A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War

71. Smile

Peter Parker was nervous. He had received a message from Tony a few hours earlier, instructions to come to the Avengers facility. The text was vague, but Peter guessed it had something to do with the giant spaceship that had shown up on the news before Tony had called for him. Peter was aware of the situation at hand- or at least he thought he was. The teenager knew that there was an alien named Thanos who wanted to destroy half of everything, and that the Avengers were going to stop him. Somewhere in there was the strange woman he had run into- Naomi Swanson- who was apparently a prophet from another dimension. He might be fuzzy on the finer details, but Peter remembered Naomi well, and as he approached the doors of the Avengers facility in his Spiderman gear, he hoped that he would see her again inside.

It was a little awkward, walking into the reception. Peter craned his head around, but he couldn't sense anyone nearby, so he sent a hesitant text to Tony and started wandering. It might have been comical for some SHIELD employee passing by to see Spiderman tip-toeing around the halls, poking his head around corners and wishing the building had its own GPS out loud. But no one was around except for Peter.

But eventually, Peter stumbled upon faint voices, and as he grew closer to them they grew in volume. Following the noise, he found himself at the door of the facility's lounge, where he had been not too long ago with Naomi and the Asgardians. He could hear muffled yells of several people arguing- one of which he thought he recognized as Tony. Peter fidgeted outside the door, unsure if he was supposed to go inside or not. Tony had told him to come here, and it had been Peter's choice to join in whatever fight was happening, but the teen was still hesitant. He would have asked Karen what to do, but he didn't want whichever heroes where on the other side to hear him. 

Eventually, there was a lull in the fighting, and the room fell into silence. Peter could feel tension rolling off of the door, but he ignored it, and summoned up the courage to knock. A few voices rose up, and fell away- the words unclear- before the door opened. Peter was greeted with the sight of Tony, but his relief at seeing the Stark quickly vanished once he took in the mans appearance. 

Spiderman had never seen Tony Stark in anything other than a suit or his armor, so the disheveled T-Shirt and jeans he sported now were a shock. His hair was mussed, his beard looked rough and the bags under Tony's eyes were the most prominent Peter had ever seen them.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, vaguely wanting to give the man a hug. Tony looked at him distantly, slowly coming back to his senses as he looked over the teenage superhero waiting to be allowed in. He smiled, but it was melancholic.

"Let him in, Tony." The command was curt, but Peter's view was blocked by the Stark and he could only see his mentors expression tense up at the voice. Tony moved out of the way, allowing Peter to see into the room. The lounge was filled to the brim with people, mostly heroes whom Peter recognized instantly, but some were strangers to him. They were dressed varyingly, some in casual clothes, others in full armor, and the rest in between. They spread across the room, taking up every available seat and yet still managing to segregate themselves into clearly defined groups. Peter tried very hard to keep his hands from shaking as Tony brought his arm around the teen's shoulder and led him inside. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating.

"Back off." Tony responded to the Captain, who Peter now realized was the one who ordered Tony to let him in. Steve was one of the few dressed in full gear- expect for his helmet. He was stood in the center of the room, his presence commanding and stern. He seemed nothing like the man who had recorded fitness tips for high schools. It was clear that the majority of the yelling match had been between him and Tony.

"Who is this?" Asked a deep voice. Peter turned to look at the King of Wakanda himself, another imposing figure in the room. Behind the king flanked a scary woman decked in full battle gear- Peter thought he could even see a spear or staff of some kind propped against the table beside her. On T'Challa's other side, a young girl stood in casual attire. Peter didn't recognize her, but she sent a kind smile and a wave his way. She couldn't see him smile back, but Peter returned the wave gratefully. 

"A kid." Sam answered, regarding Peter with clear recognition in his eyes. 

"Tony." Steve interrupted, striding toward the genius with a scalding gaze. "You can't keep pulling this kind of stuff without telling us." Tony's arm around Peter gripped him tighter. Steve ignored it and continued, approaching the two. "Go home, kid." Steve said, reaching out to clap Peter on the shoulder.

Tony shoved Cap's hand away with his free arm. Peter couldn't see Tony's face, but he could sense the incredible tension between the two men- himself caught in the middle of it. With a light push, Tony sent Peter away in the direction of Rhoedy, who was likely one of the few people in the room he really trusted. But Peter was still a little nervous around the man literally called 'War Machine,' despite his polite smile at the teen. 

The fighting picked back up between Steve and Tony, with occasional additions from the other heroes. Peter listened in silently, rocking on the heels of his feet and trying not to stare at the literal superheroes surrounding him. He didn't see Naomi anywhere however, which disappointed him a little. She had been strange, but he liked her. His saving grace was the teenage girl who waved at him earlier. She broke away from the King- something Peter considered bold- and approached him warmly, apparently unbothered by the loud arguing.

"My name is Shuri." She introduced herself with a grin, sticking her hand out for Peter to shake. 

"Hey, I'm P- uh, Spiderman." He said, mentally kicking himself for the slip-up. She laughed as they shook hands, and Peter was inclined to laugh with her even if he didn't know what was so funny.

"Nice to meet you, Peter." Shuri smirked, breaking into laughter when the eyes on Peter's mask widened to a comical degree. He sputtered for a moment before they were both shushed, and Peter remembered how serious the meeting was. Shuri noticed his shift in attitude, and turned with him to observe the debate in the center of the room. He heard the name 'Strange' multiple times, and he perked up whenever Tony mentioned Naomi. But Steve- and several others- had offensive reactions to her name, and it often led to an increase in volume. 

"Do you know what's going on?" Peter whispered to Shuri. She whispered back,

"Usually I do. But not so much now." Her face grew serious. "My brother is very worried, as am I."

"Who's your brother?"

Shuri jerked her head at the King of Wakanda, who was currently trying to calm the situation down with varying degrees of success. Peter's eyes grew to the size of saucers under his mask.

"Your brother is the King-" He wheezed, straining to keep his voice down. Shuri giggled, shushing him.

Across the room, Tony was distracted from Vision's argument about the validity of Naomi's claims- thankfully the synthetic man sided with Tony and believed that he was telling the truth, at least. Seeing the two kids laugh together in such a carefree manner pulled Tony away from the moment, and for a second he allowed himself to smile at their antics.

But then he remembered what he was fighting for- who he was fighting for, and he turned back to the conversation.