Sticks and Stones

1

"Wait, stop, do you hear that?" Steve asked, holding his hand out for Tony to stop.

"Oh, hell no, that's a baby crying." Tony said. "I knew HYDRA was fucked up, but experimenting on little kids?"

The to burst into the room to see a little boy hooked up to multiple different machines- Tony picked out a heart monitor, an IV, and a brainwave reader. Spiders were crawling all over the kid, and he was crying. Bruises and cuts and spider bites covered his body.

"No! No!" He screamed, seeing Steve and Tony. "I be good! I sorry!"

"We're not gonna hurt you, buddy..." Steve said, carefully moving towards him. "See? It's a shield. It doesn't hurt people."

The boy was still hesitant, but was much more willing to go with them after Tony brushed the spiders off and unhooked all the machines from him. "What's your name, kid?"

He was very careful to pronounce his name exactly right. "P- Pete- Peter."

"Alrighty, Peter, put your head right on my shoulder and don't look up, okay?" Tony instructed, and he nodded, burying his face in Tony's shoulder.

He heard loud noises and shouting, but didn't look up. "Okay, you're good, buddy."

Peter looked up and looked around. He'd never been outside of the big HYDRA facility. He instinctively wrapped his arms around Tony's neck, hoping he wouldn't be like the others and try shove him off.

But he'd been bitten by a radioactive spider and, as a result, had the powers of one (more or less).

But Tony didn't push him away- he held Peter closer.

—

Peter watched the adults argue over whether or not they should keep him. He may have been young, but he knew they didn't want him.

"I go?" He asked.

Everyone fell silent and looked at him. "I go?" He repeated. "Go back, I go back?"

"No, buddy, you're not going back there." Tony shook his head.

"You no wan' me, I go back."

Tony shot them all a look saying 'see what you did?' and took Peter from Steve's arms. "That's not now this is gonna work. You're staying with us."

"Tony..." Clint said. "Is that really a good idea?"

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony's neck. "No go." He protested. "No go."

"No go." Natasha sighed. No one wanted to admit the already growing soft spot they had for the kid. "You can stay, kid."

He grinned toothily. "I stay!"