Work Text:
Layla had been noticing how less sleep Steven has been getting lately. After the whole disaster in Cairo, they decided it was best to stay in contact which lead to them all moving in with each other. They remained in London but bought a bigger house so Steven can have a room all to his books instead of cluttering the entire house. Some days he'd stay in there all night, getting a blink of sleep. Layla had became worried and urged him to get out more. He could probably use some sun on his face anyways.
After a lot of convincing, Layla brought him to a decent cafe that she regularly visits. The place was packed with college students glued to their laptops, leaving barely any seats open. Luckily, they found the last empty seats faced towards the windows.
They sat down as Layla showed him the menu from her phone. Steven explored the menu before deciding on French toast. She got up to go order their food and told Steven to stay and protect their seats. It's not like it mattered since there was an extra seat on his left that wasn't occupied.
He fiddled with the ends of his sweater as he waited for her. The sounds of keyboards typing, frustrated groans, and loud slurps of coffee was really starting to irk him now. Maybe he shouldn't have gone out.
Slight tapping on his shoulder yanked him out of his thoughts. He turned around and faced a girl with brown eyes and dark wavy hair. She was wearing a jean jacket with all sorts of patterns with a gray shirt. She was holding a laptop in her other hand and didn't look to be any older than 16.
"I'm sorry to bother you, is this seat taken?" She gestured to the empty seat on his left.
"Oh, not at all." Steven moved his chair a bit so she could sit down and place her laptop. He went back to fidgeting with random things while waiting for Layla. He was swiping on his phone and switching apps every 15 seconds.
Only a couple of minutes had passed until he could hear the girl's frustration. She was violently typing and searching things up, writing information down only to be deleted a few seconds later.
"You alright there, love?" Steven asked. She turned in surprise and apologized for being loud.
"Oh, crap. I'm so sorry for bothering you. I'm just having a hard time on school work. It's like they're asking for me to fail." She huffed. Steven couldn't help but be nosy and leaned a little closer to see her screen.
"It's alright, really. I don't mind it, we all have our moments here and there. If you don't mind me asking, what are you working on?"
"Oh, just an essay for history class. I'm uhh...- not really great at paying attention so I'm not sure what to write about." Something is Stevens mind dinged as he bit his tongue in an attempt to not bury this girl with all the Egyptian knowledge he knew.
"I am quite the nutter for Egyptian mythology, perhaps I could help you?" Steven offered as her face lit up.
"Woah, seriously? You'd seriously do that for me? Wait, wait- is this a trick?" She questioned.
"It's no worries, seriously. I mean I finally have an excuse to rant on about these things and you get to finish your work. The way I see it, it's a win win." He gave her a thumbs up as she smiled and returned the gesture.
"Well alright but just warning you, I have zero knowledge on that." She slid he laptop closer so Steven could see it better. He spent a few minutes talking about gods and their worshippers and explaining many hieroglyphs and ancient texts. She seemed interested and asked many questions which Steven couldn't help but smile to. No one besides Marc, Jake, and Layla cared about his little rants and others usually shut him down.
By the time Layla had come back with their food, they had already started typing and were deep in conversation.
"Whatcha talking about, Stevie?" Layla asked as she set down Stevens food.
"Oh, just helping her out with something, love. Give me a second." He said.
"I'm sure I could search the rest up and finish this later. I really don't wanna bother you two."
"Don't worry 'bout it, it's truly nothing. Although some sites aren't exactly 100% but I know some with accurate information. You mind if I type something real quick?" She nodded and nudged the keyboard closer to him, watching as he typed out a few websites and handed her back the laptop.
"Thanks, man. I seriously appreciate your help on this, I-" Her phone had dinged, making her stop mid sentence. She picked up her phone and read the message that had popped up on her screen. She immediately jumped up and closed her laptop.
"Ah, I gotta go. Thanks for your help,-... uh what's your name?" She paused.
"It's Steven! And again it was no problem." Steven smiled as she waved goodbye.
"Steven, huh... that's easy to remember. But anyways, bye Steven!"
"Laters Gators!"
Layla poked Steven with a fork as she left. He turned to look at her with a questioning look on his face.
"You wanna tell me what that was all about?" Layla said (or at least he thinks she did. He couldn't make out half her words with her mouth stuffed with food).
"Mm, maybe later. I'm starving."
————☾————
Marc had taught Steven how to properly jump from rooftop to rooftop without falling off or missing your jump and having him save them last second with his cape. Jumping saves more time rather than running to his destination since Khonshu cursed him with no cape.
"You may want to hurry up, these 'heros' are quite disappointing." Khonshu grumbled. Khonshu had alerted Steven to a disruption somewhere in the city. An enhanced was causing a lot of commotion so Khonshu sent Steven to intervene. Normally he would ask Marc or Jake but thought Steven could practice since it wasn't a super serious problem.
"Hero's? You mean there's already people there taking care of the problem? Did you seriously waste time I could have used to read for this, you dirty pigeon?" Steven halted, almost falling off the roof.
