Chapter 1
Shawarma.
That’s the only thing on the avengers mind as they walk in silence to the nearest shawarma joint.
Until they see someone walk by.
Rather stumble, to be honest. And that would've been no surprise, as people are usually bolting up and down the streets of New York. But this wasn’t a usual day, not in the slightest. The avengers just defeated a massive army of space dogs. And anyone with even the slightest shred of common sense would have evacuated by now.
To say the avengers were stunned would be an understatement. After such a taxing battle, they thought they would be off the hook by now. All they wanted to do try some shawarma like Tony suggested. But what left them completely stoked was the fact that, after seeing that it was a young boy, was the fact that they all though and assumed he was a little.
Maybe the were wrong. Or maybe it was the inner caregiver in all of them, or the obvious look of despair on the kids. Maybe it was the fact that his eyes were red rimmed, with tears ready to spill, or the fact that he looked to be dressed in clothes that seemed to have been made specifically for littles, but the avengers immediately stopped in place.
They could clearly see the little boy in front of them was hurt and in distress, hence the stumbling and the tears, but mentally, after the fight they just won, they couldn’t do much more than just stand there.
What was such an adorable little boy doing on the street, alone, after such a savage and brutal attack?
The young boy seemed to be sporting some Star Wars merchandise, with a light saber in one hand, and a Princess Leia plush in the other. He looked to be no more than 5 feet tall and had an overall small stature. Because of this, the avengers didn’t think he could be a day over 11 years old.
The first superhero to react was Thor, moving towards the boy. Although he was shocked like the rest of them, it wasn’t far too unusual for him to be fighting large alien space armies that sought to take over and destroy an entire realm. Hell, he did almost daily, for fun! If it wasn’t for the fact that Loki was responsible for bringing the battle to Midgard himself, he might have even enjoyed himself. But that wasn’t the case at all.
Looking to the issue at hand, Thor began to slowly approach the boy. The closer he got to the boy, the more upset he seemed to become. Though the rest of the team was far behind him, the could see it, as well as hear it in his whimpering. For someone by the name of...May?
“Hello there little one,” Thor said as he continued his advance toward the child. His greeting seemed to fall on deaf ears though, as all he heard in response was,
“May…May? Where’d you go May-May?”
The boy whines,“Auntie May May, I don’t want to play hide-n-go seek anymore…Auntie please come out. Please?”
And finally with a whimper, “I was good boy today, like I said I’d be! You don’ have to hide no more May-May…,”
The words seemed to shatter the hearts of all those present, and the hereos immediately sprang into action.
Bruce began to rake his eyes over the boy's body, looking up and down for any external injuries.
Natasha stood guard for anyone who may attempt to approach the boy.
Clint scanned his immediate surroundings for any other civilian who may be the person who may or may not be the kid's aunt
Tony slowly approached him in hopes of finding anything on the child that he can run by Jarvis.
Thor furiously paced back and forth, upset at the thought of Loki being responsible for what may have happened to this young one and his aunt.
And finally, Steve Rogers, actually going to talk to the boy, because if there was any superhero a young boy would be comfortable talking to, it'd be Captain America, right?
Wrong.
Though the boy didn’t exactly cower away from the man, he didn’t exactly loosen up either.
“You-…you’re C-Captain America” the boy nearly exclaimed, in surprise, rather than what probably would have been excitement on a normal day.
“That I am, son,” Steve chuckled sadly, because at the very least, the boy could recognize someone, “What’s your name kid?” He asked in what he thought to be a gentle voice. Apparently not though, because rather than answering his question, he seemed to ask questions of his own,
“Are the rest of the ‘vengers here?” he inquired, “Iron man too? Can I see iron man? He can help me. He saved me last year at the Stark Expo. He can help me find Aunt May” the boy explained hurriedley.
To say Tony was astonished was an understatement. With all the bad press he has gotten in his past and most definitely will receive in his future, most parents discouraged their children from even mentioning his name in their home, let alone taking them to the Stark Expo.
It finally dawned on Tony that this was the kid with the Iron Man mask on, ready to stave off the bad guys, even when it was only mask. The kid that he saved from one of those wretched. What even are the odds of something like that? well that doesn’t matter at the moment, not as much as the fact that this kid was here, all alone, injured, and lost.
Channeling that memory and these thoughts, Tony got closer to the boy.
“Yeah kid, I remember. You were really brave then, brave enough to fight off the bad guys. Do you think you can be brave like that right now?” Tony asks gently, waiting for a response. After receiving a slight nod, he continues,
“That’s great bud, can you tell me what your name is?”
“It-it’s Peter…Peter Parker. Bu-but you guys can call me Petey, like everyone else does” he answers shyly.
“Okay, Petey it is. Nice name by the way. Any who, what’s a little boy like you doing out here?” Tony asks imploringly. There has to be a good reason for this right now.
