Chapter 4
Jason hadn’t been on this floor before, the large open space clearly used exclusively for parties like this given the full bar, and more tables and seats than anywhere else. It was a really good turnout, and he could already tell he was gonna get some interesting looks from people who would be curious about why he was spending so much time with the Avengers. It’d probably be easier for everyone if he just publicly joined the team and did the whole identity reveal thing, but he was in no way prepared for that. He’d only been an Avenger for about a day, and that was not nearly enough time for him to stop thinking of himself as an outsider here.
As usual, he didn’t let any of his nerves and uncertainty show and put on an unaffected expression, and though Natasha clearly saw through it, she thankfully didn’t comment as she led them over to the far wall where Steve was trying and failing to get Bucky to mingle. Having Clint quietly tell him some of the gossip about some of the unfamiliar guests along the way definitely helped put him at ease. “At least stop glaring at anyone who gets too close,” they heard Steve say, which explained why this part of the floor was partially deserted. Natasha had probably been right about Bucky brooding in a corner definitely not helping his PR. Once they’d gotten close enough, Bucky looked over with a half smile and Steve turned around to give him a frankly blinding grin.
“Steve, you are a god among men,” Jason said as seriously as possible before either of them could say anything, mostly for the bewildered look on Steve’s face and the way Bucky’s eyes lit up in amusement. “Seriously, that painting of Gotham is perfect,” he continued, and understanding dawned on his face.
“I’m glad you like it,” Steve responded with a warm smile. “I thought you might want a piece of home with you here.”
“You should have seen him arguing with the other artists,” Bucky cut in, smirking when Steve shot him an exasperated glare. “They were so confused.” Yeah, he imagined having Captain America tell you not to add anything Batman in a Gotham painting would be wild for most artists.
Before any of them could say anything else, a clearly intoxicated, vaguely recognizable person approached them, eyes on Jason specifically. “Hey! You’re Jason!” the dude exclaimed excitedly, and thankfully introduced himself before Jason could try to figure out how to respond to that. “I’m Scott Lang!”
“Ant Man, right?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow when Scott nodded his head about ten times like he was a bobble head. He didn’t know how much of this was him being drunk or just who he was as a person.
“That’s me! Hey, does Batman really drink blood?” Scott asked obnoxiously, sounding insanely curious but like he was expecting to get laughed at. It was a ridiculous question, but he definitely wasn’t the only one out there who bought into that rumor. Jason remembered Hal Jordan and Barry Allen in particular trying to get Bruce to confess to being a vampire, which he’d always thought was fucking hilarious.
Instead of laughing it off and giving him the right answer, Jason put on his best ‘nervous’ expression and did his best to look shifty. “Uh, where did you hear that?” he asked a bit shakily, and saw the moment Scott bought it.
“Holy shit! He’s really a vampire?!”
“Hey, keep your voice down, alright?” Jason whisper shouted at him, darting his eyes around the room like he was paranoid. “He doesn’t like anyone knowing, so if you know what’s good for you, don’t spread that around. He’s got eyes everywhere.”
Scott snapped his mouth shut, immediately covering his neck with his hands like that would somehow protect him from a vampire, and walked away like he was in a daze, and only after he was far enough away did Jason turn to look at the other four, who were all also clearly trying not to lose it. He made eye contact with a smirking Natasha and they all simultaneously broke, even Bucky was shaking with laughter, which clearly had Steve fucking elated.
Already he felt so much more comfortable at this thing, now that some of the tension had evaporated. “That was great,” Clint said through his laughter.
“I knew you’d fit right in with us,” Steve said, which was honestly exactly what Jason needed to hear. He knew he already fit in great with his fellow assassins, but if Captain America gave him the seal of approval, he really didn’t need any other reassurance.
“Is there a reason why Scott just asked me if we have wooden stakes and garlic?” Tony asked as he walked over to them, an anxious teenager trailing behind him, and all of them tried and failed to stifle more laughter.
“Jason told him Batman was a vampire,” Bucky explained, being the first one to get his shit together.
Tony stared at them for a second, looking like he had no idea how to react to that, and the kid looked like he really wanted to laugh, but seemed too intimidated by them all to actually do it. “That’s hilarious,” Tony finally said, sounding almost accusatory. “I shouldn’t have expected any different, since last time we were at a party together you stole my wallet.”
“You ever gonna let that go?” Jason asked, as the kid looked between them with interest. Given his age and the fact that he was with Tony, he thought he might be Spider-Man, though he hadn’t expected Spidey to be shy in the slightest.
