Liv had spent the day being shown around her new lab by a rather nice agent called Brock Rumlow, and while it was good to get back to work, she was also glad to be home.
It was still strange, less than a year ago she was hooked to a machine that dictated her life, and now she was watching someone that she loved more than anything else sketching and poking his tongue out as he was deep in thought. A quiet smile crossing her face, she was actually in love with this adorable and sometimes infuriating young man but she was never happier. Even with the others, she wouldn't give it up for the world, which was why,
"I don't care, Gwen. You got the best of the homes as you were here first, and I get to live next to Peter, even if he moves I am still next door, you got a hot tub and a deck, I get a door into his house," Liv explained but Gwen was refusing to budge.
"That was then, things have changed Liv. There's four of us now," and as she looked over at Wanda, "at the moment, and with me being the first, I should get seniority. So if he moves, I get to move next door," she argued back.
"Or, you know, we wait and let Pete decide, as he's the one actually designing the place and is technically our landlord, well now that none of us are wanted criminals I guess we need to start paying rent, and not with tail," Felicia added,
"Plus, you know, some of us do not have that kind of relationship with Peter, so choosing a location based on booty calls is not so good," Wanda also added but as she wasn't sleeping with Peter, Gwen just waved a hand at her.
"Yeah yeah, dream on, you'll get your chance, but I still say we go by seniority, and that's me," Gwen stated matter of factly.
"Or you know, we wait until I'm finished," and Peter looked up from his drawing, "these are just sketches you know, it still needs to be done," but the girls looked at him,
"We can decide, so shush."
Peter closed his sketch pad and slid it back under the table, "well, as everyone's here, might as well get dinner started," and as the group continued to argue, Peter grabbed some ground beef from the fridge and decided to make tacos. They had enough veg and cheese it would be easier than trying to cook for what was now seven people.
It was strange but nice, as he watched the group behind him argue and draw on his sketch pad. Gwen had dragged it out, carefully moving his drawings, and as they crudely copied his design, they began to initial each of the new homes in turn.
It was chaotic, it was noisy but it was home and family, even if Wanda and Jean hadn't been officially inducted, all he needed was Nat to turn up and it would be complete. Should I? He thought and shrugged, "Hey, if I invite Nat, would you guys mind?" and that brought a lull to the noise.
"Really?" Fel tapped the pencil she had, and he nodded,
"It might have been a rocky start but, I kinda like her, plus, having the boss over for dinner is a thing right?"
Felicia laughed, "as long as it's not for dessert when sure. One more won't hurt will it?" and as Peter looked over the ingredients he had for the meal, he shook his head.
"Can you guys give me a moment then?" and taking out his phone he tapped a quick message to her, and after a few minutes it dinged, sure, be there in 10, and nodding he went back to his prep.
"What's up with Nat?" Wanda asked, and Felica leant back, handing the pencil over to Gwen
"Peter screwed her, some stupid Shield plan to find out if he was Venom or not,"
"Wait, her too?" and Felicia nodded,
"Yeah, but she saved me, so be nice, " and MJ looked at the paper,
"Saved you?" Jean asked and MJ nodded,
"Yeah, we have, uh shit Peter, can we tell her? I mean, do we tell people?" MJ asked, and he shrugged.
"Ask Gwen, it's her job, nothing to do with me anymore," and MJ looked over.
"It officially hits the shelves in a month, but sure, we can tell people," and Gwen gave a small shrug, while Stark Tech was licencing the cream, it was still available as a separate product through the Black Cat network.
"We make a cream, it uh, its female viagra, and Tony had some at the party, and Muse, Muse was going nuts so I hid in the toilet. Natasha dealt with Tony while Pepper rescued me," MJ explained.
"Muse? Muse is your alien right?" Wanda asked and MJ nodded,
"But we think alien is rude. They're officially Klyntar, we call them symbiotes but I have Muse, Gwen has Poison, Felicia has Huntress, Liv has Octave, and Carol has Ravage,"
"Carol?" and Gwen rubbed her forehead,
"Yeah, she's a space policewoman, and Pete and her slept together once, but she's in space now." as she spoke she realised how ridiculous it sounded, but with this group, it was another day.
"So mutants, aliens, enhanced and magic," Peter said, sliding a pile of chopped tomato into the browning ground beef and onion. "Quite a group huh?" and Jean laughed quietly.
"Yeah. So much for a quiet dinner," MJ said as she helped Peter in the kitchenette. After they got the taco filling done, MJ was setting out plates and toasting tortillas when the door buzzer went and Felicia leant over and seeing it was Nat, waving a bottle at the camera, she smiled and buzzed her in.
Jean looked at the red-haired Shield agent, still in thick biker leathers and carrying a bottle of wine. As she looked over at Peter, "not for you guys, you're only 20 right?"
Peter laughed and Gwen bit her lip, "uh, we have our own still, the symbiotes can't get drunk on normal alcohol, might as well drink water," and at that Nat looked at the bottle and shrugged,
"in the sauce?" Peter took it and put it to one side,
"as if I'd ruin my sauce with that," and Nat laughed,
"Food snob,"
Peter shrugged, "you don't have to eat if you don't want to," but as Nat laughed "oh I wouldn't dream of missing out on a home-cooked meal," and Gwen popped the top off a bottle of beer and handed it over to Nat,
"If you guys don't want, we have juice?" and Wanda looked at her,
"I am from Sokovia. My baby bottle had stronger milk in it than that water you Americans call beer," and Gwen raised an eyebrow, but Jean nodded as Gwen took out and offered her a coke while grabbing a beer for Wanda.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," and as Wanda took a swig, she choked and began to cough.
