Accidental Relocation chapter 5

When Peter regained consciousness it was with a ginormous headache. He opened his eyes and, upon receiving bright light into them, shut them with a pained hiss.

“He’s awake,” someone said in a calm quiet voice.

“Already?” someone else replied surprised.

“JARVIS dim lights to 30 percent.”
Hmm, that last voice sounded familiar but Peter was having a hard time placing it with the jackhammer pounding in his skull. Was this what a hangover felt like? He decided that he was never going to get drunk, ever.

“Yes sir,” a robotically British voice said.

The young man sighed in relief when the lights dimmed and cracked his eyes open. When he could see without feeling blinded he opened them fully. By this point his mind was beginning to restart and he could remember the past events. He hadn’t known drugs worked on him; he had never had the chance to experiment with them back home. He had meant to since it was always a good plan to know your weaknesses but had never gotten the opportunity.

‘I wonder if it’s all drugs or just the ones in this universe,’ he thought. ‘I should look into that when I have the time.’

Taking stock of his surroundings he found that he was sitting in a chair, not tied down, and nothing hurt except for his head that was. Had he mentioned the migraine? His spider sense was completely silent so he knew he was safe for the moment. Someone coughed loudly for attention and it caused Peter’s eyes to actually focus. He almost fell out of his chair when he saw who it was in front of him.

“Mr. Stark,” he squeaked and whoa, that was embarrassing.

Tony Stark just grinned and bowed with a flourish.

“That’s me,” he agreed before leaning in.

The older man’s face was right in front of Peter’s and he leaned back a tiny bit. Up close he could see that the man was even more attractive than he had originally thought. His goatee was neatly trimmed, his hair looked really soft and he had nice eyes. Peter averted his eyes over the man’s shoulder in embarrassment.

‘What is it about these men that make me feel like a teenager again?’

“Now why don’t you tell me how you were avoiding my detection? I mean I would have found you eventually of course but-”

Before Mr. Stark could continue he was cut off by a snort. It came from somewhere behind Peter and the boy took advantage of the moment to shift a little more away from the billionaire so he could look over his shoulder. Standing near the back of the room, which was quite large and had what looked like a bar in it, were two people. A man, who was looking incredibly amused, and a woman who looked very familiar. He studied her for a moment, noticing her short beautiful red hair and the lack of height which made her look petite; there was something sexual about her that made his throat dry, he couldn’t see her eyes but for some reason he imagined they were blue and then it clicked.

“You’re the woman from before.”

She tilted her head slightly to study him, making him feel like an insect under glass and nodded.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said is a sweet mocking tone and Peter quickly turned his head towards the man instead as a way of avoiding the humiliation he felt.

He found he was rather grateful for the distance between them as even from where he was sitting he could see that this man was very handsome as well. He was wearing a black muscle shirt which was completely unfair considering how attractive his arms were. Peter flicked his eyes from the man to the woman and then to Mr. Stark.

“Are all of you this freaking gorgeous?” he blurted out.

The room went dead silent as they all stared at him and Peter felt his face turn bright red. He buried it in his hands as he heard Mr. Stark and the strange man, who was most likely his stalker, start to laugh.

“Yes, yes we are,” Mr. Stark replied obviously enjoying Peter’s embarrassment. “I’m the prettiest though.”

“Of course you are Tony,” a new voice said dryly and a glass of water was pressed to Peter’s fingers. “Here, this should help your headache.”

Peter accepted it gratefully and took a drink as he lifted his head. He then proceeded to choke on it when he saw the man in front of him. Ruffled black hair, also soft looking, and warm brown eyes;  the man was looking at him with worry and then at Mr. Stark with annoyance when the genius proceeded to pound on Peter’s back as the young man gasped for air.

“You know perfectly well that doesn’t help Tony,” he scolded. “Can you talk?” he asked Peter calmly. “Do you need help?”

“I’m fine,” Peter managed to gasp out.

Once the coughing fit had subsided he stared at the man.

“You’re Doctor Bruce Banner,” he said stunned.

Dr. Banner looked a little surprised at Peter’s reaction and nodded.

“Yes,” he said slowly and Peter broke out into an excited grin.

