Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The new neighbors are moving in today.

Peter Parker can’t help but glance into the opened door right across his and Aunt May’s apartment curiously. There’s still barely anything in the revealed other than boxes on boxes.

“Hey, pal, a bit of space please?”

A grunt behind Peter makes him hurriedly press his back against the wall, or at least to the extent of his smushed backpack, as two men in mover outfits pass by him with a large vintage-looking sofa.

“Sorry!” Peter says as he presses himself closer to the wall, inching towards his door.

“Don’t worry, you’re giving more than enough space.”

An unknown voice replies to him, and it’s not the gruff ones on the movers, but a much huskier and smoother one.

Peter jumps at the unexpected voice—within human limits, thankfully. Whoever just sneaked up to him went unheard by his spider hearing, their footsteps drowned by all the clamor in the hallway.

He turns around to find a tall man looking at him with a charming and mysterious smile. The man is dark-skinned, long blue hair tied into a stylish braid, a literal pirate-style eye-patch covering his right eye, a simple shirt with a questionable number of unbuttoned buttons that reveals quite a span of smooth skin, and an eye-catching single earring with a blue crystal so large that it feels like it should hurt the earlobe.

Wow. Was the first thing Peter thinks. What is a guy like him doing here?

“Uh…Hi?”

That is some good hair dye, Was the second thing that popped into Peter’s mind. The hair is certainly impressive, the blue color striking and not in some uncultured gangster way.

“I’m Kaeya, the one who’s causing all of this trouble,” the blue guy named Kaeya introduces himself. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting the company to come in this late.”

“Oh, nonono, it’s fine.” Peter waves his hands right before he whips them back to avoid the incoming cabinet. “I live right opposite to you, actually.”

Kaeya’s smile widens by a fraction, blue eyes curving into a pleasant crescent. Peter suspects that Kaeya must also be wearing contact lenses, because he’s never seen anyone with a natural eye color like that, and it’s as cool as hell.

“Oh? What a lovely coincidence, then.”

“Y-Yeah, real lovely." Peter suddenly remembers with dismay that he hasn’t even introduced himself yet. “Oh, yeah, I’m Peter Parker. You can just call me Peter though. Nice to meet you, Mr. Kaeya.”

Kaeya raises a hand to his chest in mock hurt. “Oh, please, don’t call me Mr. Kaeya if I don’t get to call you Mr. Peter. Just Kaeya is fine too.”

“Sure, Kaeya,” Peter grins. What a cool name too. “Kaeya” is nothing like the last five Bobs or Toms in the apartment building. Everything about this man already is nothing like anyone he’s seen before (maybe not the Avengers, though), and Peter already likes him.

His door swings open, and Aunt May enters the hallway to look at Peter.

“Peter?” Oh, so you are here, I thought I was hearing things, since you didn’t come in for so long.”

Peter scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry, Aunt May, I was talking to Kaeya.”

“Kaeya?” Aunt May notices the noticeable blue hair behind him, and her expression changes slightly.

Kaeya greets her cordially, “Hello. Aunt May, if I heard correctly? I’m moving into that apartment.”

“Oh,” Aunt May looks momentarily thrown off by Kaeya’s looks, which Peter can relate to. Her smile quickly recovers and brightens. “Well, hello! I’m May, Peter’s aunt, but May really is fine. If you need any help, feel free to knock our door any time!”

“Thanks, May.” Kaeya moves to shake her hand, the blue jeweled earring on his left ear dangling dangerously close to Peter’s face as the man slips by him. “My brother will come by a few days to help, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Brother?” Peter voices curiously.

“Ah, yes, we’re living together,” Kaeya replies with a smirks. “We’ve been staying at a hotel, since we just came to New York, and he’s busy with work right now, so you probably won’t see him for a while.”

“Mr. Alberich?” a mover calls out from inside Kaeya’s apartment. “Where do you want us to put this sofa?”

Kaeya turns to Peter and Aunt May. “That’s me, I’m afraid I’ll have to go. It was my pleasure to talk to you two.” He turns to Peter, blue eyes twinkling with mystery. “I’ll see you next time, Peter.”

Peter nods as he adjusts his school bag. “Oh yeah, that’s cool man, I’ll see you next time, then!”

Kaeya nods and turns to enter his unfinished apartment, the long blue braid whipping around as elegantly as his entire presence.

“That place is fine, fellows,” was the last thing Peter hears from Kaeya before he’s dragged back into home by Aunt May. Aunt May closes the door, and immediately the air quiets.

“What an interesting young man,” she says. “Handsome too. I’ve never seen such a…visually striking person like that.”

“Aunt May?” Peter asks, mortified, because he doesn’t want to think about Aunt May whenever he sees Kaeya.

Aunt May catches his look and laughs. “Oh, Peter, don’t worry, it’s not like that. I’m just saying the truth, that’s all.”

Peter can’t really argue with that. “His hair looks dope too.”

“Mm, I’ve never seen anyone with blue hair like that,” Aunt May agrees. “It’s like straight out of a cartoon.”

Aunt May then changes the topic to force Peter to change his clothes because he looks “filthy” (it’s not his fault that he ran into a mugger!), and the small talk about their new neighbor disappears soon enough, leaving the sounds of moving furniture outside their home.

“Peter?” Ned whispers into Peter’s ear not so quietly as they walk on the street back to Peter’s home.

“What?”

“There’s an anime pirate cosplayer in front of your apartment.”

That caught Peter’s attention, and he looks up from his phone to see Kaeya in his cerulean blue hair standing by the entrance idly. Even though it’s almost winter, the man is wearing shirt that is has such a large V-line that it almost feels scandalous.

“Oh, no, he’s my new neighbor,” Peter says.

Ned stops and gapes at him. “Dude, what?”

Kaeya must have heard them, because he turns to Peter with that smile of his.

“Hey, Peter,” he says, “coming back from school?”

Peter nudges Ned in a "see I was right" motion while responding to Kaeya, “Yeah. Have you completely moved in?"”

“Not yet. We’ve got quite a bit of things to handle apart from the apartment, so I’ll still be staying at the hotel for a few days,” Kaeya says. His gaze—or his single-eye gaze, to be exact—moves to Ned. “Are you Peter’s friend?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Ned looks both surprised and intimidated by Kaeya’s sudden greeting. “I’m Ned, Peter’s best friend. I love your hair.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Ned,” Kaeya chuckles in that husky voice of his, “I appreciate the compliment, I’m very proud of my hair too. Did it myself too, actually.”

“You dyed your own hair blue?” Peter asks, impressed.

Kaeya shrugs. “I have a…unique taste, I suppose.” He looks down at his phone, then back at them with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I must leave now. I have some urgent business to do.”

They give each other a hasty farewell, and Kaeya swoops away elegantly.

“Dude, what is he doing in this place?” Ned asks. “He looks like he should be in an anime game or something with his blueness and eyepatch.”

Peter can’t help but agree.

Peter runs into Kaeya a few more times before they finally switch numbers. Just like the easygoing air he has whenever Peter meets him in person, Kaeya replies to Peter’s text with just the right amount of EQ that Peter wishes he could have too. He tries looking for Kaeya’s Instagram account—not for stalking, he’s just curious—but without success.

“You should get an Instagram account, man, you’ll be a celebrity in no time,” Peter once mentioned that to Kaeya.

Kaeya grins, pleased. “Is that a compliment?”

It took a while for Peter to realize, but despite the casual and easygoing appearance of Kaeya Alberich, the man is very private and secretive about himself anything beyond the surface level.

Peter is curious to learn more from this enigmatic man, but he doesn’t push too hard (yet). Kaeya literally lives right across him, after all.

Peter doesn’t see Kaeya’s brother until a while later.

It was late night, when he was kept behind by a science project at school and a few mugging cases on the way home. It wasn’t that late for Peter to have to sneak through his bedroom window, but still enough for him to be expecting The Look from Aunt May when he goes home, and he's not excited for it.

He turns around the corner to the hallway leading to home with dread, then stops at the sight of an unknown figure.

“Uh…Hello?”

The hallway was dimly lit, but it did nothing to cover the flaming red that hits Peter’s vision. There’s a tall man in a business suit and a black wool coat standing right in front of Peter’s apartment door, his hair tied back into a low ponytail, and the color as red as Peter’s Spider-Man suit. There’s a deadpan expression, and it’s so out of place yet natural on the man’s pale face at the same time.

The man hears Peter and turns around, and Peter’s spider-senses tingles, just barely, at the cold presence.

“Hello,” the man says, and his voice is just as surprising as the rest of his face, low and sophisticated like a freaking nobleman. “Am I blocking your way?”

Peter shuffles a bit under the man’s neutral stare. The man has a stare that’s almost as terrifying as Mr. Stark in R&D when he’s high on caffeine and low on sleep.

Wait, are those red eyes? Peter can’t help but notice, and the red is not helping with the sudden pressure that he’s feeling.

“Oh…Uh, a bit? My door’s right on your left.”

“Oh, my apologies.” The man moves closer to the right side of the hallway, right where Kaeya’s apartment door is at. “I didn’t know you were our new neighbor.”

There was an information bomb in the sentence that Peter manages to catch.

“Neighbor…Wait, are you Kaeya’s brother?”

The man tilts his head, his face seeming to be fixed in a neutral expression, nothing like the smile that Kaeya always has when they run into each other. In fact, nothing that Kaeya’s brother is showing is anything like Kaeya, except for their apparent interest in eye-catching hair color and cool contact lenses.

“You’ve already met Kaeya?” the man asks. “Then you must be the Peter Parker that he mentioned to me, right?”

Peter nods. He’s feeling unusually nervous around this man. Even with the cosplay-level red hair, the man gives off such a strong air of class and dignity that Peter can’t help but wonder again just as he did with Kaeya, what is a guy like him doing here?

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Diluc.” The red-haired man stretches out a hand gloved in leather (who even wears them at summer?!), and Peter hurriedly moves to shake it.

“So, uh, Mr. Diluc…” Peter must have held too long, because Diluc takes his hand away before Peter does, and now he’s feeling even more nervous. “What are you doing outside your door?”

Diluc’s face doesn’t change, but Peter can feel the annoyance from the man, and it’s thankfully not directed at him.

“I don’t have the keys, and Kaeya,” Diluc says the name distastefully, “was supposed to be here organizing our boxes, but he must have gotten occupied. Again.”

Peter wants to ask what Kaeya was “occupied” with, but decides not to after spotting the miniscule downturn of the man’s lips.

“Oh, that sucks, man,” Peter says. “Yeah, this building doesn’t give spare keys. There’s a place nearby that can make you a duplicate one, though.”

Diluc looks at him. “A locksmith?”

“Uh, yeah, I can write you the address if you want,” Peter offers. But before Diluc could reply, the default Stark phone ringtone coming out from the man's coat interrupts him.

“Ah, I’m sorry, it must be Kaeya finally coming to his senses,” Diluc says quite dryly as he takes out his phone from his suit pocket. He accepts the call, and any friendliness that Peter sensed from him disappears in an instant. It’s unnerving enough for his Spidey sense to tingle once.

“Kaeya.”

The name comes out with so much flatness that Peter fears for the man's wellbeing on the other end of the phone. Peter can distantly hear sounds coming from Diluc’s phone, but he didn’t use his spider hearing to listen in—it is rude to invade the privacy of someone that you only met for five minutes, after all.

The conversation ends quickly, with Diluc’s irritated yet resigned sparse words in that sophisticated tone of his. Peter can tell that Diluc has had similar conversations many times before.

“Hmph,” was the last thing Diluc says—or grunts—before he hangs up on Kaeya. He turns back to Peter, the irritation on him disappearing as soon as he meets Peter’s gaze. The speed of the mood shift is honestly quite impressive.

“I’m sorry for that. I would appreciate to know the address. Do you have Kaeya’s number?”

“Oh, yeah, I do.” Peter fumbles to take out his phone. “Do you want me to send it to him?”

“I would be very thankful.”

Diluc talks more formally and seriously than Kaeya too, and it’s almost reminding Peter of Steve Rogers, just a more elite-y, no-smile, red-haired Steve Rogers.

“Okay then, Mr. Diluc, I’ll text Kaeya as soon as I get back into my room,” Peter says as he looks at his closed door a bit anxiously. “And after Aunt May finishes chewing me out too.”

An indescribable look flash across Mr. Diluc’s face, then his mouth finally lifts into a tiny smile, so small that it couldn’t be really described as a smile, but more just as a “positive expression.”

“Don’t worry, Peter, I can wait. Kaeya doesn’t have anywhere else to go to anyways.”

After Peter manages to escape to his bedroom, he takes out his phone to text Kaeya the address of the locksmith.

Peter Parker: 105 XXX Building, XXX Street.

Peter Parker: i just met Mr. Diluc, and he asked me to send the address of a nearby locksmith that i know to you

Kaeya: thanks, looks like I don’t have to worry about staying out late anymore [heart].

Peter Parker: your brother also has really cool hair too

Peter Parker: did you also dye it?

Kaeya: yes, you could probably tell already that he’s not the most enthusiastic person in the room.

Kaeya: but he lost a bet, and I insisted.

Kaeya: he needs something bright to light him up, don’t you think?

Peter can’t help but snort.

Peter Parker: it does fit him. You make really good hair dye

Peter Parker: [wow.GIF]

Kaeya: [smile]

Chapter Text

“Are you sure that we shouldn’t dye our hair? As far as I can tell, no one on this planet has naturally red or blue hair. We’ll stand out too much.”

“Oh, come on, Master Diluc, we can just say that I dyed our hairs. We’ve seen a few people here in pink and green, remember? Besides, have faith in yourself, you stand out regardless.”

“…”

“You can just say that I made you dye it. I’m fine with being the bratty young brother, and you can be the loving and tolerant older brother. There won’t be a speck of dirt on your image. What do you say?”

“...Tch.”

Peter silently sneaks another vial into the drawers amidst the teacher’s droning. Even though Mr. Stark has assured that the Avengers’ Tower has “stocked so much web fluid that the cleaning lady once reported a spider disaster,” he still occasionally makes them himself to stash away at different locations.

Using the loud chattering in the lab, Peter is successfully collaborating with Ned in stealing a bottle of methanol. The girls in front of him are talking quite loudly about some new bar that is opening in Manhattan, and it’s clear that the teacher can hear them based on his frown.

Ned slides over, and as Peter catches the vial being passed to him under the desk, thought he was delivering the methanol to him, but his best friend instead says, “Dude, everyone can hear them. Like, look at the teacher.”

Peter looks up to see the teacher’s increasingly glowering figure and shoves the vial hastily into the drawers. He gives Ned a small gesture, one that meant pause operation, wait for further notice. Angry teachers do tend to be much more observant, after all.

“Hey, guys,” MJ sidles over, and Peter’s heart jumps a beat at being addressed to by his crush. Without thinking, he hastily takes off his lab goggles, realizes that it was a stupid move, and now has to pretend there’s something dirty on them to not seem awkward.

“Hi, MJ,” Ned thankfully answers for him, “What’s up?”

“I’ve heard that Peter has a new hot cosplay neighbor.”

Peter almost falls out of his seat. Suddenly, Kaeya doesn’t seem as cool as before.

“Where did you hear that?!”

“Shhh!” Ned hushes him, “Dude, teacher’s about to blow!”

MJ looks at them with a pleased smile, her chin propped on her palm. It doesn’t help with Peter’s heart.

“I have my ways,” she simply says, and damn if that wasn’t creepy but hot at the same time. Peter wants to ask what ways, because what if she accidentally finds out about his own little secret—

“Ha, you should’ve seen that look on your face,” MJ scoffs without malice, “I just walked by your building a few days ago and ran into him by the road.”

“But how did you know…”

“Well, he looked…” MJ pauses in a search for words, “Aesthetically unique, so I approached him.”

"You mean hot," Ned translates not so helpfully. MJ simply rolls her eyes in response, but does not disagree.

Peter, the awkward introvert, can’t help but ask, "You can just do that? The approaching thing?”

MJ rolls her eyes at him. It’s very hot. “Anyways, I mentioned I’m from Midtown High, and he mentioned your name. That’s how I knew,” she says, “He seems a very chill guy. Cool hair.”

“Oh yeah, his hair looks awesome,” Peter can’t help but nod, recalling the long tied blue hair, “Almost makes me want to do it too.”

Ned and MJ share a glance, and they both burst into merciless laughter.

"Please don't," was their only coherent response.

Peter rolls his eyes. “I know, I know, that’s why I said almost, jeez.” He has enough common sense to know that the bright colors that Kaeya and Mr. Diluc will not fit on him. Absolutely not. He will look like an early 2000s emo goth brat, but colorful.

Even so, his cheeks still heat up at his own truthful words, and chooses to ignore them by turning back to the lab project and listening to anything else but the two people snickering besides him.

The girls in front him are talking louder than he last heard them, and he catches a part of their conversation.

“Oh my god, we should totally go there! Literally everyone is talking about how hot the owner looks!”

“Ugh…My fake ID’s not here yet, can we wait for another week?”

“Pftt, don’t worry, I’ve been in like, a hundred bars, and none of them asked to see my ID. I’m sure this one will be the same!”

“That’s because you dress up like a slut.”

“Ah! Bitch, I know you wish you were like that too!”

“Shut up, you two. It’s true that most bars around here don’t bother to check your ID if you look old enough, so I think you’ll be fine.”

“Sure…”

Peter decides stop listening for the sake of his law-abiding heart. He hasn’t never stepped into any bars before (the Spideman fights don’t count), and he personally finds it hard to understand why anyone would risk getting caught with a fake ID just for some alcohol.

The teacher, who apparently heard the whole thing as well, chose to explode at this appropriate moment.

“Girls, a word outside the classroom, now!”

Peter takes this chance to give Ned a gesture out of MJ’s view. Operation continued.

“I need potassium carbonate, quick!”

Peter one day runs into Kaeya being threatened by a group of very suspicious-looking people in an alleyway. Naturally, his Spider-Man instincts kicks in, and he hurriedly rushes into the nearest quiet alley to change into his suit.

“Now, there’s no need to be so angry, I’m just telling the truth,” he hears Kaeya say. The man sounds unruffled; his voice as smooth as Peter has always heard.

What the hell, man?  Peter shouts internally. That’s not what you say to a gun in your face!

The Stark-produced suit tightens to fit his body within seconds, and Spider-Man leaps to the other alley. He lands on the top of a building that forms one side of the alley, peering down to observe the current situation.

Kaeya is against the wall, his hands raised. Peter can’t really see the man’s expression from his angle and all the blue hair, but surely it can’t be good. There’s three men standing against Kaeya, the closed one to Kaeya has the gun raised, and the other two are reaching to the back of their waistband.

“Shut up, sissy,” the man with the gun says, “I’m warning ya, this is the Hound’s place, not your fucking dress-up castle.” The gun in his hand nudges against Kaeya’s covered eye rudely. Kaeya’s body seems to tense for a second, and it felt like the man was about to do something very stupid.

Peter decides to intervene and announces his own presence with a flip into behind the three men.

“That’s not really nice to say, guys!”

The three men whips around, their menacing expressions now panicked as they see the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

“What the—!”

Kaeya looked just as surprised, his single eye widening at the sight of a brightly red-and-blue superhero.

“Oh, shit!” One of two men closest to him says empathetically. Before he could do anything, though, Peter’s webs have already slammed him to the opposite wall, his limbs falling limp as the impact knocks him out. Peter took out the second person just as easily; he sidesteps the knife being slashed at him and webs the man to the ground at the next moment. Easy.

He looks towards the last guy, the guy who was threatening Kaeya. The man no longer looks so confident anymore, his arms shaking, but there was a vicious glint in his eyes that made him just a tiny bit more threatening than the other two.

“Y-You fucker!” The man points his gun towards Peter, two bullets already coming his way. Peter dodges them and closes their distance before the man could react.

POW!

“Not so cocky anymore, are you?” Peter asks the unconscious body that he just punched the lights out of.

A soft chuckle answers him, “I’m not quite sure he can answer you. Actually, any of those three.” Kaeya looks at him, curiosity and gratefulness on his face. “Thank you so much for saving me.”

“You’re welcome, man,” Peter replies automatically, then remembers Kaeya’s incorrect method of dealing with mob gangs. He crosses his arms in an exaggerated act of disapproval, “You shouldn’t have talked to the guy like that. Too chill. What if he shot you?”

A graphic imagery of a dead Kaeya, lying against the alley wall with blood seeping from his forehead pops up most inappropriately, and Peter barely resists his shudder.

Kaeya’s mouth quirks. “I’m sorry. I’m new to this country, and I’m still adjusting to the new life here. If it was at my old home, I would’ve been able to handle that.”

“Oh…” Peter knew that Kaeya was new to New York, but not that he was new to America. “Well, I see. But this is New York, so you gotta up your game!”

“I’ll remember that, kid,” Kaeya nods his head seriously, “I’ve heard that there’s a lot of heroes here, and I have gotten cocky.”

Peter may have puffed out his chest at that, until his mind acknowledges the “kid” part. Shit, his heart jumps once. He hadn’t used his manly Spiderman voice.

“I’m not a kid,” he says, trying not to sound defensive or nervous, but Kaeya’s stare can be pretty unnerving at times, like now, “I just sound young.”

Kaeya raises a single eyebrow, his hand raising as well. “All right, I’m sorry.” He does not look the least bit sorry. Peter’s shoulders sag by a fraction. Did he really already slip in front of his new neighbor within the first month?

Peter decides to take his leave before he exposes anything else by accident. “Anyways, nice chatting with you, but I gotta check out the other places, in case there’s more people being threatened. Stay safe, will you!”

Kaeya blinks, and that familiar easygoing smile immediately appears back on his face. “Of course. I won’t keep you then. May the winds guide you, young man.”

Peter smiles underneath his mask at the “young man,” and at the interesting blessing that Kaeya just said. He’s never heard anything like it, but he likes it immediately—it suits Spider-Man very well.

“Bye!” Peter swings back into the air, Kaeya’s gaze on his back sending his way.

Kaeya retracts his gaze from the costumed man.

“Interesting,” he says to himself, “Very interesting indeed, if he had just chosen to come at  another day.”

He crouches down to the unconscious man that just held him at gunpoint, rummaging through his pockets until he takes out a piece of paper. Kaeya reads it and his mouth curve up in satisfaction.

“Well, at least everything still worked out.”

Kaeya pockets the paper and reaches for his phone to call Diluc. It answers on the first ring.

“I got the list, Diluc.”

Kaeya tilts his head to listen to whatever his brother was saying, a lazy smile on his lips. It has much less of the friendliness that Peter and his friends were familiar with. The mob gangs around here and the treasure hoarders back in Teyvat, however, sees it much more often.

“Ah, yes, I also forgot to mention,” Kaeya looks at the webbing that held an unconscious man high on the wall, “There’s one of those heroes in our area. I believe it’s the ‘Spider-Man’ that we saw on the news a few days ago. Yes, the red-and-blue one that doesn’t have the shield and swings on buildings.”

He pauses to hear Diluc’s response, and his smile widens. “Mhm, he did come to save me from a few Hound members. Not that I was asking for it, but don’t worry, they know that Spider-Man was the one who did it. No, of course I wasn’t planning on doing anything other than talking.”

“Anyways, I would advise you to watch out for any flying teenagers in red and blue at night. Perhaps you really should get a hood to cover your hair, it is very noticeable at night. A small price to pay for natural hair, don’t you think?”

“Why did I say ‘teenager’? He sounded quite young. Very young. He sounded quite familiar, actually," Kaeya laughs, “What? I’m not hinting anything, Master Diluc, don’t slander me. Everyone here sounds alike, and I just have my own thoughts, that’s all.”

Diluc mutters something, and Kaeya smirks.

“Now now, don’t fret, I’ll tell you everything later, including my observations. Are you still at Angel’s Share? I’ll come and find you. If you can prepare some Death After Noon, that would be even bet—”

The phone hung up before Kaeya finishes his sentence. Kaeya huffs and puts the phone back into his pocket before leaving the small alley. He didn’t bother to call the police.

Peter knocks Kaeya and Diluc’s apartment door. He was expecting Kaeya, since he’s been seeing Kaeya much more often than the busy Mr. Diluc, but it seems that this time they decided to change things up.

Flaming red and an impassive face opens the door, and Peter has to stop himself from taking a step back. Not because that he’s scared, mind you, but to save his vision from the very saturated red that he’s seeing.

“Hello?” Diluc looks at him, recognizing him instantly. “Ah. Peter, right?”

“Yeah,” Peter lifts the tray of cookies that he was holding, “Uh, Aunt May made extras, and she asked me to give these to you and Kaeya.”

Diluc’s face barely changes—is his face just stuck in that look? —but Peter can feel a shift in his presence.

“Oh, thank you,” Diluc says, and he sounds sincere about it. He pauses for a moment, then asks, “Do you want to come in for a while?”

Peter wasn’t expecting that. He has been admittedly curious about the home of his new cool neighbors, but Kaeya hadn’t invited him yet, so he had been planning to politely ask Kaeya by this weekend. But now, Mr. Diluc is inviting him?

“Can I?” Peter asks out of politeness.

Diluc nods his head slightly, looking at him with neutral red eyes. Do the brothers just wear those contact lenses 24/7? Even though Peter hasn’t seen Diluc many times, it’s already hard for him to believe that such a stoic-looking man would just always wear such an…interesting color.

Now is not the time to dwell on such matters, though. Peter rips his gaze off from Diluc’s red hair and gladly passes through the awaiting door.

The brothers’ apartment room has a very traditional European vibe. Rich mahogany and creamy white dominate the walls and floor, quaint and colorful vases and paintings up speckled throughout the room. It looks like the home of some vintage high-class European.

“Wow,” Peter breathes out in amazement, “Your home looks awesome!”

“Thank you,” Diluc says behind him, “It’s based off our old home.”

Peter looks back, unable to contain his curiosity. “Are you guys like, rich or something?”

Diluc gives a small huff, “You could say that. We were, at the least. Now we are…adequate.”

That cryptic answer and Diluc’s nobly vibe suddenly clicks. Instantly, a five-season story of “honorable heir of noble family and his rebellious brother gets kicked out of family and swears to find their own path” forms in Peter’s brain.

“Oh,” Peter says rather dumbly, “That’s cool.”

Diluc points towards a large table that looks just as vintage as the rest of the furniture. “You can put your tray over there. Just mind the papers.”

As Peter puts down the tray of cookies, his eyes can’t help but dart towards the papers that are scattered by the side of the table. He catches a few phrases about some opening business, some numbers in a lot of charts, shares of some “Angel”, and a name of “Diluc Ragnvindr”.

Ragnvindr? Peter repeats to himself. He remembers that the movers called Kaeya “Mr. Alberich” on the first day that they met, so why do they have different last names? Are they not actual brothers?

Peter knows he shouldn’t be this curious, but damn it, Kaeya and Mr. Diluc are both too cool and give off such mysterious vibes that he just wants to know more about them, just like when he first met the Avengers without their costumes.

“Here.” Diluc’s curt voice takes him out of his story development for the two men. Peter turns back to join Diluc at the apartment’s resting area; Diluc sits down on the armchair, and Peter sits at the sofa. There’s a TV facing the sofa, and for a moment, Peter feels like a fireplace would fit the overall vibe of this home more.

“Would you like to drink something?” Diluc asks.

They enter a short period of small talk, the regular “how’s your school” and “I love the design” going back and forth. Peter is surprised at how little awkwardness there is in the room, considering that they’ve only met like three times and how serious Diluc seems. The man seems to be very familiar with this sort of activity, picking up each topic easily with few words, talking with a grace that is very different to Kaeya’s easygoing tone, but just as pleasant to listen to.

After an acceptable amount of time and talking, Peter gathers the courage to ask the question he had been holding for ages.

“Mr. Diluc, I have a question?”

“Yes?”

Peter shuffles in the sofa. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything…but uh, how come you and Kaeya look so different if you’re brothers?”

Diluc looks at him, and Peter almost shirks from the indecipherable stare. However, that looks disappears immediately, as Diluc answers him patiently.

“That is an understandable question,” he says, and there’s a visible quirk of lips, “Kaeya was adopted into my family when he was a child.”

“Oh!” The starkly different appearances now make complete sense. “That makes so much more sense!”

Diluc nods slightly, and his phone pings.

“I’m sorry, but it seems that I’ve got work to do.” Diluc says, his face turning impassive once more.

Peter waves his hands and stands up after Diluc does. “Oh, no problem, I should be going back too.” He’s satisfied with what he saw and learned tonight—he even had a nice conversation with Diluc!

“And again, thank you for the cookies,” Diluc says, “When would you like me to return them tomorrow?”

Peter’s patrolling tomorrow is planned at 11pm. “Uh, any time before ten thirty is fine for me. I gotta catch up with schoolwork and stuff.”

Diluc nods, his red ponytail bobbing graciously. “Sure.”

Kaeya was the one to bring back the empty tray the next day at 10:30 PM sharp.

“Diluc got busy again,” the man says apologetically.

“Oh, that’s fine.” Peter says, still thinking about the stray circuit in his suit that he was fixing, “Where did he go to?”

Kaeya shrugs, his smile enigmatic. “I’m not sure. More work, probably.”

Chapter Text

“Is this working?”

“Yes, Diluc, I can hear you loud and clear. What a wonderful invention these are, aren’t they? And the smartphone too, I can gather everything with just a tap of my fingers, how convenient.”

“…Indeed, it would be greatly beneficial if these can be duplicated in Teyvat.”

“Let’s not jump too far ahead, shall we? We’ve just started our journey in New York, after all.”

“Let’s start with making sure not to accidentally hit anyone too hard with that big sword of yours. It seems that the people here have much higher ethical standards when it comes to bringing ‘justice’ to criminals. How interesting…”

“I am aware.”

“Alright, alright…Make sure your hair is properly covered too.”

“Kaeya.”

“Haha, eager to deliver justice, aren’t you? Well, I’m receiving news that…”

Peter rolls up his mask. He’s currently squatting at the top of some building in Manhattan, the night life of New York beneath him being the best sight to accompany his hotdog. The streets have been more peaceful lately, and Peter has been taking advantage of the extra spare time to splurge on the greasy street snacks.

As if hearing his thoughts, KAREN stirs to life.

“Hello, Peter, there’s a gang fight on 4^th street right now.”

“Aww, come on.” Peter demolishes his hotdog in a few quick bites. “Can’t they just settle down for a few more nights? I wanted to try out the chili one!”

Despite his complaining, though, Peter still wastes no time in heading towards the destination that KAREN maps out in his mask. As he arrives at the crime scene prepared to fight, however, Peter is greeted by an unexpected sight.

“What the…?”

The supposedly heated gang fight is long dead, with seven people lying haphazardly on different surfaces with different rather impressive positions. A smell of gunfire and smoke lingers in the air, the only hint alongside the unconscious men of what just happened.

KAREN's female voice pops up after a moment, “Medical scans indicate that all members are unconscious, Peter.”

Peter frowns. Based on what he can see, it doesn’t seem like there was another group of people that knocked them all out—the scene is too clean for that.

“Initial analysis of scene indicates that the probability of one attacker is 82 percent,” KAREN says. Peter straightens slightly. Most people can’t take out seven people like this. Spider-Man, no problem, but he’s a superhero, Avengers-reserved hero.

He notices an odd groove on the wall, long and deep in a horizontal line.

“What are these?” The groove is barely wide enough to fit his finger that he dips in. The edges of the line narrow into sharp points, like a slash.

“Unsure,” KAREN says, “3D scan is completed, data awaiting further analysis. There is another fight at Delancey street, Peter, I would advise you to hurry.”

Peter nods and steps back, just a bit unwillingly. “All right.”

“A claymore?” Peter sits up at the projected image that KAREN sent. “Isn't that like, medieval stuff? Who even fights with those antiques?”

Ned, who was sitting on Peter’s bed, coughs, “Don’t let Hawkeye hear you.”

Peter rolls his eyes, “That’s not what I meant.” He gestures at the holographic 3d image, which shows a claymore longer than Peter's body, its blade modified to be considerably wider than the average claymore. “Can you imagine how inconvenient it would be to carry this around?”

Ned shrugs, “It’s a cool sword.”

Peter can’t exactly argue with that, and sighs, “So…can we say that this isn’t just some normal New Yorker with a black belt? I mean, this has to be some new vigilante that would be willing to carry a freaking longsword around.”

“Do you want me to inform Mr. Stark about this?” KAREN asks.

Peter thinks for a moment, then shakes his head, “No, KAREN. I don’t want to always depend on Mr. Stark for some small issue. I can handle this on my own.”

 Peter crouches down to observe the blackened ground closer.

“Are these…scorch marks?”

There’s a pile of melted weapons—there’s a few bullets that still have a visible shape—and other unidentifiable items right next to him. Peter can guess that it’s probably some illegal drug based on the nauseating smell that’s filling up the room.

“Your observation is accurate,” KAREN responds, “Estimated heat required to create this degree of damage is two thousand Fahrenheit.”

