Miss Romanoff-Barton

Meet Peter

Liam's POV

Sitting down at the dinner table has to be one of the most stressful experiences of my life.

I mean, they're all lovely. And aren't treating me like an outsider like I feared they might, but I'm sitting at a dinner table, in AVENGERS TOWER with all of the AVENGERS. I'm freaking out a little.

I'm pretty sure the others haven't picked up on it. But by the way Alexa is smirking she probably knows.

Of course, she knows.

Seeing her around her family sparks something warm within me. And is not something I want to think about when sitting at a dinner table.

"So, Liam" I hear from my left.

I glance across the table and see Pepper looking at me with a smile.

"When did you get into SHIELD?"

I nod while swallowing the mouthful of food I was eating.

"I started at the same time as Alexa, we were in the same trainee class."

She nods thoughtfully before taking another bite of pasta.

I consider eating more, when another voice pipes up.

"Nat told us you went into specialist training; did you do the same course as Alexa?" Wanda's Sokovian accent peeks through as she speaks and I take a mental note to ask her about it later.

"No" I respond politely, "Alexa took a combination of combat and stealth, I chose to focus on marksmanship."

She hums in acknowledgement before continuing to eat and I take the opportunity to do the same.

Lexa was right. This is delicious.

"Marksmanship" I hear Tony muse as I eat, "Similar to Legolas here."

I hear a snickering at the nickname and I smile. The easy family dynamic is obvious.

"Why'd you get into marksmanship?"

I look up at the question and meet Mr Stark's interested gaze. God, it felt like I was being pinned to my seat.

"Tony" Alexa breaks the silence before any tension has time to build.

"Stop interrogating the guy, he literally just met you all."

A huff from the man himself marks a shift of focus, thankfully off of me.

"I'm not interrogating. I just want to know more about your boyfriend."

My stomach flips at his statement.

The idea of me being her boyfriend, getting to have that emotional connection to her. Probably shouldn't make my heart race like it does.

A light laugh is heard before she bites back like I know she would.

"First of all, yes you are. Second, he's not my boyfriend. Stop talking and eat your pasta."

He concedes with a smile and we continue to eat, chatter soon filling the room.

Alexa's POV

Tony and Bruce start ranting about new tech and let my mind drift away from the conversation.

Tony is so damn annoying. Liam is not my boyfriend.

Sure, I trust him with my life and the thought of losing him is something from my nightmares.

And I just feel calmer in his presence...

Shit do I like Liam?

Before I can continue down that rabbit hole of a thought process, the elevator dings and it snaps me abruptly out of my reverie.

I look sharply towards the noise and see the doors slide open to reveal a slightly beat up Peter Parker, still wearing his suit.

Wait. Liam doesn't know about him yet. Oh no.

I stand quickly from my seat and cross over to him, the others at the table haven't seemed to notice him just yet, so I leave without questioning.

I intercept him after he's taken barely two steps from the elevator.

"Alexa! Welcome home!" he greets excitedly. Running a hand through his gross hair.

"Hey Peter" I say with a quick smile. "I need to talk to you"

His grin falters slightly.

"Is everything ok?"

"Fine, fine. Everything's fine" I placate. "But I wanted to give you a heads up, I brought my friend Liam, he's my partner at SHIELD."

He just looks at me confused.

"Why is that an issue?"

I roll my eyes with a smile.

"He doesn't know who you are Pete, and you were about to walk into the kitchen – where he is – wearing your suit. I wanted to warn you so you at least have the choice in whether or not you tell him who you are."

"Oh-" he says in realisation and I release a breath.

I would never want to accidentally dox my family, even to my best friend. Not if I could help it.

He thinks for a moment. Before asking me a question.

"Do you trust him?"

"With my life."

That seems to help him decide because without another word he walks past me into the kitchen.

I turn with an exasperated smile and walk back over to start clearing the table.

Behind my shoulder as I load the dishwasher, I hear the conversation.

"Hey Pete. How was patrol?"

"Great thanks Mr Stark!"

"Any trouble?"

"Nope, just some muggings and I stopped a guy robbing a bank. It was fairly quiet tonight."

They continue to discuss the finer points of the night's activities and I let myself relax into the repetitive task of rinsing dishes, tuning back in when I hear Liam speak.

"Are you Spiderman?"

"I am! I'm Peter, nice to meet you!"

"OH. You're Peter, Alexa mentioned you."

"Did she? Exposing my identity already?"

I roll my eyes. He knows for a FACT I did the exact opposite.

"Not at all! She mentioned you in passing and I wondered who you were is all."

"Ah, she's like a sister of mine. You guys are partners at SHIELD, right?"

They continue to talk and I breathe a sigh of relief. Untensing my muscles. Why I was tense, I have no idea.

I dry my hands off quickly and casually walk over to the animated pair.

"Sorry to interrupt but I have a feeling we're getting into Nerd level territory."

A wide grin from Peter makes me laugh.

"Like you don't spend time in the lab"

"Only to act as assistant for you, Stark Jr"

A bemused smile seems to have settled on Liam's face until he interrupts the light hearted argument.

"Alexa, what were you telling me about your room earlier?"

Oh, I forgot about that.

"I'll tell you later. I think we're going to watch a movie tonight."

He shoots me a look and before I can answer, mum swoops in rather helpfully on her way to make popcorn.

"We're watching Moana tonight.