Son of a Widow - ShayWritesandReads (2024)

Chapter 1: Homework and Fun

Chapter Text

I exit the limo with a wide smile on my face, excited to see my second family- The Avengers. This team brought me in when I felt all alone. Happy gets out of the vehicle on the drivers side with my backpack and walks around the car to follow me inside. This isn't my first time at the Avengers Compound, I've been here a million times before, but each time I feel like it's my first time walking up these steps.

I enter in through the first set of automatic sliding doors that lead to the second set of doors, the merry-go-round spinning doors that every child loves. Me and Happy enter the spinning doors and walk the semi-circle to get inside the large building. Inside, Tony Stark is waiting for me.

"How was the drive?" He asks and opens his arms for a hug.

"Great! We stopped at McDonalds and Happy got me some chicken nuggets and an apple juice", I say happily. I hug him tightly for a second before letting go. Tony looks at me with a soft smile.

"Of course he did." Tony states and then we walk down the hallway towards the elevators to get to the lounge. It's not too long of a walk before we enter the elevator and are greeted by Tony's A.I. F.RI.D.A.Y.

"Hello Peter, Mr. Stark, and Mr. Hogan, what floor are you wishing to go to?" The A.I. asks kindly.

"3rd floor Fri." Tony says confidently.

The elevator whirs into motion and before we know it we're inside the lounge where half the team is sitting together playing video games. Clint and Steve are playing Call of Duty, Steve is losing since he barely knows how to work the controller and Clint keeps killing him as soon as he respawns.

"Barton you're an asshole you know that?" Steve almost shouts.

Clint laughs at the remark. Natasha stands up from the ottoman she's sitting at and waves to me with a smile. "Language Steve, the kids here." She says jokingly.

Happy hands me my backpack and then walks off and goes into the kitchen and I walk over by Natasha who gives me a soft side hug just before I sit down on the couch right behind her, setting my backpack down beside me. Thor gets up and follows Happy into the kitchen while Steve hands the controller over to me. "Show Barton how it's done Parker."

I hand the controller over to Bucky who is sitting to the right of me, "nah I got homework I gotta do, but I will watch a game before then".

"It kills me how responsible you are." Tony remarks leaning on the back of the couch.

I chuckle a little and Clint and Bucky start the game. Bucky immediately goes to find somewhere to snipe from and Clint is running around on the ground trying to find him. Thor is eating PopTarts in the kitchen and Happy is heating up leftovers. Steve gets up and walks out of the room, I assume for his afternoon workout. Natasha leans closer to me and whispers, "C'mon lets go find you somewhere quiet to get your homework done." I nod and we both get up from the couch and exit the room. We enter the hallway the all the teams bedrooms and we walk halfway down the hall to Nat's room.

She opens the door revealing a red and black colored room with her logo mantled up above her bed frame. The room is dimly lit and elegant, the desk black toned wood with a comfy office chair. She has black bedding, neatly made, and everything in the room is neatly organized.

"Use my desk would you like to use a speaker to play some music?" she asks nicely.

I smile and nod and she goes to the other end of the room to a three-drawer organizer and pulls out a black Bluetooth speaker, she turns it on and pulls out her phone to connect to it. She clicks a few buttons on the phone and hands me it. Spotify is open and she tells me to play anything I want. I find a playlist of a mix of pop and rock music from early 2000s. The music starts playing loudly but I turn it down almost to it's lowest setting I sit down at the desk and set my backpack on the floor next to me and grab out my laptop. Natasha lies down on the bed and grabs out a book from the bookshelf that's on the right side of the bed. I get started on my essay for my English class about the book we just finished reading - Animal Farm by George Orwell. I don't really know where to begin since I barely understood the book. I start by looking up summaries online and online forums about the book. This gives me a good understanding of what happened in the book and how to start the paper. Listening to the quiet hum of the music and Natasha flipping the pages in her book puts me in a nice focus zone and I breeze through the essay in less than an hour. I then move onto working on my math homework which I finish very quickly and move onto my favorite subject - science. The homework doesn't take me long but I put in a lot of extra effort that I don't need to just so I can work on the project a little longer. After about 2 hours of work I find myself yawning and wanting to be done. I take Natasha's phone and pause the music. She looks up from her book to see me packing up my laptop back into my backpack. "All done?" she asks putting a bookmark in the book and closing it.

"For now, I got a lot done, I just have a history paper to write before Wednesday and I don't really want to work on it right now."

"Fair enough." she states, "What do you want to do now?"

"I think I'm going to go see what Tony's working on in the lab." I say.

"Sounds fun, don't blow anything up. I'm going to read a few more chapters of this book and then I'll come find you." She says with a smile.

I smile back and grab my things before exiting the room. I walk back to the lunge where Steve and Clint are arguing about something that I don't care enough to get involved in. I click the call button for the elevator and it makes the "ding" noise before opening. I enter and the doors close behind me.

"Good afternoon Peter, where to?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. greets me.

"the basem*nt please F.R.I.D.A.Y."

The elevator whirs in movement just like before and within thirty seconds I'm entering Tony's lab where he's sitting at his computer mumbling something. "Hi Mr. Stark, what are you working on?" I ask. He jumps a little when hearing my voice.

"sh*t kid, you can't sneak up on people like that" He states. "I'm working on a new suit for you, wanna see?"

"Hell yeah!" I exclaim.

I walk closer to his desk that's in the middle of the room and a slightly lifted platform that I've tripped on tons of times in the past. He shows me his designs, adding boosters so I can fly if I run out of web fluid. I admit, it looks cool, but just not the Spider-Man style. "I like it, I do, but it's just not my style. Spider-Man doesn't fly."

"What about when you fought Mysterio?" he questions.

"That was gliding. And the wings were made to look like webs. Rocket boosters on my hands and feet throw off the whole look and ruin the aesthetic".

"But you'll be able to freely fly, what every teenager dreams of"

"Nah, I want to swing."

"Why can't you just be like every other teenager?" He jokes.

"Because I like to be special."

He invites me to help him apply the rocket boosters to try to fit the aesthetic. Despite the fact that I hate the idea, I know he's only insisting on it to keep me safe, which is why I agree to it. Besides, the only reason May lets me be a superhero is because Tony promised to keep me alive and mostly unharmed.

Tony plays a 70s rock playlist and the two of us get to work, me vetoing almost every suggestion he makes and adding my own little tweaks when his back is turned. It's just how we roll, especially when making or upgrading my suits. After about an hour of work Natasha comes down to the lab. Me and tony are both in the zone and don't even see her enter the lab until she shouts "HEY NERDS!" causing both of us to jump a little.

"What?" Tony says in an annoyed tone.

"Hi Nat!" I greet happily, "How is the book?"

"Great, I was about to make some cookies, want to help?" She asks.

"Hmm maybe another day, I want to keep working on this suit, but I'll come up later so save me some!"

"Alright deal. Tony make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"I make no promises, engineering is dangerous."

Natasha rolls her eyes and ruffles my hair before walking back to the elevator. Me and Tony get back to work on the suit. We're about halfway done as he adds the rocket boosters to the bottom of the suit and I paint them and add extra web details. The suit starts to resemble the Iron-Spider suit but with boosters and other additions. After Tony finishes the second leg and I continue painting and detailing he works on adding F.R.I.D.A.Y into the suit which will probably take 4 hours at least. After working on detailing for another hour I am finished and try to get Tony's attention who is practically dead to the world with how focused he his. It takes him five minutes just to notice I'm talking to him.

"Hm?" He raises his eyebrow giving me his confused look.

"I'm going to head back up!" I shout over the loud music. He nods and gets back to work and I walk back to the elevator and head back to the lounge. Once I exit the elevator I smell freshly made chocolate chip cookies that half the team is snacking on, including Natasha. "Hello Man-of-Spiders!" Thor yells across the room. Natasha looks my direction, then smiles and waves me over. Steve is standing next to her eating a cookie with his face in a newspaper. I walk over to the island counter and take a seat Natasha hands me three cookies and a glass of milk.

"Are you hungry for some real food kiddo?" She asks.

"Yeah kinda, what do you have?"

She walks over to the fridge and bends down to look inside. "Lets see here.. we've got leftover steak, potatoes, spaghetti, and alfredo." She states.

"I'll have some spaghetti please, thanks!" I exclaim and start eating my cookies.

She starts serving me a plate and heating it up while Steve sets down his newspaper and starts talking to me about school. Simple questions like what my grades are, if I like it, if I have any friends, and if I have a crush. I answer all his questions and then he goes into homework questions, telling me if I need any help with history he's always willing to. Which I almost feel is cheating speaking he lived through it, but hey whatever gets me the good grade, right?

The spaghetti finishes microwaving and Natasha hands me the plate along with a fork and I start eating. I love pasta, reminds me of the trip to Italy I took last year, even though that trip had its bumps with Mysterio and all, it was really fun when I wasn't fighting and worrying about saving the world. I tell Tony all the time that I want to do a semester abroad in Italy, but he says I wouldn't last longer than a week away from New York. Because of that, I am determined to prove him wrong.

After I finish eating, Steve offers to do something with me and I make the suggestion of making a fort. Natasha and Clint decide to join in, we go to the other side of the building into another lounge that not many people use and make a collection of pillows and blankets along the way. Each of us grab things from our bedrooms (and steal a few things from others') and when we reach the second lounge we toss all the blankets and pillows to the floor. We begin making the fort, having a blast and enjoying each others' company. I love these days with the team, it totally beats sitting at May's alone watching tv by myself. I just wish May would let me come around here more, instead of just on some weekends when she works late.

After a lot of hard work, we finish building the fort and choose to watch a movie together inside the fort. We choose to watch a LEGO Starwars movie and Steve makes some popcorn. We relax and watch the movie together until Tony comes to get me to bring me back to May's. Sadly, I won't be able to come back for two weeks since May wants me to have my birthday party at the house next weekend. I am excited to see what awaits me when I get back though.

Chapter 2: Part 2

Chapter Text

When I wake up I smell pancakes burning and the smoke alarm is going off. Figures, whenever May cooks it doesn't end well. I rub my eyes open and force myself out of bed. I slip on a shirt and my fuzzy crocs and walk into the kitchen that is engulfed in smoke. May is swatting a towel in the air but forgot the most crucial thing; to open a window. I walk over to the window that's above the sink and open it widely. I then grab a towel to help push the smoke out. "May! I told you I didn't need a special breakfast." I say once the alarm is silent.

She kisses me lightly on my cheek, "I know sweetheart, but it's your sweet sixteen! I wanted you to have breakfast waiting for you" she smiles sheepishly. I give her a hug in return.

"Thank you, May." I smile. I walk over to the counter where there's sausage links that are edible. I drizzle some syrup over them and eat them with a fork. "The sausage is great" I chuckle.

She hits me lightly with the towel that's still in her hand, "I tried!"

She takes a bite out of a crispy burnt pancake and immediately spits it out into the garbage can. "Yeah maybe it's a good thing you didn't eat any of those." She goes to the sink and gets a cup of water and practically chugs it.

I laugh at her and keep eating my food. She then asks me what the plan is today, and if I invited anyone over to celebrate. I told her I invited Ned, MJ, and MJ's girlfriend, Shuri. She then tells me that Tony will be stopping by later too and I get excited to see him. I thank her for letting him come over, especially since I know she doesn't like me going over to the compound as much as I do and she wishes she got to spend more alone time with me. She tells me that it's my special day and that I deserve to have the people I love around me. part of me wonders what she's up to but I don't care enough to question her. She is right, it's my sweet sixteen and I would love to spend some of the day with a member of my Avengers family. I tell her that Ned, MJ, and Shuri aren't coming until noon so we have the morning to spend together. She asks me what I want to do and I think of a plan for us to go out to breakfast together and then go to my favorite café to get a birthday cake for the party. She agrees and we decide to go to IHOP.

