Adjust

Natasha x reader x Tony x Bucky

You and Peter had learned early on to adjust. Adjust to not having enough money or food, you working more hours than not, the difficulties of not knowing what Peter was exactly capable of, things like that. You learned to adjust.

You and Peter would sit down at the beginning of every week and plan out your schedule. What days you could pick him up from school, days he would come down to the cafe, have the woman from two down babysit, and time the two of you could spend together.

The two of you had a routine, you had your norm, but if there was one thing you knew how to do, it was adjust.

Non-reader POV

Peter was an incredibly smart seven year old. All his teachers, his neighbors, and his sister said so.

They probably wouldn't say that if they saw him now.

Y/N had been at work all day and wouldn't be home until five, so Mrs. Lopez from two down had offered to walk Peter home from school.

On the way home, Peter had spotted a dumpster surrounded by old pieces of technology. If there was one thing Peter enjoyed, it was fixing old tech. His most recent find had been an old laptop he planned to give to his sister on her birthday.

He didn't say anything to Mrs. Lopez, but he made sure to remember the exact alley so that when Mrs. Lopez dropped him home, he could go back.

Peter's school was only three blocks away from the apartment, and he knew the route by heart. The alley was halfway between the two, and no-one seemed to pay any attention to the seven-year-old walking by himself.

Most of the tech seemed to be very broken, and Peter was about to go home emptyhanded. Until he spotted an old portable DVD player. Peter couldn't tell what was wrong with it, but it seemed to be in better condition than anything else.

A smile crossed Peter's face as he suddenly got an idea. He clutched his treasure to his chest and was about to leave the alley when a door swung open, and two people entered the alleyway.

Peter hid behind the large dumpster before either of them could see him.

"Should we go back to your apartment or mine?" The woman asked in a high voice.

"Why wait?" The man asked before there were sounds of giggling and a loud thump.

"Wait, just one thing first." The woman said after a minute. "Where's the data?" She asked, her voice changing.

"What?" The man started but cut himself off with a loud grunt. Peter dared peak his head out and saw the woman standing over the man, her foot pressed against his throat.

"Where's the data?" She demanded once again, pulling a gun out from behind her back. While the woman was interrogating the man, she didn't see the door had opened, and another man was creeping out with a gun already drawn.

Peter could call out, but that could distract the woman and get her hurt. Thinking quickly, Peter dropped his treasure and climbed the wall. He crawled the wall like a spider until he had reached a safe distance.

Before the man could shoot, Peter quickly shot a web out, hitting him. His web covered the man's face, and he let out a loud yell as he tried to pull it off. The woman's head snapped to the new man and his struggles and let out a curse.

"I need backup." The woman said, pressing a finger to her ear. Without removing her foot from the man's throat, the woman smashed her gun into the flailing man's head, causing him to drop quickly. She pressed her foot into the man's throat harder until he passed out.

"Hello." The woman said, looking up at Peter. "Could you come down from there? I don't want to hurt you. I just want to thank you for your help." She added once Peter looked as if he was going to run. "And I don't want you to fall."

"I won't fall," Peter told her before three men ran into the alley.

"I thought you needed back up." A man with long hair said, stepping towards the woman.

"I need someone to take these two in." She said as the man checked her over. "I'm fine, James."

"You know I have heart problems, right? You can't just say things like that?" The second man said, stepping forward.

"You're Iron Man!" Peter gasped, causing the three's heads to snap to him. "Holy carp! You're the Avengers!" He grinned.

"We are the Avengers." The woman smiled, Peter now recognizing her as the Black Widow. "I'm Natasha. Can you tell us your name?"

"Peter. Peter L/N."

"It's nice to meet you, Peter, thank you for your help," Natasha said, stepping forward. "Can you come down now? I'm sure these three would like to meet you too."

Slowly Peter crawled down from his perch until he was standing in front of Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Bucky Barnes.

"Hi, I'm Peter L/N." He repeated once he stood before the four.

"Peter here stopped this one from getting a cheap shot on me," Natasha told the men.

"Well, then I think a thank you's in order," Tony said before kneeling to Peter's height. "Thank you for helping Natasha. It was an incredibly brave thing you did. Have you always been able to do that?"

"Uh-huh!" Peter nodded enthusiastically. "Y/N says my name should be spider instead of Peter."

"Who's Y/N, malen'kiy pauk?" Natasha asked, kneeling beside Tony.

"She's my big sister! She looks after me." He told them.

"Does she know you're here?" Natasha questioned him, causing Peter to freeze.

"Oh no, I'm going to be in so much trouble. I have to go now!" He panicked.

"We could call your sister if you like." Tony offered. "Get her to come to pick you up."