"Barely. If you want them to get out the fight still standing I recommend you intervene." Khonshu warned. He may not have eyeballs but Steven could still feel his glare (which isn't creepy at all, nope, not at all)
He continued hopping from roof to roof until he was completely caught off guard by some weird icky creature. It was skinny and tall with weird sharp fingers. It was dark black with only its eyes and mouth emitting a blue glow. He could see more of same creature crowding around the area.
He took out his truncheons and barely dodged the monster when it decided to tackle him out of nowhere. He whacked its legs, making it kneel down before clawing him in the back. The suit didn't rip but it left a dark inky substance on his back.
He threw both his truncheons, one at its head and one at its chest. That seemed to do the trick when it screeched and disappeared, leaving more black ink on the ground. He quickly ran over to the edge of the roof, spotting someone who was also fighting the- 'IS THAT DR. STRANGE? THE DR. STRANGE IS IN LONDON? AT THIS TIME? AT THIS DAY AND HOUR?' Stevens mind raced before Khonshu nudged his head.
"I did not keep you as my avatar just for you to zone out all day while the fighting is happening right in front of you!" Khonshu slammed his staff in the ground, making Steven flinch from the loud sound.
"Alright, alright. But you didn't tell me the Dr. Strange was here!" Steven gawked. He took back his truncheons and leaped off the roof, landing on one of the monsters and stabbing it in the eye. You could practically see his frown through the mask when it screeched and icky liquid poured on his suit.
It clawed its back, trying to get Steven off before something was thrown around its waist was pulled away, knocking Steven right off of it. He landed on his back with a groan, looking up at Strange and throwing his hands in front of him. He yelled a small sorry before continuing to fight the creatures.
He noticed most of the monsters were coming from the same direction. He thought that maybe the source of these guys could be in the same direction and could be stopped easier. He kicked off some more creature ink before running through the streets. Strange definitely gave him a weird look.
Once he passed the corner, he could definitely see someone with a staff in the middle of the street. As he slammed it down, more monster would pop out of the ground.
"If you destroy that staff it could stop all of the mobs from spawning, maybe even get rid of the other ones." Khonshu hummed. Steven ran up to the two monsters defending the staffed-man, fighting as hard as he could. He wasn't sure who was winning when one of the monsters had fallen through a portal that magically spawned under it. He looked up to see a girl across the street, pumping her hands and hearing a distinct 'Yes!'
A few more blows and the other monster was gone. He immediately ran up to the guy causing the whole mess. He tried summoning more creatures but Steven had managed to grab the staff last second. He kicked the man away and snapped the staff in half with his leg. The man cried out and reached for the broken staff. Steven punched him again, knocking him down.
He watched as the monster began to melt away, turning in a puddle of black ink. The girl that had helped him ran up to him, putting her hand out to high-five him.
"That was totally awesome how you just fought those weird things, especially without powers like Strange!" She cheered. Steven gave her his hand to high-five and thanked her.
"It was really nothing, you know. Just doin my job!" He shrugged. Her face turned into confusion as she blinked at him.
"...Steven?"
"Yeah?"
They stared at each other in silence and Khonshu silently judged Steven. Oops?
"I mean, I erm- bloody hell what's wrong with me. I wasn't supposed to say that-" He face palmed at himself. She immediately put her hands up as if she did something wrong.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that either, I mean secret identity's are probably secret for a reason, right?" She added an awkward chuckle at the end.
"No, it's my fault for being an absolute plonker." Steven sighed.
"Well on the bright side, I can finally thank you for your helps a few days ago. I totally nailed that essay thanks to you!" She smiled.
"I see we're making friends now." Strange said, making both of them yelp in surprise.
"Stephen, this was the guy I was telling you about the other day. He totally saved my life with that essay." She went on about Steven as Strange eyed him.
"Well that's lovely but we've gotta go."
"But wait-"
Strange had already made a portal and pushed her in, cutting her off mid-sentence. Steven was still standing there awkwardly as Strange appraised him.
"Thanks for your help but I can take care of the rest."
"Right, well see ya mate!" Steven walked off and immediately started sprinting as soon as he was out of his view. He couldn't wait to tell Layla about what just happened. He'd wonder how Marc and Jake would react when-
A portal formed right under his feet, causing him to trip and fall into it. He landed with an oomf straight into concrete. He looked up to see Dr. Strange eyeing him again.
"I let it go the first time when she told me you were just helping her, but running away as soon as you were away from my sight just made you all the more suspicious." He snapped. Steven just blinked at him with total confusion.
"I want to know why you're talking to America."
"..The country? I don't think that's possible..? I mean when I learned it in year 3, I could have possibly-"
"The girl, America Chavez." Strange said with great annoyance. Steven blinked again which made Strange sigh.
"Sorry to tell you this but I have never met anyone by that name. Unless you're talking about the girl I helped."
"Yes, her."
"If this is some interrogation about wether or not I'm a creep, I can promise you I'm not. Really, I only helped her because she seemed she really needed it. Besides, I'm married." Strange hesitated with this information Steven gave him and crossed him arms.
"I guess if America trusts you then I'll leave you alone. But don't ever think that I'm not watching, got it?" Strange huffed. Steven smiled and nodded, even adding a thumbs up. He got up from the floor as Strange walked into another portal, leaving him behind for good. He sighed as he walked out onto the street, trying to figure out where he was and how to get home.