|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 68• Avengers Kid

Whatever it was they were discussing, Peter couldn't hear a thing. Y/n leaned back against her boyfriend's front. The arc reactor was keeping her heart at a steady pace but Peter could tell she was freaking out. He had seated her between his legs and his arms around her. His lips found their way to the top of her head for the sixth time in the past ten minutes. Her hands felt a little clammy. "We'll be okay. I'm not going to leave you again." Peter mumbled into her hair. "Someone's coming for us. I might find a way out. We always find a way out, don't we?" Y/n nodded her head without saying a word. Peter found comfort in her soft breathing. It sounded so peaceful and steady. He wanted to get out of here, but he also wanted to know and see who was behind all of this. If it was Beck... he wanted to see him. He needed to see him again. He wanted to talk to him and ask him all kinds of questions. Not just about the kidnapping. About everything. He needed to know. Peter's grip on and around his girlfriend was getting tighter. Y/n places her hands over his in an attempt to bring him some comfort. A poor attempt. It didn't seem to make it any better. He wasn't hurting her but it was a bit uncomfortable. Y/n let her fingers trail over Peter's skin. From the tip of his fingers to the back of his hand, over his wrist, to his forearm, and back. Peter's pulse slowed as he slowly started to come back from his thoughts about Beck. 

"Did I ever tell you about the time Steve babysat me?" Peter looks down at her with a slight smile and shakes his head. Not that she saw it. She was still staring up at the ceiling while being held safely in Peter's embrace. "It was back at the tower. My dad was working with Clint on a new prototype for his bow and arrows. The more explosives, the better, and all that. Natasha was gone and Bruce was a little nervous. Thor... Mom didn't want Thor to babysit me alone. Steve offered himself up and I was excited to spend some time with Uncle Steve, you know. It turned into a history lesson. The guy kept rambling on about the 1930's. It was kind of fun, though. He read part of The Hobbit to me as a bedtime story. Bucky loved it when it first came out. He won't admit it, but he's a total nerd for that stuff." Y/n felt normal and happy when she remembered that day. Steve was a wholesome man. He tried his best with kids. He never had any of his own, obviously, and getting the opportunity to see Y/n grow up was wonderful. "That sounds really nice," Peter said to her. "I didn't want to fight him, back in Germany. I wasn't even supposed to be there. He's still Uncle Steve, you know." Y/n tells her boyfriend. Deep down, she wished Steve would come back too. He disappeared without saying goodbye. Sure, he came back as an old man, but that didn't seem like Steve. That wasn't her uncle. "Got any other stories like that? About anyone?" He wanted to pass the time and distract them both a bit longer. "Well, one time Thor took me to the zoo. He tried to get me to pet the snakes that were there. It was pretty awesome. Thor loves snakes. One time, his brother Loki transformed himself into a snake and when he transformed back, he stabbed Thor." Y/n laughed a little bit at the story that Thor told her. He told it so much better. "Are you laughing? He stabbed his brother." Peter couldn't help but start laughing too. It wasn't funny. "He was fine afterward, wasn't he?" 

"Yeah, but- You don't stab people. That's not funny." Peter said while trying to contain his laughter to a minimum. "It was kind of funny, though." Y/n replied, "Anyway, when we got back my mom was beyond herself. I wasn't allowed to leave but Thor wanted to see the city. So I told him to come with me because I knew some cool places." 
"And he thought the zoo was the coolest place in all of New York?" Peter chuckled at her. "Well, I took him to the candy store first. Remember? The one that we went to on a date?" Peter thought back to the stores the visited in New York over the years. That candy store was very brightly colored and smelled so sweet it made him a little sick. But Y/n wanted to go there to pick up some candy she hadn't had in a long time and Peter would never complain about that. And the candy was good - too much sugar to Peter's liking - Y/n's smile is something he will never ever forget. "So you told Thor those were the best places in New York?" Peter asked her. "What was I supposed to do? I was a kid. My dad would let me watch the zoo on TV and order the candy. This was my shot and I took it." Peter smiled at her smile. He couldn't get enough of it. They had forgotten about where they were or why they were there. Y/n looked up at her boyfriend with a soft smile as she felt his fingers trailing over her stomach. "Tell me something else," Peter said to her. "What about you and May?" Y/n asked him shyly. Peter brushed away a few baby hairs from her forehead. "You already know everything. But you never talk about the Avengers. Come on, tell me some more." Peter's voice was so soft and gentle. "What about you and Bruce? Tell me something about him."
"Well, Bruce was always nervous around me when I was young. And, honestly, I wasn't an easy kid either. I wanted to see the green man." Y/n laughs to herself, "But he often helped me with projects. I would call him on the monitor in my dad's office and ask him to help me. Even with little tasks sometimes. I just liked to hear him speak about simple things like that. When he came to the tower I would often sneak out of my bed at night and help him, when I was only giving him a pen or something like that. Sometimes I'd catch him and Nat chatting and flirting." Peter listens closely to her stories. 