"What the hell is that?" and as MJ rubbed her back,
"Symbiotes can handle anything poisonous, so it's pretty strong," and even Nat raised an eyebrow as she took a sip.
"No kidding, give me a soda if you have any," and handing the bottle back to Gwen she shook her head, "I drank wine with my father, not gasoline for the tractor." and Gwen shrugged,
"You should try the moonshine." Gwen took a drink from the bottle, uncaring Wanda had just drunk from it, "it's got a real kick," and Wanda looked horrified.
"Oh was that moonshine? I've been using it to power the harness," Liv added and as they laughed, Gwen tutted and shook her head.
Natasha eyed the crude sketch on the table, "planning a heist?" and as she spun it round she saw the layout of the warehouse,
"We uh, are planning on where our new homes are, Pete is upgrading the warehouse."
Nat looked for a moment and with a grin, stole the pencil from Felicia and added her own initials in, Gwen raised an eyebrow, "that's to be discussed," and Nat shrugged,
"Only four names on it though," she asked looking over at the pair.
"We uh, don't do that with Peter, we will wait and let the others decide first," Wanda stated, but Nat could see the small look of apprehension on her face. She knew she wanted to join in, but was unsure of how to. Four others were intimidating enough, without everyone being super-powered as well.
"Still gotta fight though, make your mark, I mean," and she circled her own initials with the pencil, "gotta fight even if you don't wanna win."
Jean looked hesitant for a moment and held out a hand, Nat grinned and snorted quietly as she handed over the pencil, Adding in her own Nat looked "but who's L.K?" and Jean took a breath,
"Peter, is there enough for one more?" and he shrugged.
"Should be enough for a few meals, we eat like horses here, plus Nat, so yeah, " In truth, there would be enough for seconds if anyone wanted but with the high-calorie diet the symbiotes demanded, Peter already had a couple of premade cakes defrosting and ready for the oven. "Why? Who else?"
As if his question was s signal the door buzzer went and as Felicia looked over "I have no idea, some kid and her dad," and frowning Peter leant over and stared at the small monitor.
"Shit, earlier?" and Jean nodded, "Can someone take over? It's just plating, and making sure nothing burns."
Peter made his way to the door, opening it slowly and a small dark-haired missile hurled itself through and latched onto him, "Monkey!" it yelled and a gruff hairy man, the one Charles identified as Logan huffed behind her,
"Might as well come in then," Peter said, resting an arm under Laura's butt and hoisting her up, "Foods on, beers on the table" and at that he raised an eyebrow "yeah yeah, underage, say it now as we don't care," and the man just snorted and walked over, helping himself to a bottle.
"Jean," he said as the group stared at him, and then over at Peter.
"Uh, want to explain Pete? You're not part of a gay adoption ring are you?" Liv asked with a smirk on her face, "not that I don't approve though," and Felicia laughed.
Whatever faults he could find with Logan, being unattractive was not one of them. While he was shorter than him, Logan was buff, tanned skin, with hairy but muscular arms. Dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a denim top. his hair was black and wild, large muttonchop sideburns swept down his face giving the man a feral look, and as Peter knew his codename was Wolverine, it was probably intentional.
"So uh, yeah," Jean spoke hesitantly, "See when you rescued Laura the professor came and took her, thinking you were all bad guys, and he," she looked over at Peter who nodded while frowning, "he can control minds, and he removed her from your, uh, from your minds."
"What the fuck Jean?" Felicia shouted, Gwen and Liv sharing her sentiment. "And you knew?" and Peter nodded.
"The Stone gave me my memories back, but uh, let's be honest, you'd think I was an idiot talking about a girl who you all didn't remember, so I kept quiet." Peter explained, "and I had no idea how to undo whatever he did, I didn't want to make it worse." As he spooned the finished taco meat into a large chafing dish, so it kept warm while they ate and he set it down on the table, MJ helping by dropping bowls of salad, cheese, and vegetables around it, and finally, a mix of freshly fried taco shells and warmed soft ones.
"But uh, that's why I'm here. So I can undo it, and uh, say sorry," Jean admitted,
"Uh-huh, and the food's so we don't just smear her ass over the warehouse right?" but Peter shook his head.
"No, the foods cause it's Tuesday, taco night, I had no idea Laura and Jean would be here," Peter popped open a bottle of cider and took a small drink, "But yeah, I'll make a cake if you don't."
"You made cake anyway, ass," Felicia said, helping herself to a taco and filling it, "fine, forgiven, but eat first."
The group started and to Peter it was heaven. Laura and Jean talked about the mansion and the professor, Wanda joined in with talk about her time in Sokovia and her wonder at never having had tacos before. Nat and Logan stared at each other and he knew, Logan was like Nat, the ready to fight type who'd probably seen more combat than he wanted and more death than he needed to but Peter shook his head and offered him a stronger beer and a cider to Nat, "behave, kids," and Logan snorted and smiled while Nat laughed, sitting down and joining in.
As Peter took his place at the end of the table, and Laura sat on his lap once more, to Logan's glare, he realised he missed this.
"Oh, one more thing." Nat reached behind her, and while Logan tensed, Peter ignored him. Pulling out a package and handing it over, Peter ripped it open.
Out fell a small plastic wallet, his official Shield ID and sadly, a neat pile of paperwork.
"You're officially enrolled, timetables in there, so Agent Parker, how's it feel?"
"Parker, Agent Parker. I dunno, kinda dorky."