It Only Takes a Second

- XXII -

* (Evening-- New York) *

Thor ran a unnaturally shaky hand through his hair. Electricity crackled in the sky above them as he took deep breaths, attempting to calm his anger.

"And this... man," Loki spat out the word as if it were painful. "He is dead?"

"Yes, and unfortunately I hear it was quick and painless," Bucky snorted.

"How tragic," Loki frowned.

"Mr. Thor," Peter piped up from where he was wrapped in Bucky's arms, playing with some magnets from the fridge on the metal arm-- a fidget Bucky learned that Peter rather enjoyed.

"Yes, man of spiders?" Thor asked, hand gripping his hammer tightly as he tried not to think about the repulsiveness of the man he had just been told all about.

"Can you make the sky quiet down a bit please?" Peter squeaked, burying himself deeper into Bucky's arms as he clutched an Iron Man magnet in his hands.

"He's got hyper-sensitive senses. Thunderstorms, sadly, are not his favorites," Steve explained to Thor, who was looking even more confused than normal.

"I apologize, I did not realize," Thor loosened his grip on the hammer and took a deep breath. Almost immediately the storm raging outside began to calm down.

"I bet you've got weathermen out there stumped," Bruce cracked with a weak smile. He was trying to keep his cool so hard that it was taking almost everything out of him. Even smiling felt difficult at the moment. All he wanted to do was nap, but he knew that either the Other Guy would take over and make everything much worse than it already was, or he might miss an update from Pepper or Tony.

"So, other than this revolting man that you have informed us of, why else has Stark summoned us from Asgard? Especially I, as it seems that in the past that has meant nothing but trouble for you Midgardians," Loki drawled, folding his hands in his lap as if it were a business negotiation.

"Harry... Harry has magic too. Very powerful magic from the sounds of it. According to the stories he's told, and some of the books we've managed to find, it sounds as if he's the most powerful wizard since Merlin," Steve responded, taking a pause to revel in the shocked expression that cross the God of Mischief's face.

Even after the battle over the Tesseract and the wormholes, Steve had never seen Loki look so surprised.

"The child... he has... how powerful is he? Can he do magic of the mind?" Loki stammered, appearing to be, for the first time ever, speechless.

"He can. I've never seen him intentionally do it. But ever since he told us about his magic, things with magically appear when he needs them," Bruce replied.

"One time, when I sneezed, a Kleenex appeared in my face and started wiping my nose for me. That was weird," Peter mumbled to nobody in particular.

"That is weird. You never sneeze," Bucky frowned, looking puzzledly at the teenager in his lap that was still fidgeting with the magnets.

"How old is the man of spiders?" Thor whispered to Bruce.

"He's sixteen, but whenever he's overwhelmed, he has the tendency to retreat into childish mannerisms. Right now, between the news of Harry and the sensory overload with everything new, he's just trying to cope. We're working on it, but for now, he likes being snuggled and fidgeting," Bruce replied patiently. He understood how odd it must be to walk into a sixteen year old boy being cradled by an ex-assassin like a baby koala.

"Ah, I see. Perhaps I will become good enough friends with man of spiders that he will, as you say, snuggle me. He looks very warm," Thor smiled, looking fondly upon the newest Avenger.