“That…” Peter knows more than enough science to know how hot that is. It’s a miracle that this building hasn’t already been burned to the ground, which means…

“That can’t just appear in the middle of New York randomly. Are there reports of any enhanced people with fire powers?”

“Negative. This is the first report. Do you want me to inform Mr. Stark about this?”

Peter looks around the room. There’s none of the signature long slash marks that he’s been seeing more and more often recently. Two enhanced individuals? At the moment, it seems that one has exceptional combat skills with a claymore (he still finds that hard to believe), the other one with fire powers.

Peter’s mouth is pressed thin as he thinks carefully. He’s handled more than fighters (just not a claymore fighter) and fire before.

“No. I can handle this,” he finally replies, “How can I be an Avenger if I can’t handle some fire?”

Hell yeah, he's a freaking Avenger and the famous Spider-Man. Of course he can handle some fire.

KAREN cuts in rather mercilessly, “If I remember correctly, Peter, you had previously refused Mr. Stark’s offer to be an official Avenger.”

Peter’s smile freezes. “That…I-I wasn’t ready at that time! Besides, they later did file me as an official reserve for the Avengers!”

KAREN didn’t reply, but Peter swears that he heard a huff from the AI.

“Anyways,” Peter clears his throat, “I’ll keep an eye out for more of their activity. And if,” he emphasizes the word heavily, “If I need Mr. Stark’s help, I’ll ask him then.”

“Very well,” Karen simply says. Peter doesn’t know why he’s feeling so defensive at those two words, so he drops the topic before he could say anything more stupid.

As Peter starts to take pictures of the evidence, he can’t help but feel a foreboding apprehension.

Two enhanced appearing at such a short interval…It seems more than just like a coincidence.

Steve Rogers was having his usual morning run in Lower Manhattan when he sees a few construction workers hanging up a sign on an unopened store. He has been seeing it in construction for several months, so he can’t help but stop to examine.

Crammed between the massive CVS store and a small Italian restaurant is a vintage-looking store. Steve can see a bar table and several large cabinets, so Steve assumes it to be a bar.

He looks back to the sign that the workers are attaching above the glass doors.

Angel’s Share.

Peter sighs, frustrated, as he looks at the screenshot on the laptop. It’s been a few days since Peter discovered the “fire guy,” and since then he’s asked KAREN to keep an eye out for any suspicious looking, sword-wielding, fire-blasting people on New York City’s surveillance system.

Luckily, KAREN did manage to get a recording. A figure—should be a man based on the stature and outfit— hooded and clothed in black from head to toe, wielding the biggest sword that’s Peter ever seen in his life. It looks almost as tall as the figure itself, the crimson of the blade visible even through the crappy cameras at night.

“That’s the claymore guy!” Peter says. Although the claymore guy only appeared in the footage for a brief moment, he can still tell the uncanny prowess in the man’s moments, the way he holds the double-handed sword effortlessly in one hand, the way he ducks easily to avoid a fist thrown to the back of his head before disappearing behind a wall.

Ned looks over his shoulder and inhales loudly. “Damn, that’s a sick sword!”

“Yeah.” Peter points at the frozen man in the footage. “Look, he’s holding that sword with one hand. Aren’t these swords supposed to be double handed?”

Ned wows behind him, “Woah, it’s like Cloud from Final Fantasy, but red.”

“All activity of claymore guy is at gang activity and street crime,” Peter notes, “It shouldn’t be that hard to find him if we track down the gang he’s following.”

Turns out that the claymore guy isn’t as good at hiding from cameras as Peter thought, and it only took another to see the man firsthand.

(To his defense, it only took him that long because the man suddenly started appearing all over Manhattan more often than just lower Manhattan.)

“Hey there!” Spider-Man calls out to the hooded man in the alleyway, who immediately turns around at this voice. “Nice sword you’ve got there, I love the red!”

To his credit, claymore guy didn’t immediately run away, but instead turns around to face Peter. Most of his figure is hidden in the shadows, but Peter can still see a lot of details of one of the mysterious new “friendly neighbors.”

For one, the man does not look like a friendly neighbor. The man is wearing a large hooded black cape that covers most of the face, and a black face mask that covers the bottom half. Underneath the cape is an outfit that looks nothing meant for battle—is that a shirt? Who wears a shirt while fighting five people at once?

“So…” Peter gives a small wave. “I’m Spider-Man, if you can’t tell. You know, the friendly neighbor that’s been around here before you came. Not that I’m against you or anything, if you’re also doing the neighborhood hero work, but I just wanted to make sure that you are doing those, because, you know, it would be real awkward for me if I was wrong.”

Peter’s quite sure that the man isn’t some villain, based on KAREN's reports of decreased gang activity and increased saved victims in the areas that claymore guy has shown up at, but he is a bitsy concerned about the occasional severity that the man has inflicted on the target gang members.

The man says nothing, the impressive sword held at one side in a battle-prepared posture. Peter tenses, ready for a hostile response, but the man instead straightens. Effortlessly, he swings the sword in a full circle before sticking the tip a few centimeters into the ground.

That’s a cool move. Peter can’t help but think.

And then, to Peter’s surprise, the claymore disappears in the man’s grasp amid golden sparkles, then reappearing midair behind the man’s back.

“What the—?”

Levitation? Space manipulation? Peter’s eyes widen at the unexpected reveal of new powers from the man. This is a large jump from just simple combat skills. Heck, Peter’s sure that this can catch the attention of the Avengers.

Claymore guy moves to the right, and Peter reactively moves as well to block him. The man seems to sense his nervousness and takes a step back, the longsword moving with him as if it was actually attached to his back.

“I don’t mean any harm to you,” Claymore guy says, his voice gravelly deep. Peter instantly gets Batman vibes.

“Oh, cool that’s good to know,” Peter responds, his voice subconsciously deepening as well, “So you’re most definitely not colluding with those gang people, right?”

For a moment, the temperature around claymore guy seems to drop, his presence so cold that Peter can’t help but shiver as his Spider-sense tingles. That’s an interesting reaction—does claymore guy have history with the gangs around here?

However, before Peter could think further, the coldness quickly disappears as claymore guy collects himself.

“No,” the man simply says, Batman-style.

“Okay, cool,” Peter blinks, “I guess it’s nice to have someone else taking care of them as well…But just so you understand, I’m still going to have to make sure you’re doing everything good after this, okay? It’s kinda in my job description, you know?”

Claymore guy broods, then nods slowly. Peter takes that as a “yes”. Of course, he still doesn’t entirely trust the mysterious guy, but current evidence does show that claymore guy is on the good side, so he’ll like to give the man a try, just like how the older Avengers did with him, but without the “training wheels”.

“Great!” Peter gives double thumbs-up to him, until a more important issue strikes him.

He quickly drops his hands to scratch his head awkwardly. “Also, uh, do you have a codename or something I can call you by? I really love your sword, the red and everything, but I don’t think ‘claymore’ is your actual name.”

The man stands there in silence for so long that Peter almost thought he fell asleep, if not the colder presence that descended around them once more. What on earth did his question hit this time?

Finally, claymore guy speaks in his deep voice, “…Darknight.”

Peter blinks, and his mouth moves faster than his mind.

“Batman?”

The man feels almost…confused for a moment, before he reiterates, “You can call me Darknight.”

Claymore—no, Darknight—speaks with a slight rasp, each word like it was being squeezed out of his teeth. It does not help with the Batman reference. Peter can barely resist the urge to say something Robin-like in return—as if Spiderman wasn’t already chirpy enough.

“That’s a cool name,” Peter says, “Fits your whole vibe and everything. Say, do you might happen to be super rich or something?”

Darknight makes a small sound as he shifts further into the shadows, “…Don’t you have anything else to do?’

Diluc waits until Spiderman’s figure disappears into the night sky.

He lifts a finger to his ear, “Did you hear everything?”

“Of course I did. I was only silent because I’ve heard that Spider-Man has super-hearing.”

“Well?” Diluc asks, “What do you think?”

"Well, I am simply ecstatic that you've finally embraced your name, Darknight. That being said, I’m also quite curious now about the ‘Batman’ he mentioned.”

Diluc’s face turns dangerously impassive underneath his covers, “Kaeya.”

“Alright, alright, no mood for jokes, I see,” Kaeya’s smirk is evident in his voice, “Let's see, what else to say...Ah yes, don’t you think he sounds quite familiar?”

Diluc is silent for a moment, “There’s not enough evidence.” He pauses again, then says rather grudgingly, “I do see the similarity, though.”

 “I fully agree with you, Master Diluc. Evidence is always key. Why don’t we reconvene to discuss it in-person? The closest waypoint near you is at…”

Neither of them mentions the oddness—other than the whole situation of being in a new world—that accompanies them. Diluc and Kaeya’s visions still work, and the fabled “waypoints” that the Traveler has mentioned before that dotted the map of New York City.

They’ve heard the hidden rumors, after all, of the truth about their Celestia, and the that taboo book the Traveler retrieved from the lost kingdom hidden under Inazuma.

If Celestia really is still casting their gaze upon them, not doing anything stupid against it would be the smartest choice.

After Spider-Man and Darknight’s initial meeting, Peter finds that tracking down Darknight wasn’t actually that hard—the man really doesn’t hide from the security cameras that well even with all the black around him.

Peter waits for a few more days before personally going out to find Darknight once more.

He’s greeted with a face of fire.

Chapter Text

“Are you seeing this too?”

“Yes, I do. That…certainly does not look like part of the building’s design. I don’t remember humans being able to walk through objects either.”

“…Remember what the Traveler once mentioned? Those ‘waypoints’ that he can teleport with?”

“You think this is one of those? Hm…interesting. The appearance does match. I suppose this is something else we brought to here other than just our visions and your pocket of mora?”

“Celestia…”

“Now, Diluc, let’s not test the limits yet. It has to be still watching us, after all.”

“Well, what do you suggest we do about this, then?”

“Why don’t you try touching it?”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m just joking, Master Diluc. Of course we shouldn’t…wait, don’t—!”

Peter was webbing a few criminals onto a lamplight when he sees a familiar bright flash of orange in the distance.

“Is that…?”

Peter didn't finish his question when a visible curl of fire raced into the sky.

“Yep, definitely the fire guy.” Peter nods and quickly heads to the fire’s direction. The fire guy appeared much less than Darknight; Darknight can be spotted almost every night with “resolving” street crime or gang activity, while fire guy only appeared with illegal drug or weaponry dealings.

Peter tried tracking fire guy down before, but fire guy always disappeared before Spider-man reached the scene. Now that he finally spots fire guy in the middle of the action, he wasn’t going to let the chance slip.

Another tight swerve, and Spider-Man arrives at an abandoned-looking warehouse. He could faintly hear gunshots and shouting coming from within, and the broken windows flashed orange every few seconds from whatever was happening inside.

Peter hurriedly runs to the closest opening, the sounds gunshots and yelling prickling his heart. He didn’t bother turning on infrared vision with all the heat emanating from the warehouse.

KAREN's voice is barely audible as Peter hurls open a metal door, “The temperature in there is approximately 60 Fahrenheit higher. Cooling system activated.”

“Thanks, KAREN,” Peter said before the interior’s sight seized his attention.

The first thing he sees was a mountain of burning crates, a flickering and snarling mess of flames and smoke on the other side of the room. An indescribable foul smell mixed with burning flesh smell hits Peter like a high-speed truck to the face, making him retch uncontrollably. Unfortunately, the built-in filter couldn’t block out the smell, and only his heroic sense of hero responsibility propels him to continue deeper into the fiery gunfight. Several men are lying around on the ground, groaning in pain or unconscious. All of them show a number of burn injuries, some looking serious enough to leave permanent injuries.

Peter’s face scrunches behind his mask in disgust. What is this fire guy doing? It’s not saying that Spider-Man had never injured someone before, but the severity of these injuries feels like the work of an anti-hero or even a villain.

“Peter, ‘fire guy’ is at your two o’clock,” KAREN says. Peter turns in that direction to hear a commotion of frantic yelling and gunfire behind a wall of half-burnt cargo.

When Peter is about to swing to see what is going on, the yelling and gunfire suddenly stop, the sounds cut off midway, as if dissolved by the fire.

Right in front of the wall, Peter’s Spider-sense blares in alarm. 

jumpjumpJUMP!

Without hesitation, he jumps high up into the air.

The next second, the entire wall bursts apart as a freaking fire bird, a literal bird made from fire, cuts through the boxes. Peter could almost see the feathers on the fire bird as it flaps its wings like a blazing trail of fiery death.

Peter would almost call it beautiful, if the fire bird then did not swerve upwards, straight towards him.

“What the hell?” Peter barely manages as he frantically tries to dodge the sudden attack, but he was midair without any way to change his direction immediately, and there is nothing close enough to him to use as a shield.

The increased tingling alarm in Peter’s brain made the hairs on his nape stand up straight.

“Motherfuc—”

Searing pain spreads across Peter’s face and chest as the fire bird crashes into him, as if a plus-size iron ladle have mistaken him for an ironing board. He can't breathe—it feels like he was inhaling pure heat. Red exclamation marks of “system failure”, “suit damaged” pop up in his screen along with the fire bird’s screech as its form dissipates. Only his instincts helped him from hitting the ground like a sack of burnt rocks, as he readjusts his body just in time to let his back absorb the impact in a messy roll.

“Ow…” Peter coughs at the taste of ash in his mouth. “What was that?!”

Even though the fiery impact had hurt like hell, Peter doesn’t feel any obvious injuries on himself for now—seems like his suit’ heat resistant aspect had saved him from a lot of trouble. When he looks down, though, he can see that the front of his suit had been damaged, the fabric visibly blackened and burned in several areas.

Peter breathes deeply. He has been through worse. He can still do this.

Fire guy is still hiding behind the makeshift wall, so Peter jumps onto to the top of half-burned boxes to gain a higher ground before anything else surprising might happen.

"Hey! What was that about..." 

Peter's voice trails off. He certainly is surprised, and not in the best way either.

A very familiar figure with an even more familiar sword. A figure covered in a black coat, a crimson claymore raised towards him in alert, foreign yet familiar flames flickering at the sword tip.

Peter’s confronting words catches in his throat. It almost feels like he was breathing in fire again, and yet despite the heat in the room, his body suddenly feels very cold, as an ominous chill races down his spine.

Darknight, surrounded by unconscious and badly burnt men, looks up at him silently.

What?

“Darknight?” Peter asks incredulously, because what is happening aren’t they supposed to be two people?

He feels mildly betrayed by this sudden plot twist.

“You…you have fire powers?” he asks. It probably wasn’t the most intelligent thing he could’ve said, but he’s so surprised that it was all he could manage at this moment.

Darknight remains silent for a moment, then lowers his sword.

“I thought you knew,” the man simply says in his damned Batman voice.

“You thought I…” Peter takes a deep breath. “Sure, yeah, sure, of course. Why not? Batman on fire, sure.”

When he stops his sarcasm to think, though, Darknight and fire guy has indeed never appeared at the same night, and both sides showed similar levels of violence. The hindsight didn’t really help with Peter’s current feelings, though, unease and wariness making him shift for battle preparation with Darknight.

“Why are you here?” he asks.

Darknight gestures at the charred crates, his meaning clear. KAREN scans the contents and soon shows a long list of very illegal chemicals, more than illegal enough to send all the associated men into jail for a very long time.

Peter hesitates, then asks again, “Look, I’m not saying that these guys don’t deserve any punishment, but don’t you think that you’re being a bit too harsh on them?”

A long silence from Darknight before he finally says, “They’re not dead.” He sounds suspiciously grudging, or maybe that’s just because of the Batman-tone. “They’ll recover. I have controlled my fire.”

Peter looks around at the state of the room. A charred crate collapses to the ground at this exact moment. This is controlled?

A burnt circuit in his suit crackles weakly in response.

Peter can’t help but become more wary of the cloaked vigilante in front of him.

Darknight seems to have noticed the Spider-suit’s obvious damage and dips his hooded head apologetically. “I didn’t mean to harm you. I didn’t know you were there.”

Peter has a few doubts that the fire bird just automatically swerves up, but he accepts Darknight’s explanation. For now.

“Sure…” Peter trails off. The tension between them is still thick, the awkwardness almost as heavy as that car meeting he had with Birdman.

Luckily, KAREN's voice cuts in, “Do you want me to inform the police, Peter?”

“Yes.” Peter hesitates briefly, then adds, “Tell them to bring in medical aid as well.”

He looks back towards Darknight, who takes a cautious step back. Looks like the wariness isn’t one-sided. Peter didn’t want to risk pushing this new vigilante into the dark side, though, so he decided to try and keep things stable.

“Look, man, I don’t like being roasted, and I don’t entirely agree with…some of your methods, but…” Peter bites his lip, “You’re still on the good side, right?”

Darknight nods.

“Then I’ll forgive you for roasting my suit this time,” Peter decides, then quickly adds, “Not just this time, like, I would appreciate it if you gave me a heads-up next time before releasing that cool fire bird.”

Darknight seems to relax by a fraction. “Thank you.”

KAREN must’ve pulled a few strings, because the blaring sounds of NYPD quickly surrounds the warehouse. Spider-Man and Darknight part ways with lingering caution; Darknight disappears back into the shadows while Spider-Man goes to meet the police.

Amid the flashing red-and-blue lights of the numerous police cars and questioning from tired-looking officers, Peter still doesn’t know how to feel about this whole Darknight thing. He really hopes that he made the right choice.

Ever since Tony Stark hired Peter Parker as his intern, life at the Avengers Tower has gotten a lot more…lively. And by “lively” he meant “JARVIS gaining an ally to distract him from his work”. He can’t remember how many times the kid has most disrespectfully popped into his personal research lab (JARVIS must have given the kid the access, the nerve) and politely-not-politely dragged him away to sleep.

“Mr. Stark, please, I don’t want to carry you, but it’s two thirty and you need to sleep or else your body will collapse.” Is usually what Peter would say, with a mix of the Parker shyness and Spider-Man threats.

To which Tony would usually scoff in response, “I’m fine.”

It always ends in the damned kid either somehow managing to get him to stop his work and enter his bedroom, or gets JARVIS's permission to fucking lug him into his bedroom. Either way, Tony has, to his dismay, gotten used to being nudged into bed by the kid whenever he pops his head into the lab.

Which was why he was taking advantage of Peter not being around tonight to work on his newest Iron Man suit, until JARVIS suddenly announced:

“Mr. Stark, Peter Parker is coming to your floor.”

Tony did not startle at the kid’s sudden appearance at 2 AM. 

“Oh, shit—” Tony curses as he accidentally drops a screwdriver on his foot. “JARVIS, did you call him or something? It’s not even that late!”

“I did not call Peter,” JARVIS's disembodied voice replies. “He seems to be in a state of distress.”

That got Tony’s attention. “What, something happened during his patrol?” He discards his work and leaves the lab, and the elevator door opens right as he enters the living room.

“Hey, kid, what’s the mat—”

Tony pauses short at Spider-Man’s appearance. The front of Spider-Man’s outfit has been blackened from head to torso. There are a few tears in the fabric, revealing an inner layer of fried circuits. In short, not the average look of Spider-Man.

“Did you got hit by a flamethrower or something?” Tony can’t help but ask.

Peter startles like he's woken from a dream. “What?” He doesn’t sound as distressed as Tony thought, more like…lost. “No, I…Well, kind of?”

Tony crosses his arms. He’s already gotten over the initial stabbing panic that he felt when he saw Peter’s roasted look, and the Spider-Man outfit has heat resistance, so Peter’s state shouldn’t be as bad as it looks to be.

“What do you mean, ‘kind of?'” he asks.

“Uh…” Peter takes off his mask, and there’s a look of post-adrenaline shock on his face, the kind when you get ambushed (sometimes literally) with reality and survived.

Peter blinks, then finally gives the grand reveal.

“I got hit in the face with a sword on fire?”

Now Tony blinks, then, “What?”

Peter shrinks at Tony’s increased volume. “Not like literally by the sword, but by the fire on the sword…I know, I could’ve dodged it, but I thought that the guy only had the sword part, not the fire part!”

Tony puts a hand up to stop Peter’s babbling. “Okay, kid, calm down.” Once Peter shuts up, he continues, “I feel like I’m missing out on some content. Go from the start, will you? Who is this firesword guy that you’re talking about?”

And so, Peter tells him of two—no, one—newly born enhanced vigilante running on the streets of New York City. Apparently, Peter had previously thought there was one with the claymore (“who the hell fights with a claymore?” Tony had asked, to which Peter had vehemently agreed with) and one with the fire powers, but turns out it’s one person all along.

“So, a fire claymore guy,” Tony summarizes.

“He says he’s called Darknight,” Peter corrects him.

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply. “Kid, I don’t care if he wants to be Batman or not.” He gives his best “disapproving dad” glare to Peter, and it has the intended effect. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Indignation and discomfort flashes across Peter’s face, and oh boy that’s a look of teenage rebellion.

“I…I thought I had it handled,” Peter mumbles, but quickly corrects himself, “No, I can still handle it. I wasn’t expecting it to just be Darknight all along, but now that I know—”

“Peter,” Tony cuts him off. “Calm down. I’m not going to snatch him from you.”

Peter stammers as he continues, “Look, Peter. I know that you’re a good kid, and I’ve trusted that you can do the good stuff like us since you took down that Toes guy—”

“—Toomes,” Peter corrects him with a small voice.

Tony glares at him. “The Toomes guy, I even offered you an Avengers seat and everything.”

Peter does not seem to understand the point and looks at him like a lost puppy.

“What I’m trying to say here, Peter,” Tony tries to keep his voice normal, because fuck knows how to deal with sneaking teenagers. “Is that I’m not going to bench you at the first sign of danger, but you also gotta know that you’re not alone. This is New York, for Christ’s sake. It’s stupid…”

Tony pauses to think of a better wording to his last sentence without hurting the kid's feelings too much.

"...It’s always better to go into a fight with assistance.”

Peter looks ashamed. Tony does not feel guilty. Spiderman is still young, and some lessons need to be learned to be a better and smarter hero, especially when Tony himself has already tripped and fallen painfully to learn the same lesson.

“…You’re right, Mr. Stark,” Peter finally mumbles, “I guess I could’ve asked more than just KAREN. It probably would’ve been much faster.”

After a moment, though, his head jerks up with a defiant glint. “But, I still think I can handle this. Really.”

Tony claps a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Sure, Spiderboy. I would appreciate it if you could update me more about this wannabe-Batman, and I won’t descend with my Iron Man glory unless you ask. Fair?”

Peter nods reluctantly. He doesn’t look like he’s going to listen, but that’s fine, because Tony's not planning to idly sit by either.

“Great.” Tony lifts his hand, which is now blacker than before with the soot. “Now, do you have the stuff to fix your suit at home?”

Peter shakes his head, and he looks so much like a drenched puppy that Tony decides to do the nice thing.

“Why don’t you stay overnight here then?" he offers. "It’s Saturday anyways, give your Aunt May a call, and you can fix your suit here tomorrow.”

Peter looks at him with shock. “Wait, really? What about Cap and everyone else?”

“What, you think I don’t have one or ten spare rooms?” Tony steers the boy towards the elevator. “C’mon, kid, get your phone out so we can get you night-night into a bed and I can go back to the lab.”

Peter nods absentmindedly, apparently still surprised at Tony’s invitation—honestly, what sort of an image does he have in the teenager’s brain? —then whips back around.

“The lab?” Peter repeats. There’s nothing threatening or dangerous in the tone, but Tony suddenly feels immense pressure.

“Mr. Parker, it is currently 02:23 AM,” JARVIS the traitor supplies, “I would greatly appreciate it if you could assist me in getting Tony to join you.”

Tony is not feeling defensive against Peter’s accusing look.

“JARVIS!”

The next day, when Peter wakes up and trudges into the living room, he’s greeted with an unexpected sight.

“Mr. Rogers, uh, Mr. Captain America?” he practically squeaks at the man sitting by the kitchen island. All traces of grogginess in his brain are wiped clean in an instant.

Steve, in a bafflingly normal white t-shirt and denim pants, looks back at him with a warm smile.

“Oh hey, Peter. I thought I heard someone entering this floor last night. Was that you?”

Peter nods. “Yeah, that was me. Did I wake you up, Mr. America—uh, Mr. Rogers?”

Steve lets out a soft laugh. “Please, Peter, ‘Steve’ works just fine. And no, I was still awake at that time.” The blond man gestures towards the table, revealing a plate of pancakes. “I made a few extra pancakes. Do you want some?”

“Wait, really?” Peter asks, because holy Thor is Captain America giving him Captain-America-made pancakes?

“Of course.” Steve stands up to get a plate from a cabinet. “How many do you want?”

And so, Peter has the honor of eating Captain-America-made breakfast after his very first night at the Avengers Tower. Steve keeps piling pancakes onto his plate, to which Peter has to keep thanking for in the most awkward-starstruck teenager manner.

After a while, footsteps patter heavily behind Peter’s back, which turns out to be Tony in his disgruntled state of just waking up.

“Oh hey, kid,” Tony mutters as he walks straight for the coffee machine, “Leave me two pancakes.”

Steve frowns disapprovingly. “I could make more if you asked, Tony.”

“No time, no need.” Tony waves his hand dismissively. He inhales his first cup of coffee, then puts it back for a refill. “I have to finish the newest suit by this week. Besides, Spiderboy’s got his own stuff to do.”

Steve opens his mouth to say something else, but Peter stops him as he says, “He’s right, Mr. Rog—Steve. I have to repair my suit today as well. Thanks a lot for the pancakes!”

Steve’s face relaxes back into a pleasant smile. “Anytime, Peter.”

Peter’s face cracks into an uncontrollably large smile. Before anything else could happen that would further ruin Spider-Man’s reputation, he turns around with a plate of pancakes to join Tony by the elevator.

“So, kid,” Tony says nonchalantly as he takes a pancake out of the plate, “What does Batman Darknight look like? Does he have the cat ears?”

Chapter Text

“You’ve plotted it at the wrong street. It’s at the 42^nd street, not 44^th.”

“Ah, you’re right. That’s the waypoint between the two columns in the Grand Control, right?”

“Grand Central. And yes, it’s that one.”

“Haha, I’ll get the name right next time. The breathtaking design of the building must have taken my mind away during that time.”

“…Hmph, it’s not as clean or organized as the Favonius Cathedral.”

“Well, there’s a lot more people in this city than Mondstadt. Eight million people! Can you believe that?”

“The amount of people in this world is indeed astonishing. Did you unlock the one under the Avengers Tower?”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve heard of the many stories of that…Tony Stark. Iron Man. I need to make sure we won’t look suspicious when we go there.”

“Smart choice. What’s that one?”

“Hm? Oh…Well, I stumbled across that one a few days ago during one of my excursions.”

“Hmph, no need to be so vague. You can just say ‘gang activity’.”

“Oh, haha, but Master Diluc, but what if the mighty Darknight hears me? I can’t risk letting him ruin my plans. He’s a bit of a brute, don’t you think?”

“…Kaeya.”

After Peter finishes fixing his outfit by noon, he heads back to his apartment, and runs into Kaeya in the hallway.

“Hi, Kaeya!” He waves at the man.

Kaeya looks up from his phone and smiles at him, and greets him in that usual silky tone of his. “Ah, Peter. Back so early? The day has only just begun.”

“Oh, uh…” Peter’s tongue trips over itself as he hurriedly explains, “I was doing, uh, intern stuff at my intern place. I stayed there last night because it was a lot of work, and I just finished it this morning.”

Kaeya frowns. “That doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience, to be working overnight.” Peter can hear the disapproval from the man’s tone, and he resists the urge to explain further—what if he slips up?

“Where is this place you’re working at?” Kaeya asks.

Peter pauses in hesitation. He doesn’t like to spread his Stark internship around—his classmates will never believe him, Flash will be even more of a pain in the ass, and there’s just the “Spider-Man” issue that makes it even more complicated. 

But… Peter looks at Kaeya’s waiting expression. Kaeya’s a cool and nice person. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man that would laugh when he says that he’s Tony Stark’s intern, or ask too many questions about his personal life.

“Um…I’m Stark Industries’ intern.” Peter pauses to examine Kaeya’s reaction, and when he finds none, he continues, “It’s usually not like this, really! It’s just that Mr. Stark sometimes works too much, and I have to help JARVIS and…”

Peter flushes red. He’s yammering again. However, Kaeya only tilts his head with no signs of jeering.

“Tony Stark? I’m still very new to this place. Is that the billionaire, the Iron Man person?” Kaeya asks with a curious expression.

Peter nods a bit tersely. He’s still waiting for the final reaction.

Kaeya smiles warmly. 

“Wow, that’s really impressive, Peter. I can tell you’re smart, but I didn’t know you were this smart.”

Peter looks at Kaeya in surprise. “You…You believe me?” 

Kaeya shrugs. “Why shouldn’t I? I can tell that you’re a good man, Peter, and you’re not the lying type either.”

Peter feels his cheeks heat up, even when his heart twinges at the mention of him not being the “lying type.” Oh, the irony.

“Thank you, Kaeya. I really appreciate it, man.”

Kaeya pats his shoulder reassuringly. “Anytime, Peter.” He opens his door and gestures to its interior. “Do you want to come in for a while? Diluc’s still sleeping, and I don’t have any work today.”

“Mr. Diluc’s still sleeping?” Peter remembers the last time he checked his phone it said 11:15AM. “Doesn’t he have any company thing to do?”

Kaeya smiles, “Oh, don’t worry, Peter. He was too tired from last night’s work, so I took over for him.”

Peter can’t help but feel surprised. He always thought that the two brothers don’t work together, since he’s never seen them together before.

“So?” Kaeya prompts Peter out of his momentary thinking, “Want to come in? I’m recently in the process of catching up on this country’s culture by watching its films.”

That got Peter-movie-nerd-Parker’s attention, “Oh, cool! Do you want any recommendations?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid it’ll have to be next time. I already have one in mind,” Kaeya’s grin turns into a smirk, “I’ve heard that the Nolan ‘Batman’ series is a classic?”

Diluc walks into the living room neatly dressed but still bleary at twelve o’clock.

He stops at the sight in front of him.

“What are you two doing?”

Peter, who is holding a Batarang made of aluminium foil in his hands, freezes at the dry tone. Kaeya, who is holding a half-made Batarang, turns around to look at Diluc with a smug smile.

“Oho, look who’s late to the party?” The blue-haired man points at the TV screen, where it shows a man in some dark cave with bats around him. “We’re watching Batman.”

Diluc looks at the screen, then at Kaeya, then at the Batarangs.

“I see.”

Somehow, his voice became even flatter than before.

Peter swallows nervously at the tone, but Kaeya’s smile simply widens.

“Oh, don’t be so dull, Diluc. I’ve heard it’s a great film, and Batman is apparently one of the most famous superheroes on screen.” Out of Peter’s sight, Kaeya’s smile turns positively evil. “The Dark Knight…such a cool name, don’t you think?”

Peter nods vigorously besides Kaeya.

“Tch.” Diluc lets out an audible exhale of exasperation. His look now borders on a glare. “What do you want, Kaeya? I need to get to work.”

Kaeya waves his hands. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve already done it for you.” He pats the couch, on the side without Peter. “C’mon, watch it with us. It’s just starting to get good. I feel like there’s a lot in common between you and Bruce Wine.”

Peter nods once, then stops in visible confusion.

“Kaeya, it’s Bruce Wayne.”

Kaeya laughs, “Oh, is it? I’m sorry, I must have heard the lines wrong then.” He turns back to Diluc. “Well? Peter did say it was very good.”

Peter looks at Diluc hopefully. Diluc looks like he wanted to jump out of the window, and Peter can't help but once again marvel at the strange dynamic between the brothers—they must have tried to seriously kill each other at least once in their lifetime, which would be very concerning if it wasn't clear how strangely harmonic they are now. 

Diluc lets out a loud sigh. He looks extremely pained.

“Fine.”

Peter leaves Kaeya and Mr. Diluc’s apartment after an hour of watching a Batman film. It was a very interesting experience, to say the least. Kaeya finds the oddest things hilarious (“A billionaire as a vigilante? Haha!”), while Mr. Diluc remains utterly silent. Even though Peter isn’t sitting next to the red-haired man, he can feel the sheer testiness from him.

When he closed their door, he can almost immediately hear Mr. Diluc saying through the door, “Really, Kaeya?”

“What?” came Kaeya’s blurred voice, though its amusement is still clear, “I think it’s a great film. A very…interesting story. You should watch the next two with me.”

Peter’s spider-hearing allows him to catch Mr. Diluc’s sharp inhale.

“There’s two more?”

“Haha, of course. Did it really seem like it ended with this one? Not even yo...” Kaeya trails off, and there’s a brief silence before he continues, “Anyways, you’re watching them with me.”

Mr. Diluc simply makes an unhappy sound, but says nothing else.

Peter hears nothing else after that other than their shuffling movements, and turns to go back to his own home.

Manhattan, night.

When one sees something being set in preparation for months, it is quite natural to have the urge to check it out when it's finally complete and open for use.

