Chapter Text
Steven had thought that when he and Marc had hung up the suit, this would be the end of their involvement with things that were out of the ordinary. He was wrong.
In the aftermath of the decisive battle with Harrow and their official retirement from Moon Knight, they had moved away from London at Marc’s urging. With Layla concentrating on her duties as the ‘Scarlet Scarab’ in Cairo and the idea that Harrow’s follower could still be lurking around any corner looking for their revenge, a change of scenery seemed appropriated.
At first, Steven had argued that they should stay in London - that they would be able to contain any threat - even without the suit. Then he had seen the affect that the potential threat had had on Marc, how his alter seemed to be getting even less sleep than normal and how the body’s dark circles only seemed to be getting worse as the weeks dragged on. Intellectually, Steven knew that a source of Marc’s anxiety was also undoubtedly the looming presence of whomever had taken over the body in the final battle. No matter how much he raked his brains, he couldn’t think of a solution to lure out their third before they wanted to be seen, but at least he could agree to a move, albeit grudgingly.
New York had seemed like an obvious choice given the fact that Marc was a US citizen, and the size of the city would offer them a degree of anonymity even better than they had enjoyed in London. Marc had even been able to use some of his old connections to arrange for Steven to get a job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a tour guide. Steven should have been elated, but he still found himself missing their old flat in London. Hell at times he even found himself missing Donna, JB and his other old colleagues from the British Museum. Here he still didn’t really know anybody, and he still found himself feeling cautious whenever he came across a new face that seemed overly friendly.
Steven had stepped out to get a bite to eat after his early morning shift when he first heard the sound of screaming. This was promptly followed up people choosing the evacuate the square when he had decided to sit and eat his lunch.
“Watch out! Coming through!”
A figure in an eye-catching suit of red and blue came swinging through the air after the monster and was able to diver it’s attention from a group of local school children who had been cowering in terror. A large spider in black stood out on their chest.
Steven didn’t really make a point of keeping up with any superheroes apart from Layla, but even he had heard of Spider-Man and the Avengers. The jury still seemed to be out on Spider-Man after the events 6 months ago with the Green Goblin and the Stature of Liberty, but he seemed have a cult following online with various testimonials from local New Yorkers extoling his virtues and how he had saved them from a mugging or rescued a cat from a tree.
The lizard monster gave a terrifying roar and lashed out with one clawed arm which hit the spandex covered figure square in the chest and knocked him to the ground. Before Spider-Man could regain his footing, the lizard had successfully pinned him and was bearing down with its teeth set in a snarl.
Forgetting for a moment that he no longer had the suit, Steven surged forward with an indignant “Hey you!”, feeling protective for some reason that he couldn’t quite pinpoint.
The lizard creature ignored him. Feeling desperate now, Steven looked around him widely for anything that he might be able to use as a weapon. A large rock immediately caught his attention and lobbed it at the creature, feeling a wild rush of elation when it hit the thing in the back of the head – until it turned around and promptly turned its attention to him instead.
Marc was quiet in his head, likely still napping as he usually did when Steven went in for one of his shifts at the museum and despite his hissed ‘Marc! Marc!’ did not wake.
As it came stomping forwards him Steven threw his hands up in front of his face reflectively – and promptly blacked out.
When Steven woke up, they were back at the small flat he and Marc had rented, and his hand were wrapped around the coffee jug which was currently half full of coffee. This alone gave him pause, only Marc drank coffee, Steven much preferring a good cuppa thank you very much.
Cautiously, he poked his head of the small kitchenette towards the living room. A slight figure with brown hair was laid out on their second-hand slightly threadbare sofa. Even from here, he could make out the tell-tale colours of Spider-Man’s suit. He tried to take in as much as he could without trying to draw attention to himself.
“Mr Moon Knight, Sir?” Busted.
“Ah, you’re awake! How are you feeling mate?” Steven asked weakly.
“Um, what’s up with your voice?”
“I’m not sure what you mean?”
“You must have hit your head harder than we thought….” came the confused reply.
“Nope, everything is a-okay here. Can I get you anything?” he asked, trying to make a play for time.
“I thought that you were making me a cup of coffee?”
“Yes of course! Now let me just finish getting that for you. I’ll be back in a jiffy”
With that, Steven retreated into the kitchen. Busying himself in making the coffee, he glanced intently into the shiny reflective service of the toaster, looking for any traces of Marc.
“Marc mate. You there?”
As if summoned by Steven’s desperation, a face appeared. Dark eyes, furrowed brow, and an intense expression.
“What the bloody hell is going on here” Steven hissed. “I thought we’d agreed that we’d stop wrestling control from one another without any warning. And what on earth is Spider-Man of all people doing on our sofa? How did you even meet him?”
“Calm down cariño, you worry too much”
Steven was taken aback. “You’re not Marc” he said cautiously.
Now he looked closer at the face reflected in the toaster, he felt stupid for even thinking that this was Marc in the first place. The difference was obvious once you looked closely. The facial expression of their third’s had changed completely once Steven had vocalised that he knew he wasn’t speaking with Marc, like he couldn’t be bothered with keeping up the charade any long once he knew that he’d been caught out. Steven had a feeling that wasn’t the first time that he had pretended to be Marc. He had an awful feeling that the other alter’s impression of him was probably just as good as this was the first real suspicion that he’d had that he wasn’t speaking with Marc. Unbidden, his mind went back to the arranged date with Dylan and Marc’s protests that he had had nothing to do with it.
“It’s nice to finally meet you” he said cautiously. “I’m guessing that you were the one who took over in Cairo, yeah?”
“Of course, all part of the job.”
“The job?”
“You have your role corazón and I have mine.” The accent was totally different from Marc’s Chicago accent as well.
“I’m Steven…” he said uncertainly, unsure of how much the other would know. He might know everything or might have been locked away from everything until he was needed, the same as Steven had been.
“I know.”
“What’s your name then?
“It’s Jake. Jake Lockley - at your service.”