Chapter Text
There were times when May might have wished she hadn't been such a good friend.
Not that she disliked her active social life, of course; her friends were what kept life interesting. However, for all that she was always open to new things, there were also times that her willingness to support her friends brought her to the strangest places. Places that, given the choice, she would have never even approached on her own.
Squaring her shoulders, she drew a deep breath and walked into the local yarn store with Ruth.
The place itself wasn't that terrifying, really. Rather, she could rather appreciate the aesthetic of all the yarns sorted by color on the numerous shelves. If it had been just a matter of that, she would have been quite happy to browse the store with her friend.
However, as she had known would happen, Ruth left her side almost immediately as they walked in. For all that she had asked May for company, she seemed quite adept at finding more than enough friends among the ladies currently congregated around some piece of knitting. May tried to trail along for a second, but around the second sentence decided she was not going to be able to follow the conversation enough to get any pleasure from it.
She excused herself from the conversation, and Ruth gave no particularly strong protest. Well. Obviously this meant she had already fulfilled her friendly responsibilities for the moment and was free to appreciate all the pretty yarns she was never going to make anything out of.
May had barely made her way down one row of shelves as she realized she was not the only one taking the opportunity for some uninterrupted browsing. An elderly gentleman, perhaps slightly older than her, was standing in front of a section of a shelf with particularly girlish colors, looking somewhat puzzled.
"Ah, hello there." She walked closer. "Did you get dragged here against your better judgment as well?"
"Hm?" He turned to look at her, and she now realized he was holding a ball of yarn in each hand, one in a rather strong shade of magenta, another in soft purple. "Oh, no. I do fear I'm here quite on my own volition."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed —" Well. This was awkward. And to think she was usually very good about not judging people's hobbies based on their appearance.
"Think nothing of it." The man's lips twitched into something resembling a smile. "I am well aware I'm not exactly a typical example of the local clientele."
"I suppose you could say that." She glanced down at the two balls of yarn he was holding. Skeins? She was pretty sure Ruth had called them skeins, and they didn't really look like balls. "So, ah. You're looking for yarn? Would you rather do that in peace, or would you mind a second opinion? I may not know much about these things, but I could at least nod and look understanding." It was still better than listening to the other ladies comparing patterns. Well. She was pretty sure it was patterns they were talking about, unless it was in fact a coded plan for an armed assault on an evil volcano lair, in which case she would just be disappointed that Ruth didn't try harder to involve her.
"Well, I seem to have reached an impasse." He looked down at the two skeins in his hands. "What do you think, which color would be better for a little girl?"
"Hm. How little are we talking?" She reached out a hand, and he gave her one of the skeins. She brushed against it with her other hand. "Wow, that's really soft. What are you going to make with it?"
"A cardigan for my granddaughter." Finally, he took on an actual smile, and his whole countenance seemed to soften. "She's four months old now. I'm hoping to get it done in time for Christmas."
"So she'll be, what, half a year or so?" She considered the two shades. "That magenta is awfully strong for such a little thing, don't you think? The purple would probably be better. Save the strong colors for when she's old enough to enjoy them herself."
"I suppose you're right. And she does look adorable in purple." This was delivered with nothing but utmost seriousness in his voice, as though he were stating some fundamental fact of the universe. "Very well, purple it is. Thank you for the assistance."
"Any time." She handed the skein back, looking as he gathered up a few more in the same shade of purple. "So do you knit a lot, or just for your granddaughter?"
"I think some would say the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive." His lips twitched again into a small smirk. "I do knit a lot, mostly for her. I wouldn't think of aiming for something as fiddly as a cardigan in two months otherwise, even if it is a very small one. Especially since I do have other things in my life than simply clinking needles together."
"I'll take your word for it." May paused, blinking as she realized how her words might be taken. "Ah. I mean, I'll trust your word on it being fiddly. Not making any comments regarding your general activities, I don't really know you enough for that."
"I do try to keep busy." He chuckled. "And you? I take it you aren't exactly at home here, judging by your earlier comments."
"Not exactly, no. I mean, I admire the results of others' hard work, but whenever I touch yarn, it seems to develop knots. So, I just do a bit of macrame every now and then, myself."
"Sounds like a logical solution." He started walking down the shelves at a measured pace, allowing her to fall into step beside him. "And what do you do besides knots, then?"
"Oh, you know, this and that. Yoga, cooking, hiking, a bit of extreme sports every now and then." She smiled. "I'm actually going to do a parachute jump this coming weekend. My nephew got me a beginner's course for my birthday."
"Well, that sounds exciting." He actually sounded like he meant it, rather than wondering about such a strange hobby for a lady. "One of my boys is into that kind of thing. Always making me sick with worry, falling off places for fun."
