Sam Wilson hated February. With the holidays far enough behind and the warmer weather not quite there yet, it felt like the whole world existed suspended in molasses. He especially hated the down time the team got during February because, unlike after saving the world, Steve didn’t seem to think it was slow enough to send everyone home.
So here he was, spending time in the tower without actually needing to be in the tower. He felt like he was just wasting away, spending time without any actual purpose for it. Laying on his bed in his room of the tower, he’d been trying to fall asleep for over an hour.
With a big sigh, he rolled out of the bed. The hallway appeared dark and abandoned when he opened the door from his room, choosing to venture out to get a late night snack. He silently crept his way to the kitchen, careful not to wake the few others that lived on the floor.
Sam flicked on the switch over the sink to bathe the immediate area in a dull light. He opened the fridge, snagging the necessities for a midnight sandwich when he heard a thud from beyond the counter behind him. Sam felt his adrenaline spike, immediately waking him up as he turned around towards the source.
“What’re you doing? Go to bed” Bucky leaned against the counter, hands spread against the cool granite.
“Fuck off, you don’t need to follow me everywhere” Sam argued, throwing the pack of deli turkey at the man.
Bucky caught it easily, opening the package and holding out a small piece to the stark white kitten that appeared, climbing up his back, over his shoulder towards the food. “You woke Alpine up.”
“God forbid”
“He better”
Sam put the top piece of bread onto his creation, cutting it in half as a final measure. Bucky reached over and snagged half, the two falling into a lull as they ate.
A quiet rumble broke the silence, Alpine now standing and staring into the dark hallway.
“Cat’s pissed” Sam said around his most recent bite. He went back to the fridge, replacing the ingredients he pulled earlier.
“You really missed your calling as a vet, ya know?” Bucky turned around lazily and suddenly froze, “Sam.”
“What? Make your own sandwich if you want more.”
“Sam, look”
With a long suffering sigh, Sam turned around and his breath caught in his throat. Breaking the pitch black scene of the hallway were two dull green spots. “What is that?”
Bucky broke Sam’s concentration by throwing the deli turkey package down the hallway. The green glowing spots disappeared for a second, the sound of the package hitting the ground echoing back to them.
The dots reappeared a few seconds later, this time appearing to move closer to them. Alpine started growling in full effect, cowering next to Bucky’s shirt collar.
The centurion reached for the butter knife Sam used for his sandwich. Sam hit the lights, plunging the kitchen into true bright fluorescent lighting.
Bucky cursed at the onslaught of light in his vision, shielding his eyes with the metal arm. A similar curse echoed his own, drawing the attention to the newcomer.
Standing in the opening to the hallway was Tony’s little pet project, the spider-teen. His messy hair, curling in every direction offered no protection from the fluorescent lighting. Peter rubbed a sleeve of his old MIT sweatshirt over his eyes, “What’s that for?”
“Webs, what the fuck? You glow now?” Sam near-shouted - other sleeping Avengers be damned.
“I don’t glow, I’m just thirsty!” the teen murmured through a yawn, heading to the cabinet to grab a glass for water.
Bucky and Sam exchanged a look while Alpine hopped onto the counter and moved towards the newcomer.
–
It was late. Later than Tony liked to admit and past the time he should’ve had the kid to bed by. He looked over the lab tables towards the spider-kid. Currently, his mentee sat on top of one of the lab benches, softly talking to Karen and FRIDAY about the newest batch of web fluid the AIs helped him synthesize.
Ever since putting Karen on the kid’s phone, Peter seemed to enjoy conversations between the AIs and him much more often. Whenever Tony came up on a deadline he couldn’t miss, the kid would just start working on whatever he could with the two AIs.
It reminded him a little too much of his bond with JARVIS.
Tony shook his head, clearing that train of thought before it could derail. “Kid, I think we need to call it a night. Ready to head up?”
Brown eyes snapped up to meet his with a lopsided smile, “Sure, Mr. Stark!” The kid pocketed his phone and came bounding over. Together, they headed out of the lab. “FRI, lights please” Tony called over his shoulder.
Suddenly the lab plunged into the darkness, with only the elevator’s opening for light. No - that’s not quite true, next to the billionaire, Peter’s eyes reflected the light back in a glowing, dull green.
“Kid…how long have your eyes been reflective?”