Of course, Tony had to tell the team about Peter. After settling everything, avoiding a near civil war, Tony knew he couldn’t keep secrets from the team. Tony was expecting the team to be upset that a kid from Queens was a superhero vigilant. He was right, and they were, incredibly so. What Tony was not expecting, was for how quickly they all fell in love with the spiderling.
Bruce was the first to fall and fall hard he did. It took all of two minutes and Bruce knew Peter was his new favorite. The kid was awkward and bumbling but as soon as Peter started gushing over his work as Bruce Banner and not Hulk, he loved the kid. Tony was almost jealous as the two spent hours talking science and geeking out. Peter spoke quickly but Dr. Banner kept up the excited pace with the teenager. Even at dinner that night while the other Avengers eyed Peter carefully. He and Bruce continued to excitedly discuss the practical application of gama radiation, bio engineering, and for brief moment how the legend of Zelda timeline made no sense.
Surprisingly enough, Hulk was the second to adore the spider. The Avengers had to take on a new alien threat, swarms of beetle like creatures, flying through the city. Hulk had been called in to smash a cocoon that was spitting out the beetles in hordes of buzzing clumps. Hulk did what Hulk does, smash. But the puny Avengers had immediately asked for Banner to return and Hulk got madder. He took a swing at the metal man, Tony, but was halted but the itsy bitsy spider. Peter had spoken to Hulk, not in a undermining way or begging for Banner. But, asked him to stop and thanked him for helping. Peter even let Hulk stay out, riding on Hulks back as they went to get ice cream together. Whenever the spider was around Hulk felt more than just a monster.
Bucky was a hard nut to crack. He and Peter had never spent much one on one time. However, Spiderman had an annoying habit of helping him clam down during a PTSD flash. Bucky thought that the boy took pity on him. That this Peter Parker felt bad for the wounded soldier and saw him as weak. After six times when the boy had calmed him down, Bucky barely spoke to him. It was not until he had been living in the tower for two months that he finally saw the truth. Bucky was walking to the training room when he noticed a figure on the ceiling. Peter was sticking high up the wall, in a corner, breathing hard, eyes darting around the room. Bucky’s heart clenched seeing the sheer panic that covered the boy’s features. After several minutes of soft-spoken words and promises that no, the building was not collapsing around him, Bucky talked him down to the ground and sat with Peter. The boy falling asleep on his shoulder after the ordeal. Bucky had it all wrong, Peter had helped because he knew what that panic felt like. When Peter started snoring, Bucky carried him upstairs to a couch, not believing how light the kid was. He swore to himself, that he would protect this kid.
Thor always had a soft spot for the boy of spiders. Peter was always willing to teach the God about any strange customs or traditions the Midgardians had. It was when Peter showed him how to build lego sets, that Thor felt a pang in his heart, like the one he felt for his brother Loki. While he enjoyed fighting with the young hero, the best moments where when the two could simply have fun together.
Sam, Wanda, and Clint fell in love when Peter finally beat Clint a mario kart. Something all three of them were not expecting. The happy grin on Peter’s face when Sam whooped and hollered, Clint sliding to the ground in frustration, and Wanda smirking at the first place line up. The genuine smile from the teen melted their hearts and they knew they were going to protect their small spider.
Steve fell in love on a rough mission. Some scientist with an ego problem, as Tony had put it, was hell bent on destroying New York for some reason or another. Robots crashing into buildings, explosions, screaming civilians. It felt like a war zone. So, when he sent Spiderman to evacuate a building, Steve thought it was the best way to keep the young spider safe. It was, until Spiderman was trying to find one missing person in the basement and the building had collapsed. The comms were connected, so the entire team could hear as Spiderman yelled in surprise. There was a mix of confused and panicked questions as Spiderman simply responded.
“It’s okay, I’m holding the building up,” gasps and swearing erupted from the team, “it’s alright.”
He listened as Peter groaned at the weight of an entire building crushing him. Tony was yelling, so was most of the team, but Steve listened to Peter. Trying to hear any clues to how the boy was doing. Steve wanted to scream at Tony, punch him in the gut for bringing a 15-year-old into such a dangerous life but then he heard Peter speaking softly again.
“It’s okay” Peter’s voiced strained but was still soothing in tone, “it’s okay.” Steve could hear whimpering in the background. “I’ve got you..I’ll…I’ll keep this-this building up. Can you tell me your name?” he panted.
“Emily” the voice was so impossibly small, so impossibly soft.
“Emily! Wow what a nice name!” Peter tried to add cheer to his tired voice, “I’m Spiderman, it’s nice to meet you.” More whimpering. “How-ugh-how old are you Emily?” Every creak was sure to be the thing that crushed him, every panting breath was sure to be Peter’s last, and Steve could not stand it. He fought four times as hard as he listened to Peter.
“E-eight” the small voice gasped out between tears.
“Eight, wow, you must go to school, right? What’s your favorite subject?” Peter kept his tone as level as he could with him holding a building on top of him.
“Reading…I like stories” Emily answered, her voice seeming to calm a bit with each question. Peter kept this up for 15 minutes. 15 minutes. But Peter never faltered, never showed any fear. When they could, all the Avengers sprinted to the kid. Tony was the first there and got the little girl out. Steve, with Bucky, helped peter hold the building until they could all figure a way out. Unsurprisingly Peter collapsed as soon as he was out mumbling exhausted thanks to the team as Steve ran him to the quinn jet. As Bruce scanned and checked Peter’s vitals, his mask off to accommodate the oxygen mask. The small hero looked at Steve.
“Is-“ Peter croaked, “did Emily get out okay?” Steve had to blink away tears.
“Yeah kid, she’s alright.”
“Good, that’s good.” Peter let his eyes close, with a soft smile. Steve let his tears fall as he watched Peter sleep soundly.
Natasha wished she could say that she started caring for the young spider when he did something heroic. Like when she watched Peter save 15 firefighters from a collapsed warehouse. Or as he scooped up a young crying child after the others tackled the child abuser to the ground. Or as she watched Peter calm Bucky out of a PTSD attack. Hell, even saying she started caring after Peter had beaten Clint in Mario kart, which was something the whole team had tried at one point. No, those things helped but none of those were when the young spider caught her in his web. It was earlier than the rest of the team. Natasha had been trailing Peter, scoping him out, making sure he really was a high school genius. After the last bell rang, she watched as Peter left the school out into a downpour of rain. He had no umbrella or jacket to speak of and was drenched in a matter of moments. She watched as the young hero took a quick pace back home but paused suddenly. A rush of adrenaline hit Natasha, maybe she had gotten too close, she thought she had kept enough distance to keep the spiderling unaware but now he was frozen on the sidewalk. Before Natasha could hide, Peter took off across the street. With expert precision he ran than slid as much of his body into a sewer drain. After a few moments, water rushing over the teens’ body, he pulled a small kitten out. It was mewing and crying, soaked to the bone. Peter held it close to his chest as he pulled himself from the drain and off the street. Natasha watched as he took the little thing to an animal clinic nearly an hour walks away from his home. And if Peter came back to his apartment to a new set of clothes and a new umbrella with a note saying: “Take care baby spider. -Mama Spider” on top. No one had to know.
Tony would not admit it, but the whole team knew from the look in his eyes, that he loved Peter as much as they did.