"They have a habit of doing that, don't they?" She sighed and shook her head. "My dear boy decided to go into a life of law enforcement. Which is certainly admirable and everything, but now I'm afraid to answer my phone every time something is going on in the city." It was close enough to the truth, in any case. At least he had finally told her the truth when he joined the Avengers.
At least now she knew there was someone who would let her know if something happened to him.
"I know the feeling." He sighed as well. "Two of mine are the same. It's sometimes hard to decide if I should spend my time being proud or terrified. So, all I can do is offer babysitting services when needed."
"I'm sure that alone is a great help." She glanced at his yarn. "Would this be babysitting the same granddaughter you are knitting for?"
"Indeed. So far she is my only one, though at least I have been promised she will have siblings in due time." He hummed a bit. "I find I'm rather enjoying the whole grandfather experience. Not to say I particularly resented the parenting part, but I do feel I'm too old for that anymore."
"I'm still waiting for that part, myself. Not that I'm in any particular hurry to hold a grandbaby; for one thing, he'd need to find someone to have a child with first." She paused. "Well. And for that he'd need to find someone of the female persuasion." Not that she was assuming anything, at least she tried to avoid doing such things, but, well. There was Harry. There had always been Harry.
"Oh, he might surprise you, yet." Again that little half-smirk. "In any case, though, such things tend not to happen without a warning."
"I should hope not. Especially as I don't think I'd be much good at the whole knitting for the grandbaby thing."
"I assure you it's not an absolute obligation. And in any case, something like a blanket requires rather more time than skill."
From there their conversation went on down different lines. Among other things she discovered he was a single father, and had raised two pairs of twins a long time apart. He also had a rather atrocious taste in superheroes, which was to say Spider-Man wasn't his favorite, but she supposed she could forgive such failings just this once. Clearly he had just not been properly educated on the matter.
Also, his name was Erik. Really, it was rather embarrassing how long it had taken them to get to the actual introductions.
Ruth may have given her a rather annoying knowing gaze as they left the store, which, really, was quite unwarranted when all she had done was fill up her time as best as she could. In any case, Ruth herself left with quite a number of skeins, so obviously, she was the one who had gotten more out of the visit.
One little number stored away in May's phone did not even begin to compare, surely.
*
It was, in Tommy's not at all humble opinion, a true sign of his maturity and adultness that he didn't rush off screaming "Freedom at last!" the moment Erik stepped in.
Okay, it might have also been a sign of the fact that he had an infant half draped over himself and Billy wouldn't have hesitated to hurt him in very painful and possibly permanent ways if he'd risked harming his kid by making her fall. Even if she was built like a little green brick half the time. But still, also maturity.
As it happened, he was still lying on the floor as Erik walked in and glanced around the living room. Erik's gaze took in the TV blaring in the background, the various toys scattered over the floor, and perhaps a teeny tiny blanket fortress. Then his gaze fell upon Tommy and Peggy, and he gave what had to be the world's most exaggerated sigh, really, that was just unfair.
"Let me guess." Erik set down his shopping bag and walked closer. "You're all alone here without adult supervision?"
"In my defense, this is all your fault, really." Tommy gave him the best shrug he could manage without jostling the baby snoozing away on top of him. "Billy asked me to watch her until you got back, since you usually don't take that long when you go out for more string. So clearly any and all consequences of my presence here are caused by your absence."
"First off, it's yarn, not string. And secondly, you're more than old enough to manage a bit of alone time without someone holding your hand. I've never seen you cause this much chaos without Peggy. Well, not since you were ten, anyway." Erik paused. "All right, I'll give you sixteen."
"Well, then it's all her fault. I mean, clearly I'm not the one who requires a multitude of toys. Or a great big fortress to protect me. I'm quite capable of defending myself even without very soft fabrics and pillows." Not to say he didn't appreciate the principle of a good hidey-hole, but that was entirely beside the point.
"And how exactly do you suppose you can blame all this chaos on your niece?"
"She's a kid. Kids get bored easily. I had to entertain her. What about this isn't logical?"
"The part where you made such a mess to entertain a child who would be delighted to spend an hour or two dropping the same toy over and over again just to see you pick it back up?" Erik now bent down to pick Peggy up, easily settling the dozing baby at his arm. "And don't tell me it's not true, I get myself uninterrupted knitting time doing just that."
"Yeah, well, so maybe a part of it was to keep myself entertained while watching my brother's spawn. You know, so my head wouldn't explode? I thought you at least would have gotten this whole 'an hour for you is forever for me' thing, I'm the second speedster you've raised and you're not a stupid man."