Perhaps that’s why Steve Rogers chose to push the mahogany brown door into lit and opened Angel’s Share. It could also just be because it was night and he felt like having a drink, and this one was right in front of him, but who knows?

He likes it practically immediately—the bar is designed in a very vintage yet comfortable fashion, with rich brown panning the walls and furniture, gentle yellow lights in torch-like wall laps illuminating the glasses, and countless small paintings and posters frame the wall. There’s no one in the bar yet.

“Welcome.”

Steve stops once more at the sight of the reddest-haired bartender in front of him. The man is wearing a simple white shirt with a black vest, the is that even real? red hair tied back into a low ponytail.

The man looks at him with an expressionless face, and Steve quickly steps out of his momentary surprise to smile at him. “Hello. Are you the owner of this place?”

The man nods. Steve notices that the man has red eyes, just as red as his hair. Does he have some type of contacts on to fit the hair? What an...interesting fashion style.

Steve smiles, his well-taught manners covering his inner thoughts in an instant. “I saw that the bar finally opened. Congratulations.”

The man looks at him for a few more seconds, then dips his head. “Thank you.” His voice doesn’t really sound like he’s from around here. A newcomer?

“What can I get you?” the man asks.

Steve slides onto a barstool. “I don’t have anything in particular…How about your signature?”

The man nods, and turns to face the impressive wall of liquor and wine behind him. His expression never changed from its impassive state, but Steve can tell that the man is not a threat.

He stops himself, and guilt prickles him for a moment. He’s just a bartender. Of course a bartender, no matter how shockingly colored, wouldn’t be a threat.

“Did you have a bad day?” the man asks him. He sounds stilted, like he’s not used to doing this.

Steve lets out a small sigh, and smiles with a shake of his head. “It’s fine. I just realized a bad habit of mine.”

“I see,” the man simply says as he pours sparkling wine into glass. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Steve just couldn't tell a stranger about how he subconsciously assessed him as a potential threat. “Sorry, but I think I’ll pass this time. It’s not the lightest thing to talk about in a bar like this.”

The bartender nods. “Very well.” He didn’t push further. Steve already likes the bartender.

It didn’t take him long for the bartender whatever he was making. “Death After Noon.” The man pushes forward the glass. The liquid is a shining golden, bubbles floating up from the bottom to disappear soundless at the surface.

Steve accepts the glass. “Thanks.” The moment his first sip passes through his throat, his eyes widen. “This is really good.” He takes another sip. “Really good. How did you make it?”

“Weren’t you looking the whole time?” the man asks, his tone dry, “It’s sparkling wine with dandelion wine. A…classic of my hometown,” he pauses, and his expression turns flat, “And my brother’s favorite.”

“You must be a great brother, then,” Steve replies pleasantly. The man’s answer also answered his previous thoughts about the man’s origin. “Where are you from?”

“Another country,” the man pauses briefly, “Europe.” He doesn’t elaborate.

Steve nods. “Ah, I see. And your brother? Is he here in New York too?”

“Yes. He’s doing his own work, but we help each other occasionally.” The man’s expression somehow turns even flatter. “He’s the main reason why I opened this bar.”

Steve chuckles. He has a faint sense that the man’s brother is much more of an alcoholic than the man itself is.

“Well, I’m glad that you decided to do so. I never had tasted something like this before, it’s great. I’m sure this bar will gain popularity soon.”

“Thank you.” The man doesn’t look pleased, but then again, he hasn’t looked like anything in particular so far. “I’m not trying to make this into a big business, but I appreciate it.”

Steve finishes his drink, then orders another one. The bar is silent except for the soft piano music playing in the background, and its soothing atmosphere lulls Steve into a relaxed state, one that he hasn’t felt for quite a while. This is nice, He thinks to himself. Maybe he should get away from the Avengers Tower more often.

The peace doesn't last long, though. Right when the last drop slides past his tongue, his phone buzzes in his pocket.

Tony Stark: stop drinking and get your 10/10 ass back here. Fury’s ranting.

Steve sighs at Tony’s brash text, but takes his wallet out to pay the bill—to his pleasant surprise, it’s far less than he expected it to be, and it adds to his list of reasons to come back here again. As the bartender accepts the card and turns to do his part, Steve takes the time to reply.

Steve Rogers: How do you know I’m drinking?

Tony Stark: your location, duh.

Tony Stark: Angel’s Share? Really? Sounds like some gathering place for mob gangs

Steve Rogers: Don’t say that, Tony. The bartender is a great guy. He also makes excellent drinks.

BestHeroOfNYC: boooooooo

Steve shakes his head in amusement, then clicks Tony’s profile picture to change his name back to “Tony Stark.”

Steve Rogers: Stop hacking my phone.

no: can’t stop me

Before Steve could change the name again, the bartender returns in front of him.

“Here.” The bartender returns the card.

“Thank you, uh…?”

“Diluc.”

“Ah, thank you for the excellent drinks, Diluc. Have a good night, and I wish you a successful opening of your bar.”

Diluc dips his head in thanks. After a brief moment of hesitation, he takes out a business card and hands it to Steve.

“I won’t be bartending every night. Since you’re the first customer, I’ll give you some extra benefit. If you feel like coming here, tell me a day beforehand.”

“Oh…” Steve shakes his hands in surprise. “There’s no need for this. I’d hate to interfere your business.”

The man shakes his head, and his mouth, for the first time this evening, quirks into a small smile. “No need to be so polite,” he says. “You’ve been a great customer, and a great start for this place.”

Steve can only choose to put both cards into his wallet with a smile. “I can’t say no to that, then. I’ll definitely come by again.”

“Hit me with some evening news, KAREN.”

“Of course, Peter. There is a traffic happening at the Fifth Avenue 13^th street.”

“Very funny, KAREN.”

“Thank you, Peter. Stark Industries’ stock market has decreased by 0.67% today. New York City will have its first snow day tomorrow. Mentions of a new gang ‘Teyvat’ has appeared since last week. Your literature essay is due in two days, which you currently have written 57 words out of the 2000 word count requirement.”

“Hey! Have you been spying on my schoolwork?”

“You have asked me to aid your schedule for completing schoolwork in time. I am simply reminding you of an incoming deadline.”

“Ugh, fine…What was that Taylor group thing you just said again?”

“There has been reports of a new street group named ‘Teyvat’ appearing in New York City. Related reports are mainly from Queens and Lower Manhattan.”

“That’s a leap. No Brooklyn?”

“There has been, but not significant.”

“Weird. Remind me to check it out in like, a week or so. I gotta first deal with my homework and Avengers stuff, you know?”

“Of course, Peter.”

“Yeah, and—wait, is Mr. Stark calling me?!”

Angel’s Share Official Channel

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<An image of Diluc in his bartender outfit, pouring wine into a tumbler with an expressionless face to an unknown customer. Only a dark-skinned hand can be seen.>

Angelshareofficial: Angel’s Share is open! Come find us and a hot red-haired bartender at XXX Avenue xxx street in Manhattan, open from 9PM-2AM every day!

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nolife: HIS NAME??? (that hair dye though dayum

Chapter Text

“Are you sure that’s what you want to call it? Teyvat? Really?”

“Hey, hey, don’t look so disappointed, Master Diluc. I think it sounds quite nice. Besides, I’m just feeling homesick, haha.”

“…”

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Fine, fine. If you really want a proper answer, think of it as a…contingency for unforeseeable future events.”

“…You think others from our world might arrive here too?”

“I don’t know, Diluc. We fell into this world because a portal appeared beneath our feet while we were fighting those Riftwolves. Who knows if that might happen again?”

“Hmph. And you choose to start a gang?”

“Don’t say it like that, Master Diluc. I prefer the term ‘information network.’ It’s not so different to what we have in Mondstadt, isn’t it?”

“Uh…” Peter in his Spider-Man outfit looks around the main room helplessly. “Is the world ending or something?”

He’s currently in the wide spacious living room in the Avenger’s floor, Avengers Tower, which now no longer seemed so spacious with all the people in there.

Tony is taking up an entire sofa with his impressive sprawl. Steve and Sam are looking at Tony in exasperation. Clint’s head is barely visible in a vent. Bruce and Natasha are sitting by the window, watching everyone’s interactions with a small smile.

There’s a flurry of holograms in the middle of the room, filled with flying bits of information like “space stone”, “disruptions”, “intruders”, and a bald head amongst them.

“Oh hey, kid, already here?” Tony sees him and sits up, “Good, good, hurry up and sit here. I’m sure that Fury has enough of a heart to stop his ranting if there’s a kid here.”

Fury’s irritated face in one of the holograms snaps, “I can hear that, Stark. I can see Spider-Man’s here.”

Peter scurries to stand besides Tony. “So…what’s going on? Where’s Thor and War Machine? Are we going on an Avengers mission?”

The director of SHIELD looks at Peter, who shirks at the intense gaze.

“War Machine is busy. Thor is…busy.” The last word comes out as a gritted sound.

Clint’s head peaks out from the vent. “Thor is drunk in Russia.”

Fury closes his eye and mutters something about “Bifrost his ass back” before looking back at Peter, “As for your second question…not yet. But it could be in the future.”

Peter didn’t really get it, “Okay…?”

“Basically,” Tony interrupts Fury’s cryptic answer, “Portal 2 happening in New York.”

“Stark—”

Peter gets it now, “Oh! So, like, there’s disruptions in our spacetime, portals opening in New York?” He rubs his hands together in anticipation, “So…another alien attack?”

No one answers for a moment. Tony looks delighted that Peter understood his answer perfectly. Steve looks utterly lost. Fury looks like he had some words in mind, but luckily didn’t say them.

“You got the first half right, Spider-Man,” Fury instead says, and thankfully says nothing else.

Natasha fills in Fury’s dramatic silence, “We’ve been catching signals of energy anomalies similar to Chitauri attack, but on a much smaller scale. There are currently no reports or mentions of aliens either, so we’re still investigating the meaning behind these disturbances.”

“Basically, they got nothing if it wasn’t for my kind assistance,” Tony finishes. Fury glares at him.

“What Iron Man is trying to say, he and SHIELD worked together to develop a system to detect these irregularities as soon as they appear—”

“More like I developed it all by myself—”

“To alert the Avengers to—”

An alarm blares in the living room. Peter jumps at the sudden sound.

JARVIS' voice surrounds the standing Avengers in a soothing voice, “Irregularity detected.” A brief pause, then JARVIS adds, "This is not a drill."

“Thanks for the reminder, JARVIS,” Tony yawns as he stands up. He looks around. “So, who’s coming to check out the potential earth-shattering danger?”

“Tony,” Steve sighs as he straightens, “Please, be serious.”

“I am very serious.” Tony does not sound serious at all.

Steve sighs but says nothing, and instead looks around the room. “Tony, Sam, Peter, you three are the fastest to get there. The rest stay put in case this was a distraction, or if something else happens.”

“You got it, Cap, stealing the fun for yourself, huh?” Clint calls out from the vent. Despite the lighthearted tone, Peter can tell that he’s relieved to not be there—Peter knows about his traumatic experiences related to portals.

Steve turns to Peter. “Peter. Can you carry me there?”

Peter nods. They’ve done this several times—Spider-Man’s webs are more than strong enough to haul Captain America with him.

“You got it, Cap!”

“Still sore about me giving you a roller-coaster ride?” Tony asks from the side. Steve gives him a flat look.

“Spider-Man hasn’t dropped me yet, so I’ll trust him more than you, Tony.”

“Uh, rude!”

“Did you feel that?”

“I did. Interesting. I suppose our link to our world is stronger than we thought. Or perhaps it strengthened after we came here?”

“That’s not the point, Kaeya. You can feel it too, don’t you? It’s the Abyss.”

“I do, Master Diluc. I suppose we must check it out. Oh, you should probably change into your Batman outfit too.”

“…”

“Ah, come on now, don’t look at me like that, I didn’t choose the awfully dark look for you. Besides, I trust that you would be able to handle them without my help.”

“You’re not coming along?”

“No, I will, but I’ll stay in the shadows. Based on my observations, the security systems of this world are incredibly fast and efficient. I’m sure that those famed Avengers will notice something so…otherworldly as this, and I’m not suitable to meet them yet.”

“Hmph. So, you’re pushing me out instead?”

“We have been planning to meet them anyways. They’re the most reliable source we have to find a way back home. I trust that Darknight’s appearance will be an excellent start.”

“Or, they could think that I’m also from the Abyss and see me as a threat.”

“Well, that depends on your communications skills then, Master Diluc.”

“I thought you were the one everyone looks to when it comes to communication skills, Kaeya.”

“Please, you flatter me. You’re the one making business deals left and right with merchants all over Teyvat, I’m just a mere Cavalry Captain in the Knights of Favonius that no one cares about.”

“…You undermine yourself.”

“…Ahem, anyways, back to the topic at hand, I’ll always be following you from the shadows. While you distract—ahem—establish contact with the Avengers, I would like to get a closer look at that interesting Spider-Man.”

“I see. Fine.”

“Do keep an eye on him, will you? I have a hunch that we are very close to something interesting.”

Peter wasn’t expecting to see such large dogs at the location.

Correction, flying dogs. Four wolf-dog creatures with purple-black or golden-black fur, ominous black mist and particles swirling around their bodies like some creepy psychic.

“What the heck is that?” Peter can’t help but ask Captain America as they land on top of a low building, Falcon alongside them. The black hero looks at the sight below, and his mouth makes an “o” shape in surprise.

“Well, that’s an upgraded look. Did they pay for a premium version?”

There is a blue-purplish portal in the middle of the already-evacuated street, star-like particles swirling around it in an eerie glow. It’s certainly not the Chitauri style.

“I don’t know, Spider-Man,” Steve, now fully in Captain America mode, replies, his mouth pressed tightly in a calculating frown. “If it really is the Chitauri, they’ve certainly changed their style.”

“I don’t know, Cap, I’m personally digging the royal purple here, it’s giving me celestial tarot vibes,” Iron Man, who is hovering above them, interjects, “Not so sure that they would choose to evolve into dogs, though. JARVIS, can you check if these McFly dogs exist on Earth?”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Stark, there are indeed no records of any species on Earth that matches the morphological traits of such species. Biological scans of enemies show no similarity to the Chitauris.”

“So, another type of aliens?” Peter looks down at the flying dog-wolf things. They’re not doing anything yet, just circling around the portal slowly. The longer he looks at them and the portal, though, the queasier he feels.

He resists the urge to look away, “Uh, Mr. Stark, Cap? That portal thingy doesn’t feel so right…”

“I get what you mean,” Captain America replies, “They’re not doing anything yet, but I’m feeling more unsettled than I should be. Looking at them feels wrong, like…something rotting?”

“Wow, real poetic, you two,” Iron Man says, “I don’t feel rotting or anything. Sam?”

“I’m fine too.” Falcon’s voice is just as light as Iron Man’s in Peter’s comms, “Maybe it’s a superhuman thing?”

Iron Man flies down to confront the alien dogs, his voice deceptively lighthearted as he says, “Superhuman or not, as long as the source is gone than it’ll be fine, am I right?”

“Wait, Iron Man, do not engage!” Captain America calls in alarm. Iron Man, however, hits the ground before Steve could stop him, and impressive number of varying firearms extends from his arms and back in a flurry.

“Don’t worry, Cap, I’ve got enough for a battalion of Chitauri,” Iron Man says with a very calm voice, while the lasers and some very big guns whir in activation, “No one will get hurt.”

Peter hears Captain America mutter something very un-Captain Ameria in exasperated frustration, right before the tall man jumps off the building.

“Spider-Man, Falcon, cover us.”

“Alright—” The moment the word leaves Peter’s mouth, he notices that the alien dogs have stopped their circling: They’ve noticed them. Two flies towards Iron Man, one flies up to meet Captain America, and the last one freaking disappears with a puff of purplish black mist.

Immediately, Spider-Man’s entire body tingles violently, and without thinking, he lashes out a web towards Captain America, instincts screaming at him to pull—

“—Careful!”

A surprised grunt leaves Captain America at the strong tug at his back that stops his momentum, and Spider-Man’s overwhelming strength pulls Captain America back midair.

WOOSH.

An alien dogs reappears midair with a flash of black and purple, and its incredibly sharp claws swipe at where Steve was just a split second ago.

Falcon witnesses the entire exchange and quickly stops himself from jumping off as well, then says, “Okay, what the hell?”

Captain America didn’t chide his friend’s use of language as Peter hurriedly lifts the man back besides him. “Cap, are you alright?”

The man nods. “I’m fine, thanks.” He looks down at Iron Man. “Tony, be careful, they’re violent, and they teleport.”

“Okay, now that’s just unfair,” Iron Man complains, right before his weapons simultaneously burst into gunfire mode, instantly covering the approaching alien dogs’s figures with bullets and beams.

“I’m going to go down again and support Iron Man. Falcon, stay midair and keep on the lookout for more midair stunts,” Captain America looks at Peter, his blue eyes through his mask shining in steeled determination, “Spider-Man comes down with me. Watch our backs in case they appear behind us. You got it?”

Peter’s back subconsciously straightens at Captain America’s look. “Of course!”

Captain America nods, and he leaps down from the building once more. “Let’s go. We’re not letting any aliens destroy New York City again.”

A rush of pride and determination, the kind that Spider-Man gets when he’s about to stop something dangerous, fuels his body with adrenaline. Without hesitation, he follows Captain America into the fight, and his body instinctively raises a hand to web at the nearest alien dog that is floating in front of them. Just as he had guessed so, the alien dog only wavers slightly at the sudden pressure.

“Hey, bad dog!” Peter uses the momentum of the centripetal force to slam his body into the dog, kicking it out of the way to clear a path for Captain America to land.

“Great job, Spider-Man,” Captain America says as he lands on top of an alien dog and slams his shield on its head with a resounding clang. Peter winces at the sound. Toughened skin too?

Just as he dreaded, the alien dog under Captain America barely wavers under the force, and quickly recovers with a backflip. Captain America scrambles to gain purchase, only for the alien dog to disappear and leave the man midair.

As he lands on the ground, Captain America says, “You can’t be carried along when they teleport, watch out for that—”

The moment he lands, a rift similar to the portal appears right beside him for a split second, quickly followed by the alien dog.

Falcon swoops down and kicks the alien dog aside before it could react. “It’s alright, Cap," he says, "Just do your thing, and we’ll make sure you won’t get slashed.”

The four works together in smooth teamwork to keep up with the attack patterns of the four creatures, and JARVIS quickly gathered enough data to predict the direction of the alien dogs’ teleporting attacks to turn the tide in their favor. However, once they started to land more hits onto the alien dogs, they quickly began to realize that things were so simple as it was with the Chitauri. Iron Man’s firepower only pushed them back, Captain America’s shield only stuns them momentarily, and Falcon could not break their hide.

“What are they made out of, vibranium?” Iron Man complains as he narrowly dodges a swipe.

“Hold on a bit longer, Tony,” Hawkeye’s voice suddenly cuts in, “We’re on our way.”

Peter punches an alien dog flying—which didn’t do much because it simply stopped itself midair— as he asks, “Wait, you’ve been watching?”

“Of course,” Black Widow’s cool voice answers him, “SHIELD has been closely monitoring and analyzing the unknown creatures’ data the moment they appeared on camera. You boys look like you need help, so we’re coming.”

“Even Thor?”

CUT TO:

Fury yells, almost a scream into his phone, “I don’t care what you must do to get into Russia. I need you to haul Thor’s motherfucking ass out of the bar, shove the goddamn hammer into it, and get him here!”

BACK TO:

“Probably not Thor,” Hawkeye says, “Don’t worry, we’ll be enough for your calvary.”

Iron Man sniggers, “He’s so done for when he’s back—oh, fu—”

Captain America saves Tony from getting slashed by blocking the incoming claws with his shield.

“—Language!”

At one point, Peter was able to webs an alien dog’s paws together thanks to Iron Man’s help, but before they could do anything else, his webs quickly dissolves into useless strands, and the alien dog springs free.

“Uh, guys, I think they have some corroding trait or something!” Peter says into their channel, “My webs dissolved when I tried to web one!”

“Well, that’s just fantastic,” Iron Man says sarcastically, “JARVIS, anything else you noticed about these dogs other than the impenetrable skin, levitation, teleportation and corrosion?”

“Mobility of enemies have decreased by thirteen percent,” JARVIS' cool British voice only adds to the tense atmosphere like a bucket of ice water, “Visible damage is negligible.”

“What?” Peter exclaims as he dodges a swipe, “I mean, I can tell they’re thick, but thirteen percent?!”

“Affirmative.”

“I don’t like these fucking dogs,” Iron Man announces loudly, “Is anyone going to stop me from using one to test my new suits after this?”

“Language!”

“I don’t think that’s the main issue right now, Cap,” Iron Man pours a barrage of gunfire onto the alien dog, which only pushes it back by a few meters. “Actually, we should go back to the corrosion part Spidey was talking about, because I feel like some parts of my suit are—”

“Incoming person detected,” JARVIS suddenly says, “They’ll arriving at the scene in ten seconds from 23^rd street.”

“What? What are they doing here? Is it a civilian?” Iron Man asks with a slightly raised voice. Captain America, who is besides Peter, looks at the direction JARVIS just reported with an alarmed expression.

“Unlikely. Warning, abnormal temperature increase detected. Abnormal energy detected. Abnormal—”

“Behind you!” Falcon pulls Iron Man to the side, and Peter quickly sees the reason why.

A dark figure surrounded in flames, without any warning, leaps out from the shadows of an alley and rushes straight for the nearest alien dog. Unlike everything they’ve been doing, the effects of the fire were immediate.

BOOM!

The impact between the newcomer and the alien dog seems to shake the ground, kicking up a flurry of dust. The alien dog howls in evident pain, and with a familiar flash of red, it disappears with a “poof” , leaving a mini vortex behind that sucks its surrounding particles into nothingness.

Peter has no time to wonder about why only that did something, though, because—

“Darknight?” His voice cracks with surprise.

Without a doubt, with that all-black hooded outfit and the signature crimson and insanely big claymore, and most importantly, the fire, it all supports the fact that it was Darknight who just one-shot killed the alien dog.

What is happening? Peter’s mask-eyes widens at the unexpected vigilante. He thought Darknight was just another badass enhanced vigilante that chose New York City as his new home, but now…

Everyone is momentarily stunned and can only watch how Darknight lands heavily on the street, runs towards an alien dog that is still midair, then jumps towards it with inhuman strength.

The noticeable sword blazes with roaring flames, and its crimson blade carves out a beautiful yet deadly arc in the air as Darknight reaches an inhuman height above the alien dog, his hands raising the claymore high above his head like it weighs nothing.

At this moment, the tension around him heightens to a searing degree, and then...

BOOM.

Crimson flames engulf the alien dog instantly.

“Spider-Man, you know him?” Captain America asks him with a serious tone.

“Uh, yeah? Kind of?” Peter answers, his eyes still fixed on the way Darknight faces off the two remaining alien dogs at once, and how he is able to dodge each attack without looking, like he can sense where the alien dogs would reappear.

“He appeared recently and fought street crime and drugs around my area. I met him twice, he said he’s on the good side, but I don’t really know much about him other than that…” Peter’s voice trails off timidly under Steve’s look.

Captain America’s expression and tone softens. “I see. Don’t worry, I’m not interrogating you, I just need to make sure that he’s not a threat and can handle those creatures.”

 As if answering his words, Darknight single-handedly throws his claymore towards one of the alien dogs, its momentum so fast that one would almost think the heavy sword (which is way longer and heavier than the average claymore) weighs nothing, engulfing the creature’s howls in an instant.

Peter leans back slightly at the heat. “Yeah…I think he’s fine without us.”

“Keep him there until we arrive,” Black Widow’s voice comes clipped through the comms, “Fury’s got a few questions for him.”

Peter frowns under his mask under the implied sentence. He knows the mysterious organization and its paranoid director enough to guess the amount of suspicion Darknight is going to receive, from the who he is all the way to the why he can injure those alien dogs. It’s not that he doesn’t understand—it’s understandable to be cautious when an unknown powerful enhanced individual’s motive and background are dangerously unclear.

But…Peter has a gut feeling that Darknight is not an enemy, and can’t help but worry that SHIELD’s standard reaction will help nothing.

A burst of blinding light shakes the ground. Darknight raises his claymore with both hands to his right, and the fire that was infused on the blade shoots meters high up with a blazing roar.

“Wait, he’s to burn the buildings!” Hawkeye calls out in alarm.

Peter looks helplessly at the mass of fire as he asks, “Do we stop him?” The thought of this entire area possibly turning into ashes makes his heart wrench. He remembers the way the warehouse where he first met Darknight was drowning in fire, the charred crates and repulsive odors that was left behind.

But at the same time, he also remembers the numerous places that were miraculously intact despite all the scorch marks, back when he still thought fire guy and claymore guy were two people. Still, none of them looked as serious as now. Can he keep still the fire under control? Peter thinks worriedly.

“I think we might be a bit late,” Captain America answers tensely, concerned eyes fixed at what is about to happen, “But we can minimize the damage if the fire gets out of hand.”

“Support is on the way to prevent the fire hazard,” Black Widow immediately says, and Peter can catch the wisp of worry that has wormed into the enigmatic woman’s tone.

Falcon, who is still above them, cuts in, “Wait, the fire’s changing.”

Within seconds, the narrow column of fire broadens into a new shape. The flickering tips of the fire forms into feathers, and a bird’s melodic shrill pierces the street as a phoenix is fully formed from within the flames.

In the comms, Iron Man whistles, “I see. Batman Dumbledore.”

“What?” Captain America the grandpa asks.

“The…ugh, never mind, the firebird’s about to do something.”

The phoenix obediently waits on the blade like a nocked arrow as its body continues to solidify, its feathers shining brightly with intensifying energy. Even from this distance, everyone can feel the overwhelming presence of the hooded man, like an awakening predator fixing its gaze on its prey.

Peter’s spidey-sense rings at the dangerous presence. He realizes that he’s holding his breath in apprehension, but also in anticipation for what’s about to come.

Darknight steps forward, fire blooming in a circle under him and swings the blade towards the alien dog.

“Burn.”

The phoenix shoots forward with a beautiful yet deadly streak of light, wings stretched wide like a bright curtain, a quick but grand finale for the poor target. Heat fills the air, and Peter feels like the breath he just inhaled in surprise is scorching his throat.

Without any surprise, the last alien dog disintegrates into nothingness when the phoenix encompasses its entire form.

“Can I say that I feel bad for the last dog?” Tony fills in the silent channel, “Bit of an overkill, if you ask me.”

As if hearing Tony’s words, the phoenix’s ethereal body of flames swerves up in a graceful curve, and spreads its dissipating wings wide above the street before fully dissolving into a most spectacular shower of sparks.

“Bravo!”

“Please, Tony, be a little more serious,” Steve sighs, “We still have the aftermath to deal with.”

They look towards Darknight, who looks back at them. The flames around him and his sword are long gone, and his hood is still intact—another small show of control over the fire. The vigilante’s face is obscured, and it only heightens the man’s mysterious and cold presence—quite ironic, considering the amount of burning that just happened.

Based on the way everyone tenses, they must have gotten the same feeling from the unknown person.

Steve steps forward. With a straight posture and confident tone, he says, “On behalf of the Avengers, I’d like to thank you for your assistance. We would have taken much more time to defeat them if it weren’t for your appearance.”

Peter is secretly pleased at how Steve was confident in their victory even before Darknight’s arrival. That means he wasn’t completely useless just then, right?

Darknight dips his head slightly. Peter lets out a silent breath. He’s being friendly, that’s good.

Then, Iron Man steps forward. “So, you’re the fire Batman Spiderboy’s been talking about?” Tony’s voice is light, but those who are familiar with him can hear the unpleasant biting tone hidden underneath, “Didn’t know that you could deal with the alien dogs so easily. Quite the impressive first appearance.”

The rest of the group looks at Tony subtly in exasperation, because they can all hear the hidden question. Why only you? Are you related to those creatures?

If Darknight heard Tony’s jab, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he simply withdraws his claymore to his back. Just as Darknight’s casual show of space manipulation with his weapon had surprised Spider-Man, it surprises the rest of the Avengers just as much.

“Huh. Space manipulation?” Clint comments in their channel. Peter can practically hear all the notetaking in the other Avengers’ brains.

“Darknight, do…do you know what those things are?” Peter asks. Darknight doesn’t reply and Peter can tell that he’s thinking over something. So, he does know something?

Steve speaks up with a reassuring voice, “Mr. Darknight, even if you’re unwilling to reveal your identity, you have just shown that you’re not on the same side as those creatures. I promise that we won’t do anything. We just wish to know more about these creatures so we can be prepared for next time.”

Darknight shifts slightly, his claymore shifting behind him midair—Peter still finds that incredibly cool. Finally, the vigilante speaks in his low voice, “I…I’ve fought them before. Only my fire affects them.”

“When?” Tony asks.

“This isn’t their first appearance here,” Darknight replies, and there’s a touch of skepticism in his words as he asks, “You haven’t seen them yet?”

“We’ve caught similar energy anomalies before, but we weren’t able to observe any in time,” Natasha says in their comms, “He could be probing us.”

Tony hums and says to Darknight, “Maybe you should ask yourself, buddy,” he changes the question, “As for the fire part…is it just fire, or your fire?”

Darknight doesn’t say anything, but Peter swears that the temperature around him drops a few degrees, and he resists the urge to shiver. Before he says anything, though, a dripping sound interrupts the tense moment.

Peter looks down, and sees a few drops of blood splattering against the concrete pavement.

“You’re hurt?” Peter looks back at Darknight in surprise. This is the first time he’s seen Darknight injured. “Where?”

“I’m fine,” Darknight says. The amount of blood that follows shortly, though, suggests otherwise.

Steve steps forward with a concerned look. “Mr. Darknight…I’m pretty sure that you need medical aid.”

“I’m fine.”

Tony scoffs, “Alright, Batman, I’m sure that you’re just holding a lot of ketchup packets under that cape of yours.”

Steve glares at Tony, pinches the bridge of his nose, then sighs, “Don’t mind him, he’s just like that. And, no offense, but I don’t think that’s in the ‘I’m fine’ level.”

“I’m fine,” Darknight repeats slowly, “I can take care of it.”

“Are you sure?” Peter can’t help but ask too, because man that is a lot of blood on the ground now. The man’s voice also sounded more strained than usual, like he’s hiding a lot of pain.

Iron Man’s face mask lifts to reveal Tony’s exasperated face. “Look, buddy, I’ve got a whole team that can help you out if you don’t be so stubborn.”

Darknight is silent once more. Then, he turns his head around in an observing manner, and takes a step back into the corner connecting the two streets.

Peter’s hand subconsciously reaches out. “Uh…” What is he doing?

Darknight stops underneath a lamplight. “Next time they appear, I will come,” he says, and he sounds so sure that Peter can’t help but wonder why.

“What do you mean by that?” Tony asks.

It seems that Darknight does have a connection with those alien dogs…but what is it?

Natasha’s voice is significantly sharper than before as she reminds them, “Careful, he might be trying to run—”

POP.

Right before Peter and everyone else’s eyes, the mysterious vigilante disappears into thin air.

The entire Avengers team goes silent for a solid second.

Peter’s mouth drops open underneath his mask.

“…Huh?”

Angel’s Share Official Channel

3 Posts            9.2k  Followers           0 Following

<A poster of a Diluc, arms crossed, looking at the camera with a flat expression. The heading “WE’RE HIRING!” is emblazoned across the top of the image.>

Angelshareofficial: We are hiring! Looking for experienced bartenders and anyone who aspires to walk the path of bartending! If you are willing to learn, we are willing to teach! Check here for more details!

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5 hours ago

<An image of a blue and white cocktail mixed topped with a feather decoration. A dark-skinned man stands behind the bar counter, his face not within the picture.>

Angelshareofficial: Due to an unfortunate accident and injury, our favorite red-haired bartender will not be running the bar tonight :((( BUT, there will be a different hair color taking the place tonight! We will be open at 10PM-2AM!

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orangedepression: yall are missing out the blue hair bartender rn is just as fine

1 hour ago

Chapter Text

“Oh my, am I hearing this correctly? Angel’s Share’s first customer is Captain America?”

“…You’re talking as if I had deliberately invited Captain America to be my first customer.”

“No, no, you misunderstand. I just wasn’t expecting you to be able to recognize him from your first meeting with him last week.”

“It was very obvious. His mask didn’t do much.”

“Another world difference, hm? In Teyvat, that would be more than enough to disguise yourself, but here…it seems that more is required to remain incognito. Good thing you didn’t use that Fatui mask then, haha.”

“Indeed. How’s your…business going on?”

“Booming as expected, Master Diluc. It seems that enhanced healing and attack without negative aftereffects is far less common than Teyvat.”

“Their food doesn’t have any enhancing properties either. It must be another fundamental difference between the two worlds.”

“Mhm. A shame, though, if only the drinks could retain their properties if it wasn’t made our own hands, I could’ve started a lot earlier.”

“Have you tried leaving your vision?”

“Hm…If the healing and attack properties only exist in Teyvat, then using the vision’s presence in replacement of myself could potentially work. I’ll test it later. For now, I need to check those fresh bartenders of yours. How is the training going?”