"I have the phone, and I don't know the wall phone number." Peter shook his head. "But I only live a couple of blocks away!" He added quickly. "I can walk home."

"How about we walk you home?" Bucky asked, stepping forward. "We'll make sure you get home safe, and we can explain what happened to your sister."

"That'd be so cool!" Peter grinned. "I might not even get in trouble because I helped!"

"You did, malen'kiy pauk." Natasha smiled at him. "Steve, you want to deal with these two, and we'll walk Peter home." She said, standing up.

"Of course. It was nice to meet you, Peter." Steve said, putting a hand out to Peter.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Rogers!" Peter grinned, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

"Just Steve is fine." Steve chuckled.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Peter said, quickly ducking behind the dumpster and grabbing his treasure. "Okay, let's go!"

Reader POV

"No? Okay, thank you very much. Have a nice night." You said before hanging up.

You had gotten home from work ten minutes ago. All you'd wanted was to come home, sit, and see Peter, but when you got home, Peter was nowhere to be found.

Mrs. Lopez swore she'd left him in your apartment to do his homework and your heart sank.

You'd checked in with everyone on your floor, called Ned's parents, MJ's, the school, and three hospitals but still nothing.

There was a sound of the lock clicking, and suddenly the door opened.

"Peter!" You gasped, rushing forward to embrace the boy. "Oh God, you're going to give me a heart attack. Are you okay? Are you bleeding? Where were you?"

"I'm okay, I promise, N/N!" Peter promised. "I found a present on the way home and went back after Mrs. Lopez dropped me off."

"Pete, you can't do that to me, sweetheart. You gave me a heart attack. I thought something bad had happened to you." You told him, kneeling to his level.

"'M really, really, sorry," Peter mumbled, looking down. "But I did something good. I helped Ms. Natasha." He added, gesturing behind him.

For the first time since he'd entered, you looked at the doorway where three Avengers stood.

"I know I wasn't supposed to show my gifts, but I helped! And they're Avengers, like the police, good guys!" He persisted.

"Okay, you did good, Petey." You relented. "But you can't do that ever again. You can't leave the apartment without telling me. Promise?" You asked, holding a pinky up.

"Promise." Peter nodded, wrapping his pinky in yours.

"Okay. Why don't you grab the bag of pretzels and go work on your project in your room?" You suggested. "I'm going to talk with these three, and then I'll order pizza."

"But it's not the third Thursday."

"I think you deserve a reward for helping Ms. Natasha. Go on." You told him. "Thank you for bringing him home." You said as you stood.

"Of course. We were worried about Peter getting home safely." Natasha told you.

"And we wanted to talk to you," Bucky added.

"I think you better come in then." You gestured them in. "How much did you see?" You asked, leaning against the door.

"You don't have to worry. We won't tell anyone about Peter's abilities." Tony assured you. "We just want to help."

"I'm sorry. I'm a bit frazzled." You sighed. "Peter's not supposed to show other people. I'm glad he helped you, really, but I won't let you take him away."

"We don't want to take him away." Natasha shook her head. "Or separate the two of you. We're not lying when we say we want to help you. I'd assume neither of you knows the extent of Peter's powers. We could you work out exactly what he can do."

"He's not a science experiment." You narrowed your eyes.

"No, he's not." Tony agreed. "But he is unique, and he deserves to know to what extent. So do you. We can help him work out what he can do, and we can help train him to use his powers."

"We only want to help," Natasha promised. "He helped possibly save my life tonight, and I owe him a debt. I would like to pay it by helping him know his abilities."

You regarded the three before you carefully. The offer seemed sincere, but you were so used to keeping Peter's gifts in the apartment, between the two of you.

But Peter deserved to know what he could do. You'd just have to adjust.

"Peter decides." You told them. "Peter decides if he wants this and if he does, what he says goes. If he is uncomfortable or doesn't want to do something, it stops."

"Of course." Bucky nodded. "Those are perfectly acceptable terms." He said before stepping towards you. "I'm Bucky Barnes." He added, holding a hand out towards you.

"Y/N L/N." You nodded, shaking his hand firmly.

"Your brother saved our girlfriend's life tonight," Bucky told you, nodding to the two behind him. "I'd like to thank him, as well as you for raising him."

"He's a good kid," Natasha added.

"A little excitable, but a good kid." Tony nodded.

"Thank you." You smiled. "I guess I'd better get Peter then."

You'd sat Peter down that night to explain the Avengers offer. Of course, Peter had agreed. Excited to be able to show off his powers and spend time with the Avengers.

The five of you had worked a schedule where twice a week, Peter would go to the Avengers tower and learn from them.

