Chapter 3
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When Mister Fury had told Peter that he would find Peter a place to live..
Peter hadn't been expecting... this...
He stood quietly behind Mister Fury, nervously fidgeting with the edges of the sleeves of the hoody that Mister Fury had been kind enough to give him along with a pair of shoes, some pajamas, some toiletries and six whole sets of clean clothes, one of which he was wearing under the hoody as he stood there behind Mister Fury and avoided the penetrating gazes of The Avengers.. well most of The Avengers... Thor wasn't there.. neither was Scott or Sam...
"That?" Mister Stark sounded incredulous as he asked "Is .. Spider-Man?" and it was asked with an almost sneer.. "He's scrawnier in person.. Hold old are you, kid?.. like six?.. This has to be a joke.."
"This is no joke, Stark.. This is Spider-Man, a.k.a. twelve-year-old Peter Parker and he is going to live here at Avengers HQ with the rest of the team.."
"Whoa.. hold up.. rest of the team?.. You say that as if you think we're about to let a toddler that crawls around in a onesie on the team.." Mister Stark was fullout sneering now.
"It isn't up to you who can and cannot be an Avengers, I'm the Director of SHIELD and as such I'm the one that makes the calls on who is on or off the team.."
"That doesn't mean he can just move in and make himself at home.. this is still my tower.."
"Actually the owner of Stark Industries gave SHIELD full say over not only the living quarters of Avengers HQ but also the facilities of The AvengersCompoundand all of Avengers Tower.. Maybe read the fine print next time before your wife hands you something to sign and also maybe be a little more welcoming to Spider-Man before I send you packing back to that house in Malibu and give Peter here your room.. like it or not, Stark, the kid is one of you, now.."
"Apparently you're forgetting that fiasco with the ferry?.. because I'm not about to let some reckless child live under my roof.. excuse me.. under the same roof as my family and I.. He's already made mistakes that costed a lot of lives.. I'm not about to let him potentially put my family in danger.."
"Tony's right.. The kid has made some unforgivable screw ups and I don't want a bad influence like that anywhere near somewhere my family frequently comes to visit." This was said by Clint..
Mister Fury was about to say something in Peter's defense but Peter was angry and hurt and wasn't about to listen to these people he had once looked up to as his heroes belittle him anymore.
"Mistakes?.." Peter growled.. "Screw ups?.. Okay.. yeah.. The ferry was bad.. but not one civilian died.. and also.. let's look at that particular mistake since you two have such lazer focus on how I suposedly messed up.. Let's see here.. oh right.. the weapons on that ferry were only there in the first place because several of Mister Stark's own personal screw ups.. oh and yes.. lives.. civilian lives were in danger.. but how many heroes showed up to do anything to help when it was apparent actual civilian lives were on the line?.. oh right... It was only me.. because apparently it wasn't an end of the world level threat so it wasn't an Avengers Level Threat.. In fact the only times I have ever seen or heard of any of you saving anyone other than yourselves and each other was you saving the lives of people that were endangered from your own screw up.. so basically you were literally only saving people that you or someone on The Avengers Team endangered in the first place to pretty much cover your own asses or each other's asses.. Not a single one of you do anything to stop muggings, store robberies, none of you are ever there to stop bad things from happening to women that get cornered by men in a dark alley, none of you have ever gone into a burning apartment building to save people trapped inside.. Where are you during any of that?.. You're here in this nice cozy tower living the high life while people die in this city every single day from things any single one of you could help to stop.. I mean Tony Stark has a suit that can freaking fly faster than the speed of sound yet he only brings it out if he screws up so bad that he almost ends the world.. and Clint Barton is such a good shot with his bow that he never misses.. but he's never once aimed it at a two-bit mugger that's about to transition to would be rapist because it isn't important enough for him to get involved forget that the victim is hoping and praying and screaming for someone to save them and hoping for a hero to come along and make what's happening stop but that isn't going to happen because the threat isn't big enough to get your attention.. or maybe you don't do anything else besides potentially world ending threats because anything less won't get you another interview with Oprah.. in other words you pay no attention.. you do not care about actual civilian lives.. because all of that is beneath you.. you care about covering your asses, and doing things that makes a splash and lands you in the headlines and you don't care who gets hurt or put in danger in the process of your screw ups.. Like with Ultron.. Oh but we can't talk about that unforgivable screw up or how without that screw up Sakovia never would have been decimated to begin with.. wanna talk about lives lost and bad influences that you don't want anywhere near your family, Mister Barton?.. Just how many times have you let Tony Stark cross the threshold of your family home? And speaking of other bad influences.. weren't you The Ronin?.. Yeah.. don't talk at me like I'm some screw up that's unworthy to breath the same air as any of you when you've done more damage and caused more deaths than I ever have and definitely don't act like my screw up are somehow worse and less forgivable like you're somehow better than me... Mister Fury, sir... I know you have gone to a lot of trouble to help me.. but I don't want to stay anywhere I'm not wanted.. and I refuse to stay anywhere where I'll be treated like.. I just don't want to live in a place that isn't much better than what I escaped from before... before I had no choice but to ask for help.. I can't stay here.. I'm sorry.. I can.. I'll be okay on my own.. Thank you for trying.. I'm sorry I was such a waste of everyone's time.." Peter had heartbreak in his voice as he said that last bit.. he wouldn't survive another month on the streets not with his health in the state it was in but living with The Avengers wasn't an option and he wasn't about to ask Mister Fury to go through the trouble of finding somewhere else for him to stay especially seeing as how they might not react any better than The Avengers had..
Peter didn't bother looking anywhere but the floor as he turned and made his exit..