WEB OF LIES [TRANS PETER PARKER]

thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Peter's POV

I don't know what I expected to see when I walked into the room where the Avengers were waiting. Actually, I know exactly what I expected to see: Thor would be polishing his hammer, Captain America would be reading an American history book, Black Widow would be hacking a computer, Hawkeye would be shooting at a target...

But no, that's not what I saw at all. Instead, Steve Rogers was showing a very confused Thor how to use the blender. The brilliant scientist Bruce Banner was sitting on the couch reading a book, and Natasha Romanoff was laying down with her legs across his lap, scrolling on her phone. On the other couch, a younger looking girl with reddish hair was sitting, also on her phone. They all looked rather unimpressive, I had to admit. They were all dressed in plain clothes, including the Asgardian, and didn't appear to be doing any, yknow, avenging.

"Peter!" Steve exclaimed as I walked into the area. Captain America knew me name? He came right up to me and held out his hand, which I meekly accepted. He was definitely much taller than I expected, and towered over me, not to mention his impressive shoulder to waist ratio. Damn.

"Mr. Rogers, Captain, Mr. Amer-" I began rambling, not wanting to disrespect him and he's goddamn beautiful face.

"It's just Steve, call me Steve."

"Okay, Steve," I said quietly. He smiled down at me. All of a sudden a noise erupted from the kitchen, where he had no doubt just left Thor unsupervised with the blender.

"Sorry! Sorry, just a little mishap! Won't happen again, everything's already!" Thor's booming accent came, and we all watched in horror as he looked over at us, the contents of the blender now all over his face and shirt. Still, he wore a very genuine grin as he swiftly removed his shirt and began mopping up the surface of the counter. If I had thought Steve's body was worth admiring, I was completely wrong. I had to look away quickly so that I wouldn't be caught staring in awe.

"Fuck, Thor, this is why we can't have nice things!" Tony snapped jokingly.

"Language, Tony!" Steve scolded, this time in all seriousness. Then, he quickly shooed Thor from the kitchen, herding him through a door like he was a little child.

Tony laughed to himself, before leading me over to the sitting area. I only recognized Natasha, having seen her on TV a handful of times, but not the other two.

"That's Nat, she's like an assassin. Then there's Bruce, he's the big green one but he doesn't like to talk about it, and that's Wanda over there. She can control stuff with her mind," Tony explained briefly. Bruce didn't look anything like the Hulk, which made me confused yet also very grateful. He held out his hand for me to shake, still in a more casual manner than Steve had done. The girl, Wanda, appeared young and shy, and watched me timidly as though she didn't want to be seen. I gave her a tiny wave which she mimicked with little enthusiasm.

"Mr. Stark, your delivery will be here in approximately five minutes," a voice came suddenly. I began looking around the room, but came up empty handed when it came to the source of the sound.

"Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S., I'll send someone down," Tony said automatically, before seeing my confused face. "That's J.A.R.V.I.S., my AI. He keeps everyone in check around here."

"Oh," I breathed, acting like that was totally normal.

"Yo Cap! Will you go pick it up downstairs?" Tony called to Steve as he reentered the room. "Wouldn't want to let Thor do that again. Last time he tried tipping in Asgardian coins, and got away with it."

"Roger that," Steve said, and exited the room as quickly as he had entered.

"What's, uh, what's the delivery? Is it some new parts for some cool project you're working on?" I asked, before scolding myself. He probably didn't want me all up in his business asking questions, it was bad enough that I was even here.

"No. It's pizza," he said, eyeing me strangely. "C'mon, follow me. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping."

Tony walked through the same door Cap had just come out of, and I followed not far behind. However, when I rounded the corner into the hallway, I bumped right into the still half-naked Thor. Great.

"Sorry. Sorry, sir, Thor," I mumbled, quickly trying to step out of his way. Instead, he stopped me.

"You're Peter! Hello, Peter, it's lovely to meet you! I apologize, I would've introduced myself before except I was having an unfortunate battle with one of Stark's latest technologies. You know, I haven't yet gotten to meet many Migardian children! You're quite small, aren't you?" he greeted me with a cheeky smile.

I tried my best to ignore the fact that his pecs were inches from my face, right about eye level, as well as the fact that he had called me small. "Uh, yes! That's me, I'm Peter, Spider-Man, the new guy," I replied. Just as I was debating between giving him a handshake or bowing before his royal highness, he pulled me into a tight hug. I could literally feel every muscle of his chest against me, and all I couldn't think about was whether he could feel mine. Sure, binders made quite the difference, but it wasn't the same as it would be once I'd had top surgery, which I planned to get as soon as I saved up the money. It was going to be a long wait, and until then I tried to avoid such tight hugs as this one. Seriously, he wasn't letting go.

"Thor, let the kid go!" Tony exclaimed finally, placing a hand on my shoulder and pulling me away from the stronger avenger.

"Goodbye, young Peter," Thor called, but we were already down the hall.

I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding as he stopped in front of a room, pushing the door open. Inside, the room was quite large, with light wood floor and white and navy blue furniture. It was set up much like a hotel room, with a huge bed, a dresser with more drawers than I could ever wish to fill, a desk, a couch, and a television set. The far wall was all glass, with curtains hanging open, and I guessed that two doors on the left side of the room led to a closet and bathroom. That was a huge relief.

"Well, I'll leave you to get washed up. We'll call you for dinner, just ask J.A.R.V.I.S. if you need anything." And with that he was gone, leaving me all alone in the room.

I sighed heavily, dropping onto the bed. I hadn't realized how tense I'd been in the last few minutes, but it was surely taking all of the energy out of me. My mind wandered to Mr. Stark's question earlier: "Are you taking care of yourself?" In all honesty, I was terrified of lying to him. But at the same time, I figured it would be for the best. There was no reason why he would need to know such a personal thing about me. It would only make him worry more, and he seemed to already have a nervous eye out for me. It would be just like admitting my superhero identity to Aunt May; completely unnecessary and catastrophic. Not going to happen.

I made sure that the door was locked before wrestling out of my binder, trying to at least get a few minutes of freedom before dinner. I had no idea what was in store for the rest of the weekend, but I was going to have to be prepared for whatever was thrown my way. After all, that's what superheroes do.