“You’re absolutely brilliant,” he said eagerly. “I’ve read all of your papers, or at least all the ones I could find and they were amazing. I found your observations of the effect of radiation on chromosomes fascinating.”

He couldn’t keep the delight out of his voice as he talked.

“I thought you dealt with technology like Tony,” Mr. Banner said confused and Peter shook his head.

“I just do that in my spare time for money,” he explained. “Though I did learn a lot from studying any lectures Mr. Stark has made. My real passion is bio-chemistry Dr. Banner.”

“Hold on a minute,” Mr. Stark interjected. “You’re telling me you just work with electronics for money,” there was an incredulous tone in his voice.

Peter blinked and shifted awkwardly in his chair. He had forgotten the other people present in his excitement.

“I do like working with technology, it’s very diverse and there is a lot to learn,” he admitted.
“But at this point in time it is more a necessity than anything else.”

He could hear Mr. Stark inhale but Dr. Banner spoke first.

“I apologise for Tony; he has been very rude. You already know the two of us. Let me introduce you to Clint and Natasha.”

Peter aimed an uncomfortable smile at them and nodded.

“Hello,” he greeted.

He wasn’t sure how he felt being in such close quarters with his stalker and the woman that had drugged him.

“And JARVIS,” Tony added. “He’s my AI,” he informed Peter proudly.

The young man let out an impressed whistle and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.

“Nice to meet you.”

“It is a pleasure Peter,” the robotic voice from before answered.

“He’s awake Steve,” he heard Natasha say.

He turned to face her, he really wished he knew her last name as it felt wrong calling her by her first when he didn’t know her, and found her standing at a doorway. He hadn’t even heard her move; she was definitely a woman to watch out for. He must have looked confused because Mr. Stark decided to elaborate.

“Steve was driving us crazy with his pacing so he was exiled from the living room.”

Peter blinked and looked around the large room. He had been so distracted by the others that he hadn’t even noticed Steve was absent. The muscled man suddenly appeared in the room and moved in front of Peter; he looked a mix of angry and worried which made Peter apprehensive.

“Why didn’t you tell me Peter?” he demanded.

Peter leaned back a little bit, the blonde was a little too close for comfort; he was close enough for Peter to see just how blue the man’s eyes were.

‘What was it with these people and personal space?’

He quickly distracted himself by thinking about Steve’s question.

‘Tell him what? What was this about?’

The whole situation was making him more nervous as it went on. The young man decided it would be best just to bite the bullet; there was no point in postulating without any information.

“Tell you what?” he asked cautiously.

“That you’re homeless,” Steve answered sharply and Peter blinked.

‘That’s what this was about?’

“Umm, I didn’t think it was important,” he answered truthfully.

He could see Mr. Stark shaking his head out of the corner of his eye but then Steve started talking again.

“Not important? Or course it’s important, you’re living on the street.”

The young man sensed a lecture coming on and he quickly attempted to avert it.

“Lots of people are homeless,” he informed Steve.

He could hear Tony snort in the background but ignored him. He was a little peeved at the billionaire. He was reasonably sure that he was the one who had informed Steve of Peter’s housing problem which he did not appreciate.

“What about Aunt May?” Steve demanded. “There is no way she can be okay with this.”

Peter swallowed and felt that fear and sadness that he worked so hard to ignore rise up again. He had absolutely no idea what was going on back home; he didn’t know what Doc Ock was up to in his absence and Aunt May could be in danger. He needed to be focused on going back home; he didn’t have the time to sit here being grilled by people that didn’t understand his situation. Peter took a couple deep breathes to gain control and then shoved the emotions back down.

“She’s not here,” he answered. “She doesn’t know.”

Despite his best efforts he couldn’t quite keep out all the emotion in his voice and he avoiding looking at Steve, instead staring over his shoulder. The taller man shifted so Peter had to look at him and the young man swallowed. There was an understanding look on his face, sadness in his eyes, and Peter looked away again. He didn’t like how Steve seemed to see right through him.

“You can’t help everyone Steve.”

He was fully aware of the irony of his statement. After all how often had Gwen told him the same thing. He quickly shoved the pain that thinking of her thought away so he could concentrate on the situation.

