the friend™
“what took you so long?” natasha called, finally noticing tony walking into the cafeteria. she also saw that he was accompanied by someone else.
“what? you know i love making a surprise entrance.” tony answered, joining the others on the table. everyone looked at the extra body sitting next to him. the stranger visibly tensed up. “um, guys, i’m over here!” tony snapped his fingers multiple times.
“yeah, and you’re going to act like we can’t see him.” bucky said, pointing to the stranger. “no offence.”
“none taken.” the stranger replied, before taking a bite out of his sandwich.
“so, are we going to get a name? or are we gonna play a guessing game.” sam asked, causing natasha to punch him. “jeez, romanoff!”
“sam, oh my lord.” natasha muttered. “sorry, about him. he’s stupid.”
“that’s one way to put it.” bucky said, grinning.
“is today bully sam wilson day?” sam whined.
“no, that’s everyday.” clint claimed, smiling.
“moving on... who’s this?” steve asked.
“stephen strange.” the stranger revealed.
“ah, so you’re tony’s boyfriend. glad to finally put a name on a face.” peter said, innocently. stephen raised an eyebrow.
“uh, i’m not tony’s boyfriend.” the others stared at him.
“yeah, guys, jeez. i barely know the guy.” tony shook his head slightly.
“really?” natasha and peter asked, peter’s was shocked and innocent whilst natasha’s was more teasing.
“yes, i am sure.”
“hello, friends.” thor said, joining the table. they all greeted him. “any of you seen bruce?”
“no, sorry thor.”
“nope.”
“sorry, thor.”
“haven’t seen him all day.” thor groaned.
“it’s alright.” thor slumped down between carol and pepper. carol patted her friend on the back. “so, stark is finally introducing us to his boyfriend?” thor asked, when he finally noticed stephen on their table for the first time. stephen groaned whilst tony rolled his eyes.
“why do people think i’m his boyfriend?” stephen muttered.
“well, i’m not sure about the others, but i noticed both of you were quite close in the bathroom, so i just assumed.” thor admitted. stephen slammed his head on the table when everyone made suggestive noises. one of them from clint being:
“oh my lord they were kissing! get some, stark!”
“we were not kissing, get your minds out of the fucking gutter!” tony yelled, causing everyone on the table to calm down. “look, something serious and personal happened to stephen and i was just making sure he was okay.” stephen smiled softly as tony put a hand on stephen’s shoulder.
“uh, i dunno. that shoulder touch seems a little low on the platonic scale if you ask me.” rhodey teased, causing pepper to punch him. “why are you girls so punchy?”
“why are you guys so stupid and never know when to keep your mouths shut?” natasha snapped back.
“you took the words right out my mouth, nat.” pepper smiled at the redhead. wanda and carol nodded.
“ugh, whatever.” rhodey sighed.
“agh, i need to go!” peter exclaimed, staring at his phone. he shoved his last two churros into his mouth and ran off.
“bye, peter?” pepper raised an eyebrow at the younger one’s odd behaviour.
“um, shouldn’t i be introduced? or do i just have to use nicknames?” stephen asked.
“oh, shit yeah.” tony stood up, walking over to rhodey. “this is my pal, rhodey. i call him rhodey bear. don’t be disturbed or anything, we’re just such close friends we have weird pet names for each other.” tony went over to carol. “this is carol. big, strong lesbian. emphasis on strong. she’s really strong.” tony glared at her and she smiled. “too strong for my liking.” he moved onto thor. “speaking of strong, we have thor. has a weird fetish for thunder and lightning.”
“what?” stephen furrowed his eyebrows.
“stark, it was one time.”
“no it wasn’t! whenever there was a thunderstorm, whilst we were all freaking the fuck out, this guy would be cheering and dancing around. i don’t know why, but he gets really excited.”
“okay, i will admit, i do get a tad bit excited.”
“you got out a fucking hammer one time and broke my lamp!”
“i apologised multiple times!”
“not enough, in my opinion!” they glared at each other, before thor started laughing and tony smiled. “anyway, he’s very lovable and extremely loyal. though, he’s very strong as well and can be dangerous.” tony moved onto pepper.
“this is pepper. one of the many calm people of the bunch. she’s my pal. we’ve known each other since we were little, same with rhodey. we dated at one point, but, meh. we stayed as friends, though, and never left the others side. she’s really smart.”
“wade! where are you?” peter called.
“petey pie! i mean peter! i’m here!” wade waved enthusiastically. peter sighed in relief, pulling his friend in for a hug. at least, if they were still friends.
“this is okay with you, right?” wade chuckled softly and peter’s heart soared.
wow, peter must be feeling very guilty.
“of course, petey pie. i can call you petey pie, right?” wade asked, letting go of peter. peter nodded.
“listen, about what i said-“
“it’s cool, i get it. i can come across as too eager, you know.”
“yeah, but i didn’t want to scare you off or anything. i still wanted to be friends.”
“oh. sorry, i thought you didn’t want to hang out with me completely. the words you said made it seem like it...”
“i am so sorry. you’re not annoying. well, you can be, but that doesn’t mean i hate you.” they both smiled. peter had missed wade so much.
“have i told you about my obsession with pikachu?” wade asked, showing peter his pikachu backpack.
yep, peter had definitely missed wade. and wade missed him.