smirks, knowing it'll both amuse and irritate Clint.

"Even I know the two of you remember Budapest very differently by now, can't you use a new joke?" Tony rolls his eyes.

Natasha simply glowers at him and he's suddenly interested in making sure the elevator is working properly, even though vision is in no need of it. Consequently, Peter giggles again and Steve winks him, an action that would have surprised Bucky had he not previously been all but forced to throw out every magnet in the building at once and ask FRIDAY to make sure no more were brought in because Peter kept sticking them to his arm 'for science' or something else equally endearing.

"Before Mister Stark comes back, can someone please explain what shawarma is so I don't look too shocked and give away the fact that I've never had it before?" Peter asks and his voice is so quiet they all have to strain to hear it.

"I've not had any either, Peter, I'll ask and you can figure it out with that." Wanda smiles warmly.

"Thank you, Mi-"

"Nope. I'm not that much older than you and I don't want to feel any older either," Wanda interrupts before he can stumble over a title for her. Which is lucky, because he'd probably have kept trying different combinations until she'd wanted to change all her names.

"Why don't we get to use that excuse?" Clint throws his hands up, but he manages to do it in a kind way, a feat that's probably a dad thing but is now more or less common in any Avenger who has a conversation with Peter, no matter how fleeting.

Peter offers him a bashful smile in place of condolences, which is the best he can do before Tony and Vision walk in, knee-deep in a conversation about AI and feelings.

They stop when Bruce walks in behind them and threatens to defenestrate the shawarma, resulting in an instantly protective Tony and an amused room of Avengers.

Soon enough, the lights are dimmed and insignificant arguments over positionings are started, as usual. Once they're all settled, pretty much tangled in both each other's presences and personal spaces, shawarma is passed around like fragile popcorn and a random Disney film is switched on because they'd decided to try and get through as many as possible as quickly as possible after discovering not every member could understand the multitude of song references passed around. And, at the end of the day, when classical films after exhausting fights are often played, Peter can tolerate abundances of destroyed school notes if it means he gets to experience moments like the ones he's been experiencing all day, even narrowly avoiding getting shot...

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