“…They’re certainly very new.”                         

“Haha, give them some credit, Diluc. For a group of such young people that had only learned the wrong things on the streets, they’re learning incredibly fast, aren’t they?”

“Not fast enough to hold up Angel’s Share’s name.”

“Well, I trust that you’ll be able to make it work. Besides, they’ve been giving you more time to do your own Batman work, no?”

“…Hmph. Members of the Teyvat gang are working in my place. I should’ve sent them to the police.”

“Oh, please, Master Diluc, spare me some face, will you? You’re talking to its leader right here.”

A few weeks after Steve’s first arrival at Angel’s Share, he finally finds the time to open its door once more. Compared to last time, the small bar is considerably busier. The high tables are practically full, and there’s several waiters and two new bartenders bustling around.

Looks like they’re starting to gain their name. Steve thinks, pleased for the owner.

He slides into a seat by the counter, right before Diluc the owner/bartender, and smiles at him, “Hey. I’m sorry that I forgot to introduce myself last time. I’m Steve Rogers.”

Behind the counter, Diluc nods at him. “Hello, Mr. Rogers. You didn’t call me.”

Steve remembers the business card left forgotten on his desk and laughs sheepishly, “Well, I didn’t think it was necessary, and I really didn’t want to trouble you.”

“It isn’t. What would you like to drink?”

Steve orders, and when Diluc turns around to make the drink, he can’t help but examine the two new bartenders, a man and woman.

They’re both quite young-looking. However, the longer Steve watches them, the more discrepancies he could find. Their movements are quite clumsy, lacking the expertise Diluc shows, and sometimes have to read from different pieces of paper during the drink-making process.

Huh. Steve’s a bit surprised at why Diluc would hire two bartenders of novice level to his bar—the man didn’t seem like the kind that would tolerate such skill levels.

So, when Diluc returns to him with his drink, Steve can’t help but ask, “Are they new?”

Diluc looks towards the two bartenders, then sighs. He doesn’t exactly look like he was too happy with the new bartenders, which makes everything even odder.

“Yes.” The man pauses briefly to make his expression more neutral, then explains, “I needed more hands, but our bar is too small to attract experienced bartenders. My brother recommended them to me.”

“Oh, I see.” Steve sips his drink, and smiles at the taste, “This is just as good as last time.”

“Thank you.” The man turns around to start another customer’s order as he says, “Still, I wouldn’t let them be here if they weren’t good enough. Feel free to try from them.”

Steve isn’t exactly sure that he would, since Diluc with his impressive skills is right in front of him. Out of politeness, though, he still replies, “I certainly will.”

However, the moment he turns to glance at the nearby male bartender, the said man’s sleeve rolls up just enough to reveal a very interesting tattoo that was previously hidden.

Steve’s eyes narrow.

A few days ago.

“What’s this?” Steve asked. He held up the vial of liquid curiously, allowing the fluorescent lights in Bruce’s lab to bounce off the yellow contents.

Bruce looked up from his current work. “Oh, you remember the new group Peter mentioned? Teyvat?”

Steve nodded.

No one was aware of the changes happening in the dark corners of New York streets until it was too late. The newest group “Teyvat” had appeared silently and ferociously as the brand new chess piece on New York’s board with its own brand-new drug that even the rich are trying to get.

Its leader to this day has still not been identified and has now officially caught the full-time attention of Spider-Man and interest of the Avengers.

“They were able to gain their advantage so quickly because of these.” Bruce gestured at two vials, one a pastel yellow like the one Steve held, and the other one a light blue. “The blue liquid allows the user to gain a considerable strength enhancement, and the yellow one heals injuries of any level within seconds.”

Steve frowned. Both sounded too good to be true.

“What’s the backlash?”

Bruce shook his head. “That’s the odd part. It doesn’t.”

“Wait, really?”

Bruce nodded and sighed. “I’ve ran several tests already. No negative short term or long-term effects, no addictive compounds. Heck, it’s not even alcoholic. If I had to describe it, they’re basically child-friendly fruit drinks.”

Steve couldn't help but grinned at Bruce’s incredulous sentence. “So, you mean that Teyvat is providing healthy medicine and super-serum to New York?”

Bruce shrugged. “From what I’ve heard, it’s not so cheap either, but still a lot better than what the hospitals are giving. That could explain why these…liquids are so popular.”

Very odd indeed, and it doesn't reduce its suspicion at all.

“The Teyvat members we’ve interrogated didn’t say much,” Natasha said, “Their leader goes by the name ‘Favonius,’ and no one’s seen him.”

“Him?”

“Favonius had communicated with them over phone before,” Natasha explained, “We’re trying to see if we can get the conversation from their phone.”

Steve lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Is that even possible?”

Natasha shrugged. “Honestly? Basically not, and only if one side had recorded it beforehand. We’re just checking as an alternative plan.” She tapped on her phone. “Anyways, the biggest find we got it this.”

An image is sent to Steve, which showed a trinity knot enclosed in a circle.

“Some of them got this tattooed,” Natasha gestured at several places on her body, including her forearm and collarbone. “Most of them were previously in other gangs and were incorporated after Teyvat’s takeover. This was the easiest way to show their change of identity.”

“Does it have any specific meaning?”

“For Teyvat? They don’t know. But, in Celtic culture, the trinity knot is often used to symbolize eternity and strength, an endless connection between the past, present, and future.”

Steve looked at the image thoughtfully. “That’s…a lot more complicated than the usual gang symbol.”

“There must be something more behind Teyvat,” Natasha pocketed her phone as she said, “Bruce told you about the effects of the substances they’re selling, right?”

Steve nodded. “Enhanced strength and healing…” his eyes widened in realization, “Oh.”

He sharply looked at Natasha. “You said that the symbol Teyvat used is associated with eternity, right? What if this is their experimentation into something related to it?”

Natasha crossed her arms. “SHIELD has been discussing about this possibility.” Her alluring smile is inscrutable, yet Steve can still feel her tiredness. He can certainly relate to it. There’s always a few dozen groups of foolish people every year who try to do extremely stupid things. 

“If you ever come across these symbols again, tell us as soon as possible.”            

Now.

Steve looks away before anyone notices his stare at the Teyvat symbol on the male bartender’s arm.

He suppresses a curse. Suddenly, the drink Diluc made didn’t taste as good as before anymore.

Steve would really like to grab whoever is in charge of this impromptu turn of events and ask them, why did you have to let it happen here?

Why is there a Teyvat member here, of all places? Is Diluc somehow connected?

“My brother recommended them to me,” Steve suddenly remembered a previous sentence Diluc had said. Is Diluc’s brother connected to Teyvat? Are all of the new employees here from Teyvat?

He turns to look at a passing young female waitress. The goddess of luck must have been watching him, because when the female turns to face him with her back, she lifts her hand to scratch the back of her neck, and her collar slides down to reveal the top one-third of a Teyvat tattoo.

Damn.

Steve stifles his sigh. One Teyvat member can be seen as an unfortunate coincidence. But for two to be Teyvat members?

That is a big red flag regarding the Angel’s Share and the identities of Diluc and his brother.

Steve releases his sigh. Why did it have to be Diluc?

Even though they’ve only met twice, the man has already shown to be a pleasant and polite man to be around with, and the impressionable drinks has already grown to him. If the man really were to be involved…Then Steve can only smile bitterly at the cruel turn of events.

However, it’s still not certain yet. Steve needs to make sure if the Teyvat bartender is here under Diluc’s aid, or if the young man was just that talented.

“Hey,” Steve calls out to the male bartender. The man turns around with a jolt, and Steve realizes that the man—more like a boy—looks no more than eighteen. That’s practically Peter’s age, and Steve’s heart twists in anger at the thought of it.

“Can I get you anything?” the boy asks, nervous.

Steve orders something relatively simple. As the boy moves in front of him to make his drink, Steve casually asks, “I didn’t see you the last time I was here. I guess business here has been really successful, huh?”

To be fair, the last time Steve came to Angel’s Share was its opening day, but he didn’t need to mention that.

The boy first nods silently, then seems to realize his silence may have been a bit rude, and hurriedly replies, “Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“Where are you from, then?”

“Here. Around the place.”

“I see. I’m from Brooklyn. I’m Steve, by the way.”

Perhaps it is Steve’s friendly smile or the soothing atmosphere of the bar, but the boy already looks a lot less tense than just a few seconds ago.

“Charles.”

“Nice you meet you, Charles,” Steve smiles. It’s frighteningly easy to make his smile look as warm as a real one. “When did you come here?”

“Uh, a couple weeks ago,” Charles replies, “My boss—I mean, previous boss—recommended me to come here.”

Steve captures the hurried change regarding the “boss”. He takes a silent note of it.

“Ah, so your previous boss was Diluc’s brother?”

Charles nods. “I didn’t know that they knew each other. I only knew they were brothers after I was accepted by Mr. Diluc.”

“Oh? Your boss didn’t tell you beforehand?” Steve raises an eyebrow. If Diluc’s brother is really involved with Teyvat, and Diluc himself is also involved, then it doesn’t make much sense for other Teyvat members to not know their relationship, especially if Angel’s Share is accepting its members as employees.

“Yeah. He doesn’t really talk much about Mr. Diluc.”

Steve resists the urge to frown. This could mean several completely different things.

“Oh, I guess they’re not so close then,” Steve says. He distantly remembers Diluc’s remarks about how his brother “does his own thing.” Could it be that Diluc is simply unaware of his brother’s true identity?

Charles looks visibly uncomfortable, and his movements speeds up on the completing touches of Steve’s drink. It’s clear that he’s inexperienced in the art of hiding secrets.

“I don’t know,” Charles says, but he has an expression that clearly says he knows why. Before Steve could say anything, Charles quickly pushes a completed red cocktail in front of him, “Your drink. Enjoy.”

Steve doesn’t ask anything else to avoid raising suspicion, and he accepts the drink with a thanks. Besides, the short conversation has exposed enough for him to chew on.

Diluc’s brother is involved with Teyvat. Based on how Charles referred him to as “boss,” there’s a chance that the mysterious brother is either a high-ranking member, or perhaps even “Favonius” himself.

However…based on Charles’ answers, Diluc’s own position is still unclear. He could be a hiding Teyvat member that most members are unaware of and is uses Angel’s Share as a disguised Teyvat site.

Or, the man or is simply unaware of his brother’s association with Teyvat in the first place, and simply accepted the Teyvat bartenders because he needed extra hands, and his brother just so happened to give him some.

Steve feels a headache coming. Why did it have to be this place?

Perhaps it is out of personal bias, but Steve is inclined towards the latter.

Steve quickly shakes his thoughts away and accepts the drink. “Thank you,” he says as he slides Charles a generous tip. The information is worth the value, and, Teyvat member or not, the boy is still a boy, and Steve is not a heartless man.

Steve manages to talk to Diluc once more before he leaves.

“Are you leaving now?” Diluc asks as he wipes the counter.

“Yeah, soon,” Steve smiles. After a moment of hesitation, he decides to bring up Charles. “I did order a drink from Charles.”

Diluc’s movement pauses. “Oh?” The man raises his head to look at him with his red eyes. Seriously, does the man just buy red contact lenses in bulk?

“It’s better than I expected,” Steve smiles, and begins to probe for information. “He must be either very talented or have a very talented teacher.”

Diluc’s mouth quirks at the praise. “I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Rogers.”

Steve feels guilt rise within him once more. While he does mean the compliment, he’s also using it to try and pry out Diluc’s sensitive information.

“You must be very close to your brother, then, to be able to accept someone so new to bartending and take the time to nurture them.” Steve looks at Diluc’s impassive face, trying to catch any slip of emotions.

Diluc is silent for a long moment. He returns Steve’s gaze without shrinking, and those red eyes flicker with an unknown emotion.

“We used to be close. Now…we keep contact.”

Steve catches the meaning of the sentence immediately. Why? Is it because of his brother’s identity?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pressure you,” he says, more guilt prickling his mind at the false words he’s sprouting.

Diluc shakes his head, but his face is still as impassive as ever. For an ordinary (compared to Steve) man, Diluc’s poker face is as impressively impossible to decipher as Natasha or Nick Fury.

“It’s alright,” Diluc pauses again, then says slowly, “He’s not the same as before anymore. I don’t know what he’s up to, but…”

His mouth twists into a bitter smile, the most visible show of emotion Steve has seen on him yet.

“All we have left is each other. I…still care for him, and I know he does too. If he extends his goodwill to me, then I will take it.”

Steve blinks.

Well. That’s a big reveal.

Steve can only come to one conclusion: Unless the man is lying, Diluc is unaware of his brother’s Teyvat identity.

Based on Diluc’s words, Steve’s guess is that after they arrived at New York, Diluc opened his bar, and his brother got involved with Teyvat (or perhaps created it?). The brother seems to be unwilling to drag Diluc into his mess, so he chose to distance from Diluc, but still used their relationship to send young Teyvat members into Diluc’s bar with an unknown intent.

Steve tucks his deduction into the back of his mind to reassure Diluc. “I’m sure that your brother must have his own reasons. At least he does care about you, right?”

“Hmph,” Diluc scoffs, “I would prefer if he never bothers me.”

Steve blinks again. Diluc’s tone has never sounded so genuine, but Steve can feel a hint of…what is it called again? Ah right, tsundere from the man.

Pity turns into exasperation, and Steve’s mouth twitches.

What an odd pair of siblings.

Diluc and Kaeya’s apartment.

“You sure know how to leave us with a good challenge, Master Diluc.”

Diluc glowers at Kaeya. “It’s not my fault that those teenagers can’t stop their tongue. I don’t know what Charles revealed, but Steve Roger is now aware about you.”

Kaeya crosses his arms with a hurt expression. “And so you decide to throw me under the lawlachurl to keep your innocence?”

Diluc mirrors Kaeya’s movement with a cold face. “Don’t act so betrayed now. We both agreed that I wouldn't participate in Teyvat.”

Seeing that Diluc is unperturbed at his complaint, Kaeya’s hurt expression easily slides away to a smirk.

“I know, I know. The hero must stay clean, after all.” Kaeya dramatically puts a hand to his chest. “While I, the poor brother of the two, must lurk in the darkness for my Archons-know-why pitiful reasons.”

Diluc rolls his eyes at Kaeya’s act. “Enough. We have much more important matters to deal with, like the Abyss corruption.”

“Don’t be so impatient, Diluc.” Kaeya waves his hand. “Didn’t that bald female mage—”

“—Sorceress,” Diluc corrects.

“That sorceress told us the Abyss corruption points will reveal themselves over time?”

“By that time, the Abyss would be practically invading New York City,” Diluc shoots back sharply, “You saw those videos of the Chitauri invasion. The Abyss will only be worse.”

“Which is why Teyvat needs to expand and root,” Kaeya replies, his tone as lighthearted as usual, “You really don’t think that just the two of us can eliminate every source of corruption in time, do you?”

Diluc visibly scowls in irritation, and his red eyes glares at Kaeya with a fiery that has been hidden underneath his cool exterior until now. Kaeya, in return, looks back unwaveringly with an inscrutable smile.

Finally, Diluc looks away and sighs loudly, “…That’s not what I meant.”

Kaeya’s smile widens, and the cold look in his eyes flicker back to smugness “I know. How can I possibly question Master Diluc’s righteous sense of justice?”

Diluc side-eyes him. “Hmph. I am simply trying to return to Teyvat as early as possible.”

“Alright, alright,” Kaeya splays his hands, “I guess I got to overwork myself a bit more then. But, there’s nothing I can do if the Abyss doesn’t show themselves.”

“They will,” Diluc’s tone leaves no room for argument, “And I will take care of them.”

Kaeya smiles and mock claps. “How mighty of you.”

Diluc’s face promptly turns deadpan at the praise. Unruffled, Kaeya leans against the kitchen counter in an impressive curve and says, “Anyways, you better keep up the act then, hm? If Captain America finds out that you were lying to his face…my my, it won’t be pretty.”

“I wasn't entirely lying,” Diluc corrects him, “And if they find out about Darknight?”

Kaeya sighs, “With their technology, we won’t be able to hide Darknight’s identity forever. The least we can do is make them think that you are completely innocent.”

“I am,” Diluc says with a completely straight face.

Kaeya chuckles, “Of course you are.” His smile fades slightly. “Which is why Darknight must be absolutely and entirely against Favonius.”

Diluc’s mouth quirks in understanding. “Because Teyvat right now is more than suspicious enough to be investigated by the Avengers.”

Kaeya nods. “This world is still sensitive about outsiders. We cannot risk imprisonment or experimentation until we’ve gained its trust.”

Diluc looks at him flatly. “Is this your way of saying that I should approach the Avengers more?”

“That’s up to you decide.” Kaeya shrugs. “Just don’t let them ruin our path to Teyvat, or ruin my Teyvat either. That is an essential part for the real Teyvat.”

“Hmph. You also know how to make things hard.” Diluc glares at Kaeya without any heat, then reluctantly agrees. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Kaeya smiles in satisfaction.

“Excellent. Well, are you ready to hate your little brother once more?”

The air within the room changes dramatically at that casual bomb drop of a sentence. Diluc’s fake glare instantly dies down to an emotionless stare, and his face smooths into an impassive mask. Kaeya’s eye hones in at Diluc’s minute reaction instantly, and his smile widens, but it now feels incredibly fake. His body turns impossibly still.

The apartment is silent for a suffocatingly long moment.

…

Finally, Diluc breaks the silence with a sigh. He looks at Kaeya with an indescribable expression.

“Did you really have to say that?”

Kaeya’s still figure also returns to life, as he quirks his mouth and looks at the ceiling.

“Slip of the tongue. Apologies.”

Diluc lets out another sigh.

“Are you really fine with being viewed as a criminal?” he asks.

Kaeya shrugs. His face is still unobservable.

“The antagonist is always more interesting to act than the protagonist, don’t you think?”

A stifling silence covers them once more, until Kaeya lets out a loud and dramatic sigh, and the exaggerated act breaks the tension instantly. He finally looks back at Diluc, now with an impeccable cheeky grin.

“Besides, you’ll help me out, won’t you?”

Diluc’s impassive mask cracks into evident irritation. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Of course,” the man says.

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Angelshareofficial: Our exclusive drink, “Death After Noon!” Made with dandelion wine and white wine, this simple mix creates the most delightful combination of the sweet and bitter that has never been experienced before!

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notanalcoholic: *chef’s kiss* actual heaven

2 hours ago

Chapter Text

Many months ago…

Back when Diluc and Kaeya were still scrambling to adjust to the new world, such as getting out of their outfits (apparently no one wears clothes like the way they do in this world) into the “normal” ones, exchanging the limited mora Diluc had on him into cash, and finding a place to settle without raising suspicion, they received an unexpected guest.

The moment the golden sparks appeared out of nowhere in their little apartment’s living room, the brothers’ weapons instantly manifest around them. Before they could do anything else, though, the sparks trace out a portal of their height, its destination (or entrance) location showing the interior of a seemingly large museum-like place, and a bald woman in yellow robes strides into their place.

“I mean no harm,” was the first sentence from the woman. “I know that you two are not from this world, and I am here to help you return.”

Diluc and Kaeya briefly exchanged glances. After a split second, their weapons dissipate into golden sparks. However, if anyone looked closely at their vision, they would notice that the elemental power within the orbs have not yet disappeared as well.

“Our apologies,” Diluc said, but his tense figure spoke otherwise, “We are still unfamiliar with this world.”

“It’s alright,” the woman spoke with a kind smile on her face, “I can understand the confusion of being unexpected transported to a different world.” She straightened, and finally introduced herself, “You can call me the Ancient One, Sorceress Supreme and protector of this world.”

Kaeya being the more talkative one out of the two, responded with a similar smile, “It’s an honor to meet you, Miss Ancient One.” He pointed at himself. “I’m Diluc, and he’s my brother Kaeya. We come from the world of Teyvat.”

Diluc gave him a small glare but didn’t react otherwise. Judging by the way the Ancient One’s eyebrow raised slightly in amusement, she must have noticed it, but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, the Ancient One said,

“I apologize for taking so long to reach out to you two. The energy you two hold is vastly different, or should I say with pun intended, unworldly, and it took quite some time for me to discover our worlds’ connection.”

“Connection?” Kaeya immediately caught the key word, “Could you please explain that?”

 “Of course. That is why I am here.” The Ancient One snaps her fingers, and a small apparition of a giant tree materialized between them.

“Are you two familiar with the concept of something like a ‘world tree?’” she asked. Kaeya and Diluc hesitated briefly, then Kaeya nodded and said, “All information and memories of Teyvat since its existence is recorded in the Irminsul Tree. That would be quite fitting of a ‘world tree.’”

The sorceress nodded in satisfaction. “Excellent, then this analogy will make explanations much easier. It’s personally one of my favorites.” She waved her hand, and the tree’s mirage expanded until its tree branches cover the entire room.

“There are countless worlds beyond the stars, and even more beyond our dimension.” She pointed at a random branch. “Imagine that each branch here represents a world, following its own path and fate.”

The brothers nodded in understanding, both catching up on what she’s saying. Diluc said, “Then, it is possible for two branches to connect?”

The Ancient One confirmed, “Very rarely, and only by the influence of a power on a dimensional level.” She conjured a shining blue gem, then continued, “This world was once shaken by the Space Stone, an extremely powerful item that can manipulate the fabrication of space itself.”

The blue gem released a gentle blue pulse, and the branches around it shook in response.

“Just like the branches of a tree will shake and sway with the wind, the Space Stone caused a small and miniscule gust across the branches.” The Ancient One sighed, “It shouldn’t be powerful enough to affect other worlds, but sometimes fate just likes to land on the impossible possibility.”

A branch lightly touched another, and instead of returning back to its usual position like usual physics would make it do so, it remained stuck to the other branch, and a tiny blue opening appears at the two branches’ point of connection.

“Our worlds connected by accident, and thus we fell here,” Kaeya concluded.

“That is a very concise yet accurate summary, Mr. Diluc.”

Kaeya’s mouth twitched at the name, but held his laugh in. Diluc sighed, but turned to the more important topic at hand. “If that’s the case, and our worlds are still connected, can we return back to our world now?”

The sorceress smiled, but this time, her words are much less than pleasing.

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Kaeya—” Diluc’s mouth flattened even more at the name, and Kaeya this time audibly chuckles, “—As there is a problem happening at this world that must be resolved by you before you may return to Teyvat.”

The air around Diluc turned cold, and he lets out a small I knew it sigh. “Could you explain that?”

“Of course.” Unaffected by Diluc, the sorceress directed their attention back towards the two touching branches. “Now, usually when the two worlds connect, it only happens for a very short period of time due to the independent and dimensionally different essence of each world, just like how branches will bounce back to its usual shape soon after bending.”

“What about us, then?” Kaeya asked curiously.

The Ancient One nodded approvingly like a teacher. “Good question. Usually, such occurrences won’t happen since the connection lasts so shortly, but when someone like you two crosses the barrier, then the connection will only last until you have returned to your own world, which I can help with quite easily.”

She waved her hand so that the rest of the branches disappear, only leaving the two in question.

“However…” An ominous-looking black fog emanated from one of the branches. “Your world holds an unusual quality. There is an unknown power that has attached to our world and refuses to let go. It is corroding our world, and its energy is trying to corrupt our realm.”

The fog began to creep into the other branch.

Diluc face darkened. Kaeya’s single eye twinkled in calculation.

“The Abyss,” he said without hesitancy.

The Sorcress Supreme saw his reaction and noticed the hatred in his eyes. “Ah, good, so you two know what the source is. Even if you two were to return, the connection between our worlds will not end, and the corruption from ‘The Abyss’ that you called will only continue until it has completely taken over our world.”

“Ah, I see,” Kaeya finally spoke, his voice slightly tensed, “Can you not remove the corruption, then?”

The Ancient One shook her head. “I have tried. Unless it has completely manifested and has practically taken root here, it can only be removed by the power of your own world.”

“Hmm, very well.” Kaeya thoughtfully tapped his chin. “Then I should suppose that until we have helped you remove the Abyssal power from this world, we are unable to return to our world, right?”

“Indeed.” The Sorceress Supreme smiled, just as kind as before, but her words are not. “This is a rather serious threat to this world. If this so-called ‘Abyss’ were to truly succeed to take root here, millions will die, and it won’t just be at New York City .”

Kaeya raised an eyebrow. “Is that a prediction, or a prophecy?”

“Hm, you can say both,” the Ancient One answered cryptically, “Countless choices all form their own strands to weave the ultimate tapestry of the future. One different strand can change the entire outline of the artwork, and what picture it shall form…is up to you.”

 Diluc tilted his head, then nodded approvingly at what the Ancient One said. “A most fitting analogy.”

Kaeya though, stiffened briefly at the words before his face quickly smoothed into another charming smile. “Strikingly fitting indeed,” the blue-haired man said before he changed the topic, “Where are the sources of the Abyss’ corruption, then?”

“It hasn’t appeared yet.”

Seeing the brothers’ confusion, the Ancient One further explained, “The link between our worlds has only just started. The power of the Abyss has not yet entered this reality. However, as you two bear the unique signature of Teyvat, you two serve as the finest anchors for them to locate its point of invasion, and they will unfortunately not be lost on their journey to this world. So, soon.”

She pointed at the apartment floor. “That also means, because both of you are here, it is most likely they will appear here in New York City as its point of invasion.”

Diluc’s eyes twitched. “So, we cannot go back because the Abyss will come, but the longer we stay here, the easier they will come?”

“Mhm.”

Kaeya laughed, “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about running to the other side of this world to resolve the Abyss, then.”

Diluc ignored Kaeya. “You said ‘soon’, how soon, then?” the red-haired man asked, “How long do we have to prepare for this Abyss invasion?”

“That depends on how long our reality can hold,” the Ancient One answered, “I would say any time between six months and a few years. Until then, the corruption points will not be revealed. In the meantime, though, the stronger the link between our worlds grows, there might be other elements of your world that may manifest in ours. If any of them are harmful, I would appreciate it if you could personally or let someone deal with it appropriately.”

“Splendid.” Kaeya clapped his hands. “Anything else we have to notice?”

The Ancient One tilted her head thoughtfully, then said, “Ah, I suppose that since you two are in an entirely different world with a different power system, you two should expect any supernatural powers that you’re holding to be weaker than before. After all, the source of your power is very, very far away.”

Diluc and Kaeya shared glances once more, but this time it’s much more alarmed.

“…We haven’t been having such problems.” Diluc said slowly. The Ancient One looked at them in interest.

“Oh?”

Before Diluc could say anything else, Kaeya smoothly cuts in, “I’m sorry, Miss Ancient One, but I’m afraid that this might be something rather…sensitive to us.” He’s still smiling, but it’s much more guarded than usual. “We won’t be using our powers for anything bad though, so please don’t worry.”

The Ancient One looked at them, her eyes considering. Before the brothers could say anything else, she smiled once more.

“Of course,” she said simply, “I would be delighted if you could use your powers to remove the corruption as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Diluc said. There’s a determined look in his eyes, a fire that has supported him to keep going forward the moment he swung his first sword. “The Abyss is not to be tolerated, even if it’s in another world.”

Kaeya smirked, “Oh, we’ll be more than glad to get rid of the Abyss, and we are also quite anxious to return home too.”

The Ancient One dipped her head. “Thank you.” She paused, then said, “I’m afraid I’m rather busy with protecting the world and all of that, so I can only help you with so much. Is there perhaps anything emergency that I could be of aid right now? Once I leave, you won’t see me much again.”

Kaeya looked towards Diluc immediately with a pleading look in his eyes, the desire for a certain type of liquid almost as bright as his out-of-this-world hair color. Diluc, however, with his well-trained resistance against his brother, only rolled his eyes and looked towards the Ancient One.

“Can you give us some proper legal paperwork, then?”

Now.

Kaeya and Diluc’s apartment have been more welcoming to Peter after they’ve completed the marathon of all the Batman movie series. Peter was glad to see how Kaeya absolutely loved the movies—so much so that he even bought several Batman figurines—and has made it his personal goal to introduce Kaeya to more movies.

Diluc, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be as appreciative of Bruce Wayne, and his face had visibly darkened when he first saw the Batman figurines. The sheer amount of pressure the man can release is intense—enough to even make Peter tingle.

“He won’t throw them out, right?” Peter had once can’t help but ask Kaeya secretly.

The man had smirked in return. “Ah, don’t worry, he’s gotten much worse things from me.”

Tonight, though, after their screening of Inception, as Peter was preparing to leave, Kaeya stopped him.

“Are you busy tonight, Peter?” the man asks as he walks towards the kitchen counter.

“Uh, not really, I guess,” Peter replies. He’s not on patrol tonight, and he’s already finished his schoolwork as well. “What’s the matter?”

Kaeya leans down to open a drawer, and soon stands up with a few bottles that suspiciously look like alcohol.

“I’ve been told that I am quite the craftsman when it comes to drinks,” Kaeya said with a sly smile, eyes twinkling in mischief. “Do you want to try?”

“Uh…” Peter stammers, “I-I’m not of age yet.”

Kaeya huffs, and it gives Peter flashbacks to every single time when Tony Stark convinced him to help him add pepper powder into the vents that Clint uses. “Oh, c’mon Peter, what’s the harm? Are you going to report me to the police?”

A vivid image of Spider-Man webbing Kaeya in front of the closest NYPD station appears in Peter’s mind, and as funny as it is, he still shakes it out of his head.

“No, but—”

“Excellent! Here, let me make you my personal favorite…”

…

An hour later.

By Kaeya’s kitchen counter and several shot glasses, Peter finally has gathered enough courage to ask the question he had wanted to ask Kaeya for ages.

“Uh, Kaeya…Are you and Mr. Diluc from some suuuuper fancy—hic!—family or something?”

Maybe part of the courage came from the several shots of alcohol that he definitely shouldn’t be drinking, but how was he able to refuse Kaeya’s captivating smile and silver tongue?

Ok, that last sentence was definitely the alcohol’s doing. Last time Peter checked, he’s still hopelessly head over heels with MJ. It’s just that Kaeya seems to be too good at convincing people.

“Woah, this is good!” Peter jabs at the glass in front of him, which still holds a mouthful of liquor that looks like liquid ice.

Wait, isn’t liquid ice just water?

Peter slaps himself on the forehead.

“Are you okay, Peter?” Kaeya asks.

Peter slams his head against the counter, and with a muffled mouth he replies, “No, this al’ohol is making me dumb.”

Speaking of which, should he even be drinking alcohol in the first place?

Kaeya, who is looking at Peter across the counter with his palm propped against face, smiles. He doesn’t look like he’s just drank twice the amount of alcohol Peter have, just a barely visible redness on his cheeks that makes him feel even more attractive than usual.

“Where did that assumption come from, Peter?”

Peter gestures wildly around the room. “It’s the vibe, man! Look at this place!”

“What about it?”

“It’s…it’s…” Peter struggles to find the right word, “Vibey.”

Kaeya laughs, “That’s a very…interesting word, Peter.”

Peter flushes tomato red. Or it might just be the alcohol heat. “Alright, al’ight, but like…it’s mainly Mr. Diluc, y’know? If his hair wasn’t so—hic!—red, than I would’ve thought he was from noble family or som’thing.”

“Oh?” Kaeya lifts three eyebrows. No, wait, humans only have two. “What about me? Do I not act like some noble family person?”

Peter wags a finger. “No, no, man…you’re…” He thinks back to the tragic backstory he made up for the two brothers. “You’re like the reeeeeeebellious outcasted hot second child in those royalty drama shows, y’know?”

Oh gods, he’s rambling his mouth off, isn’t he?

“Outcasted, huh?” Kaeya chuckles oddly, “I like that description. It’s quite fitting.” He winks at Peter. “So you think I’m hot, huh? Your MJ will be quite sad to hear that.”

Peter definitely blushes this time. “Nononono, not like that! I just think that you look cool, man! And MJ will probably agree even more!”

Kaeya laughs again. “Haha, I’m just joking with you Peter, no need to go so panicky on me.”

“Panicky?” Peter also laughs, “I’m not panicky. Why would I be paaanicky on you?”

“I don’t know, Peter,” Kaeya smiles, “Are you worried about me?”

Peter feels like Kaeya is derailing off topic. Weren’t they just talking about how he’s “panicky” about Kaeya’s hotness?

“I’m not worried man, why would I be worried about yo—”

Suddenly, Peter remembers that one time he saw Kaeya being ambushed by several mob gang members a while ago, then realizes that he should be worried. Instantly, guilt strikes him like lightning. How could he have forgotten about that? What if Kaeya had more similar encounters? What he gets hurt? What if that unknown Teyvat group reaches him?

Golly gee and holy smokes and good gravy and holy moly and oh gods, he's got to warn Kaeya!

Peter’s head snaps up, and the movement makes his tongue feel all tangled up together.

“Waaaaait.” Peter shakes his slightly dizzy head and tries again. “Waait. Actually, you gotta also promise to stay out of those mob gangs from now on, al’ight?”

There was a moment of silence from Kaeya.

