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Cherries

Peter had never asked anything from Tony, in fact, most of the time the boy would not accept a thing until Tony showed it in his hands. However, there was one thing which he asked as soon as he moved in the avengers tower – a cherry tree. He didn’t explain why, just that he would really appreciate if on one of the balconies, he could have a cherry tree of his own. The boy promised to take care of it, that nobody else would need to look after it. For a billionaire one tree, really wasn’t that big of a deal, so he had it planted on the balcony of the floor 54, and made it so only Peter and his family (including the avengers) could go see it.
It was just a tree, the tower’s balconies often had those, so nobody else visited it, except for Peter. The boy would water it, sit under it for hours – drawing, reading, doing homework. But for most of the time, he just looked at the city or laid down and looked at the leafs, looking so much older than a 16 year old boy should. In his eyes there was sadness, torment and melancholy. Tony saw all of this from the cameras, which were positioned all over the tower, he also saw that when Peter wasn’t there Natalie would come to it, hide her head into her shoulders and shake uncontrollably for about 20 minutes. It was the only time he had ever seen the assassin cry. The man wanted to ask why the tree was so important to the boy, but afraid of triggering Peter, he didn’t.
Until, his curiosity over took him while they were playing truth or dare with the avengers: “Truth or dare, Pete?” he asked.
“Truth.”
“Why did you ask me to plant the cherry tree?” he asked, noticing how both Peter and Nat flinched at the question.
For a few long seconds the boy couldn’t decide, whether to speak up or not. But Peter Parker Stark isn’t a loser: “My parents died when I was 6,” he started with a serious voice, “My sister was 12 and for a year we lived in the apartment just the two of us, until one night, men in suits came in and took her away, as I watched helplessly,” everybody could feel that the boy still blamed himself for this, “Then CPS found me in my apartment alone, and got hold of aunt May and uncle Ben, I asked them about my sister, but they said that I didn’t have one...”
“Peter, you don’t, not in a creepy way, but I have searched every aspect of your life and there is no sign of you ever having a sister, no birth certificates, no nothing.” Tony said controlling his tone.
“I know!” Peter didn’t mean for his voice to be so laud, “I know, I have done diggings upon diggings, there is no proof. But I remember her, before my parents died we used to play together, she red me a story about 10 ducks, I remember it, I know it’s real. This vivid memories cannot be an imagination. Her real name was Navy, but nobody called her that, since the name didn’t fit her, everybody called her Cherry, because of her red hair. One of my memories is of both of us in a park, and she gave me her old bike and thought me how to ride, it was spring and I remember the cherries blooming. And also her favourite fruits were cherries. So, I wanted a cherry planted, for her,” there were tears in the boy’s eyes but a smile on his face.
Tony looked at him stunned, he didn’t know what to say. The boy purely believed that he had had a sister, even though there was no proof of her existence, so he stayed quiet. The rest of the team were uncomfortably moving around, not knowing weather to restart the game or give the boy some privacy.
Except for Natasha. She was deep in thought, about the saying 1 time’s an accident, two a coincidence, three times a pattern. One she very clearly remembered having a little brother before being taken away by the red room, even though she didn’t remember her real name and was quite sure that it was Natasha, she very well recalled everybody calling her Chery, and especially well the last text from her parents ‘The plain might not land, take care of your brother, we love you, Cherry’.
The avengers had decided to leave the boy alone for a bit, and were exiting the room. Steve taped Nat on her shoulder: “Common, let’s give him some space for a bit.”
Natasha shook her head and looked at the boy who had curled into himself. She slowly got up, somehow the world seemed too be moving slower as she passed by the table they had sat around and sat next to Peter. Then she embraced him into a hug.
Peter looked up alertly, but seeing who it was relaxed: “Thanks, Nat!” he said silently.
“It’s alright, Chestnut, I’m here,” her voice was soft.
Peter looked up once more, there was only one person living who had ever called him that: “Cherry?”
The woman nodded, smiling and pulled the boy, who was frozen in shock closer to her. It had been a long time since they last hugged.