Bit of an angst fest/ last chapter
After Natasha practically kicked Fury out, Peter became less of a prisoner and more of a guest. He took his mask off and sat down on the couch. The team began to guess Peter’s actual name which took a surprisingly long time.
“Joseph,” Shuri guessed getting increasingly frustrated.
“Nope,” Peter replied smiling proudly as if having an unguessable name was something to be proud of.
“Jeremy.”
“Nuh uh.”
“JJ?” Shuri asked more than guessed.
Once again Peter shook his head.
“Jessica?” She asked desperately. Steve looked up at her in confusion. “What? He kinda looks like one.” She threw her hands up and groaned.
Of course the others all joined in too. Wanda was clearly trying extremely hard not to read Peter’s mind and just find out. The guessing went on for another few minutes and Peter admitted that he found himself enjoying it. It was also a massive relief that they weren’t anywhere near it.
That was until Tony came into the room. He waltzed into the room as you do when you’re The Tony Stark. He sat down and simply said, “Peter?”
Peter’s head whipped upwards too quickly to deny it. The others surprisingly weren’t happy to find out Spider-man’s name. “Boo,” Clint heckled at him. “That was my next guess.”
“Yeah well it wasn’t exactly a guess per say,” he admitted sheepishly holding up his phone showing the scan that Friday had conducted.
“I don’t see why we couldn’t try to guess this Man of Peters’ middle name.”
Tony announced that he already had that much to the relief of the team.
Later the team had agreed that he did in fact look like a Peter. All but Shuri who was too stubborn to admit that he looked more like a Peter than a Jessica.
Tony’s scan didn’t fall short on details about Peter much to his dismay. School pictures and newspaper articles entertained the team immensely.
“Hey Bruce,” Natasha called at one point as she was searching through photos. “The spider-kid kind of looks like you in this one,” she showed him a picture in an article. Peter remembered that day clearly. He had just won the science fair. Ben and May had brought him out for ice cream in Mr Delmars. It was the happiest time he’d had since his parents passed.
Damn, he wanted nothing less than to cry in front of Earths Mightiest Heroes. He quickly headed for the bathroom. The team were too absorbed in laughing at the funny photos to notice anyway.
Tony fished through earlier files in the scan in hopes for another funny photo of Parker. The team were starting to piece together Spider-man’s life and boy was it not what he was expecting. Opening a new file he found a rosy cheeked toddler glowing with joy, standing beside what could only be his parents in a lab. He frowned when he remembered hearing the Spider-kid mention that he hadn’t any parents.
What really upset him however, was when he read the file and realized that his parents worked in Oscorp. Disgusted, he shouted out as if it pained him to see it. The team didn’t seem to bothered as they were used to his dramatic antics. He was about to accuse the Spider- Kid of the highest treason when he noticed that he wasn’t there.
Maybe the spider kid left, Tony supposed. Technically he didn’t have to stay as they had all the information they needed on him. Still, he thought that everyone was enjoying themselves. Before realizing that in fact they had kidnapped and interrogated him. He couldn’t possibly fathom befriending his kidnappers from Afghanistan.
He sighed a little to himself as he looked over at the team smiling and laughing with each other. He felt a little empty at the lack of the Spider-kid. Back to two science bros he supposed. And Natasha had shown a strangely maternal side to her the team had never seen before with the kid.
Just as he was mourning the loss, the little brat came in. Albeit a little red almost as if he had been crying. Tony decided that it was possibly not the right time to accuse him of treason. For now at least.
The team never mentioned Peter’s upset appearance. Natasha gave him a knowing nod and Peter smiled back gently.
The team calmed down and began telling childhood stories about themselves. Tony and Natasha kept their heads down in the files to stay busy.
That was until Natasha slowly opened a file. It was a newspaper article that Peter recognized straight away. He shook his head willing his eyes not to water again. Natasha looked up. She reached over to him and wrapped her arm around him. The team noticed the exchange and looked around curiously.
“Why did you become Spider-Man, Peter?” Steve asked gently.
Peter took in a shaky breath. He knew this question would come up eventually. “Uh my uh nope umm,” he struggled to find words. “My uh, my uncle Ben died and it was my fault and there’s no point in you trying to tell me otherwise but yeah. He was shot. I had powers. I didn’t use them so he ...” Peter’s voice trailed off.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” he finished. “Not like you lot need to be told though.”
The team smiled at his effort to brighten up the mood. “You didn’t shoot the gun, you didn’t kill him,” Steve told him. Peter knew that but never took it to heart. He had been told too many times.
“Welp,” Peter clapped his hands. “Lets move on now.”
“Did your parents not even consider Jessica?” Shuri asked smiling.
“I’m just going to be leaving now,” Peter announced. “This was fun. Kidnap me whenever you want. Just maybe let my aunt know next time.”
“Whenever you need us we’re here, Peter” Bruce told him kindly before Wanda and Shuri smushed them all into a group hug.
Peter smiled as he left the tower. He continued smiling on the bus ride home. He smiled as he came in the door of his house before hearing, “PARKER, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN.”
His phone chimed later that night. He looked down and saw that he had been added to the Avengers group chat. He couldn’t wait to tell Ned.