Peter didn’t notice the irregular pause in time, nor the way Kaeya subtly leans forward by the quarter of a fraction as he asks, rather softly,

“When did you see me with them?”

Kaeya’s question was so natural that Peter in his alcohol-stirred mind had naturally replied without hesitation, “When you were with those Hood people a while ago and I sav—”

Peter abruptly stops.

Like a bucket of ice-cold water that was dunked onto him, his mind sobers with realization.

Oh no.

Kaeya doesn’t know that Peter was there, nor should have Peter known that in the first place. The only person other than the gangsters that would have known that encounter was Spider-Man.

What did he just say?

“Uh…”

He really hopes that Kaeya wasn’t smart enough to catch his slip. But when the man’s lips thin, and the icy blue eye pins him down with a calculating gaze that feels even scarier than Diluc, Peter’s heart plummets.

“I didn’t tell anyone about that," Kaeya says, "Not even Diluc.”

“Uh, I—” Peter scrambles to save himself, “I saw it by accident, o-on a roof!”

“On a roof?” Kaeya repeats slowly, “You mean, just like Spider-Man did?”

Peter’s eyes widen. Oh NO.

“I…I’m not—” He might as well as spray paint “yes, I’m Spider-Man!” on his face at this rate. Kaeya is looking more and more resolute, like water rapidly creaking into ice, and it only makes Peter’s heart fall more and more into the bottomless pit.

Kaeya raises his hand to stop Peter’s nonsensical rambling.

“I had my suspicions,” he says with an undecipherable smile.

Usually, Peter would secretly admire how well the man can smile in such an enigmatic yet friendly and cool manner, but now he wishes that the man would just stop with that.

Peter puts one hand over the other in an attempt to stop them from trembling. It doesn’t.

Kaeya continues mercilessly, “I saw a few clips of Spider-Man online after seeing him in first person. His voice, the way he talks and acts…well, no pun intended, but it just reminds me a bit too much of my friendly neighbor.”

“Uh…” Peter is in disbelief at what Kaeya said, because not one of his friends or classmates have been able to get that conclusion just from a few youtube clips.

“That’s not a very scientific deduction process,” He weakly says, and he immediately wants to slap himself for what the academic hell he just said.

“Haha, perhaps,” Kaeya shrugs, “But I’ve always had a sharp instinct when it came to solving mysteries, and I’ve haven’t been wrong yet.”

That’s just not fair. Peter feels his eyes heating up rapidly. Damn the alcohol for making himself so careless. Damn Kaeya for giving it to him in the first place. His heartbeat quickens to a deafening degree as fear envelops him like a freezing blanket.

Oh no, nonono, he’s going to report me and Aunt May's gonna know and MJ's gonna know and everyone's gonna know—

“Peter?” Kaeya has stood up at some point, and for the first time Peter sees a look on concern on his face. “Calm down. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“You…hic…what?”

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Kaeya repeats his words clearly, “Do you really think I’m that kind of a person?” He smiles, and there’s a clear hurt within it that makes Peter feel guilty again.

“I…” Peter stammers, “I didn’t—I’m just scared that…”

Kaeya pats his head, and even though the touch is cold, it magically disperses the chill away from Peter’s body.

“I know you’re a good kid,” Kaeya says softly, and Peter feels his eyes welling up as the man continues, “I can tell when someone is using their powers for good, and I won’t stop you for that.”

He pauses, then says with a smirk, “Besides, I’m not the kind of person that likes to stick to the rules. I think Spider-Man works just fine.”

Peter furiously wipes his eyes. “Then…you promise you won’t tell anyone?”

Kaeya nods. “Of course.” He lowers his voice to an exaggerated whisper and adds, “Not even Diluc.”

Peter snorts a watery laugh. “Thank you.”

He doesn’t know why, but he feels like Kaeya really does means no harm to him, and his experience with this cool blue-haired, hot-outcasted guy has been more than enough for Peter to trust him.

What can go wrong? He thinks to himself.

Peter finally finds the strength to smile once more, and the mountain of rocks finally lifts from his shoulders.

“I’m…I’m going to stop with the drinks now,” he says. Even though the panic stress has gone away, but the headache and buzzing of the alcohol has reintroduced itself even stronger than before. “I don’t think I should drink more.”

“Of course.” Kaeya takes his shot glass away. “Sorry for letting you drink so much.”

He sounds genuine, so Peter decides to forgive him. After all, it's not Kaeya's fault for not knowing Peter's alcohol tolerance, and he should've known better.

“So…” Kaeya grins at him as he begins to tidy everything up. “How does it feel like to fly?”

Peter grins back. “It’s not flying, it’s technically really big swings since I use my…”

A few minutes later, a small ding from Peter’s phone interrupts his ranting. It’s the unique sound for any notifications from the Avengers.

“Sorry, let me check this.” Peter turns his phone on. “It’s from the Avengers.” There’s a small thrill when he said that, then kind one gets after finally being able to say a long-held secret to someone else.

“Oh~” Kaeya laughs, “I’ll let you check your top-secret messages, then.”

It’s a message from Tony Stark, sent into the Avengers group chat. As Peter opens the chat, more messages pop up as well.

THE AVENGERS (tony stop changing the group name)

Iron Man: alright everyone we got a toyrat lead

Iron Man: cap and his luck thats as massive as his *** found a bar called Angel’s Share that has toyrat members working in there

Iron Man: bar owner is called Diluc with really red hair, connection with toyrat unknown but his brother definitely is, most likely a high ranking member, might even be favonius himself

Iron Man: which ****** censored this chat

Captain America: It’s Teyvat, not Toyrat, Iron Man.

Captain America: And please, there are children here. Watch your language.

The words “Diluc” and “red” stand out in Peter’s vision like fire.

Dreaded certainty sinks into a deep, deep abyss.

“Shit,” he breathes out.

A coldness hits his brain once more, but this time it’s not like a bucket of ice water, but more like as if he’s fallen into the freaking Arctic Ocean. His longstanding no-swearing streak is officially broken, but he doesn’t have the time to be sad about it.

Shit.

“Peter?”

Like the Demon itself, Kaeya’s concerned voice travels through his ears distinctly, as if muffled by water.

“What’s the matter?”

Oh no, nononononono—

Peter feels like hyperventilating. He doesn’t know how he managed to not leap up and scream or backflip and punch Kaeya or do both at the same time. He can feel his Spidey-sense going into overdrive with his emotions, but oh my holy every fucking gods, this is not good.

What did he just do?

Oh wow, this is a birdman moment all over again! Some twisted part of his mind reminds him cheerfully.

Oh my god, please shut up. He hisses to himself. He doesn’t need that traumatic experience to spice up this one.

“Peter?”

This is way too much to handle in one night. Especially when he thought it was already over. It’s like if he tripped and fell into a bottomless mud pit and thought he was going to die but was luckily saved and saw a breathtakingly beautiful sunset as a reward, and then BAM he falls into the mud pit again, but this time there’s no getting out of it.

“Peter? Hey, are you alright?”

Kaeya’s captivating voice travels through the mud and reaches Peter once more. Peter doesn’t know what his face looks right now, but it must be bad enough for Kaeya to stand up once more.

“What’s the matter? Is there an emergency?”

Peter lets out a choked laugh. Oh, actually, it’s so much worse.

From what he knows, Teyvat is the most mysterious and unpredictable organization currently on the Avengers’ list. Their mysterious potions have not yet been decrypted by SHIELD or Dr. Banner or Mr. Stark, but based from the clues, Teyvat is linked with eternity or immortality, and neither of those tend to be the good guys.

And now?

Kaeya is part of Teyvat.

He just revealed his secret identity to Kaeya.

In fact, Kaeya could even be Favonius. Did he just reveal his secret identity to the possible leader of Teyvat?

Oh god. Oh my god. Oh my freaking god.

Peter feels like jumping off a building. Without web-slingers.

Chapter Text

“Kaeya.”

“Mm?”

“Kaeya.”

Kaeya, who is looking at a landscape painting in extreme interest, can no longer ignore the searing glare from Diluc across the living room, and slowly turns around to face him, hands raised in a placating gesture with a rather subdued smile.

“Alright, alright, I’ll admit, I shouldn’t have done that to Peter.”

Diluc’s irate expression doesn’t disappear.

“You shouldn’t. You could’ve used other methods for him to reveal his identity.”

Kaeya shrugs. “Well, none of them would’ve been as fast as this.” His raised hands curl around, palms upturned like he’s offering something. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. We’ll be fine.”

Diluc’s jaw clenches, and he closes his eyes tightly for a long second. When the red eyes reopen, the anger has faded slightly, replaced by disappointment.

“I thought you were better than this,” he says.

Kaeya’s hands drop, and his smile widens. It’s hard to tell if it’s a real or fake smile.

“I don’t know, Master Diluc,” Kaeya’s voice is light, almost lazy. “I thought you’ve always thought of me like…this.”

Anger flares up from Diluc once more, and he takes single step forward with a glower.

“You—”

Diluc stops himself with visible effort, a single sharp exhale of frustration.

Kaeya’s smile disappears, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he leans back against the wall, and silently watches Diluc’s struggle to get his fire under control. His face is like a blank slate, unreadable and stone-cold.

After half a minute of tense silence, Diluc crosses his arms with a tired sigh before finally saying, “If that’s what you think, then you’re wrong.”

Kaeya’s rare expressionless face twitches into a small frown. He opens his mouth to talk, but Diluc cuts him off as he continues, “But, I still don’t think it’s right for you to inebriate Peter, even if it was for us. Like I said, there were other ways for us to become openly aware of his Spider-Man identity. You could’ve gotten us, but more importantly, Peter into trouble.”

Kaeya lets out a small sound, the kind that means “I know what I did was wrong, but…”, but wisely holds his tongue for once. Diluc shoots his most deadpan stare at him, an eyebrow raised challengingly.

“What, do you have any words of defense?”

Kaeya remains silent for another brief moment. Then, he looks away as he runs a hand through his hair, huffs in surrender, and shakes his head.  

“Alright, I’m sorry, I know that I shouldn’t have done that,” Kaeya pouts dramatically, “I won’t do it again, and I’ll make it up to Peter.”

Diluc looks at him deeply, and when he’s satisfied by Kaeya’s sincere expression, he nods curtly.

“Are you sure he knows about your identity?”

The change of topics immediately makes Kaeya relax a lot more, and the familiar smile reappears on his face.

“Well, I can’t say for sure, but he did look at me like I suddenly turned into a monster.” Kaeya splays his hands. “Peter’s not exactly the best at hiding things from his face.”

“Tch.” Diluc’s mouth downturns slightly, but he doesn’t reprimand Kaeya anymore. Instead, he says, “Fine. You know about him, and he knows about you. What’s your plan?”

“Hmm…” Kaeya thumbs his chin. “Well, I did promise him not to tell you about him being Spider-Man, but…well, I technically didn’t break the promise, snice you already knew about it.”

Diluc rolls his eyes. “Unfortunately.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Kaeya smirks, “Now that I’m the bad one, he’ll probably look towards you more. You have to be nicer to him, you know, if you want him to trust us more.”

“Trust?” Diluc lets out a grunt, “I’d say you’ve destroyed it.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know about that,” Kaeya counters in return, “Trust me then, Master Diluc. I wouldn’t be so rash about this entire ordeal if I didn’t fully believe in Peter.”

Diluc’s eyebrows raise in mild surprise. “I didn’t know you like him so much.”

“It’s not as much about liking than about understanding,” Kaeya corrects him, “He’s a kid, Diluc. Even if he’s smart, kids are still much easier to…” He clucks his tongue. “Well, manipulate is an ugly word, but yes, much easier to manipulate.”

Diluc looks like he’s getting a headache. “He’ll find out sooner or later, Kaeya.”

Kaeya’s mouth quirks. “Well, let’s hope he doesn’t realize this too soon. That’ll be terrible for our path to home.”

Diluc sighs, “You better know what you’re doing.”

Kaeya doesn’t say anything, but instead dramatically widens his eyes with a look of “When have I not?”

Diluc scowls at the look. “I’m serious, Kaeya.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Kaeya surrenders promptly, “I promise, I won’t get us into unnecessary trouble.”

Diluc sighs again, “I somehow doubt that. I don’t remember you being the most cautious person when it came to plans.”

“Hey, now that’s rude.”

“I am simply being truthful,” Diluc retorts before he deflates, “I’ll admit though, they also work.”

He looks at Kaeya with a complicated expression. “I won’t ask for details for what you’re going to do by yourself on your side.”

Ignoring Kaeya’s slightly surprised look, he continues, “We have different…methods in solving problems, but we only have each other to go home. All I ask is that you will let me know when you’re about to do anything stupid.”

“Hey, that’s also ru—”

Diluc silences Kaeya with a raised hand. “I am not asking you to be a saint. I am simply asking you to be more…forthcoming. Only then will my side be successful. Understood?”

The man’s impassive yet mildly threatening face yields no room for argument. Kaeya, after a long moment of silence, chuckles.

“Of course, Master Diluc,” Kaeya responds smoothly, “I’ll do anything to get us back to Teyvat.”

Diluc nods in satisfaction. “Good.”

He pauses once more in consideration, then asks his final question.

“Now, since Peter is aware about your connection to Teyvat, do you think he will tell the Avengers?”

Kaeya is silent for a long moment, his small smile unreadable.       

“We’ll see," he finally answers, “I’m ready for whatever choice he takes.”

The weekly Avengers meeting was uneventful. Or, uneventful during the period when Peter wasn’t listening.

To be fair, it’s not like he was trying to wander. He never wanders off during the Avengers meeting, not when he’s the youngest and newest member to all the cool stuff. It’s just that he’s still not completely over the massive rollercoaster that just happened last night.

Thank every god that he doesn’t have one of those famed hangover headaches, not when the mental headache was already enough for him to deal with.

“…Peter? Hey, Spidey!”

Peter jolts in his seat, and he instinctively yammers, “Huh? I agree with what was just said!”

Clint snorts in amusement, “You agree with Tony’s proposal to install disco lights onto all the toilets?”

Peter pauses to seriously think about that.

“I mean…that’s pretty lit?”

Several people groan at the pun.

“Spider-Man, please don’t,” Captain America sighs with amusement, “We already have enough to worry about, and I really don’t want to have such a…flashy time in a bathroom.”

“Right, right…” Peter shrinks back into his seat, the heat of embarrassment making his ears burn. “Sorry, uh, please continue?”

Steve gives him a look that means “I know you weren’t listening”, but he thankfully didn’t ask Peter to recount or anything, but instead clears his throat and continues whatever was going on.

“So, Tony did a background check into our Diluc,” Steve says, “Luckily, there’s not that many people called Diluc here, and even less with such…memorable characteristics.”

Tony, who is lazily lounging on his chair, calls out, “You mean he’s hot?”

Steve shoots him a disapproving look. “I meant his hair, Tony. You saw it as well.”

Internally, Peter can’t help but think, well, both of those count as memorable characteristics, before his mood drops to its usual pit of the ugly mix of fear and uncertainty, as the mention of Diluc once again reminds him of his precarious situation.

Should I tell them about Kaeya?

“So, there’s not a lot about Mr. Diluc Ragvindr.” Steve spares Peter no quiet time to brood. “He hasn’t been in New York for so long, and his file is as uninteresting as a normal person can be.” Steve spreads his hands. "However, when we went to check out the listed home address, the landowner said he never had anyone with that name."

“Wow, a normal portfolio? Now that’s a red flag.” Clint grins. "Or maybe he used a false name?"

“Well, we don’t have anything to prove either of those,” Steve says, “There is a chance that his documents are fake, but until we find the evidence, we have to stick with the old-fashioned method of surveillance at his workplace.”

Peter perks up at that. He’s never asked what Mr. Diluc does when he’s not at home. Will he finally know now?

Steve summons an image of a bar. “His activity is mostly around the bar Angel’s Share that he owns. That’s how I knew him. He was the bartender.”

Peter hides his surprise. He can see Diluc as an owner of a bar, but Mr. Diluc as a bartender? Peter can’t help but think the profession feels quite out of character for dignified Diluc at the same time. If anything, he feels like Kaeya would be a much more appropriate candidate.

But then again, now that Peter starts to recall the equally mysterious aura around the blue-haired man has as his brother does, Kaeya does feel equally appropriate to be a gang member/leader.

Damn. The thought doesn’t really help with Peter’s mood.

“And now redhead is caught hiding questionable people there,” Tony says flippantly, “Shame. Is the booze good at least?”

Steve sighs, “First of all, we cannot be sure whether he’s knowingly covering for Teyvat, or if he’s just used by his brother. And second…”

The blond man pauses, then adds reluctantly, “The drinks there are good.”

“Aha!” Tony snaps his fingers in triumph. “No wonder you wouldn’t let me go with you. You’re just trying to hoard the goods to yourself!”

Peter tries the imagine what it would be like if Diluc and Tony met, and shudders. Good thing Steve didn’t take Iron Man. Oh yeah, Mr. Stark definitely would’ve went to meet Mr. Diluc as Iron Man, and Peter don’t think that Diluc would’ve appreciated it.

Steve sighs again. “That’s not what we should be focusing on, Tony. My point is, there’s currently no evidence that proves that Diluc is directly part of Teyvat, but we still need to keep close watch on him.”

Bruce, who has been quiet the whole time, finally speaks up to ask, “Does he sell Golden Cider or Bluewater in his bar?”

Peter remembers reading the report about the “Golden Cider” and “Bluewater” that were named by Bruce, the two unknown substances that provides potent healing and strength enhancement, and the very reason why Teyvat was able to rise so fast in New York City. Such strong benefits are extremely suspicious—everyone knows that there’s no such thing as free lunch anywhere on Earth, especially in New York City.

Steve shakes his head. “I haven’t seen anything like it.”

Peter lets out a silent breath of relief. That could be some indication that Diluc isn’t actively involved with Teyvat, but that would also mean that Kaeya, the cool chill blue neighbor, have been lying at his own brother.

His mood drops further at the thought. Man, why did it have to be Kaeya?

As if reading Peter’s thoughts, Steve continues, “But, our real target of investigation isn’t Diluc. It’s his brother, Kaeya.”

Peter fumbles spectacularly. Somehow, he managed to trip on his shoes while sitting.

Steve side-eyes him for real this time. “Anything to say, Peter?”

Peter desperately hopes that the flush on his face is interpreted as cringed embarrassment and not as guilty shiftiness—not that he’s also not embarrassed of all, of course.

“Uh, no! Nope, I’m just uh, very attentive, listening with too much focus.”

Steve looks at him for an agonizingly long second, doubt on his features. Luckily, the hologram of Kaeya’s face appears to seize Steve’s attention.

“Alright, so this is Diluc’s brother, Kaeya.”

“He’s also hot,”  Sam comments with humor, “Just not in a very brotherly way. Are you sure they’re related?”

“They’re not,” Steve answers, “This profile says that Kaeya was adopted by Diluc’s father from an orphanage at a rural town in Germany, but that place had shut down twenty years ago. We’re still trying to find information about the orphanage, but there’s the high chance that its data is too lost in time for us to recover.”

“That’s certainly not suspicious at all,” Clint says dryly, “Is his profile just as clean as Mr. Diluc?”

Steve nods. “Yep.”

“Wow, that’s really not suspicious at all.”

Peter agrees with the sarcasm. Everything on Kaeya’s profile screams suspicious. Someone must have done something to make him seem like the most uninteresting man on the planet, profile picture excluded.

“They both really like the hair, don’t they?” Natasha smiles, “I must admit, it fits them impressively well. I wonder what hair dye they used.”

Tony nods in agreement. “Do you think gold will fit me?”

“No.” Steve stops their derailing conversation. “And this isn’t the main point. The main point is, there’s basically nothing about Mr. Kaeya’s activity on camera, besides the occasional grocery stops all over New York City. We need to first figure out if he’s Favonius himself or just a member, and where he’s base of operations is at.”

Surprise, he’s literally right next door to me! Isn’t that a funny coincidence?

The words are right at the tip of his tongue, but he can’t find the courage to say them out loud. He knows that if he reveals Kaeya and Diluc being his neighbor, they would be brought away by the Avengers and SHIELD before he can even leave this building, and the thought makes his heart twist.

His instinct is persuading him to just wait, wait for Kaeya just a bit longer, and it’s making Peter’s decision to tell the Avengers waver, because what if Kaeya isn’t what they think of him? If he is Favonius, then how is he even doing of all this? And if not, then why would he be helping Favonius?

Before he could come to a decision though, JARVIS interrupts their meeting.

“Mr. Stark, a being that matches the previous appearance of unknown individual “Darknight” has appeared in front of the Avengers tower.”

Peter jolts to attention. He hasn’t seen any traces of Darknight since their last encounter with those alien dog things, leaving all of his burning questions like how did he literally pop out of existence? unanswered.

Tony apparently holds the same question. “What do you mean by appear?” he asks.

JARVIS replies, “‘Appeared’ as in, he has quite literally manifested in front of the entrance of the Avengers Tower thirteen seconds ago.”

Ah. Peter long-lasting doubts settles to a definite certainty. Darknight definitely has space manipulation powers. Very awesome power in addition to the vigilante’s equally cool fire sword, but also makes him indefinitely more dangerous, which would be bad if Darknight turns out to be evil.

“Well, that’s not good,” Clint voices Peter’s sentiment, “What should we do?”

Steve sighs, “I suppose this meeting needs to be put on hold. We can talk about Diluc and Kaeya later. Darknight is on the top of our priority list, after all.”

“Well, it’s rude to keep a gentleman waiting at the door.” Natasha crosses her arms and looks pointedly at Tony. “What are you waiting for? Go pick him up.”

Tony grumbles as he stands up, “Sure, let the sole billionaire of the room face Fire Batman. I’m sure no one is worried about how the Avengers would collapse if I got flamed to the face.”

“Batman? Is that some kind of mutant?” Steve asks from the sidelines.

It’s not hard to spot Darknight.

In fact, Tony would say that the guy is getting a bit too close to challenging Iron Man’s eye-catching aura. At least he’s not going for the red-and-gold scheme as well. Black looks terribly depressing for himself.

Darknight is standing in front of the big entrance, covered in that terribly designed black cloak from head to toe. It just so happens that the mysterious vigilante is directly blocking the main doors, leaving only an awkwardly slim space in front of him for any courageous employees to slip through if they really wanted to walk through the main doors. Luckily, his paid-by-his-own-pocket employees have enough sense to evacuate beforehand, leaving the great hall to just the two of them.

“Darknight,” Tony calls out nonchalantly, but he remains at a considerable distance away from the unknown vigilante. “Just a bit of advice for next time—if you wanted to see me, you could’ve given me a call beforehand. Even a FireBat signal last night would’ve helped. I’m a terribly busy billionaire.”

The man is suffocatingly silent for a long moment, so long that Tony can’t help but wonder if the man didn’t get the joke, which would be terribly awkward considering the glaringly obvious references inhibiting not-Batman.

Not-Batman’s low voice travels out underneath his hood. “Not busy enough, apparently.”

Tony sucks his teeth, but shows no other signs of indignation for Not-Batman. He gestures towards the elevator with one hand, the other hand still firmly stuck in his pocket, where the control to activate a flurry of firepower remains just a breath out of reach.

“Very funny. How ‘bout we take the rest of the conversation in a different place? It’s rude to block the door, you know.”

Thankfully and somewhat regretfully, Darknight gives no opportunities for the waiting arsenal to be used.

The elevator opens with a ding, alerting the waiting members into attention, including Peter in his Spider-Man suit, just in time to see Tony striding back into the living room, Darknight following him silently, his entire figure shrouded under the black coat.

“Welcome to the Avengers Tower,” Steve steps forward and extends a friendly hand. “I’m Captain America. It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

Darknight briefly accepts the extended hand with a gloved hand of his own. Peter notices the small design detail of the red leather on the palm side of the glove for the first time. Cool. Maybe he could spray paint Spider-Man’s palms black or blue next time.

“Darknight.” Said vigilante introduces himself with one word. Steve swiftly introduces the rest of the group to Darknight (Natasha introduced herself as “Natalie”), and when it came to Peter, he waves at the cloaked man cheerfully.

“Uh, good to see you again!”

Darknight nods at him in acknowledgement before sitting down on a prepared seat. Everyone takes their own seats, forming an open but guarded arc around Darknight in preparation for any sudden actions. Peter, being the closest one to Darknight, got the honor of having the closest seat to him.

Tony shoots first after a brief moment of awaiting silence. “Well? Would you care to explain why you are here?”

Darknight must really have done some major thinking, because unlike his usual enigmatic and silent personality that Peter previously encountered, the vigilante begins to speak,

“The riftwolves you encountered last time. They will reappear soon.”

Riftwolves?

“Riftwolves…” Steve asks after the moment of realization, “You mean those alien dogs?”

Darknight nods.

Peter is glad that he’s wearing his mask. Well, that’s a plot reveal. So Darknight is somehow related to those “riftwolves”. But why did he call them riftwolves? Are they actually alien wolves instead of alien dogs?

“Riftwolves…a fitting name,” Bruce comments, “Is that a name you gave them, or did you already know what they were?”

Darknight hesitates, then nods again.

“I already knew. We come from the same world.”

The air in the room shifts at that revelation instantly. Clint and Tony stiffen imperceptibly, Bruce and Sam winces, Natasha’s lips thin, and Steve’s smile fades by the slightest of a fraction.

“Ah.” Tony leans back. “I guess Loki really did open a door for future world-hoppers, huh?”

Peter’s just as surprised as everyone else—now that’s a plot reveal. He knew that the vigilante was skilled and mysterious as hell, but then again, so is every other vigilante.

Darknight must have sensed their wariness, because he soon adds, “We are not on the same side. I am here to aid you.”

But why?

“Why?” Natasha asks.

“I cannot return to my own world until the threat has been resolved,” Darknight reveals, “Earth has been interesting, but I must return home.”

Peter feels for Darknight. It must suck to be stuck in a foreign place by accident. He can’t imagine what it would be like if he accidentally landed in a place where no one knows him—he’s quite attached to home.

Steve relaxes slightly. “I’m sorry to hear that, that must be unfortunate,” he pauses in brief consideration before continuing, “We will do our best to help both of our worlds. Can you tell us more about the threat and those riftwolves?”

Peter leans forward eagerly, as Darknight begins to explain.

“My world has an evil force called the Abyss. Its power somehow connected our worlds together, and I came to this world as an accidental result.”

“Are those ‘riftwolves’ that you called are from the Abyss?” Bruce asks.

Darknight nods. “I have fought them before. They are monsters of the Abyss that can corrode the boundaries of our world, and now they are corroding yours.”

“Uh…Corroding the world? What does that mean?” Peter can’t help but ask.

Darknight’s covered face turns towards him. “The Abyss do not exist on the surface of my world, but in a separate dimension. Its presence corrupts and ruins everything. We have been fighting its invasion for centuries.”

Tony summons an image of the purple portals they saw last time. “So basically, the dogs help this Abyss thing enter our world through this?”

“Correct. This is an indication of their arrival. It won’t be long before more appears.”

“How much more?”

“More than you can imagine,” Darknight’s low voice is grim with ominousness, “This is a grave matter that threatens the survival of both worlds. If they take root in this world, your nation can fall in an instant. We must remove the corruption of the Abyss from this world before it takes over this city.”

Peter tries to imagine a “more than you can imagine” number of those alien dogs roaming around New York City and grimaces. Yeah, that’s definitely not good, especially if all of them are as hard to fight as the ones before.

“Awesome,” Sam mutters, “Just another day of saving the world.”

“Two worlds, actually.” Tony corrects him.

“Even better.” Clint’s mouth quirks.

Natasha shoots a look at them. “Boys, please.” She looks back at Darknight, an alluring smile that can make any man blush appearing on her face. “That sure sounds bad. What role do you wish for us to take then, Mr. Darknight? Will you help us save our worlds together?”

Darknight feels unfazed by Black Widow’s charm. “That is why I am here.”

“Great.” Tony snaps his fingers, a curious glint of a scientist appearing in his eyes. “When we fought them, only your fire worked against them. Why?”

Peter remembers that as well. None of their attack were effective against those riftwolves, and yet Darknight’s fire practically decimated them all.

“This is my elemental power,” Darknight replies, “I wield the power of Pyro, which is one of the seven elements in my world. They are not like the fire that you have in this world, but a power granted by our gods.”

The what now? Peter is suddenly reminded of many video game and movie settings. Are they in some real-life video game now?

“Gods?” Steve asks, “Like Thor?”

Darknight is silent for a moment before he says, “This is too complicated to explain for now.”

Everyone looks visibly disappointed for a moment, even Natasha. Peter is right with them—this is an entire new wealth of information on another world with their own system and gods, and it’s making his nerdy side giddy with excitement.

“You’re right,” Steve, the ever rational one, admits with much regret of his own, “In that case, then, does that mean we must wield your power in order to beat them?”

Darknight’s presence turns cold at that question. Everyone’s expression subtly changes at the shift, and Peter’s hairs on his arms tingle. Uh oh. Did they accidentally hit something bad?

“You cannot. It is impossible to replicate the power of the gods without consequences.”

Darknight voice is deadly calm, and yet there’s a terrifying underlying sharpness, like a bomb just about to explode.

Steve faces the pressure to ask, “What does that mean?”

Darknight doesn’t answer, but his silence is enough to implicate a lot of things. Peter turns to Tony, and he can see that Tony has been “provoked”, the kind when a genius is presented with an “impossible” challenge.

“Oh, really?” Tony’s voice is challenging. Peter can’t help but fear for his own life as Tony continues in that flippant voice of his, “You know, maybe you can stay over here for a couple nights, and perhaps I can prove you wrong.”

Peter looks between Tony and Darknight rapidly. He’s pretty sure that it’s not a good choice to rile up Darknight right now.

“Mr. Stark…”

“Relax, Spidey.” Tony waves him off. “I’m not gonna kidnap him like SHIELD would. I’m just…giving him an offer to show him our world’s capabilities.” He widens his eyes at Darknight innocently. “Aren’t you curious to see how your ‘elemental powers’ will look like in our world?”

“I must admit, I’m also curious to know,” Bruce nods from the far couch before he hurriedly adds, “Only if Mr. Darknight allows it, of course.”

Peter is also equally curious, but he’s not brave enough like Tony to just say it at a moment like this. He can tell that Darknight has some unknown reasons to be so unwilling to let the Avengers examine his powers. Did he perhaps have suffered the so-called “consequences” before?

Steve sighs and steps in to save the room. “Please don’t mind Iron Man. He has a…unique way of talking, but he’s just curious to learn more about your world.”

“Yes, yes.” Tony nods with a very serious face, but Peter doubts that. In fact, he doubts that Tony is really just simply curious to learn with no alternate motive or whatsoever. Peter noticed a while ago that Tony can sometimes be very cautious of unknown beings or powers. So cautious, in fact, that it’s practically paranoia, and Peter can’t help but start worry about what Iron Man might be thinking of right now.

Darknight can’t read Peter’s mind (hopefully, because the Avengers might actually try to apprehend Darknight if he also has telepathy), and his dangerous aura fades at Steve’s explaination.

“I will decide for myself.”

Peter takes that as a “maybe” regarding Tony’s offer, and he hopes that one day it can turn into a “yes”.

“Until then, I will personally deal with all Abyss threats until they have corrupted this place enough for your weapons to damage them.”

“What does that mean?” Clint asks.

“Your weapons barely harm them, because they have not yet completely corroded their way into this world,” Darknight pauses, “Tethered. The more the Abyss’ power takes root here, the easier it will be for you to defeat them like the ordinary monsters here.”

Peter kind of gets it. “Oh…Is it like those games where you need specific ghost-busting weapons to fight ghosts until they’re no longer ghosts? And we just need to wait for those dogs to stop being ghosts in our world?”

Man, he has been using quite a few video game settings to explain all of this, isn’t he?

Darknight doesn’t answer for a long time.

Tony leans over to mutter not-so-quietly, “I don’t think he gets your analogy.”

“Hmph,” Darknight lets out a noncommittal sound, “I did. Spider-Man is correct.”

Tony claps slowly. “Whoops, good for you, I guess!”

“Tony, please,” Steve looks like he wants to strangle Tony as he changes the topic, “I see, then. Does that mean you want us to help you locate future appearances of these riftwolves?”

Darknight nods. “I can sense them when they appear, but it is less precise than a camera.”

“Alright, we can provide you with a communication device later once we’ve properly negotiated everything, but don’t expect us to just sit by idly.” Steve has a smile that leaves no room for argument. “We are the Avengers, after all. This is our city that we protect.”

Pride spreads across Peter’s chest at Steve’s words. Heck yeah, of course he won’t just sit by and let some world-hopping fire Batman save the day.

Darknight didn’t agree or disagree. Instead, he simply says, “I see.”

He looks away, towards a direction none of the Avengers are. Even though Peter can’t see his face, he can tell that Darknight is looking past the wall to somewhere beyond the building, at a threat—and maybe also a home—far, far away.

“The chance to prove yourselves will be here soon.”

