Side by Side [Stony / Spideypool]

#2

Sam Wilson sat in his chair, watching Peter get settled into his own seat.
"Mr. Wilson, it's really kind of you to see me and all."
Sam smiled. "No need to thank me, Peter. And call me Sam, none of that 'sir' or 'mister'. Save that for Tony."
Peter nodded and crossed his arms. "I-okay. Sure."
"So, where should we start? What would you like to talk about first?"
"I'm not sure. What do you want me to talk about?"
Again, Sam smiled. "Why don't you start off easy, kid? Tell me about yourself, about what's happened."
Taking a deep breath, Peter told the Falcon about everything that happened in his life so far. His parents' death, the bullying at school, getting bitten by the spider and becoming Spider-Man, not being able to save his uncle, the fire and death of his aunt.
"And I guess that's about it." Peter looked at his hands, which were twitching nervously.
Sam breathed deeply. "And how old are you again?"
"Fifteen."
"Shit," Sam shook his head. "Well, look, I'm not going to sugar coat some big long thing about how life will get better because that's not how life is. There will always be stuff that will give you bad dreams, that will stay with you, especially when you're saving lives. But, there's always going to be good stuff to balance it out, too. No kid should have to go through what you've gone through, but hell," Sam grinned, "you're one badass. And now you're one of the team."
Peter blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. "Thank you, that..uh, that means a lot."

--

"So, Spidey has some pretty bad anxiety issues. Probably some PTSD. I mean," Sam shrugged. "I'm not a doctor or anything, but he talked to me about having episodes and I think it's pretty serious."
Steve sighed. "Peter's a good kid, but Tony never should have brought him here. It's too much."
"You're probably right about that."
"So what should we do?"
Sam tilted his head. "I suppose he can keep coming to talk to me, and I'll work some of my therapeutic magic on him. Medicine won't solve anything, so I don't think taking him to a doctor is a good idea."
"Yeah, pumping him full of drugs will only make things worse." Steve rubbed his chin.
"Who's getting pumped full of drugs?" Tony walked into the room, one of his Iron Man gloves on his hand and a screwdriver in his other. Steve couldn't help but notice the grease stains on his biceps and the messy, dark hair that fell onto his forehead.
"Enough of that," Steve told himself.
Vision followed the billionaire into the room.
Steve lowered his voice. "Tony, can I talk to you, please? Alone?"
"I suppose," he pulled the screwdriver out of the glove. "Viz, give the Cap and I a moment, alright?"
Vision nodded politely and flew through the wall into the room over. Sam cleared his throat and began towards the elevator.
"Tony, I got a phone call this morning from the court. They said that it's extremely important that someone comes down to sign custody for Peter to become his legal guardian."
"Yep," Tony nodded and pulled the machine off his hand. "And why is this relevant to me?"
"Because, and we discussed this yesterday, you have an obligation to-"
"Okay, okay." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "The court knows better than to put a kid in my care though."
"Well, yes," Steve withheld a smirk. "But I talked to them, explained the housing situation and how there are quite a few responsible adults who also live on the premises and are willing to help out. I mean, he's a teenager, at least he's not a toddler."
"What did they say to that?" Tony walked past Steve into the kitchen and poured himself a protein drink.
"They said they were alright with it. But, there's a catch. Two catches, I suppose."
"Which are?"
Steve cleared his throat. "One, they understand that by agreeing to be his guardian that you are less of a father and more of a..supporter. Here to help him financially and what not. But, the case worker said she would feel more comfortable knowing there was a second guardian signed on just in case something happened to you, being that your job is quite dangerous. And two, on that note, she wants to inspect Peter's 'living' quarters to make sure that he would be safe in the event of an attack on the tower or something."
"So," Tony leaned forward against the counter. "Let me get this straight. This woman, case worker, whatever, is okay with Peter living here, as long as his room is a bomb shelter, there's responsible adults other than me here, one of them also signing onto being a guardian, in case I die?"
Steve chuckled out his nose. "Yeah, to sum it up."
"So who gets to play house with me and Peter then? Clint?"
"Actually," Cap swallowed hard and cocked his head. "I was thinking I would do it."
"What?"
"Clint has basically adopted Wanda and already has three kids of his own and a wife, Sam and Natasha are not interested, Vision legally can't, Thor is a no, Bruce ran away...shall I go on?"
Tony stood silently, them began to laugh. He patted Steve's shoulder and shrugged. "Alright, Cap. So when is this woman coming over?"
"Next week. She'll check out the premises and bring the papers for us to sign."