Starbucks
"Are all mortal adolescents this small?" Thor asked.
Harry blushed. "I... That's just me."
Stark turned around from where he'd been slurping up some of the sexy pasta he'd found on the corner table. Pepper would have yelled at him for eating foreign food if she was there, but she wasn't- so he'd eaten the entire tub of alio e olio in just under three minutes. "I'm sorry who are you?"
"I'm Harry!! The intern? That's me." Harry beamed.
Tony looked him up and down. "I thought you'd be bigger."
Harry pouted. "Not everyone can be as tall and shredded as you. Some of us have... stunted growth." He muttered that last bit to himself.
Tony shoved the last bite of pasta into his gob and chewed so loudly Odin could have heard it in his sleep.
Harry watched the man masticate with such fascination, he forgot about Thor's jab at his size. The way Stark moved his lower jaw like a ruminating cow... his mandibles must hurt.
"I was told," Harry pulled out his phone and opened up the confirmation of work email. "To report to the fourth floor of Stark Tower, and to await further instruction. Just to let you know, I'm good with Word and Excel and I know you were a child genius Mr Stark Sir, but I cannot code a thing to save my life."
Tony wiped the oil off his chin. Seriously, how did that get in there. And was that an olive he was fishing out of his nostril?! SIR!!!!
"Mnyeh?!! Well." Tony slurped at his can of whatever that was, because the fumes wafting from it indicated it wasn't cola. "We just need a nice little kiddie to help Capsicle and Point Break over there to see the world. That's your job. Intern Harry."
Harry gawped at him for a second.
"Well. Close your mouth. Chop, chop, the highlights of our beautiful city are only open so many hours of the day. The God of Thunder won't wait around all day." Tony closed the lid to the tupperware. "That was so good. Who cooked that for me?"
Harry winced. "That was my lunch. I kind of assumed that it was a desk job with a fridge in the company staff room you know?"
Stark stared at him. "That was a family sized container." As if he hadn't demolished the whole thing in under five minutes.
Harry blushed and rubbed his wrist awkwardly. "I usually pack enough to share with my work friends. So...Yeah."
Captain America, Rogers- the Capricorn did Stark call him? stepped forward to break the awkward staring match and silence that followed Harry's admittance.
"How about we start with something simple. There's that coffee place on the corner that I've really been wanting to try." Steve suggested.
"Okay!" Harry smiled. "Um, do you have a credit or debit card or something?"
Steve rummaged through his pockets to find his wallet. Rummage was the right word, how deep were those things? Pulling out the leather item, he held up a green card triumphantly. Harry couldn't tell if that was a working bank card or not because he'd forgotten his contact lenses, and he had new glasses on order from the opticians- so he could just about see thirty metres away, but that was it.
Stark seemed to find it good enough, because he sauntered out of the room with a wave.
"So." Harry scuffed the sole of his shoe against the carpet.
"So. Harry son of... son of. Take us to this amazing shop Steve here mentioned." Thor waved Mjolnir with gusto at the prospect of seeing a new place.
"Yes." Steve clapped his hands excitedly. "It looks very... fancy inside."
"This is a Starbucks." Harry said as they stood outside the cafe Steve had taken them to practically vibrating with anticipation.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Steve whispered reverently.
"It's got a line as far as my eyes can see. Which is about fifty metres." Harry grumbled.
"What did you want from here exactly?" Harry asked after a few minutes of Steve pressing his face to the window and peering into the establishment like a creep.
"I heard some young girls mention a Pumpkin Spiced Latte." Steve breathed in awe as the barista handed over a cup to the customer they were serving.
"You've been wanting to come here since last autumn?" Harry squeaked. "Couldn't you have just... gone in?"
Steve looked at his hands sadly. "Missions have taken over our time. I'm so excited, can we go in now?"
They waited in line in silence, and then Thor opened his mouth.
"Where do you originate from friend Harry? That is not an accent that those from Earth speak." Thor questioned.
Harry stared at the taller man in shock. "I come from Surrey- a county in England- like the country." He explained.
Thor listened thoughtfully.
"You do realise America isn't the only country on Earth right?" Harry looked at the god. "Right!!"
"Until now, I thought we fought for the world Earth. I was not aware Earth had smaller planets inside it." Thor hummed.
"Oh my goodness!! You literally fought Loki in Germany for a while last year. Germany is another country." Harry said.
Thor shrugged. "I just followed the aircraft manned by Miss Natasha. I don't know where it went exactly. After this coffee Steve wants to try, we should visit your England." The man nodded. "Yes. I say we visit England next."
Harry sighed. He'd pulled himself out of bed so early to get to the tower on time that morning, he had still been asleep on the train. It was too early for this.
