Chapter Text
Steve was absolutely floored at how the last two days had turned out. First, Bucky revealed that he had a son. Then, they found out that said son was dead, only to discover the next day he was actually alive. Finally, Tony revealed to the group that Bucky’s son, a fifteen year old kid, was spiderman.
Steve was overcome with guilt, he had dropped an airport terminal on a 15, wait no, 14 year old kid. He was also extremely angry with Stark. What had he been thinking? Putting a child in danger like that.
Yes, Steve had been glad that spider-man had Tony in his corner, but he wasn’t aware that the kid in blue and red spandex, who packed a serious punch, was a teenager.
Steve’s thoughts were interrupted when Peter began to talk about where he gained his powers. He hoped that Stark hadn’t been involved in it somehow.
“So,” Peter began, “I was on a field trip at Oscorp...”
Steve gasped then immediately looked to Nat, Peter was seriously lucky. His mention of Oscorp stirred a memory open inside Steve’s brain.
He remembered, right before the catastrophe at Lagos, Nat had roped him into helping her with one of her many solo side missions. This mission being, to take down a sector of the Oscorp science wing that was trying to recreate the super soldier serum in order to sell it to the highest bidders.
Steve remembered wanting to include all of the avengers in it, because recreating the super soldier serum was an avengers level threat. Natasha explained to him that they had to be somewhat sneaky, so involving more people would be detrimental.
He had reluctantly agreed, causing a distraction with the many guards at the Oscorp warehouse, while Nat had collected the scientific data and set a hidden bomb inside the facility. They ended the mission by pushing the bomb exploding button while eating cheeseburgers at some diner Nat was crazy about.
As Steve remembered the Data Natasha had shown him at the diner, everything began to make sense. The genetically mutated radioactive spiders that had had the serum in them. Steve remembered how one of those spiders was missing.
When Steve connected the dots, he had an ah-ha moment. One of those spiders had bit Peter when he went on that field trip, hence, the name spider-man. That spider bite gave Peter his powers.
Then, Steve remembered something else, he gasped for what seemed like the hundredth time that week.
Steve’s gasp timed perfectly with Peter’s phrase, “And then, the spider bit me.”
Peter turned to Captain America, “Thanks for adding the dramatic gasps they really add to my story.”
Peter’s voice brought Steve out of his thoughts, “Oh, son, I was actually thinking about a mission Natasha and I completed, about a year ago, that connects with your case.”
“Really?” Peter asked. Bucky looked to him, as if asking the same thing. Natasha sipped her tea and nodded her head towards him.
“Yes,” Steve’s tone went very serious, “You are very lucky to be here right now Peter.”
Peter leaned forward and said with confusion, “Wait what?”
Tony turned to Capsicle with an inquisitive stare, this story was getting way more interconnected than he thought.
Before Steve could tell Peter about the mission he had completed with Nat, Peter’s Aunt waltzed through the room, “I’ve brought some date loaf.”
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May was shocked, confused, and just done with the entire situation happening in her living room. Whenever May’s thoughts were jumbled about in her brain, she would set off to accomplish a mindless task to distract from them.
May knew she was a terrible cook, but decided to cook her infamous date loaf anyway. She loved seeing men force themselves to eat it because they had the hots for her.
As she mixed the batter, May started thinking about Richard and Mary. She couldn’t believe they weren’t Peter’s real parents. Furthermore, May couldn’t believe they were Shield agents.
She had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that the former terrorist sitting in her living room was Peter’s father. Yes, she could see the resemblance, but, just wow, this was one big coincidence.
‘Looks like Peter’s life was entangled in the super hero business before he gained his powers,’ May thought solemnly to herself.
May began to load the batter into a pan, her thoughts now drifting to the fact that Peter fought crime every night. At first, when she discovered him in his outfit, May had been pissed at both Peter and Stark.
When Peter explained why he had to be Spider-man, his responsibility for Queens, May had been moved. She was moved to tears when Peter told her how Uncle Ben dying was his fault and that the reason why he became Spider-man was to make sure that nobody died on his watch like Ben did.
When Stark came, May screamed at him, the fact that he was a famous superhero did not intimidate her. Surprisingly, he accepted her anger rather graciously, then explained to May his interactions with Peter and his crime fighting persona.
Tony told May that he tried to stop Peter from putting himself in danger, but the kid went behind his back and fought crime anyway.
Stark’s explanation, along with the determined way Peter had told her about his responsibility towards using his powers for good, convinced her that forbidding him from being Spider-man, would only result in more lying.
May opted to instead monitor Peter’s super hero activities with Stark. She often viewed the footage from his suit, which was mostly filled with him helping old ladies cross the street, and May set time limits on Peter’s superhero time. School always came first.
Everything was going fine until Peter had recklessly fought Electro, even though May and Tony had explicitly told him to stay away from super villains. May leaned on the kitchen counter and sighed, sometimes she wished her nephew would just go to parties and get drunk like normal teenagers.
Once done with the date loaf, May walked into the living room and set it down, this was going to turn out to be a long day.
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Sam cut into the date loaf as Steve continued, “Well, before Lagos, Natasha and I completed a solo mission, taking down a wing of the Oscorp science division.”
Tony leaned sipped some more of his now lukewarm tea with a smile, he remembered when that son-of-a-bitch Osborn had threatened to sue the Avengers for property damage if Tony didn’t pay him for the destroyed warehouse.
He didn’t pay any heed to Osborn’s threat, because he knew that Osborn realised that if he took down the Avengers, Tony was taking Oscorp’s illegal science down with them.
“They were recreating the super soldier serum,” Steve paused, “with spiders.”