“A thirteen year old son of a billionaire took my wallet, of course I’ll be holding that grudge forever,” he responded, and maybe Spider-Man ducked his head, clearly trying very hard not to laugh. “Hey, Parker, no laughing at me.”
“Come on, Mr. Stark, you gotta admit that’s really funny,” definitely Spider-Man said, which got a fake glare from Tony.
“Come on, bug boy, I need to get you away from these bad influences and introduce you to some people from MIT,” Tony said, grinning when the kid’s eyes widened in near panic, ignoring the protests about him being not ready for that and leading him away. At least he got confirmation that the kid was Spider-Man, and he resolved to actually meet him later
About an hour after he’d last seen the kid, Jason saw Spidey chilling outside on the balcony away from everyone and excused himself from his conversation with Thor about what Asgardian parties were like (which sounded really fucking wild) to make his way out there, getting a startled look from the kid. “This your first time at one of these things?” Jason asked, sending him what he hoped was a reassuring look.
“Yeah, it’s a little…” he trailed off, like he had no idea how to finish that sentence.
“Trust me, I get it,” Jason responded. “I went from being homeless to living in a mansion; I had no idea what to do at any of the Wayne Galas I had to go to.” That seemed to be the right thing to say, because the kid finally relaxed. “I’m Jason by the way, since Tony didn’t actually introduce us.”
“I’m Peter,” Spidey said with a shy smile.
“Good to officially meet you, Peter. Thanks for my AI by the way.” Jason had put his new helmet on the night before and met his AI, which was fucking awesome. It was just as advanced as Tony’s AI, with its own personality which was pretty sassy and funny. He didn’t even know it was possible to program sass in an AI, but somehow this genius kid had done it.
Peter grinned brightly, shyness melting away. “You’re welcome! I mean, Mr. Stark did teach me how to do it, which was totally awesome. Have you named her yet?” Jason immediately knew why everyone loved this kid so much; his enthusiasm was infectious
“Her name is Zee,” Jason answered, which got another winning smile. This kid was seriously adorable.
“That’s so cool! I named mine Karen,” Peter told him, which was definitely fitting. “It’s so much better than trying to do everything on my own.”
“How long you been doin this, Peter?” Jason asked, and recognized the cautious, almost defensive look the kid gave him in response. He remembered having to deal with some heroes- and the occasional villain- giving him shit when he was Robin, and he usually hated them more for trying to convince him to go have a normal childhood instead of fighting criminals way more than the villains who didn’t pull their punches. Obvious exceptions aside.
They just didn’t really get that he didn’t have a normal childhood to begin with, and sometimes the life chooses you rather than the other way around. He had a feeling the two of them had that in common. “Um, I started when I was fourteen, and I’m turning seventeen in a month, so it’s been about three years,” Peter said, looking out at the city to avoid eye contact. “Why?”
“Well, since I’m gonna be living between here and Gotham, I was wondering if you’d mind showing me around,” Jason said, smirking when he got a wide eyed look in response. “I’m not gonna be able to just stop patrolling, even though New York isn’t half as fucked as Gotham is, and I know there are a few of you who have your own territories, so I don’t wanna be stepping on anyone’s toes.”
Peter smiled, looking almost approving. “That’d be awesome! Maybe we can patrol together sometimes? I can show you around and maybe you can show me some cool ninja moves?”
“Sure, sounds good to me,” Jason responded, smiling back when Peter gave him a mega-watt grin. Normally, Jason would not ever agree to teach some sixteen year old superhero he just met anything, and would usually not even want anything to do with one at all, but this kid. He was clearly a genuinely good person, was thrown into this shit just as much as Jason himself was when he was even younger, and there was something just so endearing about Peter. He’d been doing this for nearly three years, and somehow still seemed so innocent, which was nearly impossible, and Jason found himself feeling weirdly protective of him, in a way he didn’t even really feel for his actual brothers.
Maybe it was because they were all exposed to the worst of the worst on a regular basis, and were all reasonably jaded because of it, which made all of them seem so much older. Tim was only a year older than Peter, and most of the time he seemed older than Dick, not to mention the demon kid who was fourteen and acted eighty. Peter probably had already been through way too much as well, but there was something undeniably jovial and optimistic about him that Jason remembered from his early days as Robin, and he wanted this kid to have that as long as he possibly could.
“Can I ask you a question?” Peter asked, and Jason was glad to see that he seemed much more comfortable talking to him now.
