“Tony. He´s a kid” Steve said, horrified, looking at the scrawny boy who was nervously standing next to Tony. Tony hummed. “I´m aware” he said, and Steve´s eyes bulged out of his skull. “He´s a kid! Tony, you brought a kid to Germany!” he exclaimed, and Tony nodded. “Not my best move, I´ve got to admit”
Clint muttered a “What the fuck man?” In the background, and Steve had to whole heartedly agree with him. “We could´ve killed him!” Wanda practically shrieked, and the boy showed for the first time for that talk a reaction and winced. “I didn´t think that we were going to fight” Tony hissed, eyes narrowing.
Before Steve could say anything else, the boy interrupted them. “Stop blaming Mr. Stark! I did this vigilante thing before he even knew I existed, and he gave me upgrades and stopped me from dying more times than once” he tried to explain, and Sam raised an eyebrow. “Do your parents at least know?” he asked, and the kid grimaced slightly. “They´re dead, I´m living with my aunt. But yes, she knows”
Multiple shoulders sagged down. “Okay. So, to get this straight, you´re 15?” the kid nodded, his brown curls bouncing up and down. “And your name is…?” The boy flushed red. “Peter” Steve hummed. “Look, I´ve tried to stop him before. Took away his suit. He almost died, because he didn´t have the suit” Tony said, regret swirling in his eyes.
The rogues let out a small, defeated sigh. “There´s really no stopping you, is there?” Clint asked, turning to Peter, who shook his head, and with that the rogues knew they had lost. “Alright. But at least let us train you” The boy gasped, his eyes widening with barely concealed excitement. “Really? That would be so cool! I wouldn't be bothering you guys, right?” Peter looked worried away, and Clint smiled. “You wouldn´t, don´t worry” he said, making Peter grin.
“Thank you so much Mr. Hawkeye Clint Barton sir!” Clint grimaced, and Sam burst out laughing. Steve chuckled slightly, Tony snorted, Wanda giggled, and Natasha just raised an amused eyebrow. “Yea, just stick to Clint please” The archer muttered, and this made Tony grin. “As if. I´ve been Mr. Stark for the whole time, and probably am still going to be Mr. Stark for the whole time”
And they quickly fell back into bickering, with one new member.
Peter Parker, aka Spider-man.
***
“Is everything alright?” Wanda asked Peter, who staggered into the kitchen at God know when. The boy nodded, but if the tear streaks on his cheeks was anything to go by, he, was not, in fact, alright. “Just- just nightmares” The boy gasped out, and Wanda winced sympathetically.
In their line of work you always got nightmares. She doesn´t think that there´s any one of them without them. Even Stark, she knows. And while she isn´t on best terms with him, she feels sorry for Tony. No one deserves nightmares.
She gently beckoned him over, and with a furrowed eyebrow he did. “Sit down” she gently told Peter, who obeyed, sitting down in the chair closest. He watched as Wanda seemed to cook something, a gentle noise to his aching head coming from her.
A few minutes later she came back and placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of him. A spider was drawn with cream on top of it.
Peter cracked a small smile. “Thanks Wanda” he softly said, and the girl smiled, sitting down next to him. “Always again. Do you want to talk about it?” she gently asked, and Peter seemed to hesitate before nodding slowly. “Alright. Um, so- basically, it happened after Mr. Stark took away my suit during a ferry accident…”
And at the end, Wanda couldn´t help but hope the man had nightmares for centuries to come.
***
“Are- are you guys sure that I won´t just annoy you?” Peter asked worriedly, as they were about to start training. “Peter. If you do, it won´t matter. We like having you around” Clint gently said. The others agreed.
“So, flexibility. You guys need a whole lot more” Natasha said, and multiple groans went through the training room.
Peter bounced on his feet.
“Kid, I can assure you, it´s just murder with Natasha over there” Sam grimaced, as he saw Peter excited. The boy slowed down. “…You do realise that-” before Peter could finish that sentence, Natasha interrupted them. “First, stretching. I´ll help”
Clint literally screamed at that.
“Kid, how?” Steve asked, watching Peter as he moved in a way that shouldn´t be possible. Natasha whistled lowly. “Got to admit, I didn´t expect that” she said, and Peter´s face flushed. “I´m also- I´m also a quite acrobatic based hero” he explained, moving to sit cross-legged on the floor, watching the others struggle.
Natasha grinned. “I like this one” was all she said, and the others couldn´t help but agree.
***
“Peter” Tony said in the elevator just before they were about to reach the communal area. “Before we arrive, I´ve got to tell you-” he was interrupted by the sound of the elevator arriving, and the doors opening. Peter gasped.
There stood Bucky Barnes.
“Mr. White Wolf Bucky Barnes sir! It´s a pleasure to meet you!” he immediately said, and tension fled out of the man´s shoulders. “It- it is?” he asked, and Peter nodded. “Yes! I really love all that you´ve did for this country, and I´m so sorry for what happened with HYDRA. And I really, really love how your arm works! It´s fascinating. Like, how did the vibranium mix so well with all the other metals? How doesn´t it´s magnetism bother its ability? How many magnets would fit on it?”
Peter flushed red after the last question. The others burst out laughing. “Seriously? How many magnets?” Tony teased from behind him, and he swatted his arm. “Mr. Staarrkk I just embarassed myself in front of the Bucky Barnes!” he whined, and Tony grinned. “Nah. Look at him for a second” And Peter did.
Bucky looked surprised, but in a pleasant way. Like he never got that type of appreciation before. Which, okay, he probably actually didn´t.
“Is it normal to feel suck a need to protect around him?” Bucky later asked Steve, Peter asleep tucked into Tony´s side. Different kinds of “yes” rang out in the living room.
***
Peter coughed, and blood appeared on his hands. That… was not good. “Ka- Karen? Call… M-Mr. Stark…” he slurred, and he heard the sound of someone picking up not too long after. “Hey Underoos. Anything ya old man can assist you with?” The man asked, and Peter groaned. “Pete?!” The man asked, immediately on high alert.
Peter just gave a dazed hum. “Stabbed…” he managed to say, and he heard cursing on the other side. “Pete, Peter- I´ve got your location, alright? Just hold on” Tony said, panicking, and Peter nodded, before remembering that Tony can´t see him. “Yea, I´ll- try” he croaked out, and Tony kept on talking about anything.
He told Peter even about embarrassing stories from his youth, making Peter know he was desperate. It wasn´t long until he heard the familiar sound of repulsors, and suddenly his mentor was in his vision.
“Peter, I´m- I´m going to pick you up, alright?” Peter hummed, and a second later a fiery pain shot through his body, and with a scream he fell unconscious.
***
“мой паучок, who did this?” Natasha asked for the hundredth time, and Peter groaned. “I don´t know” he whined, and Natasha hummed. “FRIDAY. Give me all the security feed from around the area” The AI´s voice seemed amused when she answered “Of course, miss Natasha” And a second later her phone pinged.
She smiled at Peter. “Don´t worry. The person who did this will not be able to hurt you again”
***
A few days later, all of them came back an evening looking far too happy. Peter frowned at them. "What did you guys do?” he asked, and they just grinned.
“We took care of a problem”