"Astrid, meet your cousin: Brad."
"I uh... I didn't realize you... reproduced."
Brad cracked a little smile, making Harry immediately frown, "No fair! I've been trying to make you smile ever since you got here!"
"He just doesn't like you Harry- deal with it."
"Yeah. Deal with it."
Harry only glared at the two when Astrid pulled Peter forward, "Well, it was so nice to meet you Brad but we should get going, right Happy?"
"Well, I talked to Mr. Stark and he said it'd be fine if-"
"No!" Astrid shouted, surprising everyone, "I just- I came up with so many ideas and I don't want to forget them."
"Then write them-"
"It's fine," Lilly smiled, "You three can just join us for dinner."
"You three?"
"I hear you've got a special someone in your life," Lilly smiled at Astrid before turning to Peter, "Hi, I'm Astrid's aunt Lilly."
"H-hi. I'm uh- I'm..."
"Peter," Ned finished for him, "he's Peter. And I'm Ned and this is MJ."
"Michelle."
"Right."
"Well... Peter, Ned and MJ- Michelle, you are all more than welcome to join us for dinner. Just let me know and I can cook for more."
"No thank you, we wouldn't want to intrude."
"We wouldn't?" Ned questioned, only to earn a look from Michelle who was already trying to pull him away.
"We should get going. See you tomorrow! Bye!"
"Anyways," Astrid shook her head, "There is no way I'm going to-"
"Mom, can I go with Astrid and her boyfriend?"
"What?!"
"What?" Brad shrugged, "I want to meet Tony Stark."
"Well-"
"Thank you! Let's go!"
"Harold," Lilly began, making him nod.
"Don't worry, I got it."
"Harold?" the three questioned, earning a glare from Happy who motioned towards the car.
"Get in the car. But, hey, Harry..."
"I'm good. Do me a favor, Astrid. Don't say hi to Norman for me."
"Wouldn't count on it." Astrid brushed him off, stepping into the car following Brad with Peter holding open the door.
Happy felt nervous as he drove, especially with Astrid after she just found out she had a cousin.
He wasn't sure how she would take the news- he barely took it well when Lily revealed it to him.
Astrid, however, was more interested in getting to know the only other family in her life.
"So... Brad..."
"Brad Davis. Ten years old. Don't be fooled though- I am not a child."
"No, no. Of course you're not. You basically decided for yourself that you'd be coming today."
"Right... mom's definitely gonna smack me for that when I get home."
"Can't relate. I have no parents to do that," Astrid giggled, making Peter worried but he didn't say a thing, deciding to talk to her about it more in private.
"You look just like her though- my mom. It's so weird. I've always been an only child but now-"
"No way. I just got rid of one brother, I don't need another. Besides, I don't look like her. I look like my mom."
"You mean my mom's identical twin? Yeah, that's totally different," Brad teased.
"It is different!"
"Yeah, Whatever you say."
"I- I am not going to argue with you about this."
"Fine by me. I actually wanted to talk about something else anyway... I think you should keep up this bitchy act you have going on."
"Excuse me?"
Happy tried his hardest to hold in his laughter as he kept his eyes on the road while Astrid just continued to stare down her little cousin.
"I just think if you continue to act like a mean person, my mom will have enough and we can just move back home- where we're supposed to be."
"Fuck, I forgot about that part."
"Astrid!" Happy scolded her through the rear view mirror.
"A ten year old literally just called me a bitch and you're scolding me?"
"That... that's two dollars in the swear jar!"
"So do we have a plan?"
"Why do you want to go back anyway?" Peter suddenly asked.
"Um, hello? My whole life is back there!"
"Well, yeah but New York isn't all that bad either. There's Iron Man, Spider-man-"
"He's overrated."
"I- what?! No he isn't!"
"He is. So what he can climb walls and throw out webs? I don't know about you guys but I like to kill spiders not become best friends with them."
"You are one twisted kid," Astrid smiled, "I like you. That being said, I'll try to keep being- a mean girl as long as you promise to at least give New York a shot."
"Why?"
"Cause, I think you'd actually like it here if you gave it a shot... besides, I may not like him right now but I can tell having your mother here is really helping Harry so..."
"Okay, I'll try- but no promises."
"Fine- and warm up a little on Harry."
"Okay, now you're just asking for too much."
"Why do you hate him so much?" Peter now questioned, trying to shake his overrated comment off.
"He is the one who took me away from my home and brought me here. If he never went looking for my mom... I'd still be with my friends and I wouldn't have to share her with anyone... and I wouldn't be so alone."
"Hey, you're not alone," Astrid now offered him a small smile, "You've got me, kid."
"You live with the white man."
Giggling when she saw Happy tense up, Astrid shook her head, "I'll still visit you- take you around to see New York even! Peter can even come-"
"I'd like it better if Michelle came," Brad smirked.
"You are so barking up the wrong tree," Peter mumbled, already looking out the window.
"That and she's five years older. I'd look at girls your age."
"But they're so immature!"
"Wow. You really are a character."
"I'm taking that as a compliment."
"You should."
"He remind you of anybody?" Peter whispered when Brad turned his attention away from them.
Astrid only frowned as she looked down at her hands, unable to say a thing, knowing exactly what Peter meant by that.
Unfortunately for him, she was very strong willed and remained quiet until they got there, letting Happy point out everything to Brad who looked around the facility in amazement- and even took some pictures to show his friends back home.
Tony was completely unaware of their arrival though his eyes on what he was working on and only knowing anyone stepped into the room because of Friday's announcement.
"Boss, Mr. Hogan is here with-"
"Oh great! Happy you're here! How did Astrid take the news?"
Astrid raised an eyebrow as she looked at Happy who chuckled nervously.
"What news? Tony we're-"
"You know, the news that you and yet another hot aunt decided to move in together to- oh."
Tony frowned as he now turned around and saw not only Astrid standing there but Peter and some kid he didn't even know.
And by the look on Happy's face, he knew that he had just fucked up.
"What did you just say?"
written: September 22, 2019
posted: November 09, 2019
Originally, the cousin was supposed to be someone else entirely (Natasha Liu Bordizzo wassup) but with the book being almost done and the last movie I'm mentioning in this book being Far From Home, I figured since Brad was already going to be introduced in that part, I'd introduce him a little earlier 😬