Angel’s Share Official Channel

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<An image of a drink. The blue liquid within the glass shimmers like a blue crystals, adorned with a single mint leaf.>

Angelshareofficial: Our exclusive drink, “Berry and Mint Burst!” A classic combination of assorted berries, topped off with some finely hand-picked mint, this fruity and icy mix will create the finest "burst" of flavors in your mouth!

(available in non-alcoholic choices)

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uhhhhhasdf: wait this looks like that thing in nyc if you know what im talking about

cantthinkofaname: bitch this place is literally in nyc wtf you saying lmaoo

Chapter Text

The tracker on Darknight’s communicator didn’t work, much to everyone’s regret.

“How is he blocking it?” Tony complains loudly, “Did he burn the thing or something?”

“It could be a world traveler thing,” Bruce suggests, “Didn’t he mention having ‘elemental energy’ from his world? That could be a possible variable that is disrupting the signal.”

Tony clucks his tongue in annoyance. “I’ll get his ass into the lab one day. Fire Batman got an even bigger ego than mine if he thinks that he’s some Chosen One to get all those alien dogs out.”

“Darknight called them riftwolves,” Steve interjects without lifting his head from his newspaper, “Shouldn’t that mean they’re alien wolves?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Whatever. They’ll all be glitter and sparkles once I find the right formula.”

…

Tony got his first chance to get Darknight into his labs when the communicator buzzed a few days later.

By the time the Avengers arrived at the scene that JARVIS and Darknight confirmed, there is no sight of any alien wolves, just the sole figure of Darknight standing in the middle of the street, his claymore easily held with one hand.

“Uh…where are the riftwolves?” Peter in his Spider-Man suit asked.

Darknight’s claymore dissipated and reappeared on his back as he responded coldly, “Gone.”

“You…already killed them?” Captain America asked, but it wasn’t exactly a question. Everyone still remembered how brightly the fire burned around Darknight and how those alien wolves practically dissolved into dust.

Darknight nodded without surprise.

“And you couldn’t just wait for another minute or two?” Iron Man huffed, “It only took us five minutes to get here. Talk about efficiency.” 

Five minutes, Peter suddenly realized with a chill. It only took five minutes for Darknight to locate and deal with those riftwolves all by himself.

Darknight remained impassive before their questioning stares.

“There were only two of them, and they were about to attack the civilians.”

No one could argue against that. Iron man’s “tsk” was audible in their communications channel.

“We’re not saying that you shouldn’t have taken them out,” Captain America explained, “we just weren’t expecting you to be so fast.” He smiled apologetically. “Thank you.”

Darknight shifted. Peter can’t read what the vigilante was thinking under his hood.

“I can sense the location of the Abyss opening shortly before it appeared in reality,” he said, “if needed, I can inform all of you next time.”

He can do that? Peter’s eyes widened behind his mask. Darknight never told them about this before. For him to open up like this, even if it’s something small, is good news for establishing further connections with this other-worldly traveler.

Captain America’s only indication of his surprise was the slight jump in his eyebrows. “We would like that.”

Darknight nodded. “Until next time.”

Without waiting for them to respond, the black cloak swished with a flourish as the man turned away, the fabric lifting high enough to show long legs clad in black-and-brown boots.

Peter took a few steps forward. He still wanted to talk to this mysterious man, to learn more about the upcoming threat, his powers, his world, anything. “Wait!”

The man didn’t stop, even when Peter could hear Iron Man’s repulsors activating to catch up as the man said, “Buddy, are you sure you don’t want to crash at our place? I’m sure we still got some of that fiery good stuff from Thor in my booze cabinet.”

Darknight still didn’t stop. In fact, he seemed to walk faster until he turned and disappeared behind a street corner. Peter hurriedly followed, but still lost sight of him for a few seconds.

“Darknight, wait—”

Peter stopped in his voice and tracks. The man was gone.

“JARVIS, pull up the camera footage of what just happened,” Tony said. “Let me guess, he teleported.”

Soon, a recording of the few seconds that Darknight was hidden from Peter popped onto his screen, and just as Tony predicted, the man had popped out of existence without a sound a split second before Peter came around the corner.

“He’s an elusive one, isn’t he?” Natasha, who stayed behind at the Avengers Tower, laughs lightly into the channel. Though her tone is amused, Peter only gets chills.

Clint clicked his tongue. “Is teleportation some alien requirement or something? First Loki and now fire Batman, I’m starting to get some bad patterns here.”

“Two isn’t enough to show shit, birdy,” Tony replies flippantly, ignoring Steve’s chiding “language!” as he continues, “I think we should wait until we get a few more of the DC universe characters here to make the conclusion.”

Peter would rather not have any more world travelers. Unless their world is super cool and doesn’t bring some world-threatening crisis to Earth, that is.

After Peter’s official reveal of his Spider-Man identity and Kaeya’s accidental reveal, things have been unexpectedly normal. Sure, Peter still thinks about Kaeya’s unknown role in Teyvat every day, but the man has been just as chill and nice to him, if not even more after learning about his Spider-Man identity.

“How can I not?” the man had said, “You’re an impressive young man doing an even more impressive job for this city.”

Nonetheless, no one has yet tried to kidnap or blackmail Peter Parker, nor did Karen find any articles online that accuses Spider-Man being some random Midtown High student, so that means Kaeya really didn’t expose Peter’s secret to anyone.

But why?

Peter wants to ask Kaeya, but he has long realized that the man is sharper than most people, and considering their secret identities, he fears that asking too much will arouse suspicion from Kaeya.

 And so, he decides to not do anything for now, and waits to see what on earth Kaeya is trying to do.

One day, Peter notices Kaeya scrolling through Instagram, which is surprising, considering how Kaeya doesn’t have an Instagram account (which is honestly even more surprising).

“What’s this?”

They’re currently hanging out in the Kaeya and Diluc’s apartment at the blue-haired man’s offer, which Peter had cautiously accepted after two entire seconds of careful consideration.

“Oh, this is the official account for Diluc’s business,” Kaeya says, which immediately catches Peter’s attention. He knows that Diluc is running a bar called the “Angel’s Share” from the Avengers.

“His business?” Peter feigns ignorance, “What business is he running?”

Kaeya shows the screen to him without hesitation, which Peter wasn’t expecting. He knows that Kaeya—or Teyvat, to be precise—is using the bar as a cover for Teyvat members, so shouldn’t the man be a little more careful about revealing information on this place to Spider-Man?

“Angel’s Share.” Peter reads the account name out loud, before something else catches his attention. “Wait, twenty thousand followers?! With only five posts? How are you doing this?”

Kaeya chuckles, smug.

“Oh, you’ll be surprised how popular Diluc is. His face is an excellent source of promotion.”

Peter curiously takes the phone and clicks on each post. Just as Kaeya said, every photo will have a certain red-haired man in it. Some are obvious, with the man posing in that classic deadpan look of his, while others are like hidden glimpses, reflected from the showcased glass of liquor like a fiery ghost.

“This is so cool.” Peter isn’t exactly lying. He would certainly never be able to get that many followers on his account—unless Spider-Man has one, that is). “The drinks also look really pretty.”

Kaeya preens, and Peter hallucinates seeing a large peacock flourishing its feathers. “Why, thank you. I appreciate the compliment. It took me a painfully long time to recr—make them.”

“Wait, you made these?” Peter asks in surprise, “Isn’t Mr. Diluc the bartender?”

“Well, yes, but I am the one who provided him the recipes.” Kaeya looks very proud of himself. “I do have a much finer taste in alcohol than him.”

Peter laughs awkwardly, not entirely sure if he should really show admiration for drinking alcohol, but his attention is soon caught by something else, and his laugh disappears as he stops on an image from the most recent post.

A familiar crystal blue shines from the screen.

Peter’s heartbeat quickens. Wait, isn’t this…?

“Berry and Mint Burst...?” Peter reads the name out loud slowly as he closely examines the image once more. “That’s a very odd name.”

There’s no doubt about it. Even with the cherry (mint) on the top, Peter instantly recognizes that color to be identical to the one seen in the Avenger’s labs. Considering Kaeya’s connection to Teyvat, it’s too hard for this to be a simple coincidence.

Peter bites his tongue nervously. Does this mean that Diluc is somehow involved after all?

Kaeya tilts his head, his face perfectly neutral. “Oh? How is it odd?”

“Uh…” Peter quickly finds an explanation. “The name is…very straightforward? I mean, you got ‘Death After Noon’ here, and then you got berries and mint.” 

Yeah, right, as if berries and mint can create strength enhancing potions, he secretly thinks to himself.

Kaeya laughs, “Ah, sometimes simplicity works better to get the message across, don’t you think? Besides, Diluc refused my offer to name it something cooler, something about how I…” he makes a face, “I ‘already interfered too much’ in his own business.”

“Interfere?” Peter questions, “Just for naming a drink?”

Kaeya shrugs, “Well, I did give him the recipe, which he also did accept, but somehow giving it a name like ‘Nature on Glacier’ was too far for him.”

So, it is still Kaeya who created the substance, Peter concludes from Kaeya’s answer. Diluc is not proven to be part of Teyvat, and still just the unlucky man who is unknowingly caught in his brother’s suspicious plans.

“You can make drinks?” he still asks though, just to make sure.

“Of course I can.” Kaeya looks quite affronted, as if how dare Peter question his alcohol-making abilities. “Diluc may be the bartender, but I am the better taster and critic. Naturally, I am the better one in discovering the perfect mixes for the perfect taste.”

Peter’s not sure if one should be as proud as Kaeya looks regarding alcohol, especially when said alcohol is a freaky drug in disguise.

“Why aren’t you working with Mr. Diluc, then?” Peter curiously asks, “I haven’t seen you doing anything with him besides this Instagram thing.”

Kaeya noticeably pauses at that, and his expression shifts to something more…tragic. It’s very subtle, and if Peter weren’t watching him closely for a reaction, he would’ve missed it. 

“Well, I’m in a different business,” Kaeya finally replies, and the man’s change in demeanor disappears almost immediately. It’s quite scary.

“What kind of business?” Peter asks, and he tries his absolute hardest to look like he’s just curious and not snooping around.

Kaeya shrugs, and he has never looked more nonchalant than now. “Oh, just some local manufacturing company. You know, one of the tens of thousands of businesses here.”

Peter knows that Kaeya is lying, and if he really were just some curious student, he would’ve given up on finding out the specific company then and there. After all, Kaeya specifically emphasized that there are “tens of thousands” of similar businesses around here. Is he saying that to discourage Peter from looking too deep?

“That doesn’t sound so promising,” Peter says carefully, “why don’t you just leave and manage the business with Mr. Diluc together?”

Kaeya sighs. “Well…I’m a bit tied up.”

What does that mean? Peter wonders.

“So, you’re really busy?” he asks.

“You could say that.” Kaeya smiles cryptically, but it doesn’t reach his eye. “I’m being heavily favored, and if I leave…well, it could end quite badly for me.”

What does THAT mean? Peter resists the urge to pinch his brow, his brain whirring to analyze Kaeya’s answer. It feels as if Kaeya isn’t the boss of his “different business” but rather an important employee of some sort.

In fact, it sounds as if Kaeya is being…threatened.

“What if you call the police?” Peter asks, “Or maybe you could give, ahem, Spider-Man a call.”

 “Haha, quite eager, are you?” Kaeya laughs, then shakes his head. “I’ll use that offer for another time.”

He looks out the window, a light breeze ruffling a few strands of hair against his eyepatch. For a moment, he looks quite lonely.

“Besides, I don’t think Diluc would appreciate me going too close to him,” the man says. He turns to look at Peter, his sole eye shadowed by the light. “We may be living under the same roof, but we live very different lives.”

Peter doesn’t know what to say in the face of this sudden information. Kaeya and Mr. Diluc aren’t close?

“But…”

His first reaction is to disagree, because he remembers how the brothers get along pretty well – for their odd dynamic, that is. No matter how cutting Diluc’s words could get, Kaeya always brushed them away with an easy smile; no matter how silly Kaeya’s requests were, Diluc would always eventually agree even when he looked like he wanted to decimate Kaeya.

“Why?” he asks.

Kaeya laughs, quieter than usual. “It’s complicated, and certainly not something I can say in one sentence.”  

He must have noticed Peter’s expression, because he pats his head lightly and adds, “Don’t look like that. It’s not that he and I are strangers. I know he still cares about me, and I certainly do as well.”

“Then, why are you two still like…this, then?” Peter asks, “Can’t you two just somehow work it out?”

He knows what he’s saying is lame, but he still can’t entirely understand what the two brothers had to experience to have such a twisted relationship. Even Kaeya’s secret identity shouldn’t be enough to do that if he’s hiding it from Diluc in the first place, right?

Kaeya’s smile turns fond, as if Peter was some particularly ignorant child asking something incredibly innocent. “I’ll try that someday, kid.”

Peter huffs. “I’m not a kid. I’m in high school.”

“Sure, of course,” Kaeya agrees smoothly, and before Peter could defend himself he continues, “Maybe you should have this conversation with Diluc. I’m quite curious about his thoughts.”

Peter tries to imagine facing Diluc’s menacing impassive face and shudders.

“Next time, next time.”

Kaeya claps his shoulders. “That’s the spirit.”  He passes Peter his phone, where the draft of a new post is in the making. “Now, can you show me how to put these two images together?”

By the time Peter leaves the apartment with Kaeya’s gushing thanks for helping him edit his post, he’s feeling quite good about himself. Not only did he genuinely have a good time with Kaeya, but he’s also gotten a lot of new info!

Ugh, I shouldn’t feel like this. Peter pats his forehead. Kaeya is still his friend, Teyvat or not, and he shouldn’t be taking every moment with the blue-haired man as if he’s an undercover mole.

“Peter?” His apartment door opens to reveal Aunt May peering at him questioningly. “Are you coming back now?”

Peter quickly and awkwardly puts his hand down. “Oh, yeah.”

Aunt May chuckles fondly, “I swear, at some point you’re going to do a sleepover at Kaeya’s place. You really like him, huh?”

Peter startles. It wasn’t until now that he realized how he had been talking to Kaeya more and more often, and most of them weren’t even related to being Spider-Man.

“I guess so, yeah,” Peter admits, “He’s a really cool and funny guy to talk to. It’s almost like having an older brother sometimes.”

Aunt May pauses in surprise before she slowly grins at him. “I see. Well, I’m glad to see you being happy like this. Maybe I should bake some cookies for them…”

Maybe he’s just tricking you and everything is fake and you should report him to the Avengers immediately—

Peter grins at Aunt May and pushes the whispering dark thought deep into the back of his mind.

“I remember he said that he liked the chocolate chip and Mr. Diluc liked the raisin kind…”

Chapter Text

Peter pushes open the rich brown door, and the pleasant bells by the entrance announce his arrival to the working man inside the bar.

Diluc raises his head, and upon seeing Peter’s hesitant figure, his movements pause for a long second before he finally straightens.

“What. Are you doing here?”

Despite being in a bartender suit and not showing any visible emotions, the man’s aura is even scarier than usual.

“Actually, how are you even aware of my business? I did not tell you about it.”

Peter scratches his head. “Well…I saw the Instagram channel of your bar on Kaeya’s phone. He told me about it.”

Diluc is silent again for a long moment, long enough for Peter to wonder if he said the wrong thing.

“Uh, Mr. Diluc?”

The man lets out an audible exhale and shuts his eyes for a few seconds. When he reopens them, the previous questioning look has been replaced by sheer irritation.

“Kaeya,” The man practically seethes. Peter hallucinates seeing flames slowly rising from the man like those in a cartoon as Diluc slowly says in the most threatening manner ever, “It seems I need to have another conversation with him.”

Peter gives Kaeya a small “RIP” from his heart, but the condolences for Kaeya’s upcoming tragedy is not enough to sway Peter from what he came for.

“Can I stay here?” Peter looks up pleadingly. “I won’t drink anything, I swear!”

“The patrons will only think that I am letting an underage kid into a bar,” Diluc responds, “I would prefer to spare the unnecessary complications.”

Peter would like to say, “Oh, I want to check out your bar because I want to make sure that you’re not part of a suspicious group that your own brother is part of. In fact, he’s also using your place to sell drugs.Oh, why do I know these? Because I’m Spider-Man! Isn’t that just funny?”

Unfortunately, Diluc is not aware about his secret identity, nor does he seem to be aware about Kaeya’s, and Peter doesn’t want to ruin their relationship before he is 100% certain.

“But there’s no one in here.” Peter gestures to the inside of the place, which is indeed devoid of any customers. He checked beforehand precisely to block that reason.

Diluc raises an eyebrow. “But there will be people coming later.”

“You can say that you’re just looking after me when Aunt May is away,” Peter offers, “I even brought my homework.”

He tries his best to give puppy eyes to Diluc. Even a man as stoic and dignified as Mr. Diluc shouldn’t be so cold-hearted against puppy eyes, right?

Diluc sighs, “Why would you do your homework here? And where is your Aunt May? Does she know?”

“Being in my room all the time is just so boooring,” Peter lies through his teeth, “And I just want to know more about you, since you’re so cool and everything.”

The latter sentence isn’t lying, technically, because Peter does find the red-haired man incredibly cool like his brother but in a very different color (literally), and he does wish to know more about the man, and not just for Avengers’ purposes.

Diluc is silent for a long moment, but he also feels slightly softer after Peter’s pleading.

“You can go find Kaeya, you know,” The man says. “I think you get better along with him.”

There’s something underlying those words that Peter can’t decipher, but it doesn’t exactly feel like a compliment for some reason.

“Bias isn’t good,” Peter says like the most upright student, “And I think I get along pretty find with you too.”

And with that, Diluc, quite surprisingly, doesn’t reject Peter anymore.

“Very well.” He points to a small bar table at the very inside of the room. “You can sit there.”

Peter didn’t stay in the bar for long, his spying/chilling moment interrupted by the Avengers alert buzz from his phone.

Iron Man: [Location pinpoint] abyss alert from batman. coming in 7 mins.

Peter quickly puts away his homework (yes, he did actually work on them) and demolishes the plate of snacks that was given to him by Diluc (which were delicious by the way) before going to the door.

“Hey, Mr. Diluc?” Peter stops at the bar counter, but he doesn’t see the man. “Mr. Diluc?”

A young man who only looks a few years older than him pops out behind the counter instead. “Oh, Mr. Diluc just left a while ago. Do you need anything?”

“Oh, it’s okay, I’m just leaving.”

As Peter dashes into the nearest unoccupied alleyway, he takes out his phone to text Kaeya.

Peter Parker: can you please tell diluc to stay indoors? avengers business rn and i don’t want him to get hurt

Kaeya: sure, but I’m sure that he’ll know what to do if he does run into you guys.

Peter lands at the designated location in six minutes. Darknight and the rest of the gang are already there in a triangular formation, their postures relaxed but alert.

“Great timing, Spidey.” Iron Man’s voice is lighthearted in their channel. “The alien wolves should be appearing in a minute or so.”

“Awesome,” Peter replies as he looks for Darknight. The vigilante isn’t hard to spot—he’s standing at the front of the group without his claymore.

“Darknight!” Peter greets the cloaked figure as he approaches him. “Do you know how many of those riftwolves we’re gonna face?”

“No,” Darknight replies, clipped, “but I can sense the power of the Abyss growing. There should be more of them than usual.”

Captain America frowns as he readjusts the strap on his shield. “That’s not good.”

“It will only get worse,” Darknight adds grimly. “Help me restrict their movements, and I’ll take care of the rest. Avoid the claws.”

Peter remembers how his webs dissolved easily under those riftwolves’ touch and the damage report of the Iron Man suit from just a few scratches.

“No scratches, got it.”

Iron Man comes down from the air to peer at Darknight. “Say, is there still no way for us to do any actual damage yet?”

Darknight shakes his head. “I cannot say for sure. That depends how deeply the Abyss is rooted in this world, or…”

He stops himself, but Iron Man finishes it for him.

“Or if we can wield your fancy elemental power, right?”

Darknight doesn’t do anything but turn his head towards Iron Man, but Peter’s spider-sense begins to tingle at that simple movement.

“That is not possible.”

“In your world, maybe,” Iron Man returns, “Have you considered trying out this awesome thing called Stark technology?”

Darknight’s doesn’t say anything, but his exhale is practically a growl, which is enough of a warning.

Now is not the time, Mr. Stark! Peter thinks wildly.

And just to his expectancy and despair, Iron Man acts as if he didn’t hear the warning and continues, “Y’know, I’ve got this pretty sick lab. Several, actually, with all sorts of fancy stuff that might find out the source of your special fire—”

Captain America interferes before Darknight can summon a fire phoenix to hit Iron Man. “Iron Man, stop. This is no time for argument.”

Iron Man grumbles, but he smoothly backs off like he wasn’t trying to push Darknight’s buttons just a second ago. “I wasn’t arguing. It’s not like I’m the one trying to put all the burden on myself.”

Peter finds it a bit funny for Tony of all people to say that, but he agrees that it’s odd for Darknight to act so secretive about his powers when he’s expressed his willingness to cooperate several times. What is so bad about trying to replicate this “elemental energy”?

He doesn’t have the time nor chance to ask that, for Darknight’s claymore manifests in his hands. Flames flicker and spread to cover the entire blade as the cloaked vigilante lifts his claymore to a battle-prepared stance.

“It’s coming.”

JARVIS affirms a few seconds later. “Abnormal energy readings are detected two yards ahead.”

Captain America lifts his shield and instinctively stands in front of Darknight. “Get ready, everyone!”

The air turns tensed and heated—quite literally for the latter—as the moment Captain America’s voice ends the space itself before them seems to quiver.

“Ugh, I’m going to throw up,” Peter mutters at the sickening feeling, but his eyes don’t leave the sight of the appearing portal in front of him. Unlike the Chitauri one, this one feels much more eerie, as if the very nature of space is corroding to let the royal yet sickly purple seep through.

Peter shakes his head to keep his nausea down. It must be his heightened senses that are making him more sensitive to this than normal people.

“Yep, definitely not Chitauri stuff here,” Hawkeye mutters as he raises his nocked bow. His arrows aren’t the usual stabby type, but a modified type that shoots ropes to tie things down. Peter’s not so positive whether they can hold down those teleporting riftwolves, but it’s one of the few things they can do.

For now, he adds as he looks at Darknight’s flaming sword. They’ll get his secrets out one day.

But for now, all they can do is watch how gnarly black claws grope the portal open, shortly followed by the rest of the riftwolves’ black and golden skeletal-like bodies.

One, two, three…five. Peter inhales deeply. That’s more than last time. Will Darknight be able to handle them?

“I thought they were black and purple,” Black Widow comments, her observations sharp as ever. “Are these any different?”

“No, but they will be more resistant to physical attacks,” Darknight replies shortly.

“Splendid,” Tony says sarcastically, “so basically, we’re giving them a massage.”

Darknight ignores him, much to Peter’s relief. The flames on his claymore grow even larger, so much so that Peter fears it might accidentally burn off his hood as he raises it to his shoulder level.

 “Keep them distracted.”

“Wait—!” Captain America reaches out to Darknight’s moving figure, but all his fingers caught was the heated air left behind by the vigilante.  

BOOM!

A crimson fire explosion shakes the ground at Darknight’s collision with the first riftwolf, waves of heat hitting Peter’s face.

Woah. Admiration rises within him towards Darknight. That felt like it came straight out of some anime fight scene, and for Peter’s teenage mind, that’s cool as hell.

“So much for staying in formation,” Falcon mutters in his comms as he takes flight, immediately catching the attention of one of the riftwolves.

“Keep it up in the air, but don’t let it touch you!” Captain America orders, “Black Widow, Spider-Man, come with me and keep these distracted!”

 “Got it!”

Peter and everyone else leaps into action to cover Darknight. As much as they hate to admit it, Darknight is right: the only thing they can do now is keep the riftwolves busy until Darknight comes with his special fire.

Peter shoots a web at the nearest riftwolf, only for it to land flat as the creature “poofs” out of existence. Damn teleportation.

“Gotta say,” Peter starts as he looks around cautiously, “I think I prefer this color scheme. Black and gold just work better, y’know?”

Hawkeye laughs, but his body is just as tense. “I don’t know, Spider-Man, purple and black are just as cool.”

“You’re just saying that because of your scrapped outfit design, and…”

Ching.

Peter catches a tiny sound right at the end of his quip, like metals being struck together.

His spider-sense blares in alarm. DUCK!

Hawkeye’s alarmed voice rises at almost the exact same moment. “Careful!”

Peter ducks and narrowly avoids a swipe at his head. An arrow hits the riftwolf’s eye, which didn’t do anything other than make it pause for the briefest moment, but it was enough for Peter to kick it away.

“I think it agrees with you more,” Peter says to Hawkeye.

Hawkeye snorts, “I don’t think that’s a compliment, kid.” He shoots another arrow at the riftwolf. “Jeez, they really are tough, huh?”

Black Widow gives them a cutting side eye while dodging a riftwolf’s swoop, “Boys, a little webbing or ropes would be nice?”

Much to Peter’s and Clint’s disappointment, neither of them are able to tie down the riftwolves for long.

“Have we ever considered that it might be because they can, you know, teleport?” Peter asks, panting slightly as he shoots another helpless web towards the nearest riftwolf. “I don’t think my upgraded extra corrosion-proof webs are working so well either!”

Hawkeye nods besides him. “We need more data about this Abyss power.”

BOOM!

An explosion rocks the ground right beside them, shortly followed by a howl.

“Darknight’s got two down,” Captain America reports, his words spitting out rapidly, “Falcon and Black Widow, do a perimeter check for casualties. Iron Man, get the wolf following you down. Spider-Man and Hawkeye, prepare to restrain it as much as possible.”

As everyone scrambles to seize the attention of their targets, Darknight can be seen swiftly moving around them in his own battle against two riftwolves, currently supported by Captain America.

Clang! The hero’s shield hits one of the riftwolves squarely on its snout, its force so strong that the riftwolf tumbles backward. Darknight seizes the chance and shoots forward, leaving a trail of fiery flames in his path as he buries his claymore hilt-deep into the monster.

“Damn,” Peter breathes out, “I wanna do that someday too.”

“I can give you a lesson on sword fighting, if you want,” Hawkeye offers, “Can’t say I can do it as fast with a sword like that, though.”

Iron Man’s slightly breathy voice but just as obnoxious voice cuts in, “Are you trying to steal my intern right in front of me?”

“Maybe,” Hawkeye grins as he lifts his bow to where Iron Man is, “but I think you should be more worried about your puppy follower.”

“Birdie, just shut up and shoot something at it!”

In front of the bantering trio, Darknight pulls his claymore out of the disintegrating riftwolf. Steve hears a small “ching” as the monster disappears, like a piece of metal sliding into a tight tunnel. It’s not a pleasant sound.

Darknight turns around and looks at Steve. The flames on his sword slightly diminish to a more comfortable temperature. Steve notices that the man shows no pain nor discomfort at being so close to fire, nor does his seemingly-leather gloves blacken at its touch. Must be a part of his fire manipulation skills.

The cloaked vigilante nods at him. It’s a miracle how his hood has stayed up this entire time.

“Thanks,” Darknight says, and Steve can tell that it’s genuine.

Steve was not expecting to hear that. “It’s the least I can do.” He looks at his shield bitterly. “It usually does more than just this.”

“You will be able to,” Darknight says, “when the Abyssal power is more rooted in this world.”

Steve shakes his head with a huff. “That’s not much better.”  

Darknight looks towards where Iron Man and the rest are, and the fire reignites to a terrifying blaze around him.

“We’ll destroy them all,” he says, and the conviction and certainty within those three simple words are so strong that Steve is momentarily dumbfounded.

When have I become so hesitant? He suddenly realizes. Despite all of his confident words in their previous meetings, Steve never noticed his growing unease and fear until now. Is it because it’s been so long since he’s felt powerless?

Iron Man’s voice crackles in the channel. “Cap! Stop standing and come here!”

Steve jolts, and his body instinctively moves towards the fight.

“Coming!”

What is he doing, wandering off at a time like this?

Darknight is long gone and is already deep in battle with two riftwolves, the rest of the Avengers doing what they can do slow them down while distracting the third riftwolf.

Steve shakes his head hard and bites his inner cheek until he winces with a pained grin.

“Hawkeye, go help Iron Man, I’ll help Darknight.”

“You got it, Cap.”

As Steve approaches them, he throws away his worries just as he throws his shield towards a riftwolf, hitting the claw that was just about to reach Darknight with a satisfying “clang.”

So what if they can’t do much for now? Darknight is right: one day, they’ll figure out a way to fight these monsters and win no matter what, just like they always had.

Peter is ready to drop onto the ground when everything is over. Quite literally too, because his webs are out.

Tony catches him before he hits the ground. “Nuh-uh, you’re not leaving until you clean up your cobwebs.”

“Actually, he doesn’t,” Clint comes to his rescue. “Darknight just burned all of them with his last move.”

The mentioned vigilante calmly puts his weapon away to who-knows-where. His presence has already returned back to its usual coldness, as if he hadn’t just been a terrifying walking fire hazard and literally summoned a gigantic phoenix at the end to kill all the monsters at once.

“You’re welcome,” Darknight says, and Peter couldn’t help but snort. How did he not realize that Darknight has a sassy mouth?

Darknight turns to Tony and takes out a vial with some familiar black-and-gold particles within. “I managed to collect these. It should help.”

Tony’s uncovered face visibly lights up and he eagerly accepts the vial. Peter already knows that he’s going to live in the labs for the next few weeks, and he’s getting a headache just thinking about the pain he’s going to undergo to get the man onto a bed.

Steve looks at him, “Peter? Are you okay? Do you need medical aid?”

Peter quickly retracts his grimacing expression. “I’m fine, just tired. Are there any civilians hurt?”

Steve shakes his head. “We got them all out beforehand, and Darknight’s fire has barely even touched the buildings.”

Peter breathes out in relief. “That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Steve nods. “He’s proving himself to be a powerful ally. I just wish…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence, but Peter gets it.

“That he lets us use his power?”

Steve nods again, and his lips press together before he explains, “It seems like these monsters will only appear more and more often. If we don’t find a way, then Darknight is the only person who can stop them.”  

He looks down, and Peter follows his gaze to see the countless scorch marks and slashes on the concrete road, a silent but burning reminder of the struggle they just went through. 

“But when will it be too much for him?”

Shame rises within Peter at the question. He's done far too little in this battle, and he won't be able to do much in the future at this rate, nor will any of the other Avengers.

When will they be able to fight alongside Darknight, and not behind him?

“You have to loosen up to them, Diluc. We both know it won’t be long before the Abyss gets too much for you to handle alone.”

“I can.”

“As much as I would love to believe you, you can’t.”

“…They could use it against us one day. I can sense that some of them don’t trust me.”

“Well, then you’ll have to work harder to gain that trust then, hm?”

“Hmph. They won’t until I reveal myself. I can tell.”

“I know, but we don’t need to be friends with them. We just need them to believe that Darknight is a righteous vigilante who fights the Abyss, and will do anything to achieve that to go home.

“Do you think I haven’t been doing that?”

“Of course I believe in you, Master Diluc. But, you are unwilling to be their test subject, no?”

“…No. I—”

“I know. We have all seen what a wrong experiment can do. But, the Avengers must wield elemental energy, or else the Abyss will succeed. If Darknight is unwilling to be the test subject, then Teyvat will.”

“…What are you going to do?”

“I’m just going to spice things up a bit, haha.”

“Kaeya.”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. If everything goes smoothly, Teyvat and Darknight would be able to cooperate with the Avengers fully, and I will finally be able to come onto the stage myself. I just need you to…”

It’s nighttime, and Peter is walking back home when his phone vibrates in his pocket. It’s from Kaeya.

“Hello?”

For a brief moment, there was no response, just faint but heavy breathing.

“Kaeya?”

Kaeya’s voice is raspier than usual as the man says, “Do you remember where you saved me from those—” a bout of coughing from the other end, “—gang members as Spider-Man?”

Peter immediately knows what Kaeya’s talking about. It was the reason why Kaeya found out about him, after all.

“Yeah, why?” he asks. A foreboding chill descends onto the top of his skull, and the cold weather of the season only makes it worse.

Kaeya coughs again, and this time it sounds concerningly wet.

“I’m afraid you might have to pick me up—”

Beep beep.

The call disconnects, leaving Peter to stare at his darkened reflection on the screen for a brief moment.

What happened?

The chill begins to trail down, curling around his nape.

 Without hesitation, he breaks into a sprint.

Peter remembers the alley where Kaeya was cornered and saved by Spider-Man. It doesn’t take him long to skid to a stop in front of the tight alley’s opening.

There’s a faint outline deep within the alley, a human figure sitting down and slumped against the left wall.

“Kaeya?” Peter calls out, and the foreboding dread that has followed him makes his voice waver, “Is that you?”

The human figure’s head turns, and Peter can now see the familiar striking blue, so dimly lit by the faint lamplight on the street that it now looks like a withering bluish grey.

