Dinner
“From the same source I have not taken…”
-Alone, by Edgar Allan Poe
Flash was sandwiched between Betty and I, being cuddled to death on the school lawn after Decath. got out. We had gotten into a pretty deep conversation, and Flash had started talking about the way he felt when it came to the team.
“I used to find it to be a safe place,” he explains. “The team was opening, and kind. Then I started making jokes, and I know my humor doesn’t appeal to everyone, but they started to give me weird looks and avoid me. Ever since freshman year, I’ve always been so jealous of Parker because he had everything. I picked on him because he was perfect, and it never phased him. The one time I had the spot light, he pushed me out of it again when he didn’t even deserve to have it back. They all love him and hate me, I get that, but if they would just give me five minutes, I would never ask for anything ever again. Five minutes to prove I’m not who they think.”
“Flash, you deserve a lot more than five minutes” I said, hugging his head to my chest as Betty ran a hand through his hair. “If they won’t let you in, then Betty and I will.”
I heard Flash sniffle a bit, but he didn’t say anything. Betty kissed his cheek, “They have no clue what they are missing out on. You are smart, and protective, and kind. Harley and I will always be here, we promise.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.
A sudden honk startled us all into sitting positions. A sleek silver cat had pulled up on the curb, that I recognized immediately. The window rolled down and we were greeted by Rhodey’s smiling face, “Hey kids. Happy couldn’t make it, so I will be your river today.”
“Is that really”
“It is,” Flash grinned, answering Betty. Her mouth hung open, making Rhodey and I burst out in laughter.
“Darlin’, you’re gonna catch flies,” I said, getting up off the grass.
Flash helped out still shocked friend into the car and I climbed into the back with them. After we all buckled up, Rhodey pulled out of the school and made his way through the city.
“So kids, we have an hour before dinner at Stark Tower and I’m not in the mood to go back to the compound,” Rhodey looked at us through the rear view mirror when we were at a red light. “Who wants to go to the Himalayas and meet a real wizard?”
“The Himalayas?” Flash asked. “Sir, er, lieutenant, we can’t get to the Himalayas and back to New York in an hour.”
“And I don’t have a passport,” Betty added.
I just smirked, sharing a look with Rhodey in the mirror, as he took off to the New York Sanctum.
Rhodey made a parallel park in front of the five story tall building on the corner of Bleecker Street. Getting out of the car, I looked up to the fifth floor where a circular window sat in the center of the wall, overlooking the New York streets. The window was empty.
We lead my friends inside and up the stairs to the fourth floor where three sets of glass double doors displayed the rain forest, the California beach, and a desert. I looked up at Rhodey for permission before running to the middle door, the one displaying the stony beach. I turned the dial until we could see the streets of Kathmandu.
I opened the glass doors holding out my hand to my friends to help them through.
“How does it feel to be wrong?” I asked once we were standing fully in an alleyway, the cold nipping at our skin. My friends both had wide eyes, and were almost frozen from shock.
Rhodey walked up to a green door on the plain wall and knocked a quick code the sorccerrers had taught us. In the blink of an eye, we were inside the open space of Kamar Taj’s entry room.
If my friends said anything, I didn’t hear it, because as soon as we walked into the corridor a certain red cloak wrapped around my ankle and hung me upside down from the ceiling. My friends and guardian all burst out into laughter as I struggled with the cloak, yelling for it to put me down while trying to keep my shirt down.
Uncle Stephen wouldn’t have noticed the three standing in the corridor had it not been for my yelling for help. He had his nose stuffed in a book, Wong walking beside him and speaking quickly,but when he heard me, he looked up and grinned.
“Is the cloak being mean to you?” he asked, paying no mind to the two laughing teens who were practically rolling on the floor.
“Tell this glorified rug to put me down,” I begged.
“I don’t know, what did Rhodey say?” Stephen turned to my guardian.
“I say keep the punk upside down,” Rhodey said, smirking up at me.
“You are the worst uncle and parent ever,” I whined. I tried to pull my leg out of the cloak’s grasp but was unsuccessful. “Betty, Flash, stop laughing and help me!”