After cleaning up the breakfast mess and the rest of the apartment, we get into her old Volkswagen and drive off into the city to the nearest IHOP. May does a terrible parking job, but doesn't care enough to fix it, and we head inside. The restaurant is pretty dead, with only us and one other family there. The workers seem bored and tired, but the smell of the breakfast food is unforgettable and quickly makes my stomach rumble. We're seated in a booth next to a large window and the warm sun shines against my face. We're quiet as we look at the menu. She decides to get biscuits and gravy and I get the breakfast sampler with chocolate chip pancakes instead of plain. The server comes over and takes our drink and meal orders. May orders a Mt. Dew while I order a chocolate shake. The server leaves to put our orders in and May is oddly quiet.

"Are you okay, May?" I ask her calmly.

"Perfectly fine honey, just thinking." She smiles. "What do you think your birthday present will be?"

We do this tradition every year where she has me guess what she got me, and if I get it right I get fifty dollars, I am yet to actually guess right. "Hmm, how about a hoodie?"

She laughs a little, "Not even close, try again."

"You never let me get more than one guess!" I exclaim and try to think of another answer. "Okay, a new controller for my PlayStation?"

"Incorrect, better luck next year" she chuckles.

Before we know it, our drinks and meals are brought out to us. We're mostly quiet while we eat, not really knowing what to talk about. May doesn't like it when I talk about superhero-ing so we keep that type of conversation to a minimum, but I never know what to talk about other than that so I stick with talking about school, which we already exhausted that topic yesterday.

When we finish our food and get the bill it's almost 11:00. May quickly pays and we rush out of the building to get to the café and get the cake in time. May drives us over to the café and by the time we get there it's almost 11:30, we try to hurry and get the cake but it still takes ten minutes. After paying it's 11:45 almost and we need to rush back to the house. May and I race out to the car and she asks me to drive so I can get more practice, which I find off since she hates it when I drive with her, I usually practice with Tony. I jump at the opportunity and its a smooth drive home. When I pull into the driveway she says I've gotten a lot better and the lessons with Tony have paid off. She says she might take me to get my license soon. I can't help but get excited at that statement, because then I could go to the compound whenever I want for the most part.

I put the car in park and we both exit and walk inside to make sure the house is ready. May follows behind me with the cake that is designed to look like Spider-Man's face, yes I got a cake with my face on it, leave me alone. I go to my room to clean it up a bit more and May cleans the last few dishes on the counter and gets some decorations out. After a quick clean-up of my room I come out to help her. We unfortunately don't get far before someone is at the door. May keeps decorating as much as she can in such little time as I go to answer the door. When I open it I find Tony standing outside with a small box in his hands. "Am I too early? Your hot aunt said noon." He states.

I smile, "Right on time, come on in. You can set the present by the cake" I say nicely and greet him with a hug. He walks in and I follow behind him. May and him share a look that I don't even think I want to look into, so I don't. As asked, he sets the small box on the table and sits down. With his pointer finger on the box he sternly says, "This is to be opened at the very end."

"Okay." I say intimidated. "You didn't have to get me anything Mr. Stark, just you being here is more than enough. So thank you for coming."

"You think I'm going to miss your sixteenth birthday? After all the time we've spent together? I'm ashamed you think so little of me." He puts his hand on his heart and makes a putty face joking to be offended.

"Well thank you anyway." I say and someone knocks at the door once more. I go to the door and open it to find Ned, MJ, and Shuri. Each of them have a gift bag in their hands and MJ and Shuri are holding hands with their free hands. "Happy birthday!!" all three of them shout at once. I hug each of them and thank them for coming. I tell them they can put their presents by the cake where Tony's is, each of them do so and take a seat at the table. May grabs a pasta bake out of the fridge, which she bought the day before. She preheats the oven and sets the bake on the counter before coming to join us at the table.

"Alright while we're waiting for the food to cook, why don't we open presents?" May says and sits at the far end of the table.

"Sure!" I exclaim, excited to see what's inside Tony's all so ominous gift. I open MJ's first. She got me a new T-Shirt that since "Super Nerd" that has a Spider-Man face with glasses on it. The shirt makes me laugh and I thank her for it, and make a mental note to wear it to school on Monday. After opening MJ's gift the oven is preheated and May puts it in the oven and sets a timer for twenty-five minutes and rejoins us at the table. I move to opening Shuri's gift that is wrapped in a purple bag with white tissue paper. Inside I find a book, The Outsiders. I was so upset that we didn't read it in English class this year. I'm excited to read it. "Thank you so much! I'll probably finish this by the end of the day!" I exclaim.

I then open Ned's gift, it's a framed photo of me and him at the fair from over the summer. I loved that night, it was the night I realized I have feelings for him, and months later I still haven't told him. The school year is almost over, and I still just can't bring myself to tell him. At the bottom of the bag I find a card in a pink envelope. I open it excitedly, almost ripping the envelope in half. I fold open the card and out comes a $25 gift card for Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant). On the card in cute handwriting is written:

*"I hope you like the gift, and enjoy your birthday meal and Olive Garden, I know it's your favorite. Happy birthday buddy."*

I walk over and hug him, "Thank you I love it."

Tony fakes a cough beside us making a notion towards his gift that still sits on the table. "what about your gift May? Mr. Stark was insistent that his gift come last." I question.

"I'll give you yours later, honey." She states.

I nod and grab Tony's gift off the table. It's just a small box, almost like a ring box, but a little bigger. I open it and the box snaps revealing a car key inside. I gasp and my mouth hangs open for a long moment before I shout "YOU DIDN'T!" loud enough for everyone in the building to hear.

"It's parked outside" Tony says with a smile. My legs run on their own, not even thinking before I'm already out of the apartment and halfway down the steps to exit the building. Everyone races behind me trying to catch up, by the time they do I'm already at the truck. It's a small Nissan truck, a good size for me. It's grey and I am overwritten with excitement. I squeal just looking at it and hop into the drivers seat. I rub my hands against the steering wheel with a wide smile on my face. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I say over and over again to Tony who is watching me with the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. May is almost crying, good tears. Ned, MJ and Shuri are all watching with amazement as well, shocked that I got a car for my birthday, let alone a brand new 2022 truck.

"Alright, I know you're excited but you are not driving this truck unless it's with Tony and get significant practice with it after you get your license." May says sternly. I nod happily in agreement, excited to be able to drive it. "Now, lets get back inside, I'm sure the bake's done."

We all go back inside and enjoy the smell of chicken alfredo that overtakes the whole apartment. We all sit down at the table while May takes the bake out and Tony gets plates out for everybody. May serves the pasta onto the plates while Tony holds them out to her and they bring the plates to us. We all talk about the most random things as we enjoy the food, and then move onto the cake. May takes out a large tub of ice cream before lighting the candles. Everyone sings happy birthday and waits for me to make a wish before blowing out the candles. But I have everything I could ever want, so I just wish for nothing to change. I blow out all the candles in 1 try and everyone claps in unison. Tony gets out a knife and starts cutting the cake while May gets paper plates. They serve up the cake, giving me the first slice and we all get our own ice cream if we want it, Shuri chooses not to have any ice cream but the rest of us pile it on. Everyone is having a good time and I couldn't have wished for a better way to celebrate.

Before any of us know it, it's almost 6pm and everyone has to go home to eat dinner. Ned, MJ, and Shuri all leave, I hug them all good-bye and thank them for coming as I show them out the door. However, May asks Tony to stay for a reason I cannot imagine why. After Ned, MJ, and Shuri have gotten into Ned's car, who's driving them back to MJ's, May tells me to sit down on the couch since she has something to show me. Tony sits on the chair next to the couch, he's silent and looks worried. I start to worry myself and wonder what in the world is going on.

May goes out of the room and into her bedroom before returning back with a wooden box and a gift bag. "Here's my gift to you, and the box is a gift from somebody else." May says, he hands shaking. I take the gift bag and open it first, she got me a picture frame of my parents on their first date. I get teary eyed looking at the photo, May never really showed me pictures of them young, so I am so happy to have the photo. "Thank you, May. I love it." I say and get up to hug her. She's sitting across from me on the coffee table. I sit back down and she hands me the box.

"Before you open it, I have to tell you something." May says. This gets me really worried as her tone of voice is very quiet and scared. "When you were a baby, your parents adopted you. They didn't want you to know until you were sixteen, when your birthmother wanted you to have this box. Your parents never met your birthmother, so we don't know who she is, but we know she wanted you to get this on your sixteenth birthday." She points to the box.

"W-What? No, May I'm not adopted." I say in denial.

"It's not a bad thing, Peter. Your parents loved you so much, they didn't see you as their adopted child, just their child. You were their everything, honey."

At this point I'm almost crying. I hold the wooden box in my lap, scared to open it. "It's okay if you don't want to open it tonight, Pete, you can do it in the morning." Tony says.

"No. I want to open it now." I say and slowly lift off the lid of the box. Inside I find a keychain wrapped in tissue paper and underneath an envelope. I carefully rip it open to find a folded up piece of paper inside. I unfold it and read it.

*"Hello my sweet and beautiful daughter, I hope life is treating you well and that your parents are everything you deserve, because darling you deserve the world. I'm sorry I couldn't be your momma, I so badly wanted to, but you deserved better than me, that's why I had to let you go. Happy sixteenth sweetie. I love you.

-Mom"*

Now I'm actually crying. I hold my head in my hands as I quietly sob. I wish I could've known her. I wish she could've seen me become her son. I wish I would've known what kind of mom she was going to be. I never knew her, and I miss everything we didn't have. May and Tony sit next to me and hug me tightly, just sitting there quietly letting me cry it out. I don't really know why I'm so emotional about it. I loved my parents, I loved uncle Ben, and I love May. I love my Avengers family, and I probably wouldn't have them if I wasn't put up for adoption. I have nothing to be ungrateful for. I have the life everyone dreams of. Yet, now I find myself wishing I knew what it would've been like with my biological mom.

After I finish crying all that I can, I look to Tony and May. "Thank you." are the only words I can stumble out. "I love you both."

"We love you too, kid." Tony says and May nods.

I take a second to catch my breath and compose myself. "I'm going to go to my room. Thank you, Tony, for coming. It means a lot. And thank you so much for the truck, maybe we can go driving next weekend when I'm there. Thank you, May for letting him come this weekend, and for agreeing to letting him buy the truck for me. You're the best Aunt ever. Goodnight." I say. I get up from the couch and start walking to my room.

"Goodnight, kiddo." both Tony and May say at the same time.

I enter my room, slowly closing the door behind me. I crawl into bed and turn on the lamp on my nightstand. I hold up the keychain, and put the picture of my parents on my nightstand. I let out a sigh and lay down with the keychain in my hand.

I don't know what time I fall asleep, just one second my mind is racing with thoughts and the next I'm completely out of it. I sleep all night, dreaming of the life I might've had with my biological mother, and what she might've been like.

Chapter 3: Part 3

Chapter Text

My whole body is shaking as I'm sitting in my last class of the day waiting for the bell to ring. May doesn't want me to, but the second school gets out I'm going to the compound. I might've lied to Happy and said May agreed to it, but it was the only way I could get him to pick me up. It doesn't matter much anyway, May is working late tonight, so it's not like she'll know. I just want to know more about where I'm from, maybe see if Bruce can figure out who my birth parents are. The teacher notices how antsy I am, and comes over to me.

"Are you okay, Peter? You love my class, this isn't like you." She says worriedly. She's right, I do love her class, it's my favorite class. It's chemistry.

I give her a false smile, "Yeah I'm okay, just excited to get home." I say less enthusiastically than I want to.

She nods and walks back to the front of the room to her desk. She sits down and the rest of the class is mostly on their phones or school issued laptops. I decide to just put my head down and let time pass, because staring at the clock definitely isn't making time go any faster. After what feels like an eternity, the bell finally rings and I sprint out of the room to my locker. Ned is already there by the time I get there since his last class is right by it. "Hey you okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine, Ned, I just have to go." I say a lot snappier than I wanted to. I look in his face to see a hurt expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just having an off day. I'll call you later." I start grabbing my stuff and cramming it all into my backpack. Before I give him the chance to say something I'm already running out the door to meet Happy. I feel bad leaving him like that, but I make a mental note to call him later.