“H…Hey, Peter,” Kaeya coughs, “Would you mind getting me back? I’m afraid—”

Kaeya tries to chuckle, but it quickly dissolves into an audible wince of pain, and he clutches his right side.

Peter dashes toward Kaeya, practically sliding to a stop as he kneels besides the man. From this close distance, he can now clearly see the crimson red staining Kaeya’s hands and his dusty white shirt.

“Oh my god, what happened?”

Kaeya has the audacity to laugh again, and this time Peter reacts just in time to offer his hand for Kaeya to hold onto, and ow the grip hurts.

“Work conflict,” Kaeya grits out, his usual upturned lips tightly pressed together. “Some gang members weren’t too happy with me.”

Peter feels like slapping Kaeya if he isn’t so badly injured. Actually, he’s not quite sure whether he should laugh or feel horrified at that sassy answer, but he doesn’t have the time or energy to give a proper reaection at this moment.

“Let me just—” Peter effortlessly scoops Kaeya up into his arms, forcing himself to ignore his groan of pain. For a man of his height, Kaeya is surprisingly light, and it only makes him heart clench even more. “Don’t talk, just stay with me, okay? The nearest hospital is only—”

Kaeya grips Peter’s right shoulder tightly to catch Peter’s attention.

“Do not take me to the hospital,” Kaeya says breathily yet steadily, “take me back to my place.”

Peter thought he heard Kaeya wrong, but Kaeya’s expression says that he is deadly serious.

 “What?” Peter exclaims, “Are you crazy?”

Kaeya shakes his head. “Just…just take me back. I’ll take care of it myself.”

Now Peter really feels like slapping Kaeya. “You got shot!” His high voice bounces between the brick walls with his distress. “You can die!”

Kaeya grimaces. “I know this is suspicious, but please,” his voice takes on a desperate note, “take me back, and promise me to keep whatever you see a secret, alright?”

Peter wants to say no and take Kaeya to the nearest hospital, but with the look in Kaeya’s dilated eye, he feels like the man will literally jump out of his arms and crawl back home if he doesn’t agree, Spider-Man or not.

And also… Peter suddenly remembers Kaeya’s secret identity, which he forgot to consider during his panic. Is he…?

Peter shakes his head. Secrets or not, he has no time to delay.

“F-fine. I have a first-aid kit at my place,” Peter takes out his web shooters as he speaks, “Just stay with me—Kaeya? Kaeya!”

A drop of blood landing on his sneakers and a limp arm sliding from his shoulders responds to him in silence.

Chapter Text

NEWEST VIGILANTE SETS NEW YORK CITY ALIGHT!

A new vigilante has emerged in the shadows of New York City, sending ripples through the criminal underworld and law enforcement alike. Known as "Darknight", this mysterious figure of flames, darkness, and justice has carved his name within mere months, taking down crime syndicates with blazing efficiency—literally!

Witnesses describe a tall, imposing figure cloaked in black with a massive longsword (yes, apparently those still exist) wreathed in flames. While details are scarce, several reports have linked the Darknight to a series of attacks of organized crime activity, leaving behind a trail of heavily wounded thugs and wrecked criminal operations.

The true identity of Darknight remains unknown, and experts are still unable to conclude whether Darknight is a mutant with fire powers or simply a Batman-like human with highly advanced technology. Some critics argue that Darknight’s method of action is too harsh, often leaving victims with third-degree burns and severe bone fractures, while others believe that Darknight’s actions are valid, considering that all of his victims so far are criminals with serious felonies that should have been brought to justice long ago.

Many users on social media have also expressed their interest in Darknight, with hashtags such as #NYCDarknight frequently topping trending lists online. Some have stepped forward and shared their stories of how they were saved by Darknight. (See Victim’s recount of Darknight: He saved my family! to learn more.)

Despite the mysterious vigilante’s rising popularity for the past few months, the Avengers have not yet made a statement concerning Darknight, despite recent witnesses and photographs that have spotted our heroes with him (See Darknight spotted with the Avengers in battle: Another future Avenger? to learn more). Are they also waiting for the mysterious vigilante to reveal their true colors, or is the fire hazard simply not a problem for our favorite superheroes?

#NYCDarknight

234.1k Posts

AvengersSpotted @avengersspotted112123

*image.png* The Avengers and Darknight spotted TOGETHER yesterday at XX street after sudden evacuation! Darknight is good confirmed???

3.9k Comments           83.2k Likes           102k Reposts

boyiqing @boyiqinggg

what is up with manhattan and superheros??? this city has been wrecked enough times because of these fucking clowns

63 Comments           82 Likes           221 Reposts

darknightsavedmylife @oeeieeoeeieo

yall need to stfu he literally SAVED me from getting robbed two weeks ago if it wasn’t for him i would literally be HOMELESS

23 Comments           164 Likes           19 Reposts

BAHBAHBAHH @chromic_windows

someone needs to make an analysis vid about darknight’s sword because i just saw a recording of blud THROWING that heavy ass looking sword with ONE HAND and there’s no way it’s light because it literally CRACKED THE GROUND?????

54 Comments           2.6k Likes           1.7k Reposts

Ilovemeamaninblack @firefirerahhh

I am OBSESSED with darknight rn and just had to draw a quick wip of him.

*image.png* do not repost!

12 Comments           20.8k Likes           11.9k Reposts

#WhoIsDarknight

12.8k Posts

astronomicallydownbad @1112123

i’m calling it right here right now. Fire Batman. High-tech sword with insane muscles.

12 Comments           723 Likes           10.1k Reposts

arcticshipper @justhereforfanart

ok but what if darknight’s actually a girl though

234 Comments           2.3k Likes           15.2k Reposts

BLOWHAI @iloveblahajs

THE CAPE STAYS ON IN BED

12 Comments           5.4k Likes           2.3k Reposts

assembleeeeee @tonystarkstanforever

begging @TheAvengersOfficial tell us something PLEASE

122 Comments           51k Likes           192k Reposts

#Darknight Avengers

2.8k Posts

begging@bEgGinG

begging for darknight to join the avengers

427 Comments           22k Likes           62k Reposts

whyyoushouldnotliveinnyc @nycwarning

why the avengers should not consider darknight: a thread

2.6k Comments           8.9k Likes           102k Reposts

Kaeya’s apartment window held zero resistance against a panicked Peter Parker. He had enough sense not to smash through the window like Hulk probably would, but he may or may not had accidentally broken the window’s lock when he pulled it up a bit too roughly from the outside.

“Oh shoot, sorry,” Peter mutters to an unconscious Kaeya—half-conscious, actually—as he hurriedly puts Kaeya onto the living room floor in a recovery position. “Hey, Kaeya? Can you hear me?”

Kaeya winces in response, but it’s clear that he is still somewhat conscious.

“Are…are we back?” he asks, his single eye glassy with pain. There must have been a wound on his head because there is blood on his face sliding down from the left side of his forehead, some of it already crusting on his dark skin.

Peter scrambles to find something to block the bleeding other than Kaeya’s already-ripped shirt as he answers, “Yeah, we’re in your living room. Do you have a first aid kit?”

Kaeya opens his mouth to answer, but a different voice interrupts them.

“Who’s there?”

Peter whirls around to see Diluc standing in the hallway with a wary expression. Shadows shroud half of the man’s tall figure, making him feel like he’s about to strike Peter at any second.

Peter straightens like a caught thief. With all of his intelligence, he says,

“Uh.”

Diluc’s imposing figure visibly pauses in confusion.

“Peter? How did you get in here?’

Thanks to the dim moonlight outside, the space is visible but just barely, and the furniture and humans inside are illuminated all pale and bleak. Even Diluc’s hair have lost its usual vibrance when he slowly nears Peter, like all the pigment is washed away by the moon.

Peter awkwardly waves at Diluc, and he notices how Diluc’s gaze sharply follows his bloodied hands, though they now look more like black ink rather than crimson blood.

Words leave his mouth without thinking.

“Oh, hey Mr. Diluc. Sorry about the window. And the blood. It’s been a crazy night.”

Diluc’s brows furrow. His wariness clearly didn’t disappear entirely yet, but the moment the man notices Kaeya on the ground, it all changes to evident alarm.

“Kaeya?”

Diluc rushes forward, crouching down to observe Kaeya’s wound. Peter can’t help but tap his shoulder as he says, “Uh, careful, it’s pretty bad—”

Diluc shrugs off Peter’s hand as he whips his head around to stare at Peter with narrowed eyes. “Are you involved with this?”

Peter can’t help but take a step back. Even though Diluc can sometimes come across as intimidating, it is nothing compared to the look in Diluc’s eyes right now.

Deep breath, Peter. Peter gulps. It’s just Mr. Diluc, and you did nothing wrong.

 “No.” He swallows his stutter before continuing. “I found him outside. He was shot, and he told me to get him back here.”

Diluc stiffens. “Shot? What—”

“Diluc.” Kaeya’s voice sounds small in the wide space, but it seizes their attention immediately. Diluc finally unfreezes from his momentary standoff with Peter and quickly turns back to Kaeya.

“Get our first-aid kit,” the injured man says.

Diluc doesn’t immediately follow Kaeya’s request. From Peter’s angle, he can see how Diluc’s concerned look shifts to something more like anger, and an inaudible conversation between the brothers seems to pass between them rapidly along with the rising heat in the room—the heat has to be a hallucination though, right?

“Uh…I can get it if you tell me where it is?” Peter hesitantly offers. However, Diluc finally breaks his gaze with Kaeya as he shakes his head. The previous downright murderous look has disappeared, but there is still something unsettling around Diluc.

“No need,” Diluc replies, and his face slowly smooths to the familiar unreadable expression as he straightens. “I’ll be back soon.”

Diluc looks at Kaeya one last time, and with a curt huff, he leaves the room.

Peter lets out a small exhale, and he rubs his eyes tiredly. It’s not every day he gets to skip patrol, and this is not what he was expecting for this rare free evening.

“Hey, Peter.”

Kaeya’s voice is in a hush as he beckons Peter to come closer. Peter drops his rubbing hands promptly, and the scent of blood fills Peter’s nose as he crouches down.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

Kaeya looks towards the direction where Diluc went, then back at Peter.

“There’s a yellow vial in my room’s bottom drawer,” he says in a whisper, “it’s locked in a black box, passcode 0-4-3-0. Can you get it?”

It took Peter a second to realize what Kaeya was saying, and what it was implying.

“Are you…”

Kaeya knows that he’s Spider-Man, and Kaeya should also know that the Avengers are on the trail of Teyvat and its business.

Are you really part of Teyvat? Peter wants to ask. No, he already knew that. He’s wants to ask Kaeya something, but he’s not sure what he wants out of it. Confirmation? He already knew that. Denial? That’s the most stupid thing Kaeya can do right now, and Peter will not buy it. Explanation? He doubts that Kaeya will actually say it.

All the questions circle around his tongue like a bad circus parade, all simmering inside Peter’s mouth like one of those evil wizard’s bubbly green potion until it all condenses to a simple, lame, stammering, “Are you sure?”

Kaeya smiles wryly, one filled with bitterness and no joy. “Please, Spider-Man, can you let me get past tonight first before the questions?”

Peter jolts at the mention of his superhero name. “I…I’m not trying to—”

“Haha, there’s no need for that. I know you’ll want to know more about my identity.” Kaeya shivers. “Can you please go get the vial now? It’s getting cold.”

Peter looks down at Kaeya’s bloody and disheveled figure. He’d never seen the Kaeya in such a disgraceful state before, and it feels weird and wrong for the man to land in such a predicament.

Something like pity rises within him, and he nods.

Kaeya’s room is sparse, surprisingly sparse for someone as flamboyant as Kaeya. It’s almost like as if he’d just moved in and is preparing to move out at any moment.

Even though it’s the first time Peter’s been in here, he has no interest or mind in checking it out. He goes straight to the sole table, opens the bottom drawer, finds the locked box, and with a click, a vial barely bigger than a finger is in his hands.

Amidst the darkness, the golden liquid glows dimly in Peter’s palm. Perhaps it’s his own imagination, but it almost feels as though he’s holding a mystery bomb, waiting to explode with its unknown ingredients.

Stop it. Peter stops himself from thinking more. Now is not the time. Teyvat member or not, weird freaky potion-looking drug or not, Kaeya is his friend, and he needs to get a grip on himself. Spider-Man has faced countless emergencies before, and this is just another one.

When Peter returns with the vial, Diluc’s rustling can still be heard in another room. Kaeya has somehow gotten up from his side lying position and is now sitting against a wall. Before Peter could get him back down, though, the man stops him.

“I’m fine,” Kaeya reassures him. His gaze flicker towards Diluc’s direction, then back at Peter. “You got the thing, right?”

Peter nods and gives Kaeya the small vial. As Kaeya uncorks the vial, he can’t help but finally ask, “Is this really…Golden Cider?”

“Is that what the Avengers call this?” Kaeya asks in return, but before Peter could reply, he nods. “I suppose it is. It does have a similar name to its true one.”

“What is it actually called?” Peter asks curiously.

Kaeya’s mouth curls into a faint smirk. “Apple cider.”

Peter doesn’t have much time to process that other than a “wait, that’s it?” when Kaeya tilts his head upwards to down the golden liquid. Almost immediately, he keels over with a low groan.

Peter had ripped part of Kaeya’s shirt on his way here to wrap around the man’s abdomen, and now he unties it to examine Kaeya’s wound. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but there’s still so much drying blood that it’s impossible to tell the current state of the wound, and Peter doesn’t have Karen with him to scan Kaeya.

“Is it working?” he asks.

Kaeya gingerly feels his wound, and his grimace looks less pained than before. “The bleeding should have stopped, but it’s not enough to fully heal me.”

Peter lets out a breath of relief. Even if it’s not the most ideal result, stopping the bleeding does relieve a lot of pressure.

“Do you have any other of those…apple cider?”

Of all names for a cool potion-like thing, and it has to be that?

“No.” Kaeya answers, and Peter can’t tell if he’s lying or not. Surely a Teyvat member would have more than one with them, right?

As if reading Peter’s mind, Kaeya shrugs. “I really don’t have anymore. Do you think I would leave myself hanging like this?”

Peter nods in agreement, but there’s still something nagging in the back of his mind. Before he could tug it out though, Diluc appears in the living room with a large first-aid kit.

“Excellent.” Kaeya pushes against the floor in a struggle to lean against the wall, leaving Peter scrambling to assist him. “Peter, will you please help Diluc to get the bullet out? It shouldn’t be so hard, since the healing should have pushed it out.”

Peter now really wishes that he had taken Kaeya to the hospital whether he liked it or not, had he known that the stupid magical apple juice doesn’t even do its job right.

“I…”

Diluc opens the first aid kit loudly, the zipping sound cutting through Peter’s hesitation.

“I’ll get it out,” he says flatly, his tone leaving no room for discussion. The look in his red eyes, as he turns towards Kaeya, is back to its previous terrifying state and not-brotherly-caring at all. “Peter, hold him down for me.”

Kaeya must have sensed the terror too, because his laugh is clearly nervous. “Ah, I think that—”

Diluc flashes the tweezers menacingly, almost like a dagger.

“Peter,” he says calmly.

Peter promptly chooses to ignore Kaeya’s pleading look and crouches down to join Diluc.

Diluc’s hand was impressively still during the entire procedure. Kaeya, despite his weak protests and gasps of pain, also remained impressively still.

Peter had sneaked a few looks at Diluc at the particularly painful moments, just to observe how the man would react.

All he saw was an impassive mask. Combined with his calm and efficient treatment, it’s like Diluc’s done this countless times.

“Are you…not scared?” Peter couldn’t help but asked.

Diluc’s hand had paused for a brief moment, quite unluckily so for Kaeya, for the needle stitching the wound was still halfway through the flesh.

“Hey!” Kaeya protested loudly, loud enough for both Peter and Diluc to startle.

Unfortunately, the startle from Diluc also caused his hand to do as well, which led to the needle still half-buried within Kaeya to follow the domino sequence, ultimately leading to the needle to have jabbed at the wrong spot and released a gush of blood.

“Diluc, you—oomph!”

A roughly shoved rag from the impatient brother was most effective in cutting off Kaeya's voice.

In the end, Diluc had no time to answer Peter’s question amidst Kaeya’s muffled yelling, and neither did Peter have the mind to keep questioning the sheer absurdity or peculiarities of tonight.

With Peter and Diluc’s combined experience, Kaeya was able to get fully stitched up and placed into his bed way earlier than Peter expected.

“The wound wasn’t too serious for a gun wound,” Diluc comments as he tucks a light blanket over Kaeya. “At least it was shallow enough to get it out without tearing too much tissue.”

Peter laughs nervously. Looks like Diluc is clueless about the little trick Kaeya did. “Yeah, lucky.”

Kaeya agrees with a flawless look of relief, but Peter notices how he doesn’t look at Diluc. The red-haired man must have noticed it too, because his actions stilt briefly, then he sighs.

“I’m going to tidy things up,” he announces as he steps away. “Peter, thank you for your assistance tonight. Feel free to stay with Kaeya for a while if you want.”

The room falls silent after Diluc leaves and closes the door, until Kaeya lets out a resigned-sounding sigh and rubs his eye.

“Are you okay?” Peter asks.

Kaeya chuckles tiredly. “As well as I could be. I forgot how much this could hurt.”

Peter’s head raises in shock. “You’ve been shot before?”

“How do you think Diluc was able to do this?” Kaeya asks in return, which only confirms the question. “I get quite unlucky sometimes.”

Peter frowns. They are so weird. There are just so many mysteries and questions surrounding the brothers, and despite their friendliness and increasing closeness with Peter, they still keep their stories locked without any signs of release.

It hurts Peter, sometimes. He’s already admitted his deepest secret to Kaeya, but when will he hear something from Kaeya in return?

Stop it. Peter stops himself. He shouldn’t force Kaeya, who is still his friend whether he is a Teyvat member or not, to reveal his secrets just because he did. Besides, there are more important matters at hand, like Kaeya’s recover and…

“Are you going to tell Diluc?” Peter asks. “About your…”

“No,” Kaeya answers resolutely. “I won’t tell him.”

“But…” Peter recalls Diluc’s look before he left.

Based on his own experience, keeping people in the dark often ends with bad results, especially if the uninformed person is smart and not a soft person, and Diluc feels anything but soft.

“What if he gets a misunderstanding?”

Kaeya flinches subtly, then quickly smooths back into a smile.

“That wouldn't be the first, then.”

Chapter Text

A few minutes after Peter left, Kaeya’s blanketed figure shifts in the dark.

With a small grunt, he pulls away his covers and sits up slowly, but with far more grace than he exhibited when Peter was around.

Kaeya looks at the closed door. He sighs, rubs his expressionless face, then puts on a flawless smile. However, due to the lack of any light in the room except for the sliver of the outside night lights peeking through his curtains, the smile looks more like a grimace.

Click.

As if seeing Kaeya’s prepared stance through the door, Diluc opens the door with a scowl. He has turned on the lights in the corridor, causing a block of light to flood in to paint a small portion of the room and half of Kaeya’s face in grimy yellow.

“Hey, Master Diluc,” Kaeya greets him casually like he wasn’t expecting him. “What can I do for you?”

Diluc silently walks into the room. His scowl deepens, a mixture of concern and irritation.

“What in the Archons are you doing?”

Kaeya’s smile tugs upwards by a fraction. “C’mon, Diluc, is this really how you should treat a patient?”

“Should I?” Diluc asks slowly, and the room’s temperature rises a few degrees with his growing anger.

“Should I act like you haven’t done this to yourself?”

Kaeya’s eye flickers briefly. “What do you mean?”

Diluc steps closer, fire simmering in the depths of his eyes. “Do you really think that I can’t tell? That this wasn’t an accident?”

He stands directly in front of Kaeya, forcing Kaeya to face him once more.

“I’m going to ask again. What. In the Archons. Are you doing?”

Kaeya’s smile lasts a few more seconds before it wavers, then disappears once more. He sits as still as a statue, looking at all places but Diluc.

Diluc looks at Kaeya longer, but seeing that Kaeya is still refusing to look back at him, he chuckles with zero warmth.

“Don’t act so guilty now. Isn’t the great Calvary Captain known for his…ah yes, ‘quick wits and charm?’” His mouth forms an ugly curl. “I don’t remember getting shot as a particularly witty or charming move.”

“Do you really think I’m doing this for fun?” Kaeya asks, quite icily.

Diluc crosses his arms. His usual polite and sophisticated presence in front of guests and friends is long gone, replaced with a tight anger teetering on the verge of imploding, held in just barely with his mocking and sarcastic words as an outlet. 

“Of course not,” he says first, then, “which is precisely why I cannot entirely fathom the purpose of intentionally doing this as a vital part of the plan.”

He claps twice, slowly. “Great job, by the way, for only healing yourself halfway. I didn’t know that it was even possible.”

Kaeya’s cheeks twitch, tugging his mouth to form a false smile. “Thank you. I had to try many times to figure out the perfect ‘halfway’ amount.”

“And how did you, dare I ask, did you figure out the perfect amount?”

Kaeya shrugs blithely. “Does it matter?”

“Yes!” Diluc finally snaps. “You—”

He stops himself, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. Kaeya tenses, and quickly shoves his clenched hands under his blankets during the brief span when Diluc isn’t watching him.

“What?” Kaeya asks, his voice wobbling by an imperceptible degree.

Diluc reopens his eyes. The barely controlled anger has cooled down considerably, and with his facial expressions now schooled back to its usual impassiveness, he looks much more like his usual self.

“Never mind. I won’t ask,” he says.

Surprise flashes across Kaeya’s face momentarily. Diluc notices it and huffs with his usual annoyance.

“You won’t tell me anyway. And, as much as I hate how you did this, you wouldn’t have been in any mortal danger.”

Kaeya’s hidden hands underneath the blanket clench tighter.

“Of course, I won’t put myself in such a situation,” he says lightly.

“But that doesn’t mean you can just do such a risky act,” Diluc retorts. “You’re intentionally leaving yourself injured. In front of Peter. What if he—”

“—He would not have given me to the Avengers,” Kaeya interrupts him roughly, his bared teeth poorly veiled through his smile. “He already sees me as a friend, even when he knows about Teyvat. Tonight’s pity act will further only pressure him more to help us—help me—and slow down the Avengers’ investigation.”

Diluc briefly shuts his eyes again. “Is that all you see about tonight? A pity act?”

Kaeya shrugs, somehow managing to look shameless and uncomfortable at the same time.

“Well, I do value Peter as a friend, but he is part of the Avengers after all, and we have to be careful until they all believe in us—”

“—This isn’t about Peter,” Diluc cuts him off, eyes narrowing. “I get it. You like Peter, but you also needed to distract him. I’ve done the same.”

Kaeya raises an eyebrow. “Well, glad that we agree—”

“—But this isn’t about him.” Diluc cuts him off again, irritation rising onto his face once more. “It’s you.”

Kaeya’s arguments wither in his soundless mouth. He opens his mouth, then shuts it to a tight line. His right hand subconsciously moves to his bandaged wound.

Diluc’s sharp gaze catches his movement, and his crimson red eyes narrow with an emotion beyond simple anger.

“So, you are aware.” Diluc tilts his head slightly, almost like a hawk zeroing on its prey, pinning Kaeya down with his deadly calm voice.

“Why must you always inflict some degree of self-harm in your plans?”

A long silence.

The previous hot and suffocating tension brought by Diluc has already cooled down, but now the room temperature seems to drop even further to a chilling degree.

Kaeya’s smile doesn’t reappear.

“Why do you care?” he asks instead.

Diluc’s brows furrow, evidently thrown off. “What?”

“Why do you care about this?” Kaeya gestures at himself as he reiterates, his tone flat. “We both get injuries often with our jobs.”

Diluc’s face also turns flat. “It’s not the same. Wounds happen with accidents and recklessness. You were planning for this to happen.”

Kaeya shrugs minutely. “That’s part of the job sometimes.”

A moment of silence, then from Diluc, “It’s not.”

“Not for the mighty heroic Darknight, perhaps,” Kaeya replies icily. “But, I suppose not all of us can be as just and honorable as you in battle, hm?”

Diluc’s brows twists. “I’m not—”

Creak. The window mists with a faint white sheen.

Kaeya’s eye blazes, similar yet drastically different to Diluc’s previous anger. It’s not the fiery and heated type that Diluc shows, but a bitter yet equally piercing coldness.

“Look, we can argue about the industry standards of proper vigilantism and all night,” he snaps, “but what’s done is already done.”

Diluc looks taken aback for a second, but he quickly recovers with a scowl. “You are escaping from the point. It was not necessary for you to shoot yourself for sympathy points. You could have—”

“—And that doesn’t matter anymore,” Kaeya interjects icily. “If it’s just me dying that you are worried about, then we can end this talk right now.”

Diluc takes a deep irritated breath. “Why do you keep doing this?”

Kaeya’s lips curl into a half-veiled sneer that’s not entirely directed at Diluc.

“Doing what? This?” His hand on his bandaged side squeezes, and a blotch of red appears on the fresh white gauze like bad ink. “Oh, I don’t know, perhaps I just like to—”

Diluc’s expression freezes, and he steps forward to force Kaeya’s self-inflicting hand away.

“Stop.”

Kaeya and his hand freeze in Diluc’s hold. He looks down at his now-bloodied gauze, then up towards Diluc’s visibly alarmed face.

“Don’t do that again,” Diluc says. “You’ll only…”

He falters and stops. A few seconds of thoughtful silence, then he crouches down to meet Kaeya at eye level.

Diluc clears his throat, and with an uncomfortable air, he slowly says,

“I know we are different, Kaeya, and I know your plans work, but I don’t wish to see yourself getting hurt without even telling me.” A tense pause. “We’ve agreed to work on this together. I don’t need—want you to give up even more than what I know. It’s unfair.”

Kaeya blinks, then looks away like he’s blinded.

“You’re the one fighting the riftwolves.” he says tightly. “I’m just—”

“Just as important.” Diluc finishes for him. “You’ve been doing great so far, Kaeya. I told you last time, I’m not a saint. I do as much dirty work as you do. So, don’t worry too much, and let me help with the obstacles.”

Kaeya swallows. The biting coldness quickly slips away, and the blue-haired man schools his face back its previous impassive state.

“Since when were you the talker?” he mutters.

Diluc releases his grip, and any traces of warmth from him is immediately gone and replaced with his usual annoyance as he straightens.

“Well? What is your answer?” he demands.

After a few seconds of contemplating silence, Kaeya’s mouth quirks into a small smile.

“I got your message loud and clear, Master Diluc.” His shoulder loosens by a fraction of a degree. “I’ll be sure to inform you in advance the next time I shoot myself.”

Diluc sighs in exasperation and runs a hand through his hair. “I mean it, Kaeya. Don’t expect me to let you go so easily next time.”

The normal easygoing smile resurfaces on Kaeya’s face. “Sure, Master Diluc.”

Diluc raises an eyebrow. Calmly, in a most threatening manner one can achieve with a calm face and tone, he says, “If you do this again, I’ll give you to the Avengers.”

Kaeya smirks, unfazed. “Don’t be so cruel, brother. That would be terrible for our plans.” He pauses thoughtfully, then adds, “Well, maybe don’t do that until you’ve gained their trust fully.”

Diluc looks at him, deadpan. “Do you really think I would do that?”

“Hey, who knows?” Kaeya taps his eyepatch. “You even can mention about the origin of my eyepatch if you want, to really dig in on our…disagreements.”

Diluc now looks particularly unimpressed. He doesn’t respond to Kaeya’s suggestion, and instead opts to manhandle Kaiya back into a lying position.

“Go to sleep. I’ll change your gauze tomorrow.”

Kaeya dramatically widens his eye at him, still somewhat resistant to slide under his dark blue covers. “Come on, think about it!”

Diluc sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand, while his other hand easily overwhelms Kaeya’s struggle to singlehandedly put him under the blanket.

“We’ll discuss that tomorrow. I’ve had enough of you and your theatrics for tonight.”

“Ow—hey, part of this was for you, alright?” Kaeya protests against Diluc’s palm to no avail. “If it wasn’t for my distraction, you could’ve attracted Peter’s suspicion tonight!”

Diluc sighs as he tightens the blanket over Kaeya. “I would not,” he says flatly.

“Oh, really? How would you have responded to Peter’s question about your first aid experience?”

“I would come up with an appropriate answer. You did not give me the chance and only gave me extra work.”

“Ow, ow—alright, I’m sorry!” Kaeya finally stops his struggle and gives up. He looks at Diluc and adds, “Well, at least you caught on along magnificently, don’t you think?”

Diluc rolls his eyes as he steps back from his completed work.

“No one in Teyvat with their right mind would ask for stitches before any healing foods,” he says. “It was easy to guess what you wanted Peter to see.”

Kaeya smile widens, satisfied. “I knew that I could trust our respectable Master Diluc.”

Diluc sighs—another one to the impressive count this evening—as he leaves the room. “At least tell me beforehand so I won’t slip up by accident.”

“Alright, alright.” Kaeya nods casually. “What can I say? I just have a lot of faith in you.”

Diluc stops under the doorway. The sparse lighting coming in from his behind illuminates the outline of his hair a bright red and shadows his flat look with irritation.

“Hmph. Doesn’t seem quite like it with all the times you keep hiding from me.” He shakes his head. “Now sleep. I’m sure Peter will visit again tomorrow.”

With that, he quickly and soundlessly shuts the door, leaving the room covered in a silent darkness once more.

Under the sliver of moonlight, Kaeya’s blanketed figure shifts until he’s in a more comfortable position, and a sigh—not even a sigh, really, more like a tired exhale—rises and dissipates in the room like a whisp of white smoke.

“I really meant it.”

Chapter Text

#NYCDarknight

300k Posts

flamesandblackcoats @lovingeverysuperhero

I can't take it anymore. I'm sick of Darknight. I try to search for Iron Man. Darknight appears. I try to search for Captain America. Darknight appears. I try to search for Spider-Man. Darknight appears. I don't even try to search for Thor. I want to use Twitter. The first post has Darknight. I want to use Youtube, Instagram - they both show Darknight on my fyp. He grabs me by the throat. I fish for him. I cook for him. I make him a new outfit. He isn't satisfied. I buy him a gun. "I don't need this." He tells me. "Give me more enemies." He grabs Cap’s shield and forces him to throw himself off enemies. "You just need to funnel me more. I can deal more damage with gasoline." I can't buy gas, I don't have enough money. He grabs my credit card. It declines. "Guess this is the end." He grabs his sword. He says "time for—retribution." There is no hint of sadness in his eyes. Nothing but pure, unwatered fire. What a cruel world.

529k Likes           16k Comments          2.6m Reposts

Reply to @lovingeverysuperheero

boyiqing @boyiqinggg

does he actually say “time for retribution” that’s so cringe

122 Likes          62 Comments          696 Reposts

Reply to @boyiqinggg

darknightsavedmylife @oeeieeoeeieo

L take and stfu next time you get robbed no one will save you

2k Likes          12 Comments          131 Reposts

Reply to @oeeieeoeeieo

iamsohungryiahhhh @lockabdcloak

Ok but be fr that’s a crazy line if he actually did say that

13 Likes          2 Comments          0 Reposts

“It seems that the people here don’t have enough appreciation for our Darknight Hero’s lines.”

“…”

“But then again, this long post about ‘being sick of Darknight’ is most certainly…fascinatingly bizarre. Is this what this world’s sense of style is like?”

“…”

“C’mon, say something. Don’t you think this is funny?”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Haha…hahahahahahahaha!”

“Stop laughing.”

“Oh—*cough*—hahaha…I’m terribly sorry, Master Diluc, but this is simply too amusing to hold in. Darknight is really everywhere, huh?”

“I’m not.”

“Maybe not physically, but look—you’re popular on the internet now! You might even get more attention than in Mondstadt with the population here!”

“Tch. The paragraph doesn’t even make sense. I never had anyone cook or fish for me. I don’t throw Captain America into enemies.”

“Hahah—ahem, I mean, it seems that the paragraph is simply a well-known joke, and they simply just replaced some words with your name and information. Don’t take it too seriously.”

“I’m not. I’m just saying this is…”

“Hm?”

“…Unexpected.”

“Ha—ahem, sorry—hahahahaha!”

The next morning, Peter sat up on his bed with bloodshot eyes and a sleep deprived headache. Quite the overkill, honestly. He’s done plenty of sleepless patrols without much trouble, but this time it really decided to hit him with the sucky feelings.

Even MJ noticed and bothered to ask him if he was alright during school time later that day, which means that he must have looked really bad.

“Hey, you alright?” MJ peers at him from her seat. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, MJ,” Peter mumbles. Normally, he would’ve leaped on that chance to make their chat last as long as possible, but now he’s too occupied with his thoughts. Is Kaeya alright? Should he visit Kaeya later, or is it too soon and clingy of him? And the whole Teyvat thing—

 Someone snaps their fingers in front Peter’s face loudly. “Yo, Earth to Peter?”

Peter jolts as words fly out of his mouth. “I’m listening!”

MJ huffs wryly. “Clearly not, because I asked if you had time after school to take me to that CD rental store by your place.”

