Learn to Fly

Chapter 7

Peter entered the Stark tower this morning, whistling happily as he entered the elevator. Mr. Stark had told him to drop his things off in the common room and come down to the lab with him. Peter heard some strange rustling noises coming from the kitchen.

"Hello? Who's there?" He called. The noises stopped, then a bellow rang out.

"WHO DARES ATTACK THE SON OF ODIN?" Peter squeaked as a huge hammer flew through the wall, straight towards his face. Peter held his hands out and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact.

But it never came. Peter slowly opened his eyes to see a bewildered god of thunder standing in front of him. In his hands, was Mjolnr. Peter's jaw dropped. Tony came rushing out of the elevator to see what was going on, and his eye's widened at the sight before him.

"What the hell, Thor? You tried to kill my intern! Can't you call before you randomly show up?" Tony was pissed.

"S-sorry Mr. Thor, god of thunder sir. Here is your hammer back." Peter said in a small voice. Thor took it, before clapping Peter on the back so hard his knees buckled.

"Stark! Your son is worthy of ruling Asgard! We must take him there at once!" Peter and Tony started talking at the same time.

"I can't rule asgard! I have geography homework!"

"Thor, you aren't taking any so- intern of mine to Asgard!"

"Wait, is it supposed to be difficult to lift Mijlnor?" The rest of the present Avengers gathered in the common room, including 2 new people.

"Stark," Pietro said in his accented voice, "Who is this?"

"This is Peter Parker! He's Spiderman," Tony said. Peter tried to identify the emotion in his voice. Was that- pride? Was Mr. Stark proud of him?

"Uh, yeah, I'm Spiderman. Watch this!" Peter said, before slipping off his shoes and climbing up the wall and onto the ceiling. Mr. Stark looked like he was going to pass out.

"Kid, you're gonna give me a heart attack! Please get down before you fall."

Peter did, and Thor asked Tony quietly, "Are you sure he's not your son?" Tony glared at him.

"We haven't met yet, Peter. I'm Wanda and this is my ~annoying~ twin Pietro," Wanda said, stepping forward to shake his hand. Peter did and said,

"It's nice to finally meet you Miss. Maximoff, ma'am!" Everyone chuckled at Peter's behavior. Then for 2 seconds, everything became a blur, then Peter found himself being dangled in the air with a strange pressure under his arms. "I'm being held like a kid, aren't I?" He asked. Everyone's chuckles quickly turned to laughs. Even Peter couldn't help but smile.

As Peter was heading towards the elevator towards the end of the day, he noticed a small snake on the ground. It was a beautiful green color that faded from dark to light. He picked it up and surprisingly, the snake allowed him to, curling around his arm, and settling in the hood of Peter's sweatshirt. Peter smiled and decided to do some homework while the snake was asleep. When the snake climbed out of his hoodie, Peter allowed it to crawl on his arm, and he spoke to it.

"How did you get in here anyways? Snakes don't live in New York," The snake tilted it's head, implying a mischievous expression. "Holy shiz, can you understand me!?" The snake nodded. "Am I like Harry Potter?" The snake gave him a deadpan look. "Who are you?" The snake slithered off of his arm, and onto the floor. A flash of green light came, and in the snake's place was a tall man with raven hair.

"I am Loki, god of mischief," he said. Peter cowered in awe, although it might have been the 7 inch dagger loki was holding. Noticing this, he quickly vanished the dagger, and crouched down to Peter's level. "You aren't afraid of me? I assumed Midgardians would still be angry about the attack on New York."

"No way!" Peter exclaimed, standing up, and putting his school things away, "It was obvious that you were being mind controlled! Besides, it's been years since the attack!" Loki seemed shocked, then pulled Peter in for a brief hug. "Thank you, young Midgardian. Perhaps if more Midgardians thought like you, I wouldn't have to stay in snake form." Loki told him, but upon hearing voices down the hallway, transformed back into a snake, and slithered off to find Thor. Peter smiled. It was the best feeling to know that he had helped someone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steve Rogers was mad. So was Natasha. And Sam. Why? Because after the last apartment exploded, Steve Rogers moved them back to his old apartment, the one people forgot existed. The one from the 40s. It was too small for 3 people, given Steve slept on the tiny sofa. Currently he was hunched over a drawing pad, attempting to sketch the outline of the winter soldier. For some reason, he just knew that he knew who this man was.

"Remind us again why you had to pick the smallest apartment in New York City?" Sam grumbled.

"I was poor, Sam," he muttered back.

"Now?" Sam shot back.

"SHEILD has more apartments, Steve." Natasha told him. "Bigger apartments."

"This one's safer," Steve replied. Natasha just rolled her eyes.

"Are you drawing that Winter Soldier again Steve? We have get this mission done!" Steve slammed his pencil down on the table.

"Don't you get it Sam? I know who the Winter Soldier is! It's like, like I've drawn him a thousand times before..." Steve's voice trailed off. Walking around Sam, he held his sketch up to the dusty sketch pinned on the wall behind Sam. "Oh my God," Steve whispered and dropped the sketchbook. Every curve, muscle, line, shading matched. Steve turned around, his face pale as his blood ran cold. "I know who the Winter Soldier is." He whispered. Natasha and Sam stood up, looked at each other, and held the fallen sketchbook up to the picture while Steve sat down, his face in his hands. The two were spitting images of James Buchanan Barnes.