Peter Parker, a 15 year old from Queens has two secrets. The first being that he is spiderman, the second that he is a trans boy.
Only four people knew both of his secret identities, although various people knew he was spiderman and others new only that he was trans, and he would like to keep it that way.
Clint had taken it upon himself to look after the spiderling after finding out that he too was trans. He knew that Tony was Peter’s father figure, but Clint wanted to be more like a brother, the kind that annoys the hell out of his siblings whilst looking out for them.
Clint Barton, one of the four, had also agreed to keep his secrets, despite how hard the young boy and his superhero family tried to make it.
~
It was July 10th and quite possibly the hottest day any of the avengers had experienced. Most of the guys were walking around the compound shirtless while the girls wore tank tops and shorts.
The only exception to this was Peter.
He was instead wearing a large hoodie as well as some basketball shorts. He brushed off the funny looks and questions from the rest of the team by saying he wasn’t hot at all, but the sweat dripping from his forehead said otherwise.
“Fri, turn the ac up.” Tony said as he reached into the freezer to get ice cubes for his glass of water.
“The air con is as high as it can go Sir.” The AI responded, receiving multiple curses and groans from the other avengers sat in the living room.
“Nooo, I can feel myself melting.” Bucky groaned, receiving a small chuckle from Clint who was sat on the sofa beside him, not daring to touch his sweaty boyfriend.
Both Clint and Natasha were dealing with the heat significantly better than everyone else. The two of them had spent the most part of last summer on a mission in the desert, by the end of it they had adjusted to the hot climate.
Despite this, Clint still wondered how on earth the boy who was sat across from him was surviving in a thick hoodie, he could practically see sweat dripping from Peter's legs.
“I have a great idea,” Steve announced, “We should have a day down at the lake, the water will be a great way to cool down!” he said with enthusiasm.
“Sounds great.” Wanda replied, a few of the others agreeing too.
But Clint noticed the worried and panicked look on Peter’s face, even though it was covered mostly with his hood and floppy hair. As a fellow trans man, Clint knew that a day at the lake could possibly be Peter’s worst nightmare.
“I would love to go but I um I, I have homework?” Peter stumbled over his words as he struggled to come up with an excuse, which came out sounding more like a question. He received confused looks from Tony and Pepper in particular, it was summer break after all.
“Don’t be silly kiddo, can’t be spending summer doing homework!” Clint blurted out before anyone could start asking questions, “we’ll go get ice cream for everyone, I could do with a helping hand.”
And so Peter was saved by the archer’s quick thinking.
The rest of the team had hurried to gather their things, swimsuits, sunscreen, towels and all the other necessary items for a day at the lake. After Steve had hurried everyone onto the bus, Happy began to drive them as if they were kids going on a field trip, and the two boys were left in the compound alone.
“Got to work on your excuses.” Clint patted Peter’s back, both of them laughing slightly as they replayed in their heads Peter struggling to find an excuse to come up with.
“You better change out of that hoodie or I won’t buy you any ice cream.”
“But I can’t bind right now.” Peter frowned and shrugged his shoulder.
It was Peter’s fault, and he knew that. He had ignored one of the most important rules of binding after wearing it whist training with Steve the other evening. That left him unable to bind for the next few days under Dr Cho and Clint’s orders.
“Go put on a sports bra or something and I’ll go steal a shirt from a certain super soldier,” Peter’s eyes brightened up at the thought of not having to wear a hoodie, “they’re super comfy.”
They met at the car in the garage, Peter now wearing a plain grey shirt that belonged to Bucky, it was far too big for him, which he loved. Bucky was shorter than Clint, still a few inches taller than Peter, but he was much more buff than the two of them, making his t-shirt’s the best for Clint’s dysphoria filled days.
Peter got into the passenger seat, weary of Clint’s driving having never seen him do it before, but he was quickly distracted when Clint put on one of his playlists causing Peter to groan.
“Why can’t kids these days appreciate good music?” He shook his head slightly.
See the thing was that Clint’s music consisted of old songs, songs from the 50s and 60s, not even his own generation. At first, he had made several playlists full of all the music Bucky had missed out on, but he had soon some to love the calm jazz sound.
Peter however, thought it would be more appropriate to listen to some modern pop music whilst on their mini roadtrip, which eventually he managed to do.
“Thanks for getting me out of that situation.”
“No problem kid, I know swimming and sunbathing can be hard, I still hate it.” Clint admitted. Although the majority of the team knew that Clint was trans he still wasn’t comfortable being shirtless or swimming, not until he got top surgery, but he was waiting for the right time for it.
“I can’t actually swim.” Peter said.
“Spiderman can’t swim?” Clint said surprised, “well I ought to teach you one day."