Once I'm outside I spot Happy in the parking lot standing by the limousine. I run his way, everything in my backpack shifting around, I'm sure my pencil case broke open. Once I get by the car I slow down my pace. "Thanks for picking me up." I say.

"Of course, everything okay? You never come to the compound on a weekday." He questions.

"Perfectly fine. May's just working late tonight and didn't want me to be alone is all." Which, wasn't entirely a lie. May didn't want me to be alone tonight, she wanted me to have Ned or MJ over. But I didn't want Ned to see me upset like this, and MJ has plans with Shuri tonight since T'challa is letting her stay the week in New York. So this was my only option, and I probably would've done it either way.

I get in the back seat of the limo and Happy hops into the drivers seat. It's a quiet ride to the compound. I put in my earbuds and listen to my sad music playlist from Spotify and just stare out the window with my thoughts spiraling in my head.

Thirty minutes into the forty-five minute drive, Happy is trying to get my attention. I take out my earbuds, "yeah?"

"So, May might've mentioned what happened after your party Saturday night..." He starts and I roll my eyes. Of course she told Happy.

"I'm okay, Happy. Can we please just not talk about it?" I request.

"Of course, but if you do want to talk about it.." he says implying that he would be there to listen. Truth be told, Happy is the last person I want to talk to about this. He probably knew all this time too, after all, May tells him everything.

The rest of the ride is dead silent, an awkward silence which is the type of silence I hate most. When we finally get to the compound I grab my backpack and quickly get out of the car, not even waiting for Happy. I race up the steps inside and go to the elevator. When I hit the call button the elevator doors open almost instantaneously. I step inside and hit the close button for the doors.

"Hello Peter Parker, how are you today? You seem stressed." F.R.I.D.A.Y. greets.

"yeah you could say that. Could you ask Dr. Banner to meet me in the med lab please?" I ask the A.I.

"Are you hurt Peter?"

"No no, I just need to talk to him."

"Of course Peter. I have sent the request to Dr. Banner."

The elevator doors ding open and I'm on the fourth floor. I walk down the hall to the med lab. This floor is almost never in use unless the team went on a high-level mission which they haven't in weeks. It's the perfect spot for me and Bruce to talk and for him to run the tests. Once I get to the lab the glass doors slide open and I sit on the bed. I hear footsteps running down the hall. Within a few seconds Bruce is standing in front of me looking worried sick.

"What happened?" He asks.

"I'm okay. I just need you to do be a favor."

He gives me a mix of a confused and concerned expression. I go on to explain that I'm adopted and want to know if there's a way to find out who my biological parents are, specifically my mother who left me the wooden box. I ask him to keep the information between us, at least until I've gotten more time to process it all. He goes into details that I might not like what he finds, and that sometimes it's better to not know. But I don't care that it might be bad news, I just want to know something.

"It can't be any worse than what I've imagined already. Please Dr. Banner. My thoughts have been spiraling out of control since May told me, I don't feel like myself. I just need to know instead of imagining what if's." I explain.

He nods in agreement, "Okay, Peter. Let's get started then." He states. He walks around the room, grabbing supplies out of several different drawers and sets them all on rolling table that's by the bed. I make a relieved sigh, glad that he's willing to help me.

After what feels like an eternity in the lab, we finish all the blood draws, and Bruce finishes analyzing everything. He stands on the other end of the room, silently looking at his computer screen. He doesn't move, he just stares.

"What is it, Dr. Banner?" I ask worriedly.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. please confirm the analyzes." Bruce says in a monotone voice.

"It's correct, Dr. Banner. Peter Parker is Natasha Romanoff's son."

Chapter 4: Part 4

Chapter Text

I freeze. What? no. That can't be right. Nat never mentioned having a kid. She was given an involuntary hysterectomy during her time in the Red Room. There's no way. Right?

"Dr. Banner." I say, but don't say anything more than that. Truth be told, I don't know what can be said.

Bruce is silent, both of us taking in the new information all at once. Neither of us knowing what to think of it or what to say. We sit there in shock for a few moments before we hear footsteps racing down the hallway. The door opens and Tony and Natasha come rushing inside, both looking worried sick.

"What happened, Peter? Are you hurt?" Natasha says first. She walks towards me and grabs my hand. I quickly pull away at the touch and hold my hand to my chest with my other hand. She looks lost when she looks at me, her expression deepens. I look down again.

"Are you my mother?" I mumble out incoherently.

She puts her hand on my shoulder in comfort, "What?"

I look to Bruce for solidarity, he nods, encouraging me. "Are you my mother?" I say once more, in a tone that's more audible and stern.

She takes a step back and I look up at both her and Tony who are shocked and lost. Nat opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

"Peter, no. You know that's not possible for her." Tony cuts in. He steps closer to try to comfort me and I let him. He places a hand on my shoulder. "Is this about what happened the other night?"

"Tony." Bruce says getting his attention. He directs Tony to the computer screen. He steps away from me to take a look, and then he goes silent and is still.

"Nat." Tony says in a monotone voice, "You're Peter's mother. Genetically."

I look to Natasha, tears are forming in her eyes as she covers her mouth with her hands. She starts shaking as she says, "When I was fourteen, I got sent on my first mission. Dreykov decided that I was ready, I was younger than all the other girls, but I was far stronger. On this mission I was supposed to kill a young boy my age. I couldn't. That was until his father came to find me." She lets out a sob as she thinks of the memory. "Peter. I'm so sorry."

Bruce walks up to her, "Natasha, what happened?"

"On this mission, the father caught me watching the boy. He claimed I was stalking him, and that he needed to teach me a lesson. He raped me." Natasha says, her voice shaking as she tells the heartbreaking story. "I got pregnant. I went into hiding for ten months and gave birth to you. I was lucky to be able to hide that long, most widows were found after a week of hiding. But after you were born, I just wanted to keep you safe. I was a trained assassin, but you gave me my heart back. I put you up for adoption, and gave the social worker a box and keychain and clear instructions to tell whoever adopted you, to give that to you on your sixteenth birthday. Giving you up that day, was the hardest decision I ever had to make, but necessary to keep you safe because I knew Dreykov would find me eventually, and I knew that you weren't safe with me."

The room is silent again, except for Natasha's sobs. I get out of the bed and walk up to her, I hug her tightly as I start getting teary eyed myself. "I love you." I say in a soft whisper. "It's okay. You did what you had to do to survive, and then some."

After a few minutes she calms down and we pull apart. Me and her sit next to each other on the bed and Tony and Steve stand next to each other, both leaning against the counter. "So, what now?" Tony asks, breaking the silence.

All three of them look to me for an answer. I think for a minute. I think of May, and how she'd react. I think of Ned and how I need to call him and tell him everything. I think of the public, and what would happen if this information got out, and whether I want it to or not. I think of the team, and how this information would affect them, if it would at all. I come to the decision that I need to go home, back to the apartment. I need to tell May everything. Then I need to call Ned, he's my best friend, who I tell everything to, and I just desperately want to hear his comforting voice telling me that everything's going to be okay.

"Tony, can you take me back to the apartment? I need to tell May." I say, confident in my answer.

Tony nods, "Of course."

As I get off the bed to leave, Natasha grabs my hand, "Do you want me to come with?"

"This is something I should tell her on my own." I say and give her a soft smile.

All of us flood out of the med lab and into the hallway, walking to the elevator as a group. Tony brings us down to the garage and Bruce and Nat go back up to the lounge after we leave.

Me and Tony walk to the closest black SUV and I go to get in the passenger's seat. "Why don't you drive?" Tony says, "The keys are in the cup holder."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Why not?" He reassures me.

We switch sides and I get into the driver's seat and he gets in on the passenger's side. I adjust my seat and the mirrors after starting the car and then buckle my seatbelt. I put the car in reverse and back out of the parking spot before going out towards the exit. Tony connects his phone to the car and plays one of my playlists off Spotify. He plays one of my up beat playlists to lighten the mood, and I have to admit it does help. As I drive Tony directs me where to go but we don't talk about anything other than driving because he doesn't want to make me lose focus. I think this is his way of trying to make me keep my mind off everything. He's smart that way, he comes up with distractions for me before I even realize its a distraction. It works perfectly every time too. The car ride feels a lot shorter than usual since I was driving instead of waiting to get there. When we pull into the parking lot I see May's car already there. I feel bad for not telling her that I was going to the compound, and I feel even worse for the news I'm about to tell her. I pull into a spot perfectly and put the car into park. Tony looks at my sympathetically. "Do you want me to come in with you?" he asks.

"I'll be okay Tony, but thank you." I answer and open the car door. He does the same on his side.

I step out of the car and meet him at the front of the car. He gives me a tight hug and whispers in my ear, "Call me if you need anything, underoos." We pull out of the hug and I mouth the words "thank you" to him before walking away to go the buildings' front door.

When I get to the front door I fiddle with my keys, anxiously trying to steadily hold the door key in my hand. When I finally do I put the key into the keyhole and turn it lightly, taking a deep breath as I push the door open. I walk up the steps to the second floor where our apartment is. I take the steps slowly, thinking about what I'm going to say to May as I take each step. Truthfully, I don't know how to word the news at all.

When I get to our apartment door I knock three times, my signature knock so she knows that it's me. She opens the door, her expression a mix of worried and mad. "My GOD Peter. Where the hell have you been? You haven't been answering my phone and-"

I cut her off, "I know, I'm sorry."

She must notice my teary eyed expression and stops yelling. Her expression softens to concern, "What's wrong sweetie? What happened?"

We go inside and she closes the door behind us. I sit down on the couch and she sits on the coffee table. She holds my hands in hers and just sits there ready to listen.

"May..." I start and immediately stop to try and think of how to word it. "I couldn't stop thinking about what we talked about the other night." I don't look at her, I just look at my feet and take another deep breath and tears start rolling down my face. "I went to the compound today."

"Peter." She starts saying something but I interrupt her once more.

"I know you didn't want me to go there, but I wanted Bruce to help me. I wanted to see if he could figure out who my biological parents are. He agreed. He ran so many tests and..." I stop talking and take another breath trying to hold my sobs back, not knowing how this news will affect her, or our relationship. I don't want things to change.

"What did the tests say, honey?" She asks. She puts a hand under my chin to make me look up at her.

"Natasha is my birth mother." I finally spit out.

She smiles, "That's not possible."

"May. We ran all the tests, she even knew about the box and keychain. She is my mother."

She's silent, processing the information. I don't know how many more tense silences I can take for the day so I just start rambling. "May this doesn't change how I feel about you at all. I love you and I always will. This information doesn't change anything. I just wanted to know. I'm so sorry. I should've listened to you. I shouldn't have gone to the compound today I-" and she stops me.

"Peter, honey, it's okay. I understand why you wanted to know. But this does change things. I want you to go to the compound more. Bring Natasha here for dinner some night too. You deserve to spend more time with your birth mother, to get to know her more and see her more than just a few weekends. Especially since you know it's someone who's a part of your family already, someone you already know a little, someone who dedicates herself to keep you safe when you go out as Spider-Man."

I smile, "Really?"

"Of course." She says and stands up. She puts her hand on the back of my head and pulls my head to her chest for a hug. "I larb you."

"I larb you too, May."

She pulls away from the hug, "Alright it's getting late, I'll make you some supper and you go get ready for bed, it's a school night."

I nod and get up to go to my room. She goes to the kitchen and grabs leftovers out of the fridge. When I get to my room I quickly shove myself into some pajama pants and don't care enough to change my shirt. I get out my phone and I facetime Ned.

He answers really quickly, and I'm relieved to see his perfectly perfect face. "Hey." I say.

"Hey." He says back. "You okay? What was up with you today?"

"I'm sorry about how I acted. I have something to tell you. That you can't tell anyone."

He looks concerned and curious, "Okay?" he says in the tone of a question.