"And he didn't get mad?" Y/n shook her head firmly. "He loved it. Same with my dad. Whenever they were working on something for the Avengers, I was allowed to help. Even if that only included handing them a pencil or deciding the color of a button. They liked me wanting to help around." That is something Peter was very aware of. Every time something like this came up, he would imagine his girlfriend sitting with her father in the lab. He liked to imagine the conversations they would have together. Tony made sure he wasn't absent and that was something to admire from a man who's job is Iron Man. He couldn't always be around. But he tried to be. "You know when we discovered Clint had a family, I would beg my Dad to have a big Christmas party celebration with them. I didn't have many kid friends. We did it once but Clint's daughter got sick so they had to leave." Peter rubbed her arm in a comforting way. He knows she was sad sometimes about missing out on certain things as a kid. Her father wanted to protect her at all costs but that came with a price. She wasn't too sad about it most of the time. She wasn't lonely and wasn't like she never interacted with people her age. Peter kissed her head again. "They were always there for me. No matter what. I really wish sometimes you could've been there." Y/n tells him. "I do too. But, hey, maybe this was for the better. Maybe you would've ended up with Harley instead of me." Peter said as a joke. He could feel Y/n's fingers fiddling with his again. "No, I wouldn't." 
"I'm not suggesting anything." Peter chuckled, "You just never know. Maybe I would've been an idiot like Flash. You would've hated me and have every reason to do so." Y/n shakes her head and sighs. She raised her chin again to look back up at the ceiling. Something in her eyes changed, though. They turned sad again instead of joyful. Peter raised one of his hands to her nose and gently tapped the tip. He then lifts his chin as well to also start looking up at the ceiling. "They'll come for you. Your family. Nothing to worry about." He assures her. They were back in the room all of a sudden. All the joy that came from the stories - the wholesome feelings - all disappeared and they were back in reality. The reality of being locked in a room with no windows and dim lighting. No one other but themselves was there with them. 

"No one is coming." Peter looked down at her and spotted the tears rolling down her cheeks from her eyes. "Someone will, baby. Nat can find us. She'll come for you." Y/n shakes her head again. "I sent her away." Y/n said, "She's not coming." Peter straightened his back as he sat up. "What? You sent her away?" She tried her best to wipe the tears away from her cheeks. She couldn't stand it. Why was she getting so emotional about this? "Baby, did you see something? Back when you were knocked out?" Peter shifts slightly in his seat to look her straight in the eyes. "Yelena was in danger. I told her to go." Y/n explained. "Y/n, Yelena can take care of herself." He looked at his girlfriend who seemed beyond herself. "Y/n, please tell me what's going on." "Someone is hunting Widows." Y/n blurts out without a second thought. She had only seen brief images flashing through her mind. Short and incomplete sentences. Words that she could barely hear or weren't words at all. "H-hunting Widows? Hunting them?" 
"I know how it sounds. I told Nat to go and look for her sister in case something would happen to her. Yelena was going to leave the country." She felt like she owed him an explanation - a better one - or a reason. Nat could've stayed. She wasn't at fault here. Then why did it feel like she was? "I thought Dreykov was dead. You told me a few years back. That the Red Room has fallen." Peter reminds her. Y/n nodded her head as she wiped away more tears. "Stop crying." She said to herself. Peter didn't hear her. He was thinking about something else. "You don't think that's why-" Peter cut himself off and looked up at the girl in front of him. Y/n quickly caught on with him. Her eyes suddenly felt really dry and irritated. "No." She stated, "I'm not a widow."
"You were trained by one."

All of a sudden, Peter could hear someone else outside of the room they were in. He could hear their footsteps and their breathing. Someone was running. "What did you just say?" He recognized the voice from before - the round-faced man. He was worried or scared even. "The boss is here. Twelve minutes. Get the girl." Y/n noticed the worry pour over Peter as he listened to the people outside. She couldn't hear them. "Peter? What is it? Peter, what do you hear?" Y/n asked him worriedly. Peter stands up and pulls her along with him. Peter cupped her face in his hands. She felt so much smaller all of a sudden. His gaze locked with hers and it was filled with fear and anxiety. "Stay behind me. They want to take you again. Please, just stay behind me."

A/n: I hope this chapter was okay. Tomorrow is my birthday and I have a lot to do but I still wanted to upload. Hope you liked it and love you all!
-Jay25211💜🤗