The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 5

  You had a bad feeling the second you saw the guy in the lobby. He was staring over all of the memorabilia all over the walls, which wasn't bad in and of itself, most people did when they entered the lobby. He didn't look over when you entered the room, even when your heels clacked on the tiled floor. That was the first strike against him. He was dressed...ok, though not your expectation of first date wear, slacks and a polo. You remembered men putting more effort into a first date when you were younger and actually had enough hope to actively date, but you hadn't dated in awhile, and the times had changed. Maybe this was normal now....

"Neil?" you asked softly, drawing his attention away from the wall of Avengers memorabilia.

"Y/N, are these things real?" he asked, gesturing at some of the team's old gear that was in display cases in the lobby.

This date was getting off to a great start.

You should have just given up then.

"Yes, it's all real," you answered instead, giving this guy a chance in case he was just celebrity shocked. It happened...right?

"Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Neil Smith," he gave you a smile that would have been more appropriate on a used car salesman. You introduced yourself, though unnecessarily and went with him to his car.

He didn't stop asking questions about the Avengers the entire dinner. Seriously, nothing about you or your interests, just kept asking about the team and trying to get an invitation out of you to meet everyone else. He didn't even say anything about himself or his work or anything.

While he was blabbing about some time he met Cap for a signature thing at comic con, your eyes roamed the restaurant. You thought you saw a pair of extremely familiar green eyes, as your eyes scanned the room, but that was impossible. Lokitty was at home, also a cat, and wouldn't be here. He could only teleport around the tower, or to the tower. Also he was a cat and refused to not be a cat.

You had to draw your attention back to the guy at your table when he actually asked you a question only to realize it was about Cap.

He also made you go dutch for dinner. You charged the meal to Tony's card, blaming Pepper for tonight's awful experience, so she could pay for it. That was the nice thing about having rich friends. You'd just have to whine at her about how awful it was later and she wouldn't care about paying.

You hoped that would be the end of it, but at the end of the meal he did finally start asking questions about you and seemed to show just enough interest that you felt obligated to accept his suggestion that you go out to get after dinner drinks.

You weren't afraid of getting drunk. You were a magical being and could outdrink almost everyone but Thor. You had learned how to pretend over the years so your college friends wouldn't think it strange that alcohol had no effect on you, but the point remained that you weren't afraid of the alcohol.

"You'll love this place!" Neil enthused as he drove. You were dreading whatever this was, your stomach sinking. You ended up at a club not terribly far from the tower. You walked in with Neil, reminding yourself that you could teleport home if things got worse. "Guys! I brought her!" Neil called, waving to a group of five or six big intimidating guys.

You were soon surrounded, being passed drinks and being grilled on details about the Avengers by Neil and all of this friends. They were all trying to get invites to meet the team while they fangirled over every single little thing.

You looked around the crowd, looking for a distraction and sensing magic in the air. Your eyes caught again on a familiar pair of green eyes, set in the face of, not your Lokitty, but a slim, extremely attractive man with long jet black hair. There seemed to be a faint shimmer of green around him. You turned away for an instant and when you looked again the man was gone.