Who Needs Gods Anyway?

Friday night at the Avengers tower was always a bizarre event. Every Friday the avengers and co would gather for take away food and movies or board games, and every time without fail, something memorable would happen. The time Steve had accidentally poured his beef and black bean all over Loki, or the time when the god of mischief got back at the super-soldier by turning his seat into a pile of ping pong balls, which fell everywhere when Steve had tried to sit down unassuming.

But this, this took the cake. It had started last Friday, when Tony finally gave in and decided he would bring his 'favourite hero' to dinner to meet the rest of his friends. Thor had not doubted that the young spider boy was a mighty hero, yet, when Tony had first mentioned it weeks and weeks ago, Thor had bit his tongue. Thor knew a gaggle of heroes mightier than even the avengers, and he would bring them to meet the avengers.

So when Tony had announced that he was bringing his 'newest' child to their weekly ritual, Thor too decided that it was time to introduce his favourite young heroes to the avengers.

That was how the mess all began. Thor had asked them all to New York, however, only two said they would be able to come.

Thor was sitting on the kitchen bench, Bruce, Steve, and Natasha all spread on the floor. Tony and Bucky were leaning against some cupboards Clint was on another kitchen bench, opposite Thor, his hand resting close to the stovetop hotplate. Wanda and vision were beside Thor, with Vision sitting in Wanda's lap. Loki was in the other room ordering the food, today they had gone for a mix of Chinese and Italian - Steve arguing for pizza while Tony wanted Chinese, Loki mediated and decided both was the true way to make sure neither were upset. Peter Parker - Tony's young hero - was sat beside Natasha. Natasha seemed the last person everyone expected to be loving towards a child, but here they were, five minutes after meeting each other and she was already calling him her son.

That was when Tony's AI - F.R.I.D.A.Y. - rang out alerting them of three people that were waiting in the lobby.

"Oh yes," Thor said. "I hope you don't mind. I invited some friends." Tony did seem a little irritated but seeing Peter's excitement at the mention of more friends he promptly told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to bring them up in the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened, they revealed two teenagers. One of which had medium length, blonde locks and resembled a younger (much more alive) version of Kurt Cobain. The other teen had hair which had been dyed green with their black roots showing through.

They two immediately made eye contact with Thor and stepped out of the elevator and towards him.

"What's wrong this time?" the green-haired teen spoke first.

Thor's eyes widened a little, but not by much. "Why would anything be wrong?"

The blonde teen just crossed his arms and the other put their hands on their hips. "Because you're a god. Why else would you contact us?"

The majority of the avengers remained quiet, eager to watch the event unfold - Loki not so much.

"I introduce my friends to the two greatest heroes I know."

Both teens raised their eyebrows and finally turned to look at the others in the room. Both gazes landing on Loki. The green-haired one nodded their head politely towards the god. "Mother."

All the avengers and Peter - with the exclusion of Thor - looked on with shock. Mother?

The black-haired god nodded in a similar motion and replied, "Alex."

"Wait," Tony cried and held his hands up in a T-motion. "Time out. What is happening?"

Alex rolled their eyes and went to say something, but the blonde kid cut them off. "This is Alex, and I'm Magnus. We're demigods... and einherjar... basically, we're Norse heroes. But it appears that there's been a miscommunication, so we will be off. Goodbye."

The two turn to leave and they are almost in the elevator when there's a cry of "wait, Alex."

The teen turns and glares at the black-haired god. "What do you want now?" there's a small amount of venom in the teen's voice as they address Loki. "Haven't you tortured me enough?"

Magnus gently grabs Alex's forearm and gently whispers "hey."

At first it looks as though Alex is going to rip their arm from Magnus' hold and charge at the god, but eventually they give in and relax a bit.

"Stay," Loki says softly. "Please. Just for a while."

"No," Alex says immediately and turns to leave once more, forgetting the hand resting on their forearm which holds them in place.

"Maybe we should," Magnus says. "Just a few hours, then we can go visit Annabeth, go home whatever," he looks Alex in the eyes. "Just... try?"

Alex continues to stand rigid for a few moments before relaxing a little. "Fine," they relent. "Just a while." the two teens move away from the elevator a tiny bit, but keep it within a close distance in case of the need for a quick getaway. "But if he," Alex points at Loki, "tries anything, I'm garotting him."

Loki shrugs and Thor claps excitedly. "That's fair," Loki says at the same time Thor booms "I'd love to witness that!"

Thor's words do elicit a small smile from Alex, but not much else.

The room lapsed into silence for a couple moments before Peter speaks, hand raised as though he's in class. "Hi um, I'm Peter. And um like, not to be rude or anything..." his face is almost beet red and his word sheepish. "But um, can I ask what your pronouns are?"

Alex smiles at the boy and gives a small laugh. "It's less rude than using incorrect pronouns so you're forgiven." Peter has a small smile. "They're he/him, currently," and Peter nods along. "But I'm genderfluid so just be prepared."

Peter gives the boy a big smile. "Okay, but you have to let me know when your pronouns switch, because I know from experience how sucky it is to be called the wrong ones."

"Deal," Alex says. "I'm guessing yours are he/him?"

Peter nods. "Yep!"

Alex looks at Magnus. "Okay, so this might not be the worst."

And sure, the two teens still did not really understand why Thor had asked them to the tower in the first place, but they did end up making a few new allies, and even a couple of new friends.

And if at the end of the night Alex Fierro was a little less snappy towards his mother, then no one was to comment on it.

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NOTES:

yes its bad. thank you for noticing.