Peter nods automatically like some programmed robot, because he always agrees to whatever MJ says.

“Of course, I’ll—”

MJ’s words catch up to his brain.

“Wait, what? You want me to take you there?” he blurts out incredulously, and immediately wants to slap himself at his dumb question. He can distantly see Ned behind MJ frantically shaking his head in a “bro what are you saying?” fashion.

“No wait—” Peter stumbles over his words in a panic to save himself from permanently ruining his relationship with MJ. “I didn’t mean I don’t want to! I meant, sure! Of course I can take you there!”

MJ raises an eyebrow, and her mouth quirks on her otherwise unimpressed face. Even with Peter’s super spider eyesight, he can’t decipher what she’s really thinking right now. “Cool. I’ll wait for you at your locker then.”

And with that, the bell rings right after like a timed cue, and MJ smoothly packs her items into her backpack and exits the classroom without looking back, leaving Peter in shambles.

Ned scoots over and pats him comfortingly. “Dude.” That’s all he said.

“It’s so over,” Peter bemoans, head buried in his palms. “It was the shot, and now she thinks I don’t want to go out with her.”

“Dude, of course she won’t think that!” Ned shakes his head rather unconvincingly. “She probably just thinks that…uh…you’re busy or something. Which you are, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any intern work today,” Peter says, which was a shared term referring to his Spider-Man patrols. “I was just thinking about visiting Kaeya.”

“Oh, that’s your cool pirate neighbor? Are you two friends now?” Ned asks curiously.

Peter blinks. Oh, right. He hasn’t really talked about Kaeya with Ned for quite a long time, not when they’re in such different friend groups.

“Uh…” Peter runs his tongue against his teeth in hesitation. Normally, ever since the Spider-Man reveal, he has told everything to Ned. But Kaeya…

“Yeah,” he finally says, the bitter taste of guilt filling his mouth. “We’re pretty chill. He’s a cool guy.”

He’ll tell Ned about it another time when he’s ready.

Avengers Tower.

“Beep!”

A communicator set in the Avengers’ living room catches the present members’ attention.

Around ten seconds later, JARVIS announces, “Attention. Abyss signals have been detected.”

Tony comes dashing into the room. “How long did it take?”

“9.02 seconds, sir.”

Steve, who was reading on a couch, takes the communicator as he mildly says, “That’s faster than last time.”

“Not fast enough,” Tony states, looking like he’s itching to start another data experiment on the spot. “Is Batman already there?”

“On his way. He says the portal will open soon.”

Bruce frowns with his coffee. “It’s getting faster too. The first one opened like an hour after its initial appearance.”

“We can chat about this later. For now, we need to go,” Natasha says briskly.

Tony groans loudly. “Right when I’m in some very important research? These aliens really have no sense of time management.”

“Is your research more important than an alien invasion?”  Natasha asks pointedly.

“Maybe,” Tony replies, his eyes briefly shadowed with an unknown thought. “Where’s Peter?”

“Peter’s at school,” Sam answers. “Not available for today’s assistance. Or Thor. He just went back to Asgard.”

“Not what I was asking for, but sure.” Tony rolls his eyes. “Guess education is more important than an alien invasion, huh?”

Natasha sighs. “As much as I’d hate to admit it, there’s not much we can do right now.” Her words are openly pessimistic. “Their hide is impenetrable to our attacks, and Peter’s webs can’t hold them down. We might as well let the kid have a normal afternoon.”

“What about us?” Clint mutters. Natasha doesn’t even bother to answer him.

“Even so, we still have to go,” Steve declares as he stands up. “Protecting civilians is our job no matter what. If we can’t hurt them, we can at least push them away. And…”

He looks at Bruce. The scientist sips his coffee inconspicuously.

“We still have one last trick up our sleeve that our mysterious friend hasn’t seen yet,” Steve says. “Suit up in five, everyone. Let’s get moving!”

......

“You’re late,” Darknight says flatly as a warm greeting. At least he bothered to turn around to properly face them.

Iron Man lands on the ground with a huff. “Good afternoon to you, too. Sorry for not being able to teleport like you do.”

Everyone ignores the snarky reply. “How is the portal?” Captain America asks Darknight.

Darknight turns back to the portal, his cloaked figure just a few meters from the ominous purple fissure in the air. “It should open any time,” he states, then adds, “Be careful. It feels different this time.”

“Different how?” Bruce asks.

There’s a rare moment of hesitation from the vigilante before he answers, “It feels slightly different from the Abyssal power I’m familiar with, like it—”

“—Mutated?” Iron Man interjects. “It can do that?”

Darknight’s face is obscured by whatever shadow magic his cloak has—because there is no way that is a normal cloak—that makes it impossible for anyone to see his face, but the glare directed at the red-and-gold hero is palpable.

Iron Man whistles, unfazed. “Chill, man. Mutation it is.”

One could almost see the flippant smirk underneath his mask. Darknight must have sensed it too, because the air’s temperature rises by a notch.

“Are they always like this?” Bruce mutters into their comms.

Falcon snorts in return. “You can say that.”

“Iron Man, please,” Black Widow snaps. She shoots the superhero a glare before instantly puts back on a charming smile as she faces Darknight. “Don’t mind him. What were you going to say?”

Darknight lets out a small “hmph,” but the tension slides away. Clearly, Black Widow—or rather, everyone but Tony—was on the vigilante’s better side.

“The Abyss is starting to adapt to this world,” Darknight states. “The Abyssal forces I had sensed here were identical to my world. But now…”

Before he could finish, the Avengers all receive an alert.

“Abnormal energy increase detected. Warning: Abyssal signal spike detected.”

Captain America’s eyes harden, and he yells, “Formation!”

Like a flipped switch, everyone quickly assembles into their positions. Black Widow and Hawkeye stand back-to-back with their weapons loaded. Iron Man’s amour whirs as Falcon rises into the sky. Darknight snaps into a battle-ready posture, his claymore materializing into his hands with a hefty heat, and Captain America raises his shield.

Bruce shuffles next to Darknight.

“Hey, uh, ‘scuse me. Sorry.” He rubs his arms as he smiles awkwardly at the hooded man. “Love your sword, the design is very impressive. And hot.”

Darknight’s head swivels by a fraction towards Bruce. There’s an evident pause of confusion before he takes an extra step forward to cover the scientist.

“Get back.”

Bruce stammers, “Oh, no, I’m not…”

Behind them, Captain America shakes his head in exasperation and amusement before telling Darknight, “Don’t worry, he’s at the right place. If anything…”

 He looks at road and nearby buildings deeply, like he’s trying to remember its current state.

“…You might want to watch your step later,” he finishes with a non-threatening smile.

The fissure opens with a sickening ripping sound, and gnarly claws grasp at its edges.

“Wrap it up with the speech, Cap,” Hawkeye says. “I want to see this.”

Captain America huffs. “I am not saying a speech, Hawkeye.” He turns to Bruce, anticipation slipping into his stern voice as he says, “Bruce, whenever you’re ready.”

The first snout peeks through the portal, purple crackles of lightning bouncing on its skeletal frame.

Bruce nods, and he looks back at the tensed Darknight. “You might want to step away from me.”

For the first time since the Avengers met Darknight, the vigilante asks with an unsure edge,

“What?”

One, two, three…six purple riftwolves come through the portal.

At the same time, Bruce’s body begins to morph. His shirt rips apart as his body enlarges, and his previous meek face contorts into green rage.

Darknight takes a few steps back, his claymore shifting in uncertainty between facing the shifting scientist and the incoming monsters.

“Don’t worry, he’s cool,” Iron Man reassures him, sounding positively gleeful.

“RAHHHHHH!!”

The Hulk roars at the riftwolves, fully enraged. The soundwaves were so strong that the hovering monsters’ movements halt for a split second, several even pushed back by a few meters.

Darknight’s flames flare up in a mix of alarm and confusion.

In a blink, the humanoid monster leaps onto the nearest riftwolf, and the impact shakes the ground and kicks up a ring of dust that temporarily blocks everyone’s vision.

A rapid succession of poofs can be heard as the riftwolves hastily disperse from the unexpected attack, and they reappear midair above the clouded area. As the dust quickly settles once more, one can see the sight of Hulk reigning over an evidently dazed riftwolf, broken purple particles floating around its figure.

“Weak doggy,” Hulk rumbles with a loud huff.

Someone lets out an audible breath of disbelief. Someone mutters, “what the hell?”

The flames on Darknight’s claymore diminish briefly like a slip of shock before he snaps out of his unmoving state and strides forward. “It’s not enough.”

As if confirming the vigilante’s words, the sole riftwolf recovers and shakily floats into an upright position before it also teleports with a wobbly poof.

“Careful!”

The pack swoops into action, half of them descending onto Hulk with bared fangs and claws. Darknight surges towards Hulk’s direction with a blazing fire, and the rest of the Avengers also launches into action.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Falcon mutters, and promptly flies into the air to lead two riftwolves into a thrilling chase.

......

When Darknight’s sword collides roughly with the riftwolf over Hulk’s head, the green monster bats at the heatwave above his head with a disgruntled grunt. 

“Hmph. Puny fire.”

Darknight lands on the ground gracefully, the cloak billowing around him like a black wave, before pivoting on his feet to hurl his claymore upwards. His right arm stretches behind him with the burning sword in hand, his right leg bending downwards in preparation, and his entire figure feels as tense as a nocked arrow right at the edge of release, then…

“Hrah!” Darknight hurls the sword into the sky like a baseball, the blade spinning rapidly as it hurtles like a blazing wheel of death, straight towards its goal—right underneath the unprepared riftwolf.

BOOM!

Orange fire briefly unfurls above them upon the impact like a blossoming flower, or a phoenix revealing its wings. Hulk, who was following the vigilante’s actions with a keen eye, squints with an irritated growl. He does not seem particularly pleased at how the puny human was able to defeat the enemy with one blow while he didn’t.

“You need to strike harder,” Darknight tells Hulk. “The Abyss is starting to root, but—”

Hulk snorts impatiently. “Hulk will smash puny dog.”

And with that, Hulk leaps onto the next target with a roar, leaving Darknight in the dust. To no one’s ear, a faint “hmph” travels out underneath the obscured hood before the vigilante moves on.

......

Hawkeye swiftly moves aside to dodge a swipe and counters with a flying arrow that lodges into the attacking riftwolf’s neck. Moments later, Captain America comes flying in with a blow to the snout, driving the enemy back.

“Is it just me, or…” Hawkeye yells into his comms mid-action, “or are they getting easier to hit?”

“I feel it too,” Captain America replies. “Look—”

He hurls his shield at the riftwolf once more, and with a loud bam, the riftwolf lets out a whine as black and purple particles fly out from its body.

“It’s not just Hulk’s strength, we’re actually hurting them,” Captain America says.

Everyone perks up at the positive news, like dying candlelight instantly stoked to a new height.

Black Widow cracks her knuckles, swinging her baton with renewed vigor. “Better not let our mysterious friend look down upon us, then.”

As if hearing her words, a tattered riftwolf comes flying their way, and it does not look like it was coming here by its own accord.

“Behind you!”

Iron Man ducks just in time, and the riftwolf hits a billboard, accompanied by Hulk’s triumphant roar. The billionaire superhero quickly turns around and, with the intensifying whining of machines, his gloves merge together to form a handheld-sized cannon, releasing a blinding ray straight at the disoriented riftwolf.

Boom!

The riftwolf stood no chance, and once the dust settles, and so does the broken black-and-purple particles, the only remnants of the now-gone riftwolf.

Everyone is momentarily silent at the unexpected kill, and it feels like a weight has finally lifted from their shoulders. Iron Man’s whirring fades, and the man’s pleased voice travels through their channel.

“Fucking finally. The party’s finally starting, huh?”

“Language!” Captain America corrects, a bit too late. The hero allows himself a brief moment to sigh and add, “Seriously, Tony. Good thing Spider-Man’s not here,” before he straightens with his shield raised, eyes and body battle-hardened once more.

“Avengers, assemble!”

Peter opens the door to the CD rental store to MJ, all gentlemanly and courteous.

“Thanks,” MJ says to him before slipping inside. “You can leave if you’re busy. I’m probably gonna be here for a while.”

“Oh, it’s alright!” Peter hurriedly follows her to enter the rental store. “I also want to check this place out too!”

Colored CD covers fill up the interior like some pseudo-bookstore; countless CDs crammed into massive shelves against the walls, each one reaching the celling; racks and racks of more CDs form the aisles and paths of the store, coaxing them to enter the depths of the place and grab a couple covers on the go.

Peter doesn’t come here a lot, but every time he does, the sight of countless identical-sized colored covers filling up the entire room greatly satisfies him. It’s a nice sensory overload for his eyes, if he just relaxes his vision and not focus on anything but—.

“Kaeya?!”

The blue-haired adult who just got shot last night and should not be standing up—healing potion or not—is standing in front of a rack.

Kaeya looks towards them, looking slightly surprised at Peter’s appearance. “Oh. Hey, Peter. And MJ, right? Did you two just came out of school?”

Peter is still processing. MJ replies for him. “Yeah. You’re Peter’s neighbor, right? Your style is dope.”

Kaeya flashes a smile at her. “Why, thank you. I’ve heard many good things about you too.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Kaeya’s smile widens as he looks back at Peter. “Peter has told me many good things about you.”

Peter hurriedly walks forward, mortified. “Ahaha! He’s just joking!” He sneaks a glance at MJ, only to find her questioning gaze meeting his own in direct eye contact.

“Really?” she asks, her face indecipherable.

Peter feels an odd sensation spreading on his face. For a second, he thought he suddenly gained allergies to CDs or the New York air, until he realized it’s his face heating up.

“Uh—”

MJ chortles, and now Peter is now simultaneously feeling very hot and frozen.

“Alright, I know, it’s a joke, right?” she asks. There’s an evident smile in that question, and Peter can’t tell if she’s making fun of him in good nature or not.

“Y-Yeah?” Peter answers, unsure.

MJ stares at him a bit longer, and her smile quickly disappears, her face returning to its usual unimpressed look.

“Cool. Anyways, I’m fine on my own, you can talk with your cool neighbor if you want.”

MJ swiftly turns away and heads for a further aisle, and Peter blinks in confusion.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Kaeya’s hand lands on his shoulder—when did the man even come up behind him?—as he comments, “Ooh. Looks like someone’s not happy here.”

Peter whips around to face Kaeya’s mirthful expression. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” the adult practically sings and doesn’t elaborate.

Peter resists the urge to shake Kaeya for further explanation, but he can’t do that yet because of the much more pressing issue at hand that he got distracted from.

“What are you doing here?” he hisses, looking at Kaeya’s clothed midsection. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have x-ray vision, but judging the way the adult man holds himself, the healing wound doesn’t seem to affect him that much.

Kaeya shrugs nonchalantly. “I needed some fresh air, that’s all. I’ve never been to this place before, so I thought I’d check it out now.”

Peter splutters in indignation over Kaeya’s flippancy. “Now? What about your…?”

Kaeya waves him off. “Oh, it’s no big deal. The apple juice helped a lot.”

Apple juice. Apple Cider. Golden Cider. Peter quickly makes the connections. It doesn’t reassure him a lot.

“But it didn’t fully heal you,” he says. “You should still be resting in bed.”

“Oh, I’ll do that later,” Kaeya replies easily. “I got to seize the chance when Diluc’s not around, you know? He’s terribly fussy when this sort of stuff happens.”

Peter catches the important point, and a mix of concern, irritation, and exasperation rises within him. “’This sort of stuff?’ How often do you—”

He takes a deep breath to stop himself. He shouldn’t even be surprised at this point.

“Okay. Sure.” He gives Kaeya a bombastic side eye. “You should still rest, though.”

Kaeya shivers dramatically. “Brr, so cold. I swear, I’m not going to hurt myself—”

Like fate hearing his words, a large man passes by them and accidentally brushes right Kaeya’s shoulder. Kaeya stumbles a few steps to the side, and a pained grimace flashes across his face. Peter notices it.

“Hey—” Peter reaches out to grab Kaeya’s arm, but the man slips out of his reach and straightens smoothly like nothing happened.

“Yes?” Kaeya asks with his usual impeccable smile. Peter can’t help but wonder for a moment if he hallucinated the pained reaction for a moment—no. He definitely saw it.

“Just…go back home. Please?” he practically begs.

Infuriatingly, the man only hums noncommittally. “Of course, after I check out this rack. These…items look truly fascinating. Perhaps I should bring one back with me.”

Peter sucks his teeth in exasperation. Why does he, an underage highschooler, have more sense than a matured adult?

“I can get what you want for you,” Peter offers. “You need to rest.” He pauses, then decides to bring out the big guns.

“Or else…” He takes out his phone. “I’ll tell Mr. Diluc. Right now.”

Kaeya’s expression changes momentarily. Aha.

Peter has long observed that despite the brothers’ strange and overly complicated relationship of who-knows-what secrets hidden between them, the “older sibling pressure” still exists. He doesn’t know why, but he can feel that Kaeya holds a strange vulnerability against Diluc. Is it because of his Teyvat involvement, or is it from something of their unclear past?

Kaeya doesn’t give him time to muse. His smile has already returned to normal. “There’s no need to do that,” he says, voice mild. “I appreciate the concern, but holding Diluc over me is not exactly the best idea.”

Peter’s heart skips a beat. Kaeya looks as normal as it gets, but a chill run through his limbs.

“Uh, why?”

Kaeya chuckles, smugness rising on his features, and the strange moment disappears.

“Well, he’s quite busy.” He tilts his head, as if listening to something, then adds, “In fact, he should be occupied right now.”

“With what?” Peter can’t help but ask, but before Kaeya could answer, his phone buzzes.

THE AVENGERS

Tony no.1: on-site cleanup and collection are done. DK says he wants to come back with us.

Captain America: Yes, he just told me. He said he wanted to tell us something.

Captain America: @SpiderMan!! You are available now, right? Come to the tower now if you can, I have a feeling what Darknight wants to say will be quite important.

SpiderMan!!: wait what were you guys doing without me

SpiderMan!!! unsent a message

Tony no.1: saw that. just killed some unhappy smoky alien dogs, that’s all.

Tony no.1: your school is already done, right? get here asap I have a feeling this will be interesting.

Peter looks at Kaeya, all thoughts thrown away and through the Avengers tower’s window. “Oh, I have to go, my…internship suddenly needs me.”

Kaeya’s eyebrows lift in understanding. “Of course. I’m sure it’s important.” He looks to the other side of the room. “And what about your dear friend MJ?”

“I…” Peter swallows his guiltiness. “She only needed me to lead her here anyways. Just tell her I have work to do.”

Kaeya heaves a dramatic sigh. “Alright, I guess I’ll have to pass on the heavy message.” He pats Peter’s shoulder, and his voice turns sincere. “And don’t worry, I was joking with you. I’ll go back and rest after telling her.”

Peter’s shoulders sag under the double weight of Kaeya’s hand and his own relief. “Thank you.”

“Don’t clean it just yet, Cap. Give me the shield.”

Steve puts down his napkin and hands his shield to Tony. Ever since they came back to the Avengers Tower, Tony and Bruce have been discussing nonstop about the riftwolves, the Abyss, the sudden change in vulnerability—things that Steve can understand until the two scientists start bringing out the numbers.

Speaking of which… Steve turns his gaze back to the non-regular guest in the living room.

Darknight stands silently against a wall, his claymore disappeared to who-knows-where. Steve wouldn’t be surprised if that little detail would be Tony’s next research topic. The cloak loyally covers the entirety of the vigilante’s face and his body, revealing nothing but a pair of dark boots and arms crossed in front of his chest. The hands are gloved, and his arms are covered in what seems to be another jacket—seriously, is he not hot?

“I need a drink,” Clint groans, sagging comfortably into a couch. There’s a bandage on his left cheek from a cut during the battle. “Anyone else wants one?”

“I’ll take one.” Natasha walks to the bar counter and glances at Darknight with a tilt of her head. “Would you like to have one too?”

Darknight, as Steve expected, shakes his head.

Peter, who is huddling on a couch, raises his hand. “Um…”

“No,” Tony cuts him off.

Peter’s still in his suit to avoid giving away his identity to Darknight. His lenses squint with his indignation. “I wasn’t going to ask for a drink, Mr. Stark. I was going to ask…” He gestures at the entire room, where everyone is recovering. “You guys fought against the riftwolves with Mr. Darknight without even telling me?”

“You were busy, Spider-Man,” Steve explains pleasantly, because being at school does count. “And we weren’t expecting to actually deal damage to those riftwolves.”

“Deal—” Peter jumps up with a startle. “What?”

“This is a sign,” Darknight finally speaks up. “The Abyss is starting to root in this world.

Everyone falls silent at once. Sam mutters, “Damn. I was hoping we were just lucky.”

Steve feels Sam’s statement. He had the same guess, but he was really hoping it won’t turn into another potential world crisis, and unfortunately Darknight just confirmed his worst fears.

Before, they were unable to deal any damage to these creatures because they were like a “ghost” to their dimension and their own powers—like trying to hit a person through the screen. But now, as the Abyss is starting to merge more with their own world, it is adapting to manifest on Earth’s dimension to corrode them, which means that can finally also harm the Abyssal creatures in return.

“So, the closer they get, the more ‘real’ they are in our world, and we’ll be able to damage them more, but it means they’re getting closer until they fully manifest onto Earth,” Clint concludes flatly. “Just great.”

“Is there no way to break the cycle?” Bruce asks concernedly.

Darknight’s gaze turns to Bruce—it’s funny how Steve could tell where Darknight’s looking at without seeing his face. Steve has also observed that ever since Bruce’s transformation, the vigilante has been keeping his distance from Bruce.

“The only way to stop them from fully taking over this world is to seal and destroy the Abyssal corruption points once they reveal themselves,” Darknight says. “But, by that stage the Abyss would be practically on the edge of complete manifestation, and one mistake is all we need to lose everything.”

“Woah woah woah, wait a minute,” Sam raises his hands. “Abyssal corruption points?”

“The breaches that allowed the Abyss to travel from my world to yours,” Darknight explains. “Our worlds were never meant to remain connected so long. The Abyssal corruption is forcibly keeping our worlds together like a bundle of ropes, and the corruption points are the anchor spots of the connection.”

Tony snaps his fingers. “So, destroy all the corruption points, and we sever the link between our worlds.”

Darknight nods. “The Abyss would still be considered as part of my world even at that stage, and once the link is gone it will be repelled out of this world.”

“Awesome,” Clint yawns, “just another day of saving the world.”

“So, the mini portals that the alien dogs have been coming out of,” Sam asks, “aren’t the actual corruption points?”

Darknight shakes his head. “No. The corruption points will only reveal themselves once it is ready to completely invade this world.”

“Like a final boss,” Peter concludes. “Cool!”

The teenager then notices everyone’s side eye and hurriedly adds, “Uh—I mean, not cool at all. I mean, this feels very video game-y to me, and I got a bit excited, ahaha…”

“Anyways…” Tony ignores Peter and drawls on, “I could develop something to help detect these ‘corruption points’ and before it’s judgment day. I just need more data on the Abyssal powers.”

Darknight nods. “I can help with that.”

“And a little bit of your fire-bending avatar powers,” Tony adds. Steve winces.

Just as Steve expected, Darknight doesn’t nod. The air suddenly feels much more suffocating.

“That’s enough, Tony,” Steve warns.

Tony clicks his tongue loudly in irritation. “What? It’s obvious that fire Batman here can sense those alien dogs faster than we because of his local internet with this Abyss. If we can somehow include this elemental energy into our research, I bet we can detect an invasion way faster than now. And, we would actually deal some decent damage.”

“He’s…not wrong,” Natasha admits.

Steve doesn’t voice it, but he also agrees. Being able to detect this mysterious “Abyss” faster can mean one more life saved, and being able to properly fight those riftwolves with their full strength is just as important. Furthermore, they have been collaborating with Darknight quite pleasantly so far—except for Tony’s running mouth—and have not shown any hostility towards the man, so distrust due to hostility shouldn’t be an issue either.

So… Steve glances at the motionless Darknight. What’s stopping him?

Darknight is briefly silent, then says, “You need not worry. Even without elemental energy, you can still defeat the Abyssal monsters.” He glances at Bruce. “Their numbers will increase as time passes, but it will also become easier to defeat them.”

Steve lets out a sigh. It’s still a no. He can sense that everyone else are also holding varying levels of irritation at Darknight’s stubbornness, but they can’t risk blowing up their fragile trust with him either, not until it’s truly hindering their progress against the current threat.

Tony smiles the fakest smile ever. “Look, you—”

Natasha cuts him off. “—Are you sure you can keep up with it? You said it yourself, the numbers will increase, and we know that the frequency of these Abyssal attacks is shortening.” 

“I can.” Darknight’s hardened voice leaves no room for argument.

Steve clears his throat. “I believe you, Darknight. We’ve all witnessed your prowess.” He pauses. “It’s just…we barely know anything other than what you told us, and we can’t risk this city and our world for a reason that we don’t know.”

Darknight remains stiffly silent. Steve presses on. “Look, everyone has their own secrets, and we will respect yours. We’re just concerned if it would affect our progress in beating this crisis.”

He lets his voice soften. Even though he can’t see the man’s face, he knows that the indecipherable gaze is on him, and he meets it without apprehension.

 “We sooner we finish this, the sooner you can go home too.”

……

Mr. Steve is so nice, Peter thinks as he tries to figure out what’s going on. To be fair, he’s still a bit stuck over how they didn’t tell him that there was another Abyss attack. It’s not like skipping a couple of classes would’ve caused anything.”

But yeah, why wouldn’t Darknight tell them anything more about elemental energy? Peter wondered for the umpteenth time. Would it perhaps reveal Darknight’s weakness? His thoughts wander further. Would it reveal his appearance? What would Darknight look like? Maybe he would have something red on him like his fire, for example—

“Are you aware of Teyvat?”

Everyone pauses at the unexpected question. Peter’s wandering thoughts screeches to a stop.

What?

Tony reacts first to voice everyone’s initial thoughts.

“What?”

“Do you know about Teyvat?” Darknight repeats.

Peter’s mind begins to whir. Why is Darknight suddenly talking about Teyvat?

“Yes, we do know about Teyvat,” Natasha answers for them, “they’ve been a priority on our investigation list. What do you know about them?”

“And what does it got to do with our previous question?” Sam adds.

Darknight drops the bomb. “Their products are a commodity of my world.”

Peter’s eyes widen. “Huh?”

“What.” Tony’s voice comes out flat.

“Oh!” Bruce, who was lurking by the coffee machine, exclaims with realization. “No wonder everything about Bluewater and Golden Cider makes so little sense!”

Steve raises a hand, his other hand coming to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Calm down, everyone.” He looks back at Darknight. “Yes, we have been investigating them for a while, but we were not aware about their connection with your world.”

Darknight dips his head. “They are quite common in my world.”

Magic healing potions for everyone? Peter can’t help but feel a bit jealous.

“Are they harmful in any way?” Steve asks.

Darknight shakes his head, and everyone, even Natasha, looks surprised.

“None?”

“None.” Darknight confirms.

“That’s unbelievable,” Bruce breathes out. Tony’s mouth presses into a thin line, and Peter knows that countless thoughts are running through the man’s mind. “If we could replicate that…”

Darknight shakes his head again. “You can’t. These can only be made by people that can control elemental energies.”

Tony’s eyebrows jump, and he opens his mouth to drawl, “Is that a chall—mph!”

Natasha keeps her hand firmly clasped on Tony’s mouth. “So, does that mean there’s someone like you in Teyvat?”

Oh, Peter suddenly realizes with a chill. There’s been someone like Darknight hiding here all this time?

Everyone turns to look at Darknight, who affirms their guess. “There is no other way for the drinks to exist here.”

Peter frowns. What is Favonius trying to do?” Surely there’s no way the mysterious leader went out of his way just to hand out healing potions for the good of the city?

Steve must have had the same question based on his frown. “So, are you saying that Teyvat is selling these…drinks to help the people?”

“…Perhaps.” Darknight replies. “That is your job to investigate.”

“You’re not?” Peter asks, surprised. Wouldn’t he be curious who his fellow world-traveler be?

Darknight’s answer is just as curt and straight as usual. “I am only here to abolish the Abyss.”

Tony snorts. Whatever he had in mind was kept there by Natasha’s warning glance.

“We appreciate that, Darknight.” Steve dips his head. “Even if Teyvat isn’t what we thought it was, we will still continue our investigation, and we will share our findings with you.”

Darknight seems pretty satisfied with that, as his hood dips momentarily in return as he says, “When the next attack comes, I will alert all of you.”

And with that, he turns around and leaves, the black cloak billowing impressively with his silent footsteps as he steps into the open elevator.

Everyone is silent until the elevator starts to descend.

“JARVIS, tell me when he disappears,” Tony calls out. He gets up and heads straight to the bar counter. “Who needs a drink?”

“I do.” Clint responds immediately. His posture hasn’t changed a bit since the start. “My head still hurts.”

Steve stares at him disapprovingly. “You need to rest, Clint. You got bashed pretty badly this time.”

Sam snorts and shakes his head. “Well, that was an informative session,” he concludes.

“Why didn’t he teleport away like before?” Peter wonders out loud. Almost immediately, he feels Tony’s quick glance at him before it shifts away. Did he have the same question?

Sam shrugs. “Maybe he just wanted the dramatics.” He mimics swishing a cloak. “We should ask Thor about that.”

“When is he coming back? We haven’t seen his performance against the riftwolves yet,” Bruce asks.

Tony responds. “Dunno, a week, probably? He said there was a change in Loki’s trial that he needed to be at.”

“As long as Loki doesn’t return here, it doesn’t matter,” Steve states. “Our priority now is with the Abyss.” He looks at everyone—including Peter too!—with an encouraging smile. “Good job, everyone. It’s a huge step for us today, and I’m sure it won’t be long before we uncover the truth of everything.”

“Hear, hear,” Tony says absentmindedly. “JARVIS?”

“Mr. Darknight has disappeared after he left the Avengers Tower.”

Tony thumbs his chin. “Interesting.” He snaps his fingers at Bruce. “Hey, Doc, get into the lab, would you? I feel like the Abyss samples are dissipating.”

As Bruce leaves hurriedly, Natasha helps Clint up. “Need me to patch you up?”

Clint nods tiredly. “I want a drink.”

“How about next time?”

Steve’s gaze turns to Sam, who shakes his head immediately. “No. I had enough training for today. You should rest too, y’know, super-human or not.”

Steve sighs. “I suppose you’re right.”

Peter smiles as he takes off his mask. It’s always so interesting to see the shift of these heroes from Avengers-mode to human-mode. It makes him feel less lonely too.

Everyone trickles out of the living room until it’s just him and Tony. The man looked like he was deep him thought, and Peter decides to take his leave too. He stands up and quietly says, “I guess I’ll just…”

Tony snaps out of his state. “Oh, don’t leave yet,” he calls out to Peter before he could leave to change out of his outfit. “I got something to ask you.”

Peter immediately senses something is wrong, because Tony waited for everyone to leave before summoning him. The man wouldn’t bother with the wait if it were something minor, like helping out with research or inquiries about his personal life. Did he do something wrong during the meeting?

“What’s the matter, Mr. Stark?” he asks nervously, the room fully silent with just the two of them in the living room.

“Yeah, I found something interesting,” Tony replies. Despite the easy smile, his voice is clipped. Again, Peter senses that this is not the usual internship-assistance atmosphere, because Tony would always say something like “oh it’s nothing” at the beginning if it’s something casual. “I found something” is only reserved for serious topics.

Tony pulls up a hologram map of New York City dotted with numerous red dots. “I got a little curious about our little fire-Batman here, so I did a quick analysis of him. These—” he gestures at the red dots, “—are all of his known appearances.”

Peter squints at the screen. He’s still not entirely sure what Tony’s leading to.

“I was following his appearance patterns, and turns out, most of his initial activities were based in Queens. Pretty close to where you live, actually.”

Peter blinks. “Wait, really?”

Tony nods with a shrug. “Yeah, but that’s not the point.”

“Uh, but isn’t that kinda important?” Peter can’t help but ask. “Maybe we can use that to deduce Darknight’s whereabouts—”

“—Maybe, but that’s not the point I’m getting to,” Tony cuts him off snippily. He waits until Peter is silent for a solid two seconds, then continues,

“So, being the brilliant and amazing mentor I am, I was naturally concerned for your family’s safety and decided to do a sweep of potential threats around your place. Y’know, just to make sure there isn’t another Batman around your aunt.”

“Thanks?” Peter asks hesitantly.

Tony huffs. His flippant smile is still on his face, but the usual mirth is gone, replaced by a much more serious, almost calculating pressure, like a loaded gun slowly being taken out of a pocket.

“Yeah. Sure.” His smile slowly flattens, and the gun reveals its glint. “Turns out it was a pretty good side task, because…”

Another hologram appears, and Peter’s heart stops.

Two familiar faces stare back at him blankly.

Tony tilts his head as his searching stare bores into him. “Did you know that our Teyvat suspect and his bartender brother live across your apartment?”