Chapter 7
“Huh - wha?” Steve jolts awake from his nap as Tony comes to a sudden stop and sharply turns the car around.
“Kid. There’s a kid in the rain, almost missed him - with the hoodie -”
“Tony.”
“He’s out in the rain at night in the middle of where the hell are we now?” Tony squints at his GPS and shakes his head. “Nebraska, where the - hey kid, where are ya headed?”
“Cool car, Mister. I’m trying to get to California.”
“Steve-”
“Huh?”
“Hop out so the kid can get in?”
“Right. Sorry.” Steve opens the door and slowly uncurls from his seat, then steps out of the car and stretches to his full height.
“No effing way! But you’re - you’re him and -” The boy leans in through the window and shakes his head. "You're -"
“Kid, you comin’ or not? We don’t want the old man getting too wet -”
“Right, yeah, okay, sorry.” He walks around to the other side, pushes the seat forward and slips easily into the back seat, then pulls off his soaked rucksack and lowers his hood.
Steve drops back into the front seat again and pulls it up to give the kid a bit more leg room, then turns to face him.
“You know who we are. What do we call you, kid?”
“I’m Peter, Peter Parker.” He takes Steve's offered hand gives it a squeeze.
“Damn, Peter, quite the grip.”
“Sorry. Uhm. Mr. Rogers. Not used to being around people so much. Forgot -”
“Call me Cap, Peter. This is Tony. Where are you from?”
“New York.”
Steve rolls his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, I know. Whereabouts?”
“Queens.”
“Brooklyn.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Peter rubs his nose nervously. “Everyone knows about you. I still can’t believe -”
“When did you last eat, Pete?” Tony looks up at him through his rear view mirror and sighs. Dark circles under his eyes told him it had been a while since the boy had really slept, and he was in desperate need of a haircut, but he had obviously been trying to keep up his appearance; he was used to being on the road, to being on his own, for a while now, he guesses.
Peter shrugs. “Couple days maybe, don’t know really -”
“Next place we come to - we’ll stop, okay? For now, try to sleep.”
“Thanks, uhm, Mr. Stark.”
“Kid, call me Tony, yeah?”
“I don’t think so.” With that, he curls up in the backseat and under a minute, the rattle of a snore can be heard from the backseat.
“Tony.”
“We’ll figure out who he is once we get to my place.”
“His grip.”
Tony turns and glances down at his friend’s hand, the bruise is already beginning to heal, but the imprint that was fading was still in the shape of fingermarks. “The kid?”
Steve nods. “He’s -”
Tony sighs again and looks back at the sleeping boy. “Well, if anyone can help him, it’s us, yeah?”
“What do we know about kids?”
“We were kids once, remember? Remember how much it sucked being alone? Can you imagine what it must be like to be what he is at his age and alone?” He rolls his eyes as the rain picks up again, and he mutters, “next exit, we’ll find a place to crash for the night.”
“Tony -”
“I know, but we’re all he’s got, and I’m not gonna let him down. Just got a feeling about him, Steve, trust me, yeah?”
“Yeah," Steve pauses, and looks at him before he yawns and closes his eyes before he mutters, " I do."
Tony raises an eyebrow at him, but doesn’t say a word as he starts the car again and drives back into the storm.