But that wasn't the last time you'd see Natasha, Bucky, or Tony. More often than not, you would return to your apartment to find the three with Peter. They'd all taken a shine to your enthusiastic brother and seemed to enjoy being around him.

Tony would bring Peter science books or circuit boards, Natasha would sit on the ground with him, going over their training, and Bucky was learning about the modern world from the boy.

And Peter wasn't the only one enjoying their company. You were more than happy to come home and see the three with Peter. The three had become your friends, and you looked forward to seeing them.

It had been six months since the three Avengers had been brought into your lives. Peter had gone to bed an hour ago, and you were now in the living room/kitchen, drunk.

You didn't drink often. You could count the number of times you had since running on one hand. But tonight was rough. It was simpler to down the booze than it was not to.

You'd tried to stay quiet as you sobbed into your bottle of cheap vodka to not alarm Peter because you didn't want to scare him. He was too young to be worrying about this.

There was a light knocking at your front door, which you ignored. The knocks were persistent, but you continued o ignore it until someone called your name.

"Y/N. We know you're there. Open up, please." Bucky called, knocking again.

With a sigh, you put your bottle on the table before standing from the ratty couch.

"Just a second." You said, loud enough for them to hear. You wiped your eyes clear and tried to clean yourself up. "What are you doing here?" You asked, opening the door. "Is something wrong?"

"Maybe. Can we come in?" Natasha asked you.

"Uh, now's not a great time." You started.

"We know. We can smell the vodka on your breath." Tony cut you off as he pushed his way into your apartment. "So, what's up, buttercup? Why the bottle of cheap shit?"

"Why are you here again?" You asked, watching from the door as the three entered and made themselves at home.

"Peter was worried. He texted, asking if we could help you stop crying." Bucky told you.

"Oh shit, Pete." You said, going to move to the bedroom only to stumble.

"Easy, sweetcheeks," Tony said, holding you up.

"I'll check on Pete. You need to sit down." Bucky told you as Tony led you to sit down.

"I didn't think Pete would hear me." You mumbled. "I thought he was asleep. I'm so embarrassed."

"He's just worried about you. But he didn't know how to help you himself." Natasha told you. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing." You shook your head.

"Clearly, it's not nothing if it's made you cry," Bucky said, reentering the room. "He's fast asleep." He added, causing you to start crying again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." You cried, wiping the tears from your cheeks.

"It's okay." Natasha cooed, kneeling in front of you. "It's okay."

"It's not. It's not okay." You shook your head. "We got robbed today." You told them after your tears subsided. "There wasn't much to take obviously. But there was a jar of money under the sink. It was for Peter's Christmas present."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? You didn't rob us." You laughed bitterly. "I was going to get him a bed for Christmas. I found a bunk bed that I could afford, and I thought he'd love it. Peter's been stuck sharing a bed with me since we ran, and I just wanted to give him something of his own. That failed." You shook your head before taking a long sip from the bottle.

"Ran? Who are you running from?" Tony asked you.

"Life." You said, staring at the ceiling. "You know Peter and I aren't actually related, right?" You suddenly asked.

"No, we didn't."

"It doesn't matter. For all intents and purposes, we're family. Because family doesn't end with blood. I met Petey when I was fifteen. My mom died when I was fourteen, and since there was no-one else to look after me, they put me in foster care. Peter was a baby when he came into the foster home. His parents, aunt, and uncle all died in an accident when he was just a few months old. Our foster dad was a bad man. He only took kids in because he needed the money. The only time he cared about us kids was when he wanted something.

I didn't care what he was doing to me. I was going to get out soon, but Peter wasn't. When Peter was two, Skip started doing the same thing to him. I told him I would report him to police or CPS, I didn't care who. But he said if I tried, he'd kill me, and no-one would be able to help Pete. I couldn't let him keep hurting Pete, and no-one would listen to me, so I did the only thing I could.

After Skip went to sleep one night, I packed our bags and took Pete. I gave him my last name and we haven’t looked back since." You told them. "That was five years ago."

"Jesus, doll." Bucky breathed. "But why didn't you call CPS after?"

"Buck, no-one ever reported us missing. We were a couple of foster kids. No-one cared what happened to us. That's why I couldn't call them afterward. They would've taken Pete and dumped him with another family that could've been worse. Skip had a lot of kids before Pete, and believe or not, Skip was better than their previous homes." You said, shaking your head. "And no-one would have adopted him. He had nightmares about the 'bad man' until last year. Family's didn't want kids with trauma, believe me."

"That's terrible."

"That's life." You corrected Tony. "All I wanted to do was give Peter a better chance at life. And I'm failing." You shook your head, going to finish the bottle only to have it gently taken from your hands.