"Yet you seem to have little problem with keeping yourself occupied when you actually are on your own."
"Yeah, well, that's because if I get too occupied I might get distracted and forget about watching her. And then she'd choke on a random supervillain's boot or something and I'd get blamed for that."
"I do hope you realize this is the reason they actually let you watch her despite all their teasing to the contrary." Okay, what was that smile? He had done absolutely nothing to gain that smile.
"So what exactly did keep you?" Okay, so he should probably at least pick up the toys. Not because he was responsible or anything but because Tony cursed like a sailor when he stepped on something unexpected when he came up in a bleary-eyed quest for coffee and that just wasn't pretty. "I mean, you're an adult and all, no reason for you to be held accountable for your comings and goings, but Billy was right in that you're rarely away for long when you're just popping out for yarn." See? He could totally get it right. If he could be bothered to.
"Something came up." Now, that was an evasive answer if he'd ever heard one. "I know this may be shocking, but I do have other interests in my life aside from my family."
"Oh, I know that, but I also know you don't have any mutant advocacy stuff going on today, and also you're very much a stickler for routine. So, was just wondering just what it is that came up and made you change your habits all of a sudden."
"Nothing particularly important, I assure you." Yet there was a tiny twitch of his face there that Tommy definitely caught, seriously, when were people going to learn there was no such thing as masking an expression quickly enough for him to miss it?
"You know Billy will get all worried if he hears you got mixed up in some vigilante shit or something. You're a respectable Avenger, remember."
"Only a reserve member, I might remind you." Erik sat down on the couch, Peggy sleeping away in his arms, and glanced around the living room as Tommy finished up gathering all the toys. "Not doing anything about the fortress?"
"Of course not, that's awesome. It's totally going to stay, at least until tonight since I'm absolutely going to cuddle Kate in there and you can't stop me. Also, don't think I'm going to be that easily distracted."
"And don't think I'm going to tell you anything I wouldn't mind the entire team being aware of."
"Oi, I'm hurt! Absolutely hurt and depressed. I can totally keep secrets where it counts, you know." He paused. "Also, you have now officially confirmed there is something to know, which means I'm not going to give up on hounding you no matter what."
Erik sighed. At least he knew when to give in. "Fine. Let me amend that to 'it's probably nothing particularly important.'"
"Better, but still raises questions." He dropped the last toy into a basket and then flopped down on the couch beside Erik. "Is there potential for something important in this probably unimportant thing?"
Erik paused for a moment that felt like an eternity, and really, it was absolute torture to be associated with people who actually stopped to think about things. Nobody had any concern for his poor feelings, it was just awful. "If I promise to tell you first if anything important happens, can you keep your mouth shut until there actually is anything to tell? I'd rather not be hounded by everyone for details on something that really isn't worth even mentioning yet."
"I did keep quiet about the egg until Billy got to tell you himself, you know. And I'm rather hoping this is less momentous than that."
"I suppose you have a point there." Erik glanced down at Peggy, probably to check that she was still asleep, his expression softening as it always did. "I merely met someone today."
"Oh? Someone interesting?" Tommy couldn't help but grin. "Someone cute? No, wait, you're way too old for that, ick. Someone alluringly charming?"
Erik actually laughed, and, wow, wasn't that interesting. "Someone I wouldn't mind meeting again, and I'll thank you not to speculate any further than that. I'm mostly interested in the prospect of a friend who is neither an Avengers associate nor so invested in mutant politics they recognize my face before I get the chance to say a word."
"I love how you spend half your time fighting for recognition and then complain that you get it." Tommy blinked, his mind catching on a bit slower than usual. "Wait. Do you mean this new friend of yours isn't a mutant?"
"I feel the need to reiterate I do have a life outside superheroics or my activism. And, as you may have noticed, I am on rather friendly terms with several non-mutants."
"Yeah, people you've met through us. Never seen you get into a baseline human on your own before."
Erik snorted. "I'll have you know your grandmother was not a mutant. Which may or may not have played a part in some unfortunate events, but regardless is evidence of the fact that I do not, in fact, hate all humans on principle."
"You know, if you wanted to convince me there's nothing special going on between you and this secret friend of yours, you probably shouldn't have drawn a direct comparison to the woman you married before." Tommy smirked. "Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut about this. If only because I expect to be the first one to hear about any interesting updates to the situation."
"I can't promise you anything interesting. As I said, I'm mostly looking for a friend."
"Mostly does not equal only." Tommy grinned and hopped up to his feet. "Don't forget, I get first updates!"
"As though you would let me forget." Erik was smiling, though, so clearly he couldn't be actually upset or anything.
This was totally worth getting pinned down by a shrimp who could barely hold up her own head.