“Nope,” Betty finally said through fits of giggles.
“Never,” Flash agreed.
After another minute I gave up and let myself hang there, arms crossed over my chest. Stephen waved his hand and I was gently lowered until Levi could lie down on the floor. I stood, fixing my shirt and hair in a huff. Betty walked over and helped me, poking at my flushed cheeks until I smiled.
“Is this your first time in the Himalayas?” Uncle Stephen asked Betty and Flash as he gave them a tour of Kamar Taj.
“This is my first time outside of the country in general,” Betty said, looking around us in aw.
“Are you really the boss here?” Flash asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself the boss,” the doc shrugged. “They call me the Sorcerer Supreme, and in a normal workplace I would be the boss, but this is no normal workplace.”
As we passed a set of pillars looking out into the outdoor courtyard, we all peaked out to the class. They were learning about pushing their astral forms out of their bodies then back in.
“What do you people even do?” Flash asked.
“We protect your reality from outside threats that the Avengers can’t,” Stephen explained,continuing the tour. “We fight beings from other dimensions and universes. The multiverse is a very dangerous place, and the sorcerers are earth’s first line of defense.”
“So you can do real magic?”
“Correct. We call it The Mystic Arts, though. Magic is really just science that humans don’t understand. We bend matter, space and time, drawing energy from other dimensions and from our own untapped power.”
Rhodey and I were proudly ginning as my friends asked questions in amazement. We followed a step behind them to give them space, but still close enough to hear everything.
Rhodey nudged me, still looking straight ahead, “I told you this might be good.”
“What can I say, mother is always right,” I teased, making him laugh.
“So I’m mother now?”
“Ya always have been.”
We both started laughing while Stephen was in the middle of explaining the time stone, earning a glare from my uncle..
“Speaking of which,” Rhodey whispered now out of courtesy to the doc. “There is something we need to talk about when your friends go home. Tony, Pep and I had a long conversation after our mission a few days ago, and we feel it’s only right to get your opinion on the matter.”
Rhodey looked down at his watch and cleared his throat, “Well kids, that’s all the time we have for today. Maybe the good doctor will invite you to come back another time.”
“Of course,” Stephen nodded.
Both of my friends made a disappointing sounds, but followed Rhodey and I back to the entrance hall. Stephen offered to portal us right back to the tower, but Rhodey wanted to get his car, so we said our goodbyes and were off through the portal door.
During the drive back to the tower Flash, Betty and I nerded out over Uncle Stephen’s magic. It was fun to hear their personal opinions of the logic of it all, Flash being a firm believer in science, and Betty always open to the idea of real magic.
After seeing Kamar Taj nothing really seems impressive anymore, but they were still amazed by Stark Tower. They seemed especially interested in the renewable energy source that made the tower so different from everywhere else, as well as the elevator that ran on magnetism. The first floor was furnished like a modern home with those weird chairs that have no back, and clean, shiny surfaces. The first ten floors were reserved for tech only, the penthouse was where Tony and Pepper lived, then two floors below them was what we called the family floor, where Rhodey and I lived. The family floor had a bright fire place in a corridor living room that had one door beside the couch that leads to the kitchen, and a half way that lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
Below the family floor was the business floor where we had a large dining room with a long table you sit at during board meetings. I never liked the business floor, it was too clean and modern like the first floor of the tower, so we usually just ate on the family floor. Tonight though, when we got to the family floor, there was a note in the kitchen saying we were on the business floor tonight since we cant fit everyone at the five setter table.
Rhodey and I didn’t think much of it, we figured that they just didn’t want to cram six people around our table. On the way down to the business floor I explained to my friends that my guardians were going to try and test them since they are very protective over me. They both just laughed, probably not understanding how deadly serious I was.
We walked into the dinning room laughing and joking, pushing each other around and making really bad jokes. All of us froze when we realized there were three other people besides Pepper and Tony sitting at the long white table.
I wasn’t all that surprised to see Happy, though he rarely ate with us, but it was a little shocking to see his girlfriend sitting by his side. They had been dating for a month or two, but she had never actually come over to the tower. She had long, straight brown hair and circular glasses, and even I couldn’t deny the fact that the woman was extremely beautiful. She was really good for Happy, and I loved the days that she hung out with him and I at the compound. It was that a boy was sitting beside her,looking more comfortable in my own home than I felt.