"Okay, so I just need you to listen, and let me talk here for a minute, it's kind of a lot." I start. He nods in agreement and I begin. "So on Saturday, after you guys all left, May sat me down and told me something. She told me that my parents adopted me when I was a baby. The social worker, was instructed to give them a wooden box to give to me when I turned sixteen. Obviously, my parents died and couldn't do that, but my aunt did. The box had a keychain and hand-written letter in it. I went to the compound today to ask Doctor Banner if he could run some tests to see who my birth mother is. Turns out... my mother is Natasha Romanoff, AKA the Black Widow!"

"HOLY sh*t DUDE!" He screams. "Wait. Are you okay with that though? It looks like you've been crying. Are you not okay with that? because we can totally burn that letter, I can definitely sneak over to your apartment if you need me to."

I laugh at his response, "I'm okay Ned, just took some processing, and it was difficult to tell May, but after everything, I'm kind of excited to see what comes next." I explain.

"That's awesome dude. You're great. And you have to let me know everything that happens."

I hear May calling me for dinner, "Of course. I gotta go though. See you at school tomorrow." I say.

"See you dude." He responds and hangs up.

"Oh and I love you..." I whisper quietly to myself looking at the "call ended" screen. I shut off my phone and head to the kitchen for dinner.

Chapter 5: Part 5

Chapter Text

The next few days of school breeze by, except for today. After school I'm going to the compound and staying there all weekend, we get Monday off of school for a teacher work day so May is letting me stay there for three days straight. As I sit in my desk during my science class I try to stay productive to keep myself distracted from the time, but it's difficult to when all I can think about is getting to spend all afternoon with Natasha. She promised that we'd go to the movies together, and we'd bake together, and make a fort. When my attempt to focus on the schoolwork fails, I hear my name called from across the room. I quickly look up to see who is trying to get my attention.

"Peter, you have to go to the office." Ms. Warren says from behind her desk with the phone still in her hand.

The classroom is overtaken by my classmates whispering "oooohh" to their lab partners. I quietly and nervously get my things together and walk out of the room, trying not to cause anymore unwanted attention to myself. As I walk out the door, I take one last glance at the clock; 2:35pm. I sigh and walk through the maze of hallways. It feels nice walking through the empty hall, no chaos is happening around me. It's just me walking, no one by me, no one is making out by the lockers, no footballs are being thrown, it's just me, myself, and I. It's almost calming, or at least it would be if it weren't for the anxiety screaming in my head wondering what I could be being called down for. I cling to the science binder that I hold to my chest, trying to gain comfort from that, and it somehow does help a little. I turn the last corridor and stare at the main door to the office. Here goes nothing. I walk through the glass double doors, a staff member holds the door open for me with a smile before continuing walking down the hall away from the office. I walk up to the desk and speak to the secretary.

"Um, Ms. Warren sent me down here." I say, my voice quiet and shaky.

"Yes, Peter. Take a seat, Principal Morita will come get you momentarily." The woman behind the desk says as she types something on her keyboard. I nod and sit down in one of the chairs by the wall. What the hell is going on?

My thoughts don't have enough time to spiral though, as within a minute Principal Morita is standing in front of me. "Come with me Peter." he states with a soft smile. I stand up from the chair and follow him into his office. The room is smaller than I expected, feeling almost a little cramped. Taken back by the size of the room, it takes me a second to process the fact that May is already there sitting down. "Take a seat, Peter." he states, pointing to the chair next to May.

I look to May and mouth the words, "What's going on?" but she doesn't say anything, she just looks to Principal Morita.

"Peter, your aunt has made me aware of some things that have been going on at home." He starts, I think about all the things he could mean. Did May tell him about Natasha?

"We are willing to make your first period of classes an open campus study hall to give you more time to get here in the morning. Even though the open campus study halls are only given out to juniors and seniors who have good grades and attendance, we are willing to make the exception giving the situation, and that you are the top of your class." Mr. Morita goes on.

What does he mean? Why do I need extra time to get here in the morning? What in the hell did May tell him? "W-Why do I need more time to get here in the morning, sir? Not that I'm complaining, I would love to get some more sleep."

He looks to May, expecting her to explain why I don't know what's going on, but May doesn't say anything.

"Since you'll be moving in with your birth mom, who lives almost an hour away?" He states in a questioning tone.

I look at May who's attention is to the floor below her feet. "May, what the hell?" I say in an annoyed tone. I have every right to be mad. This was not the deal.

"I just think it'd be easier Peter." May finally says.

"I'll give you two some time to talk." Mr. Morita says and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I stand up in the chair, pushing it back. "May what the hell is going on here? The plan was that I was going to go there MORE not f*cking full time!"

"Peter." She says, she starts crying. "There's something I haven't told you."

Great, more secrets coming out. God, how many is there? What in the hell is going on? "What is it, May? Why are you kicking me out? And telling my Principal before you even tell me?" I shout.

"I'm going to rehab, Peter!" She yells. "I have a drug problem." She says this part in a softer tone, almost a whisper.

I freeze. Rehab? Why? I never saw her use drugs, if she had a problem I would've known right? My thoughts spiral more and more. How did I not know? How was I so oblivious? I start sweating and hyperventilating. I don't know what to do, or what to say. I fall to the floor to try to catch my breath and calm myself down. "What do you mean?" I ask with my hand on my heart. I take a long, deep, breath and that kind of helps.

"I got hurt, Peter. I never told you because I didn't want you to worry. You had enough on your plate between being Spider-Man, and going to the compound, and working through your feelings for Ned, finding yourself through all of that." She explains, "At first the medication were prescribed, the doctor thought they would help. And they did help. But after I was fine, I kept taking them. Peter... I couldn't stop. I was doing anything to get a fix. Those days I was 'working late' I was really just getting high. You deserve better than that. Better than me. Natasha and the Avengers are better."

No. This can't be happening. I'm losing May. I lost my parents, I lost Ben, even Natasha couldn't stay in my life when I was born. It's happening all over again. I can't keep a single thought straight enough to form a sentence. I sit on the floor, breathing heavily, trying to get myself to calm down, but I can't. May is leaving, I'm moving out of the home I've lived in all my life. I'm going to be almost an hour away from school, from my friends, from Ned. Why didn't she talk to me about this earlier? Why didn't she tell me about the drugs earlier? Surely we could've figured something out.

There's a knock at the door, "Can I come in?" Principal Morita says from the other side.

"Yes." May says.

I regain my breathing and enough strength to get up from the floor. When Mr. Morita opens the door, I don't sit back down. Instead, I grab my stuff and look to him to say, "Thank you for your help with the transition, and the leniency, it's really appreciated. I have to go back to class though." I hold back tears as I say it and walk out of the room before he or May can say anything else.

I run out of the office as soon as I'm out of their view and sprint outside to the pickup. It's almost 3 o'clock, meaning the bell will ring any minute now. I scan the parking lot for Tony's black truck and spot it quickly. Natasha is standing outside the truck, leaning against it, doing something on her phone. I sprint towards her, almost dropping my stuff in the process. She glances up at me running over to her, then looks at her phone, I assume to look at the time. I reach the car, my face now wet with tears. I drop my stuff to our feet and hug her tightly. "woah, what's wrong? What happened?" She asks, putting one hand on my head and the other rubbing my back as I hug with with my face in her chest.

I hear Tony's door open and close and he comes to us. He places a hand on my shoulder, "Kid, lets get in the car and you can tell us what's going on." I think he says it so that when all the other kids come storming out of the building, they don't see me crying in Black Widow's arms. I pull myself away from Natasha and nod. I wipe my face with the sleeve of my hoodie and pick up my stuff before getting into the truck. Natasha closes the door for me once I'm inside and she goes gets in the passenger seat up front. I sit in the back and Tony gets in the driver's seat. Both of them look back at me with worried expressions.

"May is kicking me out. She's going to rehab, she says I have to live with you guys." I say, my voice shaking and mumbling, I don't even know if they understand what I just said.

I guess they do because Natasha gives my a pitiful look, "Oh my, Peter... I'm so sorry." She says softly, she extends her arm to my face and wipes my tears.

"How did I not notice she was using? How did I not notice she was struggling and needed help? How could I let it get this bad?" I say as I cry into my hands.

"Peter, you couldn't have known, she hid it well. None of us knew, and we saw your aunt biweekly whenever she'd come to drop you off." Tony says trying to comfort me. But I was with May almost every single day, I should've known. I should've been able to help her. I failed her, just like I failed Ben.

Natasha crawls into the backseats with me and hugs me tightly. "That's not your responsibility little spider, you're a kid, you were focused on so many other things. The important thing is, she's getting the help she needs." She speaks softly, running her hand through my curly hair. "Where's your backpack? And other stuff?" She questions, trying to distract me.

"It's inside still, it's fine. I can get it on Tuesday." I say solemnly.

She nods, "how about we go home, and eat gallon of ice cream while watching a movie?" She looks at me with a comforting smile. I nod in agreement. Tony starts the truck and reverses out of his parking spot. I look up to see crowds of my peers flooding out of the school. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and take it out to look at the notification. It's a text message from Ned. I unlock the phone and open up our messages.

> "Hey, where are you?"

I write a reply.

> "Sorry, something came up and I had to leave early, I'll call you later. I promise."

> "You better lol"

"Who you texting over there" Natasha asks in the teasing tone, "They've got you all smiley now."

"Huh?" I say and then the question she asked processes in my mind, "Oh. No one, just my friend Ned."

"Ned?" She teases with a raised eyebrow and smile, elongating the pronunciation of his name. "And he's just a friend?"

"Yes! He's just a friend!" I say giggling.

"Okay if you say so." Tony jumps in.

"He is!" I insist.

We all start laughing, and it's like the bad news isn't there anymore. Like the crying never happened, like May is okay, everything is okay. Natasha was right, what is important is that May is getting help. Everything will be okay.

Chapter 6: Part 6

Chapter Text

I wake up in the spare bedroom Tony and Nat put together for me last night, sunlight blaring through the windows. I rub my eyes and wonder what the day will bring. Once I'm partially awake I notice voices whispering from the outside my door. Since I'm so far from the door, I can't hear what they're actually saying, even with my enhanced hearing. I get up from the bed, pushing the sheets and blanket off me. I walk to the door and open it to see Tony and Steve standing outside.

"Hello?" I say in a questioning tone wondering what's going on.

"Good morning, Kiddo. There's breakfast downstairs ready." Tony says with a smile.

I look to Steve who seems annoyed about something, I assume it's nothing and choose to ignore it. "Thanks, let me... *yawn* ...get ready." I say tiredly.

The superhero nods and I close the door to get ready for the day. That was weird. I brush it off and go sleepily go into the attached bathroom of the guest room. Tony made sure to stock it with a variety of soaps for me to choose from, and plenty of other necessities. I turn on the shower and undress as I wait for the water to warm up. I grab a towel and law it out on the floor and hang up another one on the one of the hooks right by the shower. I step inside and start getting ready for the day, enjoying the feeling of a warm shower after everything that's happened.

I step out of the shower and quickly dry off, wrapping the towel around myself as I walk into the bedroom again and go to the closet. Tony went to May's yesterday to get all my clothes and other things while Nat and I watched a movie together. We're supposed to go back again today to get anything else I might want that Tony didn't get. I pull out a t-shirt and chest binder before going to the dresser to pull out a pair of jeans. I throw on all my clothes, wrestling with the binder. I grab my phone from the nightstand, then exit the room to go join the team for breakfast.

When I enter the lounge everyone is all over the place, some in the kitchen area, others spread out on the couches, and some people not even here yet. Steve and Tony quickly stop talking when I walk into the room and Steve leaves in a hurry. What's up with him? I walk into the kitchen area to see an assortment of differently flavored pancakes and muffins along with a selection of eggs, bacon, and sausage. I grab a plate and serve myself some 2 chocolate chip pancakes along with scrambled eggs and 2 sausage links. I sit down at the island next to Natasha.

"Everything okay with Captain Rogers?" I ask her curiously.

She runs a hand through my hair, "Don't worry about it little spider." she says softly and I start eating my food. "What do you want to do today?"