“Shouldn’t have said that,” someone, he thought it was Clint, said.

As he watched a determined look appeared on Steve’s face and Peter braced himself. He could sense something coming that he probably wouldn’t like.

“Maybe not, but I can help you.”

Peter frowned, that determination had spread to his voice making Peter uneasy.

“Move into the tower Peter.”

Peter gaped at him in shock; he hadn’t expected this.

“Wha-”

“You can’t do that Steve,” Mr. Stark interrupted. “Only I can invite people into the tower.”

Peter felt a burst of relief which faded as the man swiveled to face him with a grin.

“Move into the tower Peter.”

The young man continued to stare at them dumbly and the genius smirked.

“And while you’re here you can work for me,” he said cheerfully.

Peter looked around the room helplessly but no one offered him support. He thought he could see something like disapproval in Natasha’s eyes but she stayed silent. His stalker seemed to be enjoying the whole spectacle and Dr. Banner just shrugged at him. His behavior told Peter that it would be useless to argue with them but the young man could be pretty stubborn himself when the situation called for it.

“I can’t live here,” he said firmly. “I don’t know any of you.”

“Pfht, we’re the Avengers, you can trust us,” Tony waved the objection off.

“I still don’t know you Mr. Stark and I don’t want to live with people I am not comfortable with.”

“Is that why you address us by our last names?” Dr. Banner asked.

Peter glanced at him in confusion.

“Isn’t it respectful to address your betters by their last names?”

“But you call Steve by his first name,” Mr. Stark objected.

“I've known him for longer and am more comfortable with him,” Peter replied.

He glanced between them, noticing the pleased look on Steve’s face before trying a different tactic.

“Wouldn’t living here put me in danger; people might think they can use me against you,” he pointed out.

He could see that Steve looked a little unsure at this but Mr. Stark wasn’t fazed.  

“I could assign you a bodyguard if you’re worried about it,” he scoffed. “But people wouldn’t dare mess with someone living in my tower.”

Peter stared at the genius before rubbing his forehead in frustration.

“I wish I had popcorn,” he heard his stalker say and he aimed a scowl at the man.

While he was fairly sure Mr. Stark had been the one to alert Steve he knew that the other had definitely played a part in his situation.

“You can have your own equipment,” Mr. Stark offered. “Hell, you can have your own floor.”

“You really want him huh?”

Peter could hear the grin in his stalker’s voice and saw the answering one on Tony Stark’s face.

“You bet I do,” he winked at Peter.

“And I always get what I want,” he added in lecherously making Peter flush.

Sure he had flirted with people before but the only person he had ever actually been with was Gwen. He had never had a guy so blatantly hit on him before. Well mess with him was more like it since he doubted Mr. Stark was actually interested. He forced his mind away from that kind of thoughts and thought about the offer. The floor was tempting; it would make his research go a lot faster. However it would make being Spiderman a hundred times more difficult and besides he honestly was uncomfortable living with people he didn’t know. The abandoned buildings were working perfectly fine and he saw no reason to change that.

“Please Peter.”

The young man made the mistake of looking at Steve and froze. There were the puppy eyes again; those should be illegal especially on a man like Steve. It was hugely unfair and he quickly averted his eyes. An idea occurred to him; he couldn’t agree to their terms but he could meet them halfway.

“I’m not going to live with you,” he said firmly. “But,” he added quickly before the others could argue. “I’ll visit to show you I’m okay.”

He leaned back and waited calmly as Steve thought it over. He still had a determined expression and Peter sighed.

“You can’t force me to stay here Steve.”

“Actually we totally could,” Mr. Stark interjected.

Peter turned his gaze on the older man warily.

‘Would they?’

He had been kidnapped after all so it wasn’t completely unbelievable. He was capable of escaping of course but that would make him look suspicious and would cause more trouble than he wanted.

“Tony,” Steve said exasperated.

Tony Stark dissolved into laughter as Peter watched and he frowned.

“His face,” he crowed. “He honestly believed me.”

“You did have me kidnapped,” Peter pointed out.

Mr. Stark caught his breath from all the laughing and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I just got lucky and happened to have a bored Clint Barton on hand,” he said. “A bored Clint will do anything,” he added in a faux whisper.