“Harley, you shouldn’t be all that shocked, May and I have been talking about her having dinner with us for weeks,” Happy said with a laugh when he saw my expression.
“Yeah, uh, hey May,” I said, unable to remove my eyes from the boy.
“Didn’t I tell you that her nephew was Peter?” Happy asked.
Slowly I shook my head.
When I looked at May and Peter Parker sitting next to each other, the dots definitely connected. They boy had those big brown eyes and toned olive skin that reminded me of the locals in Italy that I had met on vacation once. Their voices as well as sense of style were even similar, to the point that I would have been convinced that May was his mom.
From the corner of my eye I saw Flash shrink and Betty instinctively stepped a foot in front of him. I felt hostile towards the boy, and in a hot flash of anger almost turned and left the room. I wished I could tell him off for the way he and the rest of the team made Flash feel, but held myself back due to the fact that his aunt was a pretty awesome person. I shocked myself when I realized later that it wasn’t only Flash that made me mad at Peter Parker, I was suddenly understanding what Flash was talking about. I was jealous that he had as amazing on an aunt as May, jealous of how Tony was talking to him before we walked in, as though Peter were his child and not me, jealous of the way all of my family seemed to love him.
“Peter told me he met you on Monday,” May smiled like it was a good first meeting. “He was asking a lot about you that night.”
“Aunt May!” Peter looked at her in embarrassment.
“Harley was asking about Peter too,” Happy said, earning himself a glare from me.
Rhodey must have been the only one who sensed the waves of annoyance I was practically radiating. He guided us to our seats that were on the other end of the table, as far from Peter as he could get us. I could see something in Betty’s expression change when she was seated in front of May. It eerily reminded me of Pepper.
“Hello Ms. Parker, I’m Betty Brant,” she said, holding out her hand with a business like smile. “Midtown High’s news anchor. I believe we met at one of the Decath. matches last year.”
“I believe we did,” May smiled and shook her hand. If she sensed Betty’s tension, she didn’t let it show. “It is very nice to meet you again Betty. I didn’t realize you were Harley’s friend.”
“We just became friends today actually,” Betty said.
“Tony, Pep, Happy, these are my friends Flash and Betty,” I introduced them, letting myself relax a bit.
“So you’re the one he won’t stop talking about,” Pepper said jokingly to Flash.
“I am afraid so Ms. Potts,” Flash laughed a little.
“I like him,” Pepper whispered to me. “Does the girl remind you of anyone?”
I couldn’t help my laugh. After that point, everybody melted into easy conversations or ate their food. Betty talked with Peter a little, but he was mostly engaged with Tony. I pushed down my growing dislike for the guy and ignored him until he decided to try to talk to me.
“So how are you liking the school Harley?” he asked.
I froze up. Everyone was suddenly looking at me.
“It’s a good school,” I said. I slapped on that fake smile, causing Happy to cringe in recognition of it and Pepper to raise an eyebrow at it.s use. “The teachers are very helpful so far, and most of the students are nice.
“Did you enjoy your first Decath. Meeting?”
“For the most part. I spent most of it watching how things are done, and talking to these two. Definitely a better way to spend my time instead of wasting away at the compound.” I said.
Tony snorted, looking to Peter, “This boy spends more time at the compound than anyone else, I swear. He hates being alone in the tower, and doesn’t like tag along with Stephen all day unless he’s in the library. Pep was the only one who could ever seem to get him out of there by bribing him with talking down a cocky businessman.”
Everyone laughed easily,but I had to force it through slightly gritted teeth. I didn’t like this one bit. Tony had always teased, but only with family, it felt different when I barely knew the guy he was telling my stories to. Flash saw the way my smile was trying to slip, and took my hand under the table for comfort. A wave of calmness passed over me, allowing the smile to return to its full strength and for the conversation to move on.
After dinner, my friends and I made our way to the elevator where we loaded in and pressed the button for the family floor. Before the door could close through, Tony stopped it and stepped in with Peter.