I chew on my pancake and think of an answer before responding, "Well I want to go to May's to finish getting my stuff, not sure what else though." I state.

She smiles, "We'll find something to do I'm sure. Do you have a lot of homework to do?"

I take another bite of my food, "Not really, and the teachers are all giving me extensions as I get moved in here." I reply.

She nods, "Makes sense, it's a good thing the school is working with you on this, and making the process easier. How are you doing with it all?"

"I'm doing okay with it, well as okay that I can be. May leaves today, so I'm just trying not to think about it." I respond.

"Makes sense, well you finish eating, I'm going to go finish getting ready, okay?"

I take another bite of my food and nod. She leaves the room leaving me with Tony, Bruce, and Clint left in the kitchen, and Thor, Loki, and Wanda in the living room. Thor and Loki are watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians, they say the movie reminds them of home. Wanda is reading a book Tony is making some more food, as if we need any more. Bruce and Clint are both eating, clint on his phone and Bruce on a tablet murmuring some stuff about whatever he's working on. For the first time since I got here, no one's really talking to me, and I can just eat my food without telling someone, "yeah I'm fine." Don't get me wrong, I love how much everyone cares, and am grateful for it, but it's nice to just have a moment to just eat.

After I finish eating, Tony takes my plate. "Did you get enough?" he asks.

"Yeah, thanks." I smile, "I'm going to head down to the gym." I say. With a gym literally down the hall from my bedroom, I really have no excuse not to work out, and working out has always helped me get out of my head.

I exit the lounge and walk down the long hallway to the gym. I open the glass door to find Steve on the treadmill. I choose to leave him to do his own thing and I go to the bench press. I start putting my weights on when I hear the treadmill stop and Steve breathing heavily. "What are you doing in here?" he asks in a rude tone.

"What do you mean?" I question.

"You're everywhere, this is the one spot I can be by myself, so what are you doing in *here*." He's mad, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. Was it something I said? Something I did? He was always so kind to me, what happened?

"I-I just wanted to work out a little while I waited for Nat to get ready." I explain nervously.

"Then go find another gym, tranny." He spits.

*what*? did he just? Surely he didn't. Surely I heard wrong. Steve was always so nice to me, what is going on? "Steve, what's going on with you?" I ask, afraid of how he'll respond.

"You think you can just walk in here like you own the place. I don't know what I expected, you lied to all of us." He spits out, his jaw clenched.

"I never lied about anything." I said.

"You're not a boy." He states, "and here you said you were, and you pretend to be, fooling us all."

"Where is this coming from? You knew that I'm trans!" I yell. What the hell has gotten into him?

"I built forts with you, I kept you entertained, I kept you safe out on the field, and this is what I get? f*cking lies." He says, and I don't know how to respond.

"What?" Is all I can stammer out.

"What's your real name then? Hm? You can at least tell me that." He spits, my heart rate starts racing. My breathing gets heavy. The man I looked up to before, I now feel afraid of. "I-"

"Get out!" He yells. I do without saying anything, not wanting to be there for anymore of it. I get out of the room in a hurry, running through the hall until I reach the elevator. I press the call button a million times until the doors open.

"Friday, take me to the living quarters floor." I say, trying to find my breath.

The elevator moves up to the next floor, when the doors ding open Natasha is standing on the other side. She notices my scared expression, the sweat around my face, my heavy breathing. Her expression goes from confused to worried in an instant. "What happened? What's wrong little spider?"

I start to cry, the one thing I hoped wouldn't happen. I didn't want to cry anymore. I can't stop at that point though. What just happened? What has gotten into Steve? He had to have known that I'm trans? Everyone knew, right? If he didn't know before, how did he even find out now? I fall into Natasha's arms. She rubs my back comfortingly, lost as to what's happening. "S-Steve" I cry out, not even able to put into words as to what happened. She walks me over to the wall and we sit down together.

"Take a deep breath, Peter. Tell me what happened." She says softly.

I do as she says, I take a deep breath, and a few more for good measure. "Steve... he..." I start and I stop, I don't know how to word it, I barely even know what exactly happened. "How did Steve not know that I'm trans?" I muster out.

Her eyes go big, her mouth drops open for a second. "What happened?" She asks again.

"He called me a tranny, said I lied to all of you, he wanted to know my deadname." I trip over my words, and my voice is shaking, but I think she heard the gist of it.

She runs her hand through my hair, "My little spider, I'm so sorry." She whispers. She keeps rubbing my back, trying to calm me down. Eventually I stop crying, and I regain my breathing.

"How did he not know?'' I ask again.

"Peter, none of us wanted Steve to know, we all knew how he'd react, has old values, we didn't want you to know that he wouldn't accept you, so we tried to be careful of how often you two interacted, and made sure that you two were never alone together just to be safe." she explains, "I'm so sorry."

"So, how did he find out?" I say.

She hugs me again, "I don't know." she whispers, "But I'm going to find out."

We get up from the floor and go back to the elevator. Friday takes us back to the lounge where Tony is putting away all the food. Everyone else has mostly cleared out except for Bruce who is helping. Natasha has her arm wrapped around me when we enter the room.

"Tony, we need to talk." She says sternly. Tony looks at her with a confused look, but nods. The two walk just outside the room and I'm left with Bruce. The food is mainly put away except for what he's putting into a container right now. I sit down on a stool by the island, across from Bruce.

"Hey kid." He greets kindly with a smile.

"Hi, Dr. Banner." I say less enthusiastically than I wanted to.

He gives me a look as if to say 'what's wrong?'

"Did you know that Steve's transphobic?" I ask.

He looks shocked from the question, not expecting it. He takes a moment until he answers, "yes and no. I knew that Steve has old values, but I didn't know for sure that he's transphobic." He explains. "Why? Did he say something to you?"

"Kinda, yeah." I say, downplaying it.

"I'm sorry, Peter." he states, "But ignore what he says, you're a wonderful kid."

"Thanks Dr. Banner."

"Bruce." He corrects.

I smile, "Thanks Bruce."

He smiles in return, glad that I'm becoming more comfortable at the compound, and around him. Just in time, Nat and Tony come back into the kitchen. Tony looks pissed off and Natasha is at least trying to hide her anger.

"Hey, can you stay with him a little while?" Natasha asks, pointing to me and looking to Bruce.

"M-Me? uh y-yeah." Bruce stutters out.

"What are you two going to do?" I question, nervous to hear the answer.

Natasha walks over to me and kisses the top of my head, "Don't worry little spider, it'll all be okay." She states ominously, not really answering the question, "We'll be back in a little bit, and then we'll go to May's." She gives me a comforting smile, brushing her hand through my hair like she always does.

"Okay." I say neutrally, half knowing what they're going to do.

The two leave the room, and Bruce and I are alone again. He looks at me awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do. Part of me wishes I never mentioned what happened with Steve, because if I didn't, we'd already be on the way to May's. Things wouldn't be so tense, and weird right now. I just hope that in the end everything's okay.

Chapter 7: Part 7

Chapter Text

I could kill Steve. I really f*cking could, the only reason I won't is because Peter would never look at me the same. I know that he's transphobic, I always knew. But now its personal. I know I should've talked to him about it before, especially when Peter did come out to all of us years ago. I'm just glad Peter never told him back when he was still figuring himself out two years ago. My whole body is sweating and shaking with fury. How could I let this happen? How could I let Steve bully my son? I should've protected him more, I should've been more cautious and careful.

I look over to Tony as we race through the hallway towards the elevator, he's fuming with anger as well. I don't think either of us actually have a plan other than confronting the asshole who sent Peter into a panic attack just for being who he is. "Friday, where the f*ck is Rogers?" Tony asks the A.I.

"Captain Rogers is currently in his living quarters. Would you like me to inform him that you're looking for him?" the computer responds.

"No." Tony says through his tightened jaw and gritted teeth. We speed walk to the elevator that's already open when we get there. Loki steps out and looks to us with confusion in his eyes.

"What's up with you two?" They ask as we step into the elevator.

"Don't ask." Tony hisses as the elevator doors close in between us and the god. The elevator whirs in motion, Friday already knowing where we want to go. It's just one floor up so we're there within seconds. The doors ding open, Tony and I speed walk down the hall once more. Steve's room is at the very end of the hall and around the first door around the corridor. I don't know how long it takes us to get there, but before I know it I'm standing next to Tony who is pounding on the soldier's door.

The door opens revealing Steve on the other side. He's sweaty and tired, just got done with his workout. Neither of us care how tired he is. We storm into the room before Steve can say anything about it. Tony slams the door behind us and Steve follows us inside. "What the hell has gotten into you two?" Steve questions, annoyed that we barged in without asking.

"Us?! What the hell has gotten into you, Steve?!" I shout, glad to be getting my anger out on him. He deserves all of it. "Peter is sixteen, he's a f*cking kid." I yell.

"What the f*ck are you talking about Romanoff?" He yells back.

Tony punches Steve in the jaw, it doesn't do much, but it's enough to satisfy him and shut Steve up.

"Peter is a sweet, kind, loving, smart kid, Rogers. But he won't stay that way if an adult twice his age and size beats him down the way you did." Tony hisses.

Steve holds one hand to his jaw where Tony hit him, "What the hell are you two talking about?" Steve says, trying to gaslight us into not believing Peter.

"You called him a f*cking Tranny, Rogers! You called him a liar! You tried to force him to tell you his deadname! What in the f*cking hell is wrong with you?" I scream, wanting to punch the guy too.

He laughs a little, "Look, Natasha, I don't know what the kid told you but I didn't-"

Tony cuts him off, "Friday show the footage in holographic view." He instructs the computer.

Video footage from the gym camera comes up, showing everything that happened earlier today. Tony and I hadn't watched it yet, we were hoping we wouldn't need to because we knew it'd only piss us off more. We were correct, it did in fact only piss us off more. The video stops playing, ending when Peter walked out of the room.

"If she's going to make adult decisions like that, then she needs to be treated like an adult." Steve says, throwing both me and Tony for a loop.

"Do you even hear yourself, Rogers?" Tony shouts, "This is the same kid that you built a fort with last week, who you played video games with, you made the kid breakfast, you did training sessions with him to teach him to be a better hero! Nothing about him has changed!"

Steve clenches his fists, "He *lied* Tony!" Steve shouts.

"No he didn't Rogers!" I step in and yell, "*We* lied! We didn't want you to know because we knew how you'd react!" I shout.

"You all knew?" He turns his back to us.

"Yes Steve, Peter told us shortly after he started coming here." Tony states. The conversation is calmer now, still tense but at least the yelling has stopped. I still want to put my shoe somewhere it doesn't belong, but that might have to wait for another day.

"So you all lied right to my face every single day." Steve hisses, it's a question but comes out as a statement instead.

"Technically, you never asked, therefore, we never lied." Tony remarks.

The statement doesn't help anything and only pisses Steve off more. I don't know how to fix the situation, I don't know how I can make Steve accept Peter.

"Look, Steve." I say calmly. "Peter is my son, biologically, we're waiting to tell the team until he is ready, but I am telling you this now. Either accept my son and treat him as the amazing human being he is, or get the f*ck out of the compound, and never go near him again." The last part I say sternly, making sure he could clearly hear me.

He's quiet for a moment, so is Tony for that matter, which frankly, I didn't know was possible. "Steve, I'm asking you this as your friend, you don't want the whole team against you for mistreating a kid who has no one else but us. Peter looks up to you, you're his hero, more than me, more than Tony. You're Captain America for God's sake. Last I checked, America meant everyone. Be his captain, Cap." I plead, hoping the short pep talk is enough to knock some sense into him. If it were just me, Rogers would already be out of the tower. But what I said has truth in it, Peter looks up to him. Peter loves him, so I can't just kick him out without giving him half a chance to make up for it first.

Steve finally turns around to face us, "What's it gonna be, Cap?"

"I'll distance myself from her, and I'll be civil, but I can't accept this, Natasha." Steve says, disappointing both me and Tony.

"Then you're moving to a different room." I spit out, harsher than I mean to.

