Eric Thorson, Kate Barton-Romanoff
Eric Thorson had four main influences in hislife. There was a lot of important people, sure, incredibly important, itwas hard not to have a ridiculous amount of Important People when you had anyconnection to the sprawling Avengers family. But out of all those, therewere four that really shaped him, made him who he was day to day, and they allhad…very conflicting ideas about first kisses.
Thefirst was his father, which sometimes surprised people. For some reason,people assumed they had an awful relationship, or at least a very distant one,which always confused Eric. His father was an Avenger and a king, and hadstill gone out of his way to make sure Eric and his twin brother were raised insome sense of normalcy, away from insane supervillains or, worse, politics. At any rate, his father told him that firstkisses didn’t matter, not really, that was just age and hormones andproximity. The first kiss was a matterof convenience, but the last, that mattered, and that’s what he needed to belooking for—the person he’d want his last kiss from, and then hold on with allhis might.
Theother person was said twin brother, Dustin. In theory, Dustin should have plenty of experience in the subject matter—footballstar, bright without being intimidating, amiable, and genuinely caring, liketheir mother. But, like their mother, healso was of the sort that thought that the first and the last should…essentiallybe the same person. They chose that oneperson to have all their adventures with before they even had any realcomprehension of romance or even lust, and were never swayed…no matter how muchheartbreak it brought them.
Outsideof the family, there was JJ, sometimes Jay, sometimes idiot. He was a study in conflict all on his own,always had been. Athletically talented,ridiculously intelligent, slow to smile but quick witted, anxious and monstrouslyself-critical while caring deeply about the self-worth of the people he loved. So determined Jay was to show that he couldsucceed on his own that he didn’t even see how his selfless attitude in taking care ofothers was a direct contradiction. Inany case, along the same vein of natural dichotomy, he had a certainty thatevery first kiss should be magical…but that there was only one person who couldhave the…correct sort of magic, and be his right partner. Eric was certain this was the product of theinsane amount of Disney movies he was subjected to as a child.
Lastly,there was Kate, which surprised him. Five years his junior, the younger sister ofanother close friend, JJ’s fraternal better half, Eric certainly hadn’t bankedon her having any sort of lasting impact on him when he was growing up. But it was somewhere toward the end of herhigh school days, when she wasn’t quite a child and not quite an adult, thatthey’d sparked a strange friendship that had a foundation mostly built on a sharedsideline quality, the ability to know how some ridiculous plan would fail whilebeing totally willing to watch their friends shoot themselves in the foot—so longas there wasn’t any great harm. Sincethen, she’d proven to be a quiet place, away from wary glances when he seemed justa little too much like his late uncle, or a bolster when he felt just a littletoo different from his family of warriors. She could make him laugh, and always knew him, no matter how manydoppelgangers he conjured. He never knewher opinion on first kisses, never even asked, until they were alone at theapartment he shared with his brother, grabbing a couple of beers after shecompletely thrashed him at Mario Kart. Something about being a master bowman, her hand-eye coordination wasfrankly unreal.
“So,”she said, taking a sip of her beer and glancing around. “Your brother coming home anytime soon?”
“Notlikely,” he told her, shrugging. “Hewent to California to see Laura.”
“Ah.” She took another sip, then let her eyesreturn to his. “So, you wanna make out?”
Itshould have been strange, such a blunt request with no preamble or evenprevious discussion about…the specifics of their relationship. But, maybe stranger still, it wasn’t, becauseit was Kate, and that was just…how she worked. She decided what she wanted, and then did it, and that was that. That was how she’d decided on college—she’dput her handful of acceptances up on the wall, then closed her eyes and threw adart, and it was the only time Eric had ever seen her miss—and how she’ddecided to go to Miami—she saw a sale price for flights advertised in a windowas they’d passed a travel agency—and, apparently, how she decided on firstkisses.
Ericwas…rather fond. Very fond. In fact—
“Yes,”he said, setting down his beer. “Yes, Ido.”
“Cool,”she said, stepping closer and curling one hand into his shirt as she pulled himdown to kiss him.
Itwas about then that Eric decided that everyone might be a little bit right,because she wasn’t his first, but she would be his last, and he wanted all hisadventures with her, and this was exactly the right sort of magic that even hecouldn’t hope to conjure in his wildest dreams, because it was him, and it wasKate, and that…was all that mattered.