Peter dramatically gasped.
“This isn’t funny,” Steve reprimanded him.
“Sorry,” Peter mumbled as he looked down. Why were the Avengers so serious all the time?
Captain America continued, “Nat and I blew up the base,” Peter found it surreal that Captain America actually called the Black Widow, Nat, but he put that information in the back of his mind and focused on the story. He had already been lectured by way too many adults today.
“Don’t worry, Natasha destroyed all of their data,” Peter looked to the Black Widow who smirked at him, “but she hadn’t done that, you probably wouldn’t be here right now.”
Peter looked at him with widened eyes. What?, “Wait why? Did Oscorp know that the spider bit me?”
“Not yet,” Captain America replied with a serious tone, “But they knew that one of their spiders was missing and they knew that Spider-man got his powers from it. They were investigating the students at Midtown tech before Nat and I came.”
Peter let that sink in. A year ago, he had just received his powers, he hadn’t even created the webs yet. With enough men, Oscorp could have easily kidnapped him, then they probably would have done exactly what Hydra did to Bucky.
No wonder the man, who was his biological father, was so intent on him taking threats like Oscorp seriously. Peter had read online forums dedicated to Bucky Barnes with disgust, he couldn’t imagine living 70 years like that.
After a few moments of silence, Peter finally croaked, “Thank you, and, I’m sorry.”
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Bucky couldn’t describe how grateful he was towards Steve and Natasha for preventing Oscorp from kidnapping his son. He was also grateful towards Stark for keeping Peter safe for the past six months.
Bucky wasn’t blind, he saw Spider-man on the news, with a cheap pajama suit, back in Bucharest. Judging by the fact that the engineer was at Peter’s house and what he saw yesterday on the tv, Stark had discovered Peter, then gave him a new suit, that was safer, and became a sort of mentor figure towards the boy.
Based on what Bucky saw of Peter in this short time frame, he knew that the boy was a punk, just like Steve. He would probably try to better people’s lives with or without Stark and his Aunt’s permission.
“So,” Peter’s Aunt May started saying in order to break the awkward silence, “What happens now?”
She looked expectantly towards Bucky, so he answered truthfully, “I have no idea,” Bucky turned to Steve, “anything you want to talk about?”
He knew Steve had something he wanted to say, because whenever he did, he always tightened his lips into a small frown.
“I think we should talk about why you,” Steve pointed at Stark, “had a 15 year old join the Avengers.”
“I’m not an Avenger.” “He’s not an Avenger,” Peter and Stark said at the same time then looked at each other, and said, “Jinx.”
Tony started to explain the situation to Steve, “Yeah, Spider-man, he’s more of a junior avenger.” Peter nodded along with Tony’s speech in approval.
“He looks out for the little guy, protecting the neighborhood in Queens, being a blue collar hero, most of the time, then trains Vision, Rhodey, or I every other weekend at the compound.”
Peter added proudly, “I mostly just work in the labs with Mr.Stark.”
“Yes, that’s true,” then Stark turned towards Bucky, “Barnes, you should be glad to know that your son is actually pretty damn smart.”
Peter beamed, then immediately looked down at his lap sheepishly. He loved receiving compliments, but at the same time, it was embarrassing for him because Peter never knew what to say without seeming arrogant.
Luckily, Bucky filled the silence, by replying, “Thank you.”
Tony looked shocked, “Is your best friend actually thanking me right now? Capsical, take note.”
Steve, whose face had looked less and less like a disappointed mom as Tony’s speech progressed, said, “Tony, I can’t say that I approve of you taking a 14 year old to Germany, but you have obviously been good for Peter.”
Natasha placed her empty mug on a coaster and said, “Well looks like you boys have finally kissed and made up.”
Peter, Sam, May, and Bucky snorted while Tony blankly stared at her and Steve just smirked and said, “You know what Romanoff… ”
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The evening ended with everyone seated at the kitchen table, eating take out Thai food. Sam sat next to Steve who sat next to Bucky, who was sitting on a folding chair since the table didn’t have enough seats. Peter sat across from Bucky, next to Stark and Aunt May, who was seated next to Natasha.
May shared hilarious stories of Peter when he was a toddler much to the embarrassment of him, but amusement to everyone else at the table. Nat, in turn, told tales from Steve and her during their Shield days. Tony laughed the loudest when she showed the table a video of Steve failing to work a microwave.
Bucky didn’t talk much during the dinner, opting rather to watch Peter interact with everyone at the table. Bucky’s happiness was abundant at the fact that he helped create someone so good and pure as Peter.
His idealism reminded Bucky of Steve while his overall nerdiness reminded Bucky of himself before the war. Back when he was obsessed with science fiction and excited about every technological achievement that Howard Stark had made.
Bucky bowed his head in shame when he thought of the man that he had murdered in cold blood. Yes, he wasn’t in control of his actions, but he had still killed many people, affecting their loved ones tremendously. Tony was just one example of someone whose life changed because of the Winter Soldier’s actions.
Bucky’s sadness abated somewhat when he noticed how happy everyone was. Peter was excitedly telling Stark about some tech he had made for his suit. Sam nodded along, pretending to understand what they were talking about. Steve stared at them confusedly while Natasha and Peter’s aunt had a conversation about her sister.
The past 70 years were a terrible time for Bucky, with mission after mission he had to complete against his will. The future was uncertain, Bucky didn’t know what was in hold for him being a criminal, or what was going to happen to Peter’s Spider-man career, since he figured that Stark came by to punish him somehow. In the present though, Bucky was, for the first time since, what seemed like forever, truly happy.