Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 182

Peter Parker had a very average day at school.

He aced his algebra test – average, for him.

He had lunch with Ned – also average.

He and Ned drooled over Liz together from afar – still, unfortunately, average.

And now he's got a bucketload of homework, which is, of course, average as well.

He's working on polishing up the conclusion to his essay when there's a knock on his door – just about perfect timing, he'd say. He could go for some dinner. He's earned it.

"Just a minute!" he calls to his aunt. That really is all it should take – two minutes, maybe, but no more than that, he's sure. He'll feel a lot better with this off his plate.

"There's someone here to see you," May tells him. "I don't think you want to keep him waiting."

Peter lolls his head back, exasperated. Fucking Ned. "Alright, alright." He'll come back to his essay later. Right now, he has to tell his friend off.

He swings open the door, and his Aunt May is, predictably, on the other side of it, a somewhat suspicious smile on her face. Peter would roll his eyes if he didn't know how guilty he'd feel if he made her feel bad.

"Ned, I told you," Peter says as he steps around her, "I can't hang out today. I have – oh." He pauses, looking at the man in front of him. "You're not Ned."

Bruce Banner chuckles, a bit shyly – which is kind of funny, actually. He never would have taken an Avenger for being shy. "Yeah, not quite."

"What, uh..." Peter blinks a few times. "What're you doing here, Dr. Banner?" God, he can't believe he's talking to the Dr. Bruce Banner. Suddenly, he wishes Ned was here. They're definitely going to have to freak out over this together when it's over – whatever it is.

"I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes?" Bruce asks. "I've heard really amazing things about you."

"Uh..." Peter looks up at May helplessly. What the hell?

May gestures emphatically for him to go for it – and of course she does! It's Bruce freaking Banner! What kind of aunt would she be if she didn't?

So Peter plasters on a smile. "Sure," he says. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Could we do this someplace privately?" Bruce asks – then quickly adds, for May's sake, "It's government stuff; I can't really disclose..."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, that's fine!" May says quickly. "I'll just be out here!" She slips out of the hall, probably back to the kitchen because Peter was pretty sure she was making dinner.

Peter just stands there for a few seconds.

Bruce does the same.

It's...

Very awkward.

Until finally, Peter steps back into his room and gestures for Bruce to join him. "I'm sorry about the mess; I didn't realize..."

"Don't worry about it," Bruce says. "If you think this is bad, you should see what Tony Stark does to our lab."

Peter's smile grows a bit more genuine. That was oddly comforting. It's a nice reminder that Bruce Banner is also just a human being – and that Tony Stark is also also just a human being, although he does kind of think Tony Stark is on some whole other level of human-being-ness that just kind of transcends the rest of humanity. He doesn't even mean it in the sense that he likes Tony Stark (or dislikes him, because he definitely doesn't dislike him); the guy is just kind of like that.