seven.
Wade and Peter roamed for a while after leaving the alleyway finally. Well, Peter roamed, Wade followed.
Wade was busy being on the lookout for one of Peter's parents. Though either Wade wasn't paying enough attention, or this guy was just that good, because when the man with the metal arm showed up, Wade never saw him coming.
Peter jumped and ripped his earbuds out quick enough to hear Bucky shouting something in Russian.
"You know, I don't speak Russian, but he sounds pissed, Petey."
"Yeah, no shit." Peter walks forward to intercept Bucky, who's on his way to Wade.
Peter's Spidey-Senses were tingling like crazy. Someone was going to die. Death was the last thing he needed right now.
Bucky reared back to swing, but Peter grabbed onto the metal arm and pulled just enough to stop Bucky mid-swing. Bucky turned and he looked furious, and Peter didn't miss the gun strapped to his thigh or the knife strapped to his ankle. Bucky, in his fit of rage, grabbed Peter by the hood of his jacket and started dragging him to the car.
See, Peter doesn't like hitting people, not really. But he really doesn't like being pushed around either. He brings his elbow back and it collides with Bucky's gut. "Let me go!"
Being choked by his jacket was bringing back the unsavory memories he'd just shook less than an hour ago. His eyes went wide as he flashed back to being crushed once more, suffocated by the rubble.
Wade must have noticed because Peter heard a gun cock. "Let him go."
Bucky just stared. "Don't tell me what to do."
Peter clawed at the metal hand gripping his hood. His hands began to shake. "Let me- Please, let go."
"You're scaring him!" Wade snapped, and the thought of scaring Peter seemed to be enough to snap Bucky back because in the next second he was freeing Peter from his grip. He was staring at Peter as he crumpled to the ground, but his free hand pulled his gun and pointed it at Wade.
He wasn't looking, but they all knew that he wouldn't miss if he pulled the trigger. "Peter? Peter are you alright?"
Peter wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed his eyes shut. He knew that he was safe. He knew that he was out in the open with plenty of space, but he still felt trapped. The world felt too small. Like there wasn't any space for anything real. Like there wasn't any space for him at all.
Wade took a step forward and Bucky's attention snapped to him. "Don't move."
"I'm just trying to help."
Bucky didn't move. Peter whimpered. He could see the rock falling. He could feel the weight of it on top of him. Wade moved forward again, and Bucky shot him in the thigh. Peter flinched at the gunshot and Wade kept moving forward anyway, finally falling to the ground next to Peter.
"Petey. Hey. Look at me."
Peter looked up, eyes brimmed with tears.
"You're safe."
Peter squeezed his eyes shut. "It's too- Everything, it's- Wade, it's too small."
Wade shook his head, though Peter couldn't see him. "The world is massive. It's so big. The cities, the ocean, space! You like space, don't you Peter?"
Absentmindedly, Peter nodded. He was trying to imagine the stars at night and all the planets and the moon through his telescope.
"Think about how fucking HUGE space is. Peter, the world is so big."
----
The moment Bucky returns home with Peter: chaos. Tony is shouting about how they were called by no less than four people, how five different machines had been sent out to fly over the entire state of New York, and how Peter was lucky if he was ever going to step foot off the base again, because the one time he leaves, he ends up with a deadly assassin. Steve is giving the stare, and Natasha is dead silent. Peter can feel himself beginning to panic again because the longer Tony goes on, the louder he gets. He's walking around the room, arms waving wildly as he speaks and he's getting closer to Peter as he goes along.
Peter takes a step backward once Tony's only a couple of feet away, but Tony follows him step for step. Peter doesn't try to speak, he's sure his voice wouldn't work now anyway. Steve's expression is softening, he can see Peter's panic. Steve reaches an arm out towards Tony, but he isn't listening. He hasn't even stopped talking yet.
"Mr. Stark, please- I'm sorry."
"No, this is where you keep your mouth shut! I'm not finished! You-"
"Tony, that's enough." Steve used his Captain America tone. Tony kept on not listening.
"You blatantly disregarded everything I told you before you even went back there, what makes you think-"
"Tony."
Peter whimpered. Tony was only a couple of feet away now.
"I oughta lock you up just like that assassin back there, because that's what you could have been today Peter! That's what you-"
Natasha stepped forward at the same time that Bucky stepped in front of Peter. "Tony!"
The room was silent for just a moment before Peter let out a sob. Tony's face fell, as did his anger. He never meant to make the kid cry.
Steve began to look angry with Tony, and Bucky already looked downright furious.
Peter was shaking violently, tears streaming down his face. "I- I'll be-" He hiccuped between sobbing and trying to force the words out. "I'll be good! I'm-" He broke off into a fit of sobs, but it didn't take a genius to realize that he was about to apologize.
If Wade were here to see this, he'd be furious.
Natasha brushed past Tony and Bucky both to pull Peter into her arms. She shushed him gently as she led him from the room.
Tony looked lost. "God, I really am just like my father, aren't I?"
Bucky was quick to agree. "It's funny. I didn't like your father either."
That made Tony hurt, and that's exactly what Bucky wanted. He wanted Tony to hurt right now for those things he said to Peter.
Steve sighs. "Peter is just a child, Tony, he's fragile. You have to watch how you talk to the kid."
"My old man used to yell at me and I turned out fine."
"No, Tony, you turned into a man that yells at already broken children. He had a lapse in judgment, and it happens to everyone. The Stark's aren't exactly infallible now, are they?"
Tony bit his tongue.
"You're going to apologize to Peter later." Bucky said before leaving the room.
Steve sighed and pulled Tony close. "I'm not saying I'm done being mad about this, because I'm not."
Tony didn't care if Steve was mad still, he was just glad to be in his arms.