Betty, Flash and I started talking about what movies we were up for watching tonight, and what snacks were required for it. Tony and Peter were talking in hushed tones, so quiet I could barely hear them, but a certain hero’s name caught my ear and I started half listening in to what they were saying.
“So you have a new design for Spider-Man’s web shooters-”
“There’s a new security threat somewhere in Brooklyn-”
“How late is May letting you stay out-”
Betty and Flash when quiet when they saw me looking at my guardian and Parker from the corner of my eye.
“So Mr. Stark, what do you have planned for tonight?” Betty asked. I could practically feel her suppressing her interviewer voice she used early that day on a boy on the Decath. Team.
“Peter and I have some work to do in the lab,” he said, giving her a pleasant smile. “You kids are studying for a test this week, right?”
“That was the original plan, but Betty and I have all of the stuff down already, and Harls is a genius,” Flash said, nudging me playfully.
I rolled my eyes, “We decided to have a movie night instead. Maybe a sleepover if you’re cool with it.”
“Har, you know me, of course I’m ‘cool’ with it,” Tony said. Then, he looked at Peter and the light bulb went off in his head. “Maybe Peter should join you.”
“Mr. Stark, I’m busy tonight in the lab with you,” Peter said.
“If they want you to join them, then I’ll let you off the hook for tonight.”
A beat passed and Flash was the first to speak, “That would be cool. I mean, we’re just marathoning Battlestar Galactica and eating junk if that’s what you’re into.”
“I’ve never actually seen Battlestar all the way through,” Peter admitted.
“Then join us,” I said, now assured that Flash was okay with this happening.
“Sounds good then,” he smiled.
We stepped out of the elevator at the family floor, leaving Tony alone. Peter said thank you and goodnight before the elevator closed, then shot May a text to let her know where he was. Flash and Betty made class to their respective parents to make sure it was okay that they spent the night while Peter and I went to the kitchen to get popcorn and other snacks ready.
“Can you make the popcorn?” I asked him, walking over to the fridge. “It’s on the third shelf in the pantry with all of the sessioning. You can pick whatever toppings if you want it.”
Parker nodded and started it up, leaning against the counter, “What are you making?”
“Sugar strawberries and peaches n’ cream,” I said, pulling the fruits out of the fridge.
I looked up to see Peter raising an eyebrow at me, so I sighed and explained, “Strawberries covered in sugar, so just what the name sounds. Peaches n’ cream are peaches, or other assorted fruits in heavy whipping cream with sugar and whipped cream on top.”
“You southerners really like your sugar,” Peter commented, pulling the bag of popcorn out of the microwave to put another in.
“Only with our oxygen,” I snarked, popping a blueberry in my mouth after dipping it in sugar. I cut off the tops of the strawberries then rinsed them off and got to work on dipping them in sugar.
Peter snorted, dumping the contents of the popcorn bag into a large bowl.
We worked silently after that until he had made three bowls of popcorn with different seasoning on each. I wasn’t quite done yet, so he hopped up on the counter and watched me work.
Carefully I sat the four bowls of peaches and blueberries drown in cream and sugar onto their own plates,leaving plenty of room to decoratively set up the strawberries. In the blank space left on each plate, I carefully placed slices of bananas leaning on each other. When the full arrangement of the plates was done, I topped off the peaches n’ cream with whipped cream,then spraying a dollop on each strawberry and banana. I shook the can at the end, sure that there was only a little left, and squirted it in my mouth.
I saw Peter make a weird face from the corner of my eye and I turned to him.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing,” he held up his hands. “It’s just… that’s kinda gross.”
“Of course you would think so,” I said, tossing the empty cans in the trash.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothin’ offensive bud, just that you’re a New Yorker, born and breed, so I understand if you have no clue what it means to take that chip off your shoulder and live,” I shrugged. I started putting the remaining fruits away in the fridge, along with the leftover cream.
“Just because I think it’s gross to have whipped cream straight from the can doesn’t mean I have a chip on my shoulder,” he said.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, pulling another, almost empty can of whipped cream from the back of the fridge. “Have you ever actually tried it?”