"How old are you Harry?" Steve wondered as the line crawled forward.
Thor had parked his butt on the floor, and had taken to wailing like a toddler for it to hurry up.
Harry chose to ignore him, and ignore the stares of the other customers too. He wasn't Thor's mother, and this was honestly less embarrassing than Dudley peeing his pants while screaming for sweets in pizza express that one time.
Harry could see three baristas nattering away behind the door to the back where they thought nobody could see them. They'd left their poor colleague alone to serve the ten people in front of them.
"I'm seventeen. My Uncle just moved here because he got a promotion with his work. I moved into my new flat a few months ago. I took the internship job because I needed something to do." Harry replied.
"Would you not rather live with your father and mother? I'm over a thousand years old, and I still reside in my father's palace- when I'm back on Asgard of course." Thor injected his take into the conversation.
"Yeah?" Harry raised a brow. "That's really sad. Still living with your parents at that age." He shook his head exasperated as Thor's mouth turned into a pout at being shot down.
"I'd love to live with my parents, but they're like dead dead." Harry moved with the line leaving his companions gasping behind him, and finally they were ready to be served.
"I'll take a cookies and cream frappuccino please. Thor, what did you want?" Harry called the still stunned god over to order.
"I'll have your finest beverage, kind sir." Thor grinned at the barista.
"He'll have the same." Harry smiled at the tired man and presented his card to pay.
Steve went next, and the old man ordered his drink with nervous gusto.
"I'm sorry sir, pumpkin spiced latte is only served in fall. It's summer now. Maybe you'd like something from our seasonal menu." The barista compromised.
Steve's face fell.
"I'll have the same as my friends I guess." He looked nearly ready to cry.
Presenting his green card, Steve typed in the last pin he could remember.
"I'm really sorry sir, but your CARD HAS DECLINED!!!!" The cashier said.
Steve waved his hand frantically to calm the man down.
"PLEASE PRESENT YOUR CARD AGAIN, THE TRANSACTION WAS DENIED. CHECK YOUR FUNDS BEFORE PURCHASE NEXT TIME!!" The barista advised. Some other teenagers laughed loudly at Steve's plight.
Harry swooped in with his own card and made a contactless payment so that Steve could get his drink.
As they waited for their venti drinks to whirr around in the blenders, Steve began to cry.
"I don't know why they had to embarrass me like that!!" He sobbed.
Harry stared at the man incredulously. "It's only a failed transaction. Happens to loads of people every day. That guy was just salty. But hey, it's an early morning. So much good left in the day right!!" Harry grabbed their cups as the barista called their orders out, and ushered the crying man and the big guy over to the corner sofas.
"This coffee place is so different to the shops of my day." Steve finally stopped crying and sucked up some of his drink through the straw so loudly, the family in the sofa cubby next to them stopped their conversation to stare.
Harry nodded. "This is a Starbucks Steve. It's like the most famous coffee chain ever. If you want intimate and gourmet, you should visit one of the one hit wonders around here. That vibe you're looking for, it's still here, but you have to really search for it."
They slurped their drinks in silence for a while.
"Did you forget your pin earlier?" Harry asked thinking back to Steve's card troubles.
"I don't think so. I just..." Steve pulled out his wallet and showed Harry the card.
"Steve you silly billy. That card is for The Greatest Bank of America. That's not a bank now. You really need to talk to Mr Stark and your employer about where your money has been going. Didn't you have to like, sort this stuff out before even starting new missions?" Harry balked at the green card with shock. It was so old, the thing was made of paper.
Steve blushed. "Mr Fury and Stark did give me a card when I started working there. But I thought it would connect the banks so I could still use my current card."
"That thing, is not current. Throw it away like we did with the 80's." Harry grumbled.
"Well it's just, I'm terrible at remembering numbers, so I have to write down my pin so I can use new cards." Steve pulled out his new black card and a post it note. "Look I wrote it down here- 49..."
"SHUT UP!!" Harry yelled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude Mr Rogers, but you never tell your pin to anybody. Someone might try to steal your money. Because they'll snatch your card so quickly you won't even notice it's gone until you get home, and then they'll have finessed your whole account."
Steve pouted. "I love my green card." He sighed.
"Get rid of it."
Harry delivered his two charges back to Stark Tower, and then meandered his way home.
For all the hype the group of Avengers got, Stark was a moron with no manners, Steve was not just a man out of time but a man without a brain, and Thor had never been to a geography class in his life.
He didn't want to meet the rest of them.
He wanted some sleep.
He'd send in his resignation form in the morning.
He just needed a quick... nap...