“Holy shit it’s a penguin!” Clint exclaimed excitedly, face smushed against the bars.
“Children, behave.” came from Stark, following behind them idly tapping on his phone, most likely coming up with world saving inventions while half of the team experienced the zoo for the first time.
Seeing them now, looking amazed at all of the animals there were, even though most of them had already seen them in more exciting places before, especially Bruce, considering how much time he spent outside of America, it was painfully obvious that most, if not all, of them didn’t get to experience a normal childhood. All forced to grow up too fast, stuffed into a mold they weren’t ready for.
Natasha, Clint, and Tony were all trained from an early age to put up a mask. For Natasha, one of steel, malleable to be whatever the other wanted. Clint and Tony, to smile and woo a crowd, never letting slip anything they didn’t want their audience to see. They were both more alike than they realized. Watching them interact, it was like they had finally found the family they’d lost, For Clint, a brother to bicker and argue with. For Tony, someone who wasn’t afraid to call him out on his shit, not worried about his father's influence or the power of the great Tony Stark. Then there was Bruce.
Bruce, with his childhood filled with fear and longing for a place to belong, finding himself decades too late to save the one person who loved him unconditionally, finally finding one in Becky, only for her to be ripped away due to circumstances no longer in his control. He had finally found a place for himself, and then forced to flee again, when his genius made a fatal mistake, one that led him to his current family, by fate or bad luck finally turning the tides of fortune to him.
Thor, burdened with responsibility none of them could possibly fathom, burdens weighing him down from hundreds of years ago, a life none of them had ever experienced, and yet, he felt such human emotions, for being a god. He lost someone too, they all did. Just like them, he held his secrets close to his chest, and yet he was the most open among all of them. Both he and Tony, both so open and yet they shared thousands of years worth of secrets between the two of them, one figuratively and one literally.
And him, well, out of the team, he would say he was pretty lucky, or as lucky as you could get living in the depression. He had Bucky at least, and a ma that cared enough to try and put food on the table and still make time to listen to him talk. What more could he ask for?
He had a family now, they all did. And he wasn’t going to let any of them forget it.
So what if none of them knew what the future would bring? They were all here, now, in the present, and they were going to make the most out of it.
In the next ten, hell, in the next year alone, any one of them could die, or disappear, and that was always a worry, but one they now shared together. They all understood loss, they all understood the blood that could never be washed away. They shared their pain and they shared their happiness, and rejoiced in finding others like themselves, so broken and yet so whole.