"Y/N, look at me," Natasha said, passing the bottle to Tony. "You haven't failed. Peter thinks the world of you. You can do no wrong in his eyes, Peter loves you. You saved him from hell, and you got yourself out too. You've done a fantastic job, Peter is the sweetest kid, and he got that from you. You raised him and taught him more than anyone could have. You haven't failed."

"You've had some shitty luck. But that's not your fault." Tony told you. "Life's a bitch when it wants to be."

"I'm just so tired." You admitted. "So, so, tired."

"It's okay, doll. You can rest now. We're here to help." Bucky promised you.

"Wake up!" Peter shouted in your ear, causing you to bolt upright.

"Geez kiddo, we said to wake her, not deafen her." Tony cackled as he entered the bedroom.

"I think my ear's bleeding." You joked.

"I'm sorry," Peter said though he was still smiling cheekily.

"It's alright, Petey. Now, why are you screaming in my ear this morning?"

"It's your birthday!" Peter cheered, wrapping his arms around your neck.

It had been seven months since your breakdown on the couch. You'd fallen asleep on the ratty piece of furniture and woken up the next morning to Bucky making breakfast and Natasha and Tony playing with Peter.

With all your stolen belongings back, including the jar under the sink.

“It is?” You humored your brother. “No I think I had one last year. Sorry Petey I don’t think so.”

“No it’s the B/D. That means it’s your birthday and that means you stay home today.” Peter said firmly. “No work.”

“Oh well if you say so, then it must be true. Isn’t that right, Tony?” You asked, turning to the man who was smiling at the two of you.

“I’d think so. So, what’s first up today, Spiderkid?” Tony asked.

“Breakfast!” Peter declared, jumping off the bed. “Nat, and Bucky made breakfast and it smells delicious!”

“Alright, Captain Peter. Why don’t you save me a seat while I get a jumper?” You suggested. Peter nodded, pressed a kiss to your cheek and ran into the kitchen.

“Is there something I can help you with, Tony?” You smirked as you got out of bed.

“Just want to say happy birthday.” Tony said, moving towards you. Tony pulled you into his chest and kissed you sweetly. “Happy birthday.”

That was another thing that had happened in the last seven months. You had entered into a relationship with Tony, Natasha, and Bucky. It was the easiest thing you’d had to adjust to in the last seven years, as easy as breathing.

“Thank you.” You smiled up at him.

“We got you a present but we’re going to wait until tonight.” Tony told you.

“You better not start anything here. Peter will be home tonight and he is not walking in on that.” You narrowed your eyes.

“Tony’s not going to scar Peter.” Natasha announced, entering the bedroom. “I promise, we’re keeping him on a leash.”

“I thought you just said no scaring Peter.” Tony said, causing you to groan.

“Come on, food first. Peter and James are getting impatient.” Natasha said, kissing you quickly before pulling you into the kitchen.

Hours later, long after Peter had gone to sleep, the four of you were curled up on your couch. Bucky’s hand over your eyes.

“Keep her eyes closed.” Tony reminded Bucky.

“This is ridiculous.” You grumbled, leaning back into Bucky’s chest. “Why do you like surprises so much?”

“Why don’t you like surprises?” He retorted.

“You’re the only one here who like surprises, Tone.” Bucky informed the billionaire.

“I will turn the three of you onto surprises one day.”

“Of course you will, med.” Natasha said plactingly. “Alright, Tony’s going to put your gift on you. Don’t even think about opening your eyes till we say.”

“Yes ma’am.” You teased the red head. Bucky’s hands moved from your eyes but you kept your eyes shut. You could feel Tony’s fingers on your neck, clipping something onto it loudly.

“Alright. You can open your eyes.” Tony announced. You opened your eyes and brought your fingers up to your gift. Around your neck was a lanyard and a keycard.

“What’s this?” You asked, rolling the keycard between your fingers.

“Well, we’ve been talking, and we want you to move in with us.” Bucky told you, placing his hands on yours.

“We want you and Peter to move into the Tower with us. We have our own floor at the top of the Tower, and Peter would get his own room on there too.” Natasha said, taking a seat on Tony’s lap.

“We’ve already asked him and he’d be happy to move in, as is the rest of the team. The only person left to ask is you. Will you move in with us?” Tony asked you.

You looked between your three partners, all staring at you with nothing but love and content in their eyes, before smiling widely at them.

“Lucky we don’t have a lot to pack, do we?” You grinned. “I’d love to move in with you all.”

If there was one thing you and Peter knew how to do, it was adjust. You’d adjusted all your lives, and knew as well as the next how hard it could be sometimes. Lucky for you it wasn’t hard to adjust to Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, or Bucky Barnes. Three people who’d seamlessly integrated into your lives.