Walking in the Wind // Avengers

Apartment Hunting

•••

Six months had passed since Ben had passed. Since then Peter had been determined to help the 'little guy', as he called it. May had chosen to not move the family to a different apartment, deciding that the apartment they already had was their home and there were too many great memories there to just throw away. Erin had enrolled in college, NYU, studying to become an elementary school teacher. 

The family was slowly recovering.

Erin and Lexies relationship was still going strong, and now, after two years of dating, the twenty- and twenty-one-year-olds had decided to move in together. Lexie had asked her on a walk through Central Park after a date to a nice restaurant. Erin happily said yes. 

The last six months had been very difficult. Erin and Ben had been very close, and she'd struggled a lot since his death. Lexie had stayed over most nights in the beginning, as Erin often woke up from nightmares, and had tried her very best to be there for not only Erin, but May and Peter as well. Unfortunately, when something like this happens, there's not much one can do to help, except to just be there and let them take the time they need to grieve. Things started to look up again eventually though, and even though it still hurt, Erin had started to feel like she was getting her life back on track. She was going to college, moving in with her girlfriend... It just really sucked that her uncle wasn't there to witness it.

One thing that concerned Erin though, was Peter. They had always been very close, but it seemed like since Ben died, he'd been isolating himself more from herself and May. He'd also stopped wearing his glasses, and grown bigger muscles. She didn't know what was going on with him and she was getting worried. The only person he seemed to let in was Lexie, the two got along really well and she was able to get him to talk to her. 

This was probably just Peter dealing with his grief and Erin trusted Lexie to tell her if Peter was in any actual danger or getting into real trouble.

What Erin didn't know was that the reason for Peters behavior was that he was spending his nights as Spider-Man, and Lexie was the only one who knew about it. The two felt guilty about keeping it from Erin and May, but it was for their own well-being and Peter just wasn't ready to share it yet. He knew how worried they'd be. Lexie wanted to tell Erin, she hated keeping something from her, but it wasn't her secret to share. So she stayed silent about it.

•••

Currently, the two young women were being shown a spacious, luxurious apartment in Manhattan. 

They obviously couldn't afford it themselves, as Lexie didn't technically have a job and Erin was a student, but Tony had decided that he would pay for it the second Lexie had told him she wanted to ask Erin to move in with her.

Tony had originally wanted to come with them, but he was giving a presentation at MIT, so he had jut looked over some different apartments beforehand and chosen which ones they should go see. 

He was paying after all and felt it was only right he got a say in which apartment they'd live in.

The rest of the team was on a mission in Lagos. 

This was the third apartment they were checking out, and they both really like it. The two they'd seen before this one were just way too fancy for their taste. This one had a bit more of a homey feel to it. There were many windows showing a beautiful view of the city, the apartment was filled with warm colors and it was in a really great, safe building.

"I love it," Lexie sighed, sitting down on the couch, looking at over the apartment. 

"Me too," Erin grinned, opening the sliding door to head out onto the terrace, looking down on the city below.

"I'm sure you too are gonna be very happy here," Sam, their realtor, smiled at them. Sam was a really nice woman in her early forties, that was showing them all the different apartments. She had this 'fun mom' energy about her that put them in a good mood. "We have one more apartment to see, unless you just want to go ahead and decide on this one."

"Well, I don't know about you, Lex, but I adore this one," Erin, who had re-entered, looked at her girlfriend. "I don't think the other one will top it."

"Mm," she nodded, agreeing with her. "And knowing Tony, it's probably similar to the first two. I was the one who told him we don't really like those super expensive places so he added this one to his list."

"So, you want to go ahead with this one?" Sam smiled happily. Sure the other three apartments were a bit more expensive, but this one was no doubt a lot pricier than most apartments she sold, so she was happy either way.

"Yes," Erin said excitedly.

"Great! I need to pop down to my car and get the paperwork, but then I'll be right up and we can make you the official owners."

As Sam left, the two walked back onto the terrace. "I think this'll be really great," Lexie stood behind Erin and placed her arms around her waist.

"Yeah," she sighed and leaned back slightly to rest against Lexie. "I think we'll be happy here. It'll be good for us."

Their serene moment was interrupted by Lexies phone ringing. "Oh, sorry." She saw it was Tony and answered. "Hey, Tony. We've just decided on an apartment."

"Really? That's great Lex," he sounded a bit distracted.

"You okay?" she furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Have you seen the news yet?"

"No, we've been looking at apartments all day. Why? Has something happened?.. Are aliens invading the city again?" she tried to lighten the mood a bit and she was able to get a small chuckle out of him.

"No. The mission went south and Wanda ended up making a building blow up. There are multiple casualties."

"Oh my god," Lexie stepped away from Erin and back into the apartment for some privacy. "Is everyone on the team okay?"

"Yeah, no-one got hurt. But Lex this is pretty bad. The government's on our asses now. I'm on my way to pick up Secretary Ross, he wants to see the whole team."

"Well, shit," she sighed looking over her shoulder to see Erin still on the terrace watching her with an anxious expression.

"I know you had a whole day planned, but you need to come in."

"Yeah, of course. I'll be there as soon as I can." They hung up and Lexie went back outside. "I'm so sorry, but I have to get going. Some shit went down in Lagos and now we're all in trouble apparently."

"Is everyone okay?" she asked.

"Define okay," she chuckled sadly. "No-one on the team got hurt, but there was an explosion and multiple civilian casualties. I gotta go, he wants all of us there."

"It's okay. You take the car, and I'll take the subway back home."

"Alright, I'll update you as soon as I can," they began leaving. "It probably won't be too bad, they know how much we've done for the world. Ross'll probably scold us and give us some lecture, and call it a day."

"Let's hope so."

•••

First proper chapter of CA:CW and Lexie and Erin are moving in together. I also thought it'd be such a Tony thing to buy their apartment and insist on getting to somewhat choose.

Have a great weekend <3

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