"I'm putting you in the basem*nt Capsicle." Tony states, "Now, go find something else to do, and stay the f*ck away from Peter, because if you say one more hurtful thing to him, I swear to God, Steve, I will have you out of here before you even know it's happening."

Steve nods and leaves the room, he accepted that fact better than I thought. I just hope Peter will be okay. This is the last thing the kid needs right now. It's May's first day at rehab, his first day living at the compound, between losing May and having to uproot his whole life and move an hour away from his friends and family, he doesn't need a new transphobic roommate on top of it all.

I turn to Tony, "Let's go find Peter." I say solemnly, wishing that the conversation with Steve would have gone differently. Tony nods in agreement and we exit the room, not even bothering to close the door behind us.

We find Peter still sitting with Bruce in the lounge, only they've moved from the kitchen to the living area. They're sitting on the couch watching Big Hero 6 together, Bruce holding the bowl of popcorn and Peter grabbing handfuls at a time from him. They're about twenty minutes into the movie by the looks of it. Tony and I go take a seat, I sit next to Peter and Tony sits on the other couch next to us. I give Peter a side hug when I when down, "How's the movie, little spider?” I ask.

“Good, it's one of my favorites, other than the Star Wars movies.” He replies, he doesn't look at me and is focused on the movie. I look at Bruce and give a little nod, implying that I want him to pause the movie. He grabs the remote and pauses it, now Peter looks to me.

I run my finger through his messy, curly hair with a soft smile. "Let's go talk somewhere quick, okay?" I say softly, not wanting to worry him too much. He nods, not saying anything. He's quieter than usual, I choose to blame it on Steve. We get up from the couch and go into the empty hallway. Peter leans against the wall and faces me.

“What happened with Steve?” He questions, his voice is quiet. He talks in a bleak tone, sounding dejected.

"Little spider, Steve loves you, you know that, right?" I start the conversation, not knowing exactly how to tell him that the man he looks up to the most is someone who can't even look at him anymore. Just because he's living as his true self.

He nods in response, still quiet and somber. "It's just going to take him some time, that's all." I say, hopeful that eventually Steve will see that Peter is still the same kid he was last weekend when they were playing together and making a fort. I put my hand under his chin and lift his head, so he's looking up at me, "How about we go get the rest of your stuff from May's?" I smile to him, hoping to cheer him up. To be honest, I don't know what will cheer him up after everything he's been through this week.

He gives me a half smile in return, "Okay." He says, solemnly.

We go back into the lounge, Tony and Bruce look at us as we walk in. "Tony, how about you bring Peter out to the car." I say.

"You wanna drive, kiddo?" Tony asks in a fun and uplifting tone, trying to lift Peter's spirits. I hope going back to his old town will help him a bit, maybe I'll try to get a hold of Ned and get him to meet us there.

"Not today, Mr. Stark." Peter states and the two start walking out of the room.

I stay back with Bruce, who is standing next to me now. We're over by the kitchen, in the center of the room. "Are you okay?” He asks, looking at my teary eyes.

I fight the tears back, forcing myself not to cry. "This kid has been through enough. I need Steve to accept him” I need something to go right for him." I say.

He puts his hands on my shoulders, trying to comfort me. "Something did go right for him, he's got the strongest woman in the world looking out for him." He says with a comforting smile and that adorable look he always gives me when I'm sad.

"Thank you, Bruce." I say as I wipe my tears away with my hand. "It means a lot."

He pulls me in for a hug and whispers, "Of course."

The hug ends and we pull apart, "I should, uh, get going, Peter and Tony are probably getting impatient." I say, pointing behind me to the door. Bruce nods and I wave goodbye before exiting the door.

I go to the elevator and ride down to the sub-basem*nt where the large garage is. Tony and Peter are already in the black truck and pulled up by the elevator when the doors ding open. I step outside and step into the truck when Tony opens the door from inside for me. When I get in, Peter is in the back seat looking at his phone and has his earbuds in. "Tony, do you know his friend, Ned, I think the name is?" I ask as Tony puts the truck in drive and goes down the ramp to the road.

"Yeah, why?" He questions.

"Do you think you could get a hold of him? I really want to cheer Peter up, and I think it would help if he had a friend to meet us at May's." I explain.

"That's a wonderful idea" Tony states, he then hands me his phone that was sitting in the center console, "Contact is Peter's Boyfriend in the phone." Tony says, laughing to himself about the contact name. I pull up the contact and give the kid a call. The boy answers pretty quickly. Sounding nervous on the other end.

"Hello?" He greets.

"Hi Ned, this is Natasha, Peter's birth mom." I explain, "Are you free today?"

"Holy sh*t. Y-You're Black Widow!" He exclaims in excitement.

"Yes. Calm down, I'm bringing Peter into town today to get the rest of his things from May's, do you think you could meet us there? He's had a pretty rough day." I explain, hoping the teen's available.

"Yes! Of course! What time will you get there, do ya think?"

"We'll get to May's in about an hour." I state.

"Sweet! I will be there, thank you for telling me. I can't wait." He says, "Wait, what happened with Peter?" He realizes that I said he had a bad day, and his excitement quickly changes into worried.

"I'm sure he'll tell you once we get there. See you in a bit, Ned. Thank you." I say and then hang up the phone.

I look at Tony and place his phone back in the center console, "Peter's boyfriend is a great contact name for him. Those two are perfect for each other." I laugh a little.

Tony laughs too. Peter is still silent in the back seat, typing away on his phone with his earbuds in, practically dead to the world. I just hope this plan works and that seeing his friend will bring happy, talkative, and energetic Peter back. Steve might've broken him, but I hope to God that Peter's friend can bring our Peter back.

Chapter 8: Movies and Cuddles

Chapter Text

I hadn't looked up from my phone the whole duration of the car ride. At first, I was just texting Ned and MJ in our group chat, but then Ned stopped responding and MJ wanted to go practice for the decathlon coming up. So then I moved to watching TikTok. When we pull into the parking lot of the apartment building, I finally look up from my phone and out the window. My face lights up as soon as I see a familiar face; Ned. I try to get the door open before Tony even has a chance to park the truck, but the door remains locked.

"Chill, let me park first!" Tony exclaims from the front seat.

As soon as the car is stopped and Tony unlocks the doors, I sprint out like a child at a fair. I run up to my best friend and give him a large hug, pushing him back on his feet a little causing him to almost fall.

"Ned!" I exclaim. "How come you didn't say you were meeting us here?"

I pull apart from him, and he looks down at me with a smile, Ned isn't much taller than me, but enough that there's an obvious difference between us. "We wanted it to be a surprise." He states, looking behind me at Tony and Nat. I turn around to face the two heroes, "Thank you." I say with a wide smile.

The two nod and I look back to Ned, "Thank you for coming."

"I'll always come for you."

The remark makes me blush a little, his adorable smile doesn't help it much either. Part of me holds out hope that he might feel the same I do. But if he doesn't, I don't want to risk making it awkward between us and ruining our friendship. I can't lose Ned.

The four of us go inside to gather my things, when we get inside Ned and I go to my bedroom and Natasha and Tony stay back in the living room.

I sit down on the bed and Ned sits in my desk chair. "I'm so sorry about everything that's happening, Peter." Ned says to me.

I shrug, "It's for the best. May is getting the help she needs, and I get to spend more time with the team and get to know Natasha more."

"I suppose that's true." He's quiet, and seems upset about something.

I give him a worried look, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He lies.

"Ned, I love that you're here for me, let me be here for you too." I say. It hurts to see him like this.

"It's just going to suck with you living so far away now." He states after a few moments of silence between us. I get up from the bed and walk over to him. I wrap my arms around him in a hug.

"I'll be able to come back here whenever I want, nothing will change." I try to comfort him, hoping the reassurance works. "Do you want to come to the compound with us after we're done here?" I ask, pulling away from him so I can see him.

"Are you sure? Will they be okay with it?" He asks, worried that he'll be overstepping.

"I'm sure they won't mind, plus it'll be nice having a friend there." I say. "We can build Legos, I have a few sets I have to put together still."

He smiles, "That sounds awesome."

Tony brings in a box for me to put stuff in and Ned and me get to work. The first things I grab are the box from Natasha that has the keychain and note inside, and the picture of my parents. I wrap them in bubble wrap and gently put them in the box. I then grab an assortment of clothes out of the closet and dresser and neatly pack them with the picture and box. Ned helps fold the clothes and hands me them to put in the box. He gets out his phone and starts playing our favorite song; In the Meantime by Spacehog. We sing together as we fill up the box. Soon enough the box is full and we need another one. I leave the room to grab a few more from Tony's truck and Ned stays in the room while I do so. Tony and Natasha stay in the living room talking while they wait for us to finish.

When I enter the room again Ned is searching for a playlist to play. I set the boxes down and sit next to him on the floor. I point out a playlist and he hits play. We then get back to work on the rest of the room, there's not much left to pack up. I choose to leave the bedding since I have almost the exact same blanket at the compound. I put a few Lego sets in the box and grab a few posters off my wall and carefully roll them up to fit in the box. Ned helps me with bubble wrapping the completed sets and packing them into boxes. Within forty-five minutes, we're done with the room and are bringing the boxes out to Tony's truck. Tony and Natasha come and grab a box each to help pack up the truck.

"You're not gonna grab anything from the rest of the apartment?" Tony asks as we're putting the boxes in the truck's bed.

"I don't need any of it, plus it's mostly May's things. She's going to want it all there when she gets back from rehab." I state.

Tony nods, "Alright, is that everything then?" He asks as Ned hands him the last box and puts it in the bed.

"Think so, I'm gonna go do one more check." I state and run back inside. The three of them stay in the parking lot waiting for me.

When I enter the apartment for the last time I feel tears building up in my eyes. I'm going to miss this place. It was my home for the longest time. I walk back into my bedroom which is now mostly empty. I look around to make sure I didn't forget anything, and I find my baby blanket that my parents bought me for my first day at the house. I grab it and bring it to my face, rubbing the soft fabric across my cheek and taking the smell in. *Okay, it's time to go.* I think to myself. I turn off the bedroom light for the last time and go turn off all the other lights. I close the door softly behind me, "Good-bye." I whisper quietly to myself. I quietly walk down the steps and exit the building, meeting everyone outside once more.

"Got it all." I say as I approach them all with my blanket in hand. "Oh, and can Ned come back to the compound with us?" I ask.

Tony and Natasha share a look before looking back at me, "Of course." Natasha says. I smile and look at Ned.

The four of us get in the truck, Tony drives and Natasha sits passenger while Ned and I sit in the back seats. For the duration of the ride Ned and I sit close together and share my earbuds to watch a few Youtube videos.

When we get to the compound Tony has FRIDAY call anyone available down to the garage to help bring up boxes. "You two go have fun, we'll get all the boxes." Natasha says to the two boys before they get out of the truck.

"It's my stuff Nat, I can help." I argue.

"You have a friend over, we got it." Natasha states with a sweet smile.

I decide that she's not going to let me help. Ned and I get out of the truck and head for the elevator. When we get there we don't even have to hit the button because the doors ding open and out comes Clint, Bruce, and Bucky.

"Hey Peter." Everyone greets as they walk past me.

I say hello back before Ned and I enter the elevator. When the doors close I look to Ned, who looks like he's about to explode.

"Ned, breathe." I say.

"I just saw like all the Avengers dude!" my friend explains. I laugh a little at his excitement, knowing I acted the same way when I met the team.

"You'll get used to it." I smile and instruct FRIDAY to take us to the living quarters floor.

The elevator whirs and Ned is smiling away, almost jumping with excitement. "How can you act so normal?" He asks.

"Dude, I live here now. Natasha is my mom. Even before all this I was still here a lot, I just got used to it. These guys are family at this point." I explain.

"You're so lucky." Ned states.

I want to object. I am not lucky. Sure, anyone would kill to live here with the team. But the circ*mstances behind it were far from luck. I have a responsibility of keeping a whole city safe as a sophom*ore in high school. The Avengers don't go patrol because the Sokovia accords limit them to only be in action when they're called upon, so it's all up to me to keep a look out for 'the little guy' as Tony puts it. I decide to let Ned's comment go, and continue with the day.