“I will not,” Mr. Barton said indigently.

The other heroes exchanged smiles.

“Yes you will,” they all chorused.

Peter couldn’t help but laugh; sure he was currently dealing with the exact people he had wanted to avoid but they were fun and he couldn’t help being drawn in. Once the laughter died down he looked up to see Steve studying him.

“And meals.”

Peter looked confused and Steve clarified.

“You come by for meals so I know you’re getting proper food.”

“You want me to eat dinner with you?” Peter said incredulously.

Steve nodded firmly and Tony grinned.

“Careful, this is how his wooing starts. Once he buys you flowers there is no escape.”

“Tony!” Steve snapped while, to Peter’s amazement, blushing.

The billionaire just cackled and offered Peter a hand. When taken he tugged him off the chair and onto his feet. Peter glanced around the room at all the heroes standing in it.

“I can’t believe this is happening to me,” he mused aloud.

“Why?” Steve asked confused and Peter stared at him.

“You have to ask,” he said. “You guys are amazing; you’re Steve Rogers, Captain America, and the pretty much perfect man.

He turned to Mr. Stark and continued.

“You’re Tony Stark. You built the Ironman suit AND created an AI. Dr. Banner is incredible and definitely a genius. I have so many topics I would love to discuss with you. And you two.”

He pointed at Mr. Barton and Natasha and then paused.

“I don’t actually know anything about you but you-”

He pointed at Clint.

“- are clearly a badass and she scares me.”

He looked around at all of them; they were looking a little surprised by his outburst and he swallowed.

“I’m just a regular guy.”

‘Well sort of,’ he admitted in his head. ‘One that just happens to have the powers of a spider.’

“I’m not in your league.”

That he definitely believed.

“And I’m standing in the room with you being invited to come into the tower for meals.”

He took a moment to catch his breath and Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow.

“You done?”

Peter nodded his head sheepishly. He hadn’t meant to rant like that and felt a little silly now that he was done. He firmly believed everything he said though, well aside from being a normal person of course.

“Good, now try not to worry about it. Almost all of us are human and won’t bite.”

He leered at Peter making him shift awkwardly again.

“Unless you want us to.”

Steve scowled at the billionaire and tugged Peter a couple steps ahead as they started out of the room.

“You never replied to my last letter,” he commented casually.

“You were exchanging letters?” Mr. Stark gasped. “What are you? Twelve year old girls?”

Peter ducked his head in embarrassment while Steve turned to admonish the older man. Despite the stern words it was obvious that there was no real heat to their argument.

“You get used to him.”

Peter turned at the quiet murmur on his other side and swallowed.

“Dr. Banner,” he greeted the other man respectfully and a little nervously.

Since he had first arrived on this world and started his research he had found the two men, Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner, fascinating. Their work was incredible and he felt a great deal of respect for the both of them.

“He may seem like a jerk but he means well,” the man continued.

Peter followed the shorter man’s gaze to where Mr. Stark and Steve were talking. The genius had clearly said something funny and both he and Steve were laughing. They looked so carefree and happy that Peter had to look away.

‘Stop it,’ he told himself.

He couldn’t get used to this. Someday he would return to his world and it was better to leave this one without any attachments. From the corner of his eye he saw Mr. Stark pull out his phone and he suddenly frowned.

“Excuse me Mr. Stark. What time is it?”

“It is currently 8 PM sir.”

“He wasn’t asking you JARVIS,” Mr. Stark said with a frown.

“I know sir but I am unused to someone being so polite that I felt obligated to answer him.”

Peter looked up at the ceiling and then stared at Mr. Stark.

“Did he just diss you?” he asked in amusement.

“JARVIS has a mind of his own,” Mr. Stark growled. “Something I keep meaning to fix.”

Peter smiled in amusement and then blanched.

“Crap, it’s already eight. I have to get going.”

He started down the hallway before pausing. After a moment he headed back sheepishly.

“Can you show me the way out?”


Mr. Stark snickered in amusement but Steve smiled.

“I’ll show you,” he offered and led the way.

“He’ll show you alright. The question is how much,” Mr. Stark quipped as they walked away.

