A Second Family

-Chapter 11-

  EDITED
  Peter watched as Steve's mouth moved, but no words seemed to come out. It was like he didn't know what to say, and he usually did. "P-Peter...? You're the man- no, boy, that we saw today. Crushed underneath a building...?"

  "Yeah that was me," the poor kid quickly dropped his gazed but not long after, looked back up with a sort of frantic look. "I-I'm fine though! I heal faster than most... but I still probably need to see a doctor." He softly said the last part, but it was still loud enough for Clint and Rogers to hear.

  "Peter, kid, why would you keep this a secret from us? You've been risking your life for this long and haven't told anyone?" Clint's eyes had become the size of saucers, hardly comprehending the fact that the fifteen year old in front of him was actually a superhero.

  "Actually," Peter cringed at what he was about to say. "Mr. Stark's known for awhile now... and my best friend found out too."

  "Of course Tony knows," Steve rubbed his cleanly shaved face. It had been awhile since the two teams had made up from their 'Civil War' as it had been called, but there was still a tense mood that often floated around the compound. That though, mostly existed between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.

"Yeah, he made my suit," Parker climbed down and pulled out the rest of his high tech red and blue suit from under his bed. Holding it out in front of him, Peter let the two men in his room take a look at Stark's handiwork. "So what do ya think?"

  "That's a pretty nice suit you've got kid," Clint put both of his hands on his waist. "How exactly did this happen anyways? Y'know, the webs, and the walls, and the- what was it, super healing?"

"Right," Peter'd completely forgotten that both of them knew none of the background to any of this situation. "On a field trip I got bit by this crazy radioactive spider!!! I think it must've messed up my DNA or something, because now I'm Spider-Man!"

  "Jesus kid..." Barton was giving Parker a very concerned look now. "You're just that, a kid! You shouldn't be throwing yourself into danger like you are!"

  "But I'm Spider-Man! It's my job to save people, same as you!" Peter tossed the suit that was in his hands onto his bed. He got where Clint and Steve were coming from in this situation. They were just trying to protect him, but Peter didn't need protecting, he was capable of taking care of himself.

"Pete, your biggest concern should be getting your homework done," the super soldier looked at the kid with concern. "Did your aunt know about this."

Peter dropped his arms limply in defeat, "No-" but then something occurred to him. "Wait... what do you mean by 'did' May know?"

It was in that moment, that Steve knew he'd messed up, but anyone who wasn't Captain America would've used a different phrasing, "Peter, that was a wrong choice of words, that's not what I meant."

Clint, who was still standing next to Rogers, realized what the kid was saying, and immediately felt a sense of pity for what he was going through.

"I-I don't care!" Parker walked up to the two and yanked the mask out of their hands. "I-I'll prove to you that I can't take care of myself!" He slid the mask over his face and grabbed the rest of the outfit. "I'm gonna save the world! You'll see!" Peter pulled the red and blue spandex over his body and hit the spider emblem on the front, immediately fitting it to his body. The kid took one last glance at the two men before swinging out the window. If he were being completely honest, he had absolutely no idea as to where he was going, and the broken bones were screaming at him to calm down, but wherever he went, he was going to prove himself to the Avengers.

"Shoot," Steve rubbed his head out of frustration. "That kid is so reckless."

Clint started laughing to himself, "Cap, you have no idea how bad kids can be. 'Specially this age, the hormones get really bad."

~•~

  Steve unsurely looked at Clint as they both decided they needed to confront Tony Stark. Together, they pulled up theirs big boy pants, and walked to Stark's lab where he was working on who knows what.

  "Uh Tony, hey... we need to talk about something," Clint approached the billionaire who had his face close to some small contraption.

  "Wow. Okay," Tony sat up and put the thing down. He put an annoyed look on his face as he said, "This must be important seeing as you're choosing to bring this up while I'm working. Go on."

  "It's- uh, about Peter," as Barton said that name, Tony Stark's hard, impenetrable exterior suddenly shattered.

  "What about Peter? He's okay right?"

"Peter is okay," Steve chose to say okay instead of alright or a better word because he remembered Peter saying something about broken bones. "It is just that Peter told us about something that you two are working together-"

Clint got that Rogers was trying to be cool and cryptic, but Hawkeye felt that now would be the perfect time to get straight and to the point, "Stark, we know that Peter's Spider-Man."

"Oh, you do? Okay! That's fine, so why'd you need to come down here and tell me that?"

"Tony!" Steve was near the tipping point with this man. Did he not understand that he was risking the life of a poor teenager every time the kid put on the mask. "He's fifteen years old! He shouldn't have to deal with the responsibility of saving the world while he's in high school."

"So that's what this is about?" Tony rubbed his temples. "I didn't think I'd have to deal with this until Peter's hot aunt found out. Never expected it would come so soon, especially from the man who throws around a shield and the guy holding a bow and arrow."

"Stark, listen. This is coming from a dad who knows a lot more about taking care of kids than you, you need to put the kid's safety first, why would you even have him risk his kid like that?"

Before Clint could continue to rant, Iron Man cut in, "Listen here, I didn't make the kid do anything. Actually, when I came to him, he was already trying to help people. And before Germany, when I remember the teenager holding his own against the super soldier, he was swinging from buildings wearing his pajamas. I made Peter that suit to help protect him. So if you think anyone's making him do this, they're not, this is all on his own. Got it?"

Neither of the two men know how to reply to Stark's rant, so they just kept quiet. But Steve felt a wave of guilt rush over him as he remembered that time in Germany when we fought Spider-Man.

"Where even is the kid anyways?"

"About that..." they both shamefully looked down at the hard floor.

Phew! Back on track! I'm going to be honest, I am still shocked at how well this story is doing, it's absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful for you all!

Also, I'm sorry for asking of this, but would you guys mind following my fan art account on Instagram? It's @ tomsh.doodles.

Thank you so much you guys!