When the doors ding open we enter the lounge that is now empty since everyone went to go help Tony and Natasha. Ned steps out first and I follow close behind. He plops down on the couch and I sit closely next to him. I look around for the remote, when I find it I turn the Tv on and ask him what we should watch. We both decide on watching Rescued by Ruby, which is something neither of us have seen before.

Soon enough everyone starts flooding into the lounge. Natasha comes in first, she sits on a different couch than us. "What are we watching?" She asks. We tell her the name of the movie and she nods before she starts watching the movie with us. Tony walks in with someone that I don't know yet following close behind. The two take a seat on the same couch as me and Ned. They sit close together. "Hello." I greet the stranger. He has a goatee and is wearing a weird red cape.

"Hello." The stranger says back.

"Peter, this is Stephen Strange." Tony introduces. "Stephen this is Peter."

"You have a kid, Stark?" Strange asks.

The room erupts in laughter. "No!" Tony exclaims.

"I'm Natasha's kid... ish." I state, wondering if I should go into more detail, but decide not to because I don't want to have to explain the whole 'I'm an orphan' thing.

Mr. Strange just nods and wraps an arm around Tony. Since when does Tony have a boyfriend?

The next two people to walk in are Bucky and Clint. They sit on a couch no one is sitting on yet. "You're stuffs all in your room, kid." Clint says as he sits next to Bucky who is already focused on the TV.

The last person to enter is Bruce who enters the room quietly, I assume to not interrupt us watching the show. He grabs a blanket and gives it to Natasha before sitting down next to her. Nat wraps herself in the blanket and Tony gets up from the couch, "Who wants popcorn?" He says from the kitchen.

"We'll take some!" I reply for me and Ned.

When no one else replies Tony starts making the popcorn. When its done he pours it into two separate bowls; one for him and Strange and another for me and Ned. He walks back into the sitting area and hands me the bowl before sitting back down next to Strange and cuddling up close to him. Me and Ned start snacking on the popcorn while focusing on the movie. I don't exactly what happened or when it happened, but somewhere in between the first call Daniel and Ruby are called to and Ruby running away, Ned wraps an arm around me cautiously. At that moment all my attention was taken from the movie and on him, wondering what might happen next. I look around at everyone nervously, wondering if anyone notices. Everyone is inventively watching the movie, not paying any attention to us. I find myself scooting even closer to Ned and resting my head on his shoulder. I close my eyes with a smile. This is heaven.

When I'm looking at the movie again, Ruby and Daniel are in the woods, I wonder what I missed when I stopped paying attention. I look up at Ned who is focused on the movie. I then look back at the screen. The room is quiet, everyone focused on the movie. I look at Natasha who is now cuddled up next to Bruce. When exactly that happened, I couldn't tell you. Nat and Bruce both look like they'd been crying. I look to the other side of the room at Bucky and Clint. Bucky looks to have been crying as well and Clint seems perfectly fine. Now I'm really curious as to what I missed but also glad that I missed the sad part. I focus on the movie and I start crying myself at the ending. I cry even more when the credits show, and shows where Daniel and Ruby are now, not realizing before that the movie was based on a true story. After the movie ends everyone starts getting up and moving around. Ned unwraps me from his arm and stands up himself. "What next?" He asks, acting as if nothing even happened. Maybe nothing did happen to him though. Maybe it was nothing to him, just a friend thing. I talk myself down, preparing myself for the possibility of it not being to him what it was to me.

"We can go build Legos." I suggest.

"Okay." He says with a smile. We start to walk out of the room before Natasha calls to me.

"Pete, come here a sec."

I tell Ned to go to my room without me and that I'd meet him there. I tell him how to get to my room and he leaves. I walk back over to Nat who is standing by the couch.

"yeah?" I question.

"What was that?" She asks in an excited tone.

Oh. She did see it. "I honestly don't know." I reply.

She smiles, "Well go find out." She says encouragingly.

I nod and leave the room with a smile. I walk down the hall to my bedroom which has the door open. When I enter I see Ned digging through one of the boxes trying to find a set for us to build. I sit on the floor next to him.

"Hey, uh, can we talk?" I ask him nervously.

He stops digging through the box and looks at me seriously. "Yeah." He says.

I don't really know how to begin the conversation. I'm almost shaking with nervousness. I don't want to ruin this. I don't want to screw up our friendship, but I also think that he possibly feels that same way I do, and if he does, then it's worth pursuing, right?

"So uh, watching the movie..." I say and my voice trails off, thinking of how to word it.

"Was it weird?" Ned asks, he frowns a little.

"No. No it wasn't. I loved cuddling with you." I say quickly, hoping to assure him that it wasn't weird in the slightest.

He smiles a little, "You did?"

I smile back, "I did, I promise."

We're silent for a second, not knowing where to take the conversation from there. It's so awkward now, neither of us knowing what to say or do. Finally, I say something.

"What now?" I ask.

Ned fiddles with the carpet below us a little. "What do you want to happen now?" He asks, "I don't want to screw this up."

I grab his hand and hold it in mine, I lean in close to him, our lips so close to touching, "What about this?" I whisper before kissing him softly, our lips colliding and him sweetly kissing me back. The soft kiss quickly becomes deep and passionate. I'm relieved and excited that it's finally happening and that Ned feels the same way I do. Emotions are exploding in me as the kiss deepens. My heart is racing and I wrap my hand around his neck, pulling him even closer to me.

Suddenly, we hear footsteps just outside the door and quickly pull away from each other, realizing that the door is still open. *wow* I think to myself. It was unbelievable and better than I could've ever imagined. I look outside the room to see Nat standing on the other side of the door. I glance at Ned who is sitting there nervously.

"Hi boys." Natasha says with a teasing tone and smile.

"H-Hi Ma'am" Ned stutters, I honestly think he's scared of Nat.

"Hi Nat." I say feeling exposed.

"Ned, honey, are you staying the night?" Natasha asks, I swear she's holding back a laugh as she says it.

"N-No Ma'am." Ned says nervously, I think he only says it to avoid Natasha yelling at him. I know she never would, but Ned looks like he's about to sh*t his pants.

"Okay, well it's almost 9 o'clock, don't you think you should be heading home?" Natasha says after looking at her watch.

"Y-Yes. Of course." Ned says.

"Ned, she's not going to yell at you, she's messing with you." I finally say, holding back a laugh myself. "Natasha, stop intimidating him."

Ned finally breathes and we both stand up from the floor. He looks at me with a smile and I give a soft smile in return. I'm excited, and happy, and nervous all at once. My stomach is doing summer saults and my body is buzzing. My thoughts are swirling, wondering what this means for us.

"I'll get Tony to bring you home, Ned." Nat says before leaving and walking back to the lounge. When we're in the clear Ned and I look at each other and start laughing.

When we finally stop laughing we smile to each other once more, "I'll call you when I get home." Ned says.

"I'll answer before it even rings." I state.

We hug good-bye before he leaves the room and goes to the lounge to meet Tony and Nat for his ride home. I watch him as walks away and when he's out of my view, I close the bedroom door and flop on my bed, laying on my back. "Holy sh*t." I whisper to myself.

Chapter 9: The Day After

Chapter Text

When I finally wake up it's almost noon. When I look at the clock I find myself shocked at how late I slept. I grab my phone to find texts from Ned.

> "Good morning <3" (Sent at 7:03am)

> "Are you awake yet?" (Sent at 9:45am)

> "Holy sh*t Pete, how late were you up??" (Sent at 11:13am)

I smile looking at the texts, I think about our call from the night before. At first we talked like normal until neither of us could handle it anymore. I was the one who started the conversation about the kiss. I asked him where that left us, and I don't think either of us knew the answer. He said he loved the kiss, and was glad it happened, as was I. But we both agreed that we wanted to take it slow, to be sure we wouldn't screw whatever this was up. Because we knew one thing for certain through all of it; we didn't want to lose each other. By the end of the call we made the decision that we'd just take it one day at a time and see what happens.

I write up a text back, "Sorry, I was up pretty late last night. I just woke up, I'm sure Natasha and Tony think I'm dead now." I hit the send button before setting the phone on my bed. I go to the walk-in closet to pick out a pair of clothes. I grab an Avatar T-shirt (the blue people, not the last airbender) and a pair of jeans. I then go into the attached bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day.

As I'm in the shower I can't help but daydream about Ned. I relive the kiss in my mind, and picture myself waking up next to him. Wishing that he hadn't gone home last night. By the time the daydream is over I have washed my hair and the rest of my body and am ready to get out. I turn the water off and step out, water dripping down my legs and onto the floor. I quickly dry off and get dressed, wanting to be warm again. After I'm dressed, I go back into the closet to find a hoodie, I find one that May got me a few months ago that had Grogu on it. I slip the hoodie over my shoulders and go back into the main part of the bedroom to retrieve my phone. When I unlock it I see a new message from Ned.

> "Yeah I'm sure they do. What are you doing today?"

I type away at the phone, with a wide smile on my face, "Dunno yet, about to go find Nat and find out." I reply.

I put the phone in my jeans pocket and leave the room to go find Natasha or Tony, whoever I find first. When I walk into the lounge I find neither. I instead, find Steve in the kitchen. I feel my heart start racing, my brain and body screaming, telling me to leave. I don't think he even notices I'm here. I go to leave but am stopped by something he says.

"You don't have to go." He states.

I turn around again to face him. I don't say anything. Frankly, I'm afraid that anything I say will be the wrong thing and just piss him off. I'm surprised when he keeps going.

"There's no reason we can't be in the same room together." He states and turns around to face me as well. He offers a kind smile.

"Yeah, I suppose." I reply, "I was just looking for either Tony or Nat."

"I believe Tony's in his lab and Natasha is in the gym." He answers. I'm surprised with how nice he's being, I don't know if I can trust it or not though.

"Thanks." I say before exiting the room into the hallway. I speed walk down the hall to go find Nat.

When I open the door to the gym I find her using the punching bag. She has her earbuds in so I know that she won't be able to hear a thing I say. I walk over by her, careful not to get too close to the bag and it takes her a second to realize I'm there. When she does she takes out her earbuds. "Hey kiddo."

"Hey." I reply, "I just ran into Steve in the lounge." I state.

"Did he say anything to you?" She asks.

"He was oddly kinda.. nice?" I reply.

She smiles, "That's good." She unwraps her hands from the fabric. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"I was thinking of going to a movie with Ned, but I don't know if he'd be up for it." I state, "I was also hoping to get some more driving practice since my test is coming up."

"Alright well, how about this? I'll go find Tony and he can take you driving, and you text Ned to ask him about the movie." She suggests.

I nod in agreement and the two of us leave the room. I go back to my room and she goes down to the lab to get Tony. The building feels oddly empty today and part of me wonders where everyone is. When I get to my room I pull my phone from my pocket and sit on my bed. I go to Ned's contact and select the FaceTime button. He answers fairly quickly, and I blush just seeing him.

"Hey, what's up?" He greets.

"Not much, I ran into Steve when I was trying to find Nat and Tony." I say, starting conversation.

"Oh no, how'd that go?" He replies, I see the camera shift a little, I assume he sits down somewhere.

"It surprisingly went okay." I state. "What are you up to today?"

"Nothing really, you?" He responds.

"Well... I was thinking, if you're not busy, and if you'd want to, maybe we could go to the movies together?"

He looks at the phone screen and smiles at me, "I would love to."

A smile creeps up on my face too, "Okay, I'll look at show times and movies playing and text you." I state.

"It's a date." He smiles, causing me to blush a little.

"Definitely." I reply, "I'll see you then."

The call comes to an end and I get up from the bed, putting my phone in my pocket. I figure that Nat should've found Tony by now so I exit my room and head for the lounge.

When I'm just about to open the door to enter the lounge, I hear Steve yelling inside. I stay outside and just listen.

"Tony I can't stay in the basem*nt." Steve says.