“Just ignore him,” Steve advised. “He likes to try to a get a rise out of you but if you ignore him
long enough he’ll sometimes get bored and wander off.”

Peter nodded along and then there was silence till they reached the doors.

“About the dinners-” he started.

“You can’t get out of them,” Steve interjected and Peter huffed.

“Fine.”

He smiled up at the taller man; there was something about Steve that drew him in. It was hard not to be happy around him.

“I have plans tomorrow but I can come over Saturday after the farmer’s market.”

Steve nodded his head.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said with a grin. “Don’t make me kidnap you again,” he teased.

“Ha, you wish,” Peter laughed before walking away.

XXXXXX

It was the day of the market and Peter was feeling a mix of nervous and excited. On the one hand he was eager to get a look around the tower and see Steve again.

‘And Dr. Banner,’ he mentally added in.

He was hoping he could talk to the man about some of his papers. He would like to talk to Mr. Stark as well but he found the billionaire a little overwhelming. On the other hand he was about to eat dinner with Steve Rogers, the others might be there too, and that was a nerve wracking thought.

He was halfway to the market when he heard screaming and he immediately took off to find the source of the noise; when he found it he stopped and stared. There were tiny little robots, about the size of cats, running around the street and there had to be hundreds of them. Most of the Avengers were there fighting them; Ironman was flying around blasting them while Captain America was on the ground breaking them with his bare hands and shield. Black Widow was there was well using some wickedly sharp knives and he could see Hawkeye on a roof shooting; it was clear the archer was running out of arrows and Peter could see them all over the place sticking out of motionless robots. The hulk wasn’t there but that was probably because he would cause more damage than help in this case. The whole scene would have been highly comical if it weren’t for the fact that the mini robots were actually causing some damage. He could see that Captain America and Black widow had bite and scratch marks on their bodies.

He stood there for a moment conflicted. On the one hand he had told himself to avoid attention and what he was considering was the opposite of that. But he had been so bored lately and just as a bored Clint Barton would do anything a bored Spiderman was dangerous too.

He wasn’t used to secrecy; back home he could web swing through the city in the daylight and it didn’t matter who saw him. He was tired of all the hiding in the dark; granted he was an awesome ninja but he was tired of it and wanted to have some actual fun. Mind made up he retreated a little bit and changed into his Spiderman costume; he kept the clothes on him at all times for moments like this. Once ready he crawled up to the roof and jumped. He couldn’t resist an exuberant laugh as he fell through the air and landed on some of the robots with a loud crunch. He ignored the other heroe’s surprise, threw his arms up in the air and practically crowed with delight.

“Oh god yes, they crunch,” he cheered.

He started moving quickly so he was basically dancing across the robots; feeling and hearing them break beneath his feet.

“This is exactly what I needed,” he said happily.

Glancing around he could see the heroes eyeing him but they were too busy with the mini bots to pay too much attention to him. While looking around he noticed the arrows sticking out everywhere and decided he might as well help out as much as possible. He started cheerfully moving about, destroying robots as he went, collecting arrows. When he had gathered a good armful he headed towards the wall.

He took a quick glance to calculate his trajectory and then launched himself off the wall. He turned slightly in midair and spread his feet. He took care to balance his weight so that when he landed on the red and gold surface he wouldn’t hurt it. He bended his knees slightly, applied pressure, and then launched himself again high into the sky. He heard Ironman let out a shout of surprise as he used the hero as a diving board but he was having too much fun to care.

“Hey Hawk!” he yelled.

When the archer looked up sharply the webslinger tossed the arrows he had collected at him. In his surprise the hero didn’t shoot the vigilante, which Spiderman appreciated, and caught the arrows instead. Spiderman twisted in midair, held his arms out for balance, and landed on some of the bots. He proceeded to throw his arms up with a cheer.

“And he sticks the landing! The crowd goes wild!”

He killed some more of the robots before glancing around at the remaining number. It had gone down quite a bit and he figured this would be a good time to vamoose. This way he could get away while the Avengers were still occupied; and so wouldn’t be stopping him with questions that he would rather avoid. He climbed a wall, offered a cheery salute to Captain America who was looking, and disappeared down the other side.