“Um-um.. me and my aunty were at the Star Wars convention because today’s May 4th and people say ‘May the fourth be with you’ cause it sounds like ‘May the force be with you’ which is from Stars and…” Peter gets a little carried away with his explanation, but Tony, along with the rest of the team, doesn’t mind in the least bit. It’s actually quite endearing to listen to. “… and then we were running outside to get away from the big monsters and I-,” Peter starts to get a little tearful, “and I accidentally let go of May-May’s hand. I didn’t mean to! I swear! There was just too many people” a few tears slip down Peter’s cheeks, but he continues with his story,
“An’ so when I realized I let go, I tried to be a big boy and be brave like May tells me. She tells me when something dangerous happens, run and hide as far as I can go. So I did, just like she told me to. An now I can’t find her” Peter finally lets out a small sob.
All the avenger's hearts ache for the boy. They all felt a tad guilty at what they heard, more or less for the same reason. If it wasn’t for their arguing and foolishness on the helicarrier, Loki would have never escaped and there wouldn’t have been a battle causing Peter to get separated from his aunt in the first place. But they all knew they couldn’t be distracted by their feelings and immediately sprang into action.
“Okay Petey, just breathe. Can you do that for us?” Steve gently begins, “You see me breathing, in and out like this?” Steve continually exaggerates his breathing so as to encourage Peter to follow the same breathing pattern.
Bruce patiently waits for Steve to help Peter get his breathing under control so he can get closer to the boy and examine him as thoroughly as he can. Once Steve did his part, Bruce began his question.
“Hello there, Peter. I’m-,” Bruce’s introduction was swiftly cut short by Peter, who easily recognized him as, “Bruce Banner! Wow I never thought I was gonna get to meet you, I’ve read so much about you, like the time you...” he babble on, excitedly. Though the adults were thoroughly flabbergasted by the way Peter was able to get so energetic after just crying about his missing aunt, they didn’t bother to point it out.
No, they just continued on as if it were the most casual thing in the world.
“That I am, Peter. I was wondering if you could tell me about those injuries on your knee and head” Bruce worded as mildly as could, so as to not to alert the boy.
Of course, it did just that.
Peter’s eyes began to water once more, as he seemed to be noticing the bruises and cuts for the first time. He clearly didn't seem to realize them until they were pointed out to him. Bruce hurries to calm him down,
"Hey, Hey, calm down Peter. It's nothing too bad," Bruce considers, as he gets a closer look at them, "Just a couple of scrapes really, nothing to worry about. If you let me, I could look at them for you and we can patch you right up" he offers reassuringly. Peter nodded hurriedly, focused on the newly-present sting on his knee.
As Bruce went on to give Peter a more thorough physical assessment with Steve adding in words of input and comfort, Tony was bickering with Jarvis.
"What do you mean no results available, J?" Tony questioned his A.I incredulously, "Are you sure you searched for the right people? I said Peter and May Parker," Tony continued. Though he had complete faith in his own creation, he couldn't believe it, "None at all? Cross check it. The kid has to have family somewhere," because even though there was no proof of her demise, Tony couldn't help but let his mind roam and consider one of the more likely outcomes of this situation; May Parker's death.
"No sir, there are currently no known living relatives of Peter Parker aside from May Parker."
Seeing the look of gloom on Tony's face, Natasha approaches him. If there was one thing she knew, it was that look.
"Whatd'ya got on him?"
"It's what he doesn't have, really. He's got nothing, Nat. No other family,"' he sighs "Its just him and his aunt, and that's only if she's still alive. Things aren't looking too good for this kid.”
Natasha nodded in understanding. Even she, The Black Widow, began to feel sympathy for the boy. How could she not? By the way he spoke of his aunt, Tony, and Bruce, along with the adorable facial expressions, it'd be impossible not to have her heart warmed by Peter.
Natasha glanced towards Bruce, who was patching Peter's knee up with a band-aid from God knows where, while Steve distracts him with what are probably the most cheesy jokes on Earth. As soon as she sees Peter giggle, she vows to herself that she would find Peter a nice, loving family, in the case that Tony’s assumption about his aunt is true.
Clint breaks the tense atmosphere that's looming around everyone, sans Peter, by suggesting they continue on to their original destination,
"Hey Peter, I promise that we're going to find your aunt. But in the meantime, do you think you'd be up for some shawarma?" He questions earnestly, "All of this mind control and fighting aliens got me real hungry,"
Peter looks towards the new voice, who he can now recognize as Hawkeye's. "I wanna eat with the Avengers! That sounds so cool," he exclaims, but then hesitates, "But, um, Mr. Hawkeye, I've never had sh-shawarma before."
"That's okay kid, it'll be a new experience for all us. Now," Clint approaches Peter and slings an arm around his shoulders, "c'mon, there's a shawarma joint right around the block. Let's hope it's as good as it sounds."
And as the two walk off, the rest of the team can't do anything else but follow them.