“Go for it.”
“Does anyone know that you’re here? Or that you know the Avengers in general?”
That wasn’t exactly what Jason was expecting the kid to ask, but it wasn’t really a difficult question. “A couple people,” he answered. “My friends Roy and Kori know some of it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my, uh,” he paused, trying to think of how to describe his relationship with Talia, which was kinda complicated. “sorta friend T knew, but no one else.”
“Not even your… family?” Peter said the last word unsurely, like he wasn’t sure if they were joking when he said the bats were his family.
“No way,” Jason responded immediately. “I’m not telling them until I absolutely have to. If they know, it’ll be a lot of drama, and I know Batman will be an asshole about it. My brothers would probably react a little better, but it’ll be definitely annoying.” He glanced over at Peter who was staring contemplatively at the skyline. “What about you? Anyone know about your ID?”
Peter smiled and shrugged a little. “My friends Ned and MJ know, and my aunt, but no one else. They all found out accidentally though.”
“That’s gotta be hard. I remember having the hardest time keeping a secret identity when I was in school,” Jason watched the last of the tension leave Peter’s shoulders as he leaned further on the railing.
“I had to drop a lot of my extracurriculars,” Peter confessed. “I told everyone it was because I had a Stark Internship, but half of the people don’t believe it. The only reason my teachers believe me is because I have all the paperwork, but it’s not like they’re gonna tell anyone.”
“I figured that was your cover story, since Tony has been introducing you as his personal intern to anyone who will listen,” Jason teased, laughing when Peter threw his head back and groaned over-dramatically. “Hey, you think we can convince Tony to challenge Steve to an arm wrestling competition as payback?”
Peter shot him a mischievous grin, clearly on board, and the two of them went back inside, intent on terrorizing a billionaire. Unsurprisingly, Tony lost, even with the Iron Man arm on, and would not shut up about it for the rest of the party, much to the amusement of the rest of them. Jason managed to convince Bucky and Steve to go against each other afterwards, and the friendly competition drew a large crowd, especially when it lasted over five minutes and both of them trash talked each other the whole time.
“Bet you five dollars Bucky wins,” Jason whispered to Peter who gave him a look like he was crazy.
“You’re so on, dude,” he said confidently.
“Steve, I’m gonna go play frisbee with your shield!” Jason shouted, and in Steve’s very brief distraction, Bucky slammed his hand down, winning the long match. Steve gave him the most betrayed look as Bucky cheered victoriously along with many people in the crowd who were probably also betting on him.
“That was totally cheating!” Peter whined, but the effect was ruined by how wide his grin was.
“Nope, there were no rules,” Jason responded cheerily. “Pay up, loser.”
As Peter begrudgingly handed Jason the money, Natasha appeared at his side with a smile. “You know, this will probably do wonders for Bucky’s image,” she commented, which Jason did not doubt. Already it looked like people weren’t so clearly wary of him anymore after witnessing his more playful side, instead laughing with him as Steve tried and failed to convince him to have a rematch, and pictures of the competition were probably going to wind up all over the internet.
The party winded down after that, which Jason was kind of glad for since he was reaching his limit of spending time around strangers. He was looking forward to hanging out with just his friends without so much attention on them all, which he could tell was mutual for most of them.
After the last of the guests had exited the building and it was just the superheroes left, it was clear that none of them were remotely tired, given the fact that Jason was pretty much nocturnal and everyone else had their own skewed sleep schedules, so Tony loudly proposed a movie night. Of course, he didn’t really give anyone any say in the matter since he left the room before he gave anyone a chance to respond, instead just telling them to meet him in the common room in twenty minutes on his way out. “Well, if we’re having a movie night I’m not doing it in this dress,” Natasha said after a brief moment of bemused silence. Yeah, Jason would definitely be down to change into more comfortable clothes now that it was turning to a more casual hang out.
Now dressed much more comfortably and sporting his favorite red hoodie, he followed Clint and Natasha down to the common floor, and was incredibly unprepared for what he saw when the elevator doors opened. A huge fucking banner hung from the ceiling with “WELCOME TO THE AVENGERS” plastered on it, and all of the Avengers- and Peter- were waiting with huge smiles in front of a cake decorated to look like his hood.
Clint snickered at whatever surprised expression was on his face and gently shoved him out of the elevator. “Surprise, Jace!” he said happily, and Jason didn’t try to repress the giant smile on his face.
“Welcome to the family!” He really, really loved these people.