The Secrets of Petra (Parker) Stark

22

Petra was having an existential crisis.

She was actually younger than Ned. 

What a tragedy.

No, but seriously. As Petra Parker, her birthday was August 10th*, 2003. She was younger than Harry, who's birthday was in July**, and older than Ned, who's birthday was in October***. She was in the middle and that was just how it was.

But this, this disrupts the natural order of things completely. According to Tony and Pepper Stark, her birth parents (and geeze that is a crazy thought) her actual birthday is November 15th, 2003****. Meaning, she is now the youngest in their trio.

But in all seriousness, this whole thing was very confusing. It was not just the fact that her adoptive parents were actually adoptive and her birth parents were the Starks, which in itself was very crazy. It was more like, everything was different now because of what came to light. Among them, her birthday. The most prevalent one in her mind, however, was her name.

What did she call herself?

All her life, Petra went by, well, Petra. But her real name was Anne, and she sort of wanted to honor that. She supposed she could go by both, since the outside world only knew her as Petra, since Anne did not exist for the public, but who was she to herself?

Petra shook those thoughts out of her head. She could stress about that later. For now, she would focus on being stressed about meeting the Winter Soldier.

As per the agreement, Petra would spend the weekend with the Starks. They were starting the Friday off with driving down to the Avengers Compound to meet Bucky Barnes. On the way, Mr. S- Tony explained how Bucky had been her caretaker during her time at Hydra and would be ecstatic to see her.

Petra had not realized that she was shaking until Pepper put a hand on her arm. "Hey, there's nothing to worry about, 'kay?"

Petra nodded.

Happy parked the car. "We're here."

Petra followed Tony and Pepper out of the car. She was still very nervous, but who wouldn't be? As they walked into the Compound, Petra could not help but gape. It was incredible! It had major Justice League Hall of Justice vibes, but with a more homey feel to it.  

They walked into what looked like a living room of sorts. Two men stood up from the couch to greet them. The blonde one, who Petra recognized as Captain America, stepped forward. "Tony, Pepper," he greeted. Then he turned to Petra. "And you must be Petra." He stuck out his hand to shake, which Petra took.

"It's good to meet you... Again, Mr. Captain America, sir."

"Just call me Steve," Captain America smiled. Then he tilted his head. "Again?"

Petra felt her face heat up slightly. "Oh, yeah... You, uh, dropped one of those airport-connector-thingies on my head."

"You what?!" Tony exclaimed.

Petra glanced at Tony. "You didn't know?"

Tony shook his head. "What am I going to do with you, kiddo?"

"Wait... Spidergirl?" Steve realized.

"Uh... Yep. That's me." Petra rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. 

"Superhero-ing must run in the family then." Steve stepped to the side and motioned to Bucky Barnes who had been quiet through the exchange. "This is Bucky."

Bucky stepped forward to stand next to Steve. Wow, they were both very tall. "Hi, I'm Bucky." Looks like Petra was not the only one nervous. "I used to take care of you when we were with... You know. It's good to see you again."