“No,” he said,watching me carefully.
I tossed the can at him without warning and leaned against the counter as he caught it. “Try it,” I said, gesturing to the can.
“I’ll pass,” Peter said.
“And there goes that chip on your shoulder, perkin’ right up.”
“I won’t be peer pressured into having whipped cream from the can.”
“You sure ‘bout that?”
We had a staring contest, never breaking eye contact. Finally his resolve crumbled and I grinned as he popped the cap off.
“How do you even do this?” he asked.
“Shake the can, of course, then tip it upside down over your mouth with your head tilted back,” I instructed. “Try not to inhale or put the can in your mouth.”
Peter did as I said, swallowing down the whipped cream then making another odd face as he tossed the can back to me.
“You know, that was actually good for some reason,” he said.
“Fresh out of the can, it’s better than when it sits in the air,” I shrugged, putting it away.
I listened for a second for Flash or Betty. It sounded like Betty was putting the disk for the first session, and Flash was still on the phone with his mom or dad.
“So I need to give you a quick shovel talk because I don’t have that long before one of them wanders in here,” I said, causing him to gain a confused expression. “Flash messed up in teasing you okay, but he’s trying to fix it. If you even fucking think about ignoring his attempts at a new start or push him out of the light ever again, I will personally make you see stars. I know you guys are seventeen, and I only know of when it happened when you were fifteen, but I’m smart enough to figure out that stuff like that has happened multiple times.”
“I understand,” Peter said, putting his hands up again. “Though, you talk like you aren’t our age.”
“I’m fifteen,” I said bluntly. “Was pushed up two year in schooling as a kid back in Tennessee.”
He blinked in shock for a moment, but before he could say anything in response, Flash popped his head in the room.
“Guys, we’re ready if you have everything finished,” he said, looking between us.
“Yeah, I grabbed the four plates waitress style, the way my mom taught me, and walked into the living room. Betty had the main menu pulled up.
“Do you mind putting on subtitles?” Flash asked, taking his plate of sugary fruit as he sat on the couch beside her. Peter sat on Betty’s other side, while I sat on the floor between Flash’s legs.
“Sure,” Betty said through the strawberry in her mouth, starting up the show after everyone was settled in.
We only got through six of the hour long episodes before I could hear Betty’s gentle snores. I glanced up and saw she had her head on Flash’s shoulder, cuddling his arm like a teddy bear. Peter drape a blanket gently around her shoulders, making eye contact with Flash for a moment. I looked back to the screen, only making it a few more minutes before I started to drift off to the sound of Six and Baltar talking about the existence of God.
I was trapped in that state where I awake but asleep, blinking in and out of reality, unsure of what reality even was. At some point a soft blanket was tucked around me, and a pillow was propped between Flash’s knees for me to rest my head on.
The words and sounds coming from the TV blended with what I barely recognized as Peter and my friend’s voices. They Spoke quietly, but in a way that assumed Betty and I were out cold. I only caught a few words here and there between waves of unconsciousness.
“Peter,” I heard Flash say at one point.
Peter stopped him, “I understand, you don’t have to explain it if you don’t want to.”
“I want to. You deserve and explanation-”
Darkness and quiet.
“Why do you care about him this deeply? You’ve only known him for a week.” Peter’s voice.
“He’s special. There is something very special about him. Betty was caught by it too. I have a feeling you can sense it too.” Flash’s voice.
Darkness and quiet.
“I promised I would be honest with you, so I have to tell you something,” Flash Spoke me into the dim light again. “I know your secret-”
An explosion on screen caught my thin attention span before I could hear what he said.
“How long have you known?” Peter asked.
“Ever since DC.”
“But the way you were acting-”
“The way I treated you was the act.”
Darkness and quiet. This time permanent. It overtook me, leaving me floating in an endless abyss with no beginning or end. I didn’t dream often, unless it was a nightmare. Either I would stay like this or a nightmare would break through the peace.
The moment I felt a pressure on my neck in the shape of a hand, I knew this was going to be a long night. At least this night I had my friends to wake up to when the light returned.