"Would you rather live on the street?" Tony responds.

"You can't kick me out just for having my own opinions!" Steve yells.

"Opinions about my kid, Steve!" Natasha yells, entering the conversation.

"Natasha, she's a great kid. But I just can't support this. It's not normal. You should be talking her out of this, not encouraging it. Think about what others will think, if word gets out that the Avengers are housing a transgender teenager. There will be an outrage. Paige will get bullied at school, on the street, she wouldn't be able to go anywhere in peace." Steve explains. Hearing my deadname feels like a punch to the gut, I haven't heard it since before I switched schools to MidTown High. I don't even know how he figured it out, my name is legally changed for f*cks sake.

Against my better judgment, I enter the room. "That's not my name."

"Peter..." Natasha says with a sorry tone.

"I appreciate the concern, Rogers. But I've been living as a trans kid all my life. I've been through all of it. When I was 10 I was molested by my babysitter, when I was 14 I started my transition and got mocked in the hallways at school, so I moved schools in the middle of my freshman year and legally changed my name so that no one would know. It wasn't until I met you guys that I felt safe, that I felt normal, that I thought everything was okay and that I was just this normal guy from Queens. I wasn't trans, I wasn't a freak, I was just me. I'm trans Steve, but so what? Before you knew that you treated me like you would any other teen boy. I fought beside you, I built forts with you, I watched movies with you, I did my history homework with you. I'm still that same kid that you did all those things with. Nothing about me changed." I lecture, hoping that maybe he'll get the point.

"Yes, but you lied. There's nothing I hate more than liars." he states, trying to justify his actions.

"This isn't public knowledge, Steve! You don't get a right to know. The whole point of being trans is to transition into the gender that I am, to pass as a guy without anyone knowing that I'm trans. I didn't lie. Because for starters, I thought you knew. It isn't my fault that the team kept it from you. Secondly, even if I were to intentionally keep it from you, it wouldn't have been lying because you don't have the right to know. Just like you didn't have the right to know my deadname." My voice rises and I start yelling halfway through the speech. I think I shock Nat a little since she's never heard me yell, same with Tony who has been speechless since I entered the room.

Steve doesn't say anything either. He's just as speechless as Tony and Nat. He looks away from me, probably trying to process everything I just said. Maybe shocked by the fact that I yelled, maybe surprised I stood up to him. I don't know. When he finally says something I'm shocked, and so is everyone else.

"You're right." He says with a long pause, "It's not your fault. You didn't intentionally keep this from me."

My heart skips a beat and I freeze in place, holding my breath. There's no way I got through to him just like that. Steve is stubborn and refuses to admit when he's wrong. There's a catch to this, I know it. But I don't get a chance to see the other shoe drop because he leaves the room. Natasha and Tony stand in the same shocked and frozen stance I'm in. None of us know what to say or do in that moment. It's silent for a few moments, the three of us processing what the hell just happened. I stuff my hands in my pockets and go to sit on the couch. Natasha and Tony follow me and sit on either side of me. Natasha places her warm hand on my shoulder. I look up to her and see her comforting smile. "You did good little spider. I'm proud of you."

I don't give a response, just a nod. I feel bad for what I did. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I feel guilty for raising my voice and yelling at Steve. He was like an uncle to me, he was always there for me. Especially when I had a bad few days at school. I used to come here on the weekends and just spend hours with him talking. We'd talk about the kids at school and how horrible they made me feel, he was always the first one to comfort me. He even taught me some self defense skills in case the vocal harassment ever got physical. He just made me promise that I would only use it in self defense and that I wouldn't really hurt a person with my strength. He made me promise to have restraint, no matter how mad I got. He was one of the few adults that wouldn't offer suggestions on how to avoid the situations, or just say "don't listen to them" but actually listen and tell me he understood. He was comforting. I don't get how finding out this one thing about me changed his opinion of me so much. I don't get how finding out I'm trans made him become like the kids that torment me at school. Seeing him at the compound used to be my escape from the reality of kids at school, but now I have to face that reality here too.

"Hey, did you come up with a plan with Ned?" Tony asks, changing the conversation.

"Yeah, we were going to watch a movie tonight, I just have to figure out what movie." I state. I pull my phone out of my pocket to look at the showtimes of the movie theater that's by Ned's apartment building. I decide that 'The Croods: A New Age' would be a good movie for us to watch. I text him a screenshot of the movie description and the available showtimes with the caption "Does this sound good? If so, what time would you want to go?"

He texts back almost immediately, which is surprising for him. He replies, "That's perfect! Let's go to the 6:30 showing!"

I smile looking at the text and the idea that we finally are going on a first date. Natasha gently and jokingly pushes me. "You're blushing!" She exclaims and laughs.

"Shut up!" I joke and return the laugh, glad that the tension from the previous conversation is gone.

I turn to face Tony who is still sitting next to me, "Can I drive there to pick him up? To get more driving practice with the truck you got me?" I ask politely.

He gives a wide smile, "Of course!"

Just like that the tension that was once there is gone. The aggravated conversation is lost and forgotten and the only focus is the date I'm going on tonight and the driving practice I'm going to get with it. I'm not going to let Steve ruin my night. Afterall, it's my first date with the guy I've been crushing on since before the blip. When I saw him after we all came back, the only thing I knew for certain was my feelings for him. I couldn't be happier now that those feelings are out in the open. I just hope I don't screw this up.

Chapter 10: Movie Theater Madness

Chapter Text

When I drive into the movie theater parking lot, I already see Ned waiting at the doors for me. Tony must notice me looking at him and yells at me to pay attention to what I'm doing. I pull into the closest parking spot and put the truck in park.

"Thank you, Tony." I say with a wide smile as I unbuckle my seatbelt.

"'Course kid. Now go have fun." Tony replies.

I hop out of the truck in a hurry, Tony gets out after me and gets into the driver's seat. I wave a last good-bye before running over to Ned. He's fairly dressed up, wearing a cute button down shirt that has a Lego pattern on it and ripped jeans to go with it. He looks so handsome, I'm so lucky. When I get next to him I immediately hug him as if we hadn't seen each other in forever. He hugs me tightly in return.

"Ready?" He asks as we pull apart from each other. I nod with a wide smile and take his hand in mine.

"So ready." I state. We walk inside the building holding hands, both of us pretty nervous. We hadn't told anyone about us yet, except obviously Natasha and Tony. There's a little bit of a line behind the tickets and concession stand, but not too long. We get through the line pretty quickly. We decided that Ned would pay for the tickets and I would pay for the snacks. We get a medium bowl of popcorn to share, I get a box of cookie dough bites and her gets a chocolate bar. From there we go to find the theater our movie is in. It's the first one on the right side of the building, since it's a brand new movie it's playing on the mega screen. We go to find our seats, right in the center of the theater, and sit down. The pre-movie ads are playing on the screen as we patiently wait for the movie to start. The lights are still on inside so we see many others enter in after us, most people being parents with their younger kids. Ned is holding the popcorn on his lap and our other snacks are in the cupholders. As I look at him I start to wonder what MJ might say about me and him being together. I wonder what May would say. Before I know it the movie starts. Ned wraps an arm around me and we lean close together, wishing the arm rest that separates us wasn't there.

As the movie plays we sit quietly and snack on our food, making little jokes about the characters every now and then. We also poke fun at each other, making little flirtatious jokes. About halfway through the movie, it stops. Ned and I share a confused look before a young officer walks into the theater.

"There is a situation across the street, please follow me to a safe location swiftly, quietly, and calmly." the officer says.

I roll my eyes. It's just my luck that something happens when I'm on a date that that I've been wanting to happen forever.

"Do you have your suit?" Ned whispers as we get up from our seats and gather our things.

"No, I left it at the compound." I state with a hint of worry in my voice. "It's fine, follow the officer and I'll go outside and see what's going on."

"Peter." He says worriedly.

"I'll be okay, I promise." I say and kiss him on the cheek, "But please Ned, get to safety, I need to know you're safe."

He nods and goes to follow the officer with the rest of the crowd. I slip away and exit out the theater door. When I get outside it's almost dark out, and there's a fire across the street. The building on fire is a bank and amongst the smoke I see a shadowy figure. I need to find a way to conceal my face. I'm thankful I at least thought to bring my web shooters. Running from the scene I see someone drop a jacket on the ground. It's not ideal but it'll work. I slip on the jacket and put the hood on over my head as best I can.

The shadowy figure exits the building and it's revealed to be Black Cat. One of my more annoying villains. As I look around there's people running everywhere trying to get to safety, I try to get as many people as I can to cover but before I get everyone out of the way, Black Cat throws me up against a building. I dodge another hit from her and shoot a web in her face, "Come on kitty, can't you take one night off?" I yell as I get away from her as she's distracted with the web.

"Spider-Man, I thought you'd show up tonight." She hisses.

"You just ruined a very important day for me, so can we catch this up?" I say shooting another web her way as I stick to a building nearby.

"Come show yourself and find out." She teases.

"Yeah, no thanks." I reply and jump off the building to do a swing-kick. I do it quickly to be sure she doesn't see my face.

"Aw how come you changed the uniform? I liked your little onesie." She says as she gets up from the ground. I stick to another building to search for anything she stole. I find a few money bags laying by the doors just outside the flames of the fire.

"So, what's with the fire? That's not really your style." I say hoping to distract her as I web the money bags to swing them over to me.

She grabs them in mid air. "Just a little accident, they can rebuild." she states, "Also don't steal my stuff."

"That's funny, is it really your stuff if you stole it?" I joke and go in for another swing kick. I land the hit and grab the bags from her again.

"Sorry to cut this so short I was having fun." I say as I web her to the ground, trapping her for the police to grab her. "I'm a little busy tonight." I walk away and hand the money bags to a nearby officer while three more go over to Black Cat.

"This was fun, we should do it again sometime." I say before swinging off into a nearby alley. I take the sweater off and look into the distance to the movie theater. I see smoke and small flames on the left side of the building. I race over there as fast as I can. I enter the more stable part of the building that already has the flames out thanks to the firemen on the scene. I hear the voice of someone in the distance telling me to stay away from the building but I don't care. I race inside and yell for Ned.

"Peter!" I hear a far off yell and try to locate it. "Peter!" he yells again and I try to follow the sound of his voice.

"Ned! I'm coming, keep yelling!" I yell, hoping that he's okay.

He keeps yelling and I follow the voice to a pile of debris on the side of the building that caught fire. *"no no no no no"* I scream in my head, panicking as I pick up large pieces of rubble. As I pick up pieces I find a door under it all and pry it open. When the door is opened it reveals a group of people inside a janitor closet. "Is everyone okay?" I ask looking at the crowd of scared people. Some people cough and nod, others just try to get out for air. "Alright everyone out, this side of the building is getting even more unstable." I say and wave everyone out of the room. I find the officer from earlier amongst the crowd, "Was there anyone else in the building?" I ask.

"No, anyone who didn't exit the building came in here with me." He states.

I nod in response to the officer and he helps to make sure everyone exits the building safely. The last person to leave the surprisingly large closet is Ned. I sigh in relief when I see him. The distance between us closes and I hug him tightly, "I thought I lost you." I say relieved.

The hug quickly turns into a quick kiss, "Never." He replies when we pull apart. We hold hands as we climb over the debris and go outside. We walk down the street and find someplace to sit and wait for Tony to pick us up at. We walk a few blocks down the road to a nearby coffee shop. We take a seat at a cute little bar stool height table. I take out my phone to find a million missed calls from Tony and Natasha. I go to Nat's contact and hit the call button. She answers immediately.

"Peter? Peter are you okay?" She says into the phone, her voice shaking from worry.

"We're fine, just a little banged up, can you come get us?" I reply with a cough from all the smoke.

"Yeah, send me your location, Tony and I will be there as soon as possible." she states.

"Okay, see you soon." I reply and hang up the phone and send her our location.

I look at Ned, "I think we learned a valuable lesson here." I state, "I need to bring my suit with me everywhere from now on."

He laughs, "No kidding."