Chapter Text
The Beginning. The Bad. The Good.
Ever since he was a kid, Peter knew every story was divided into those three parts. As he got older, he was sure there were more details and probably better words to describe it. But he didn't change his thinking. That was how it always was.
He only knew that because he spent the first years of his life in an orphanage that was too overcrowded and too underfunded. There was barely enough money to put food on the table for every boy in the home, let alone give them luxuries to pass the time with.
Peter spent most of his time at the library. He was only 6, but he was the best reader in his class. Library books were free and he could bring them to the home (as long as he remembered to bring them back on time) and they could take him anywhere. He didn't have to be a little boy with no family stuck in a room with six other boys.
He liked to hide in the attic and read his books and just...pretend. Whatever book he was reading that week was where he could escape. He could be an astronaut or a doctor or a cowboy or racecar driver or a policeman. He could be anything.
But his favorite was Peter Pan. He loved that book. There were pirates and mermaids and the lost boys. He waited by the window before bed, waiting for his own Peter Pan to come and take him far away.
That would be his Good. Because every story had the same formula of beginning and bad and good. It was just like math.
His beginning was before the orphanage. He didn't remember that part of his story too well. He'd been in the orphanage for as long as he could remember.
And that was definitely the bad. There were some nights when there wasn't enough food for him to eat. The older boys always picked on him. In the summer, it was too hot and in the winter, it was too cold. Some times, he had to share a bed if there were too many boys in the home at once. There were always too many chores.
He didn't think he'd ever get to the good part of his story. Not until one day when he came back from school and Miss Romanoff told him he wasn't allowed to go hide in the attic; he had to go to the bathroom to wash up and then put on his nicest clothes-- which really weren't nice.
He knew that meant that someone wanted to come see him, but he didn't hold high hopes. He had four families come take him out for the day in the past few months and it always ended the same way: them dropping him right back off at nighttime.
So, this time when he met two men in the living room, he smiled politely but not excitedly. He stopped getting excited when the older boys told him no one would bring him home and they were right...every single time.
"Peter," Miss Romanoff said with warning underlying in her voice. "This is Steven and Anthony. They're going to take you out today. Does that sound like fun?" She was smiling and Peter knew she was only trying to be happy for him, but he hated the frown she had every time Peter came back to stay.
"Someone will want you, Peter. They're out there somewhere. There's someone for everyone."
"Yes, ma'am," Peter replied in a quiet voice. Families liked polite boys.
Miss Romanoff grinned wider. "Excellent! You three go out and have fun. Tomorrow is a school day so don't keep him out too late, but other than that, you boys go crazy!"
Peter hated this. He hated having to spend a day with strangers. It always scared him. How was he supposed to know the bad strangers from the good ones?
One of the boys he shared a bed with for a few months told him about all the bad stuff his dad did to him before he came to the home. And if a father could hurt his own son, what was going to stop a stranger from hurting Peter?
Despite his fears, he started walking to the two men. He felt them staring down at him, but he didn't look up.
"He's a little shy," Miss Romanoff said as Peter continued to stare down at his feet.
"That's quite alright. Maybe we'll get him to open up by dinner," one of the men replied with a laugh.
He didn't sound mean. He sounded nice.
Peter peeked an eye up to see the men. They were both staring back down, but not in a way that made Peter uncomfortable. There was one man with blond hair and blue eyes. He was bigger and taller than the other, but he still smiled down at Peter with a soft smile. The other man was shorter and smaller with brown hair and brown eyes. Like Peter. He had a funny looking beard and mustache that Peter couldn't help but stare at.
"You ready to go, kid?" He asked, smiling too.
Peter didn't know them, but he could tell they were nice. He nodded his head and took a step closer.
"Well, here we go then," he said before turning to Miss Romanoff. "We'll have him back after dinner."
"Thank you, Anthony."
"Please call me Tony."
So the man with the beard was Tony and the man with the blue eyes was Steven.
Peter didn't know why he was trying to remember that when he was never going to see them again.
Well, at least going out to dinner meant that he wouldn't have to fight anyone for a scrap of food tonight.
As they walked out of the home and down the stoop, Peter wanted to ask where they were going, but his voice didn't want to work.
"So, kiddo," Tony broke the silence because his voice worked. Maybe he wasn't nervous. "Got any cool hang outs around here?"
Cool hang outs? "Uh, I-- um...I like the attic," he stuttered when they stared at him expectantly for an answer.
"The attic?" Steven asked. "What's in there?"
"It's quiet and I can read," he replied, picking on a piece of skin below his nail.
The confusion left his face. "Yeah, I understand that. I like to find somewhere secluded and quiet when I draw sometimes."
Peter relaxed a little as he smiled up at him. Steven smiled back.
"You know," Tony said as he scrolled on his phone. "Says here that there's a zoo pretty close. That sounds like fun."
Peter's eyes widened. No one ever took him to anywhere like the zoo before. "Really?"
"Sure!" Tony put the phone in his pocket and lowered his sunglasses back on his face. "It's only a 10 minute car drive from here."
Peter followed them to their car and he climbed up when the door was opened for him. He sat up straight, waiting for one of them to buckle him in because he still had trouble with that.
But Steven leaned in the car and frowned at him. Peter felt his heart start beating faster. Did he do something wrong? Was he already misbehaving?
"Do you have a booster seat for the car, Peter?"
Peter wasn't sure what a booster seat was. He never rode in a car unless a family was taking him out. Other than that, it was always walking or the bus.
"I-I don't know, sir," he replied quickly.
"Hey, it's okay. You're alright." He turned over his shoulder to Tony. "I'm gonna sit in the back with him, Tony. Drive slow."
Peter moved over a seat to make room for Steven. He climbed in too and held his hands out towards Peter. Peter went still, but Steven pulled his hands back. "I'm just going to lift you up and sit you in my lap. You need a boost so the seat belt fits you right. Just in case."
Peter didn't know how seat belts worked, but he trusted him. So he nodded his head. Steven gave him another smile before slowly reaching over and lifting him up before settling him on his lap. Then he pulled the seat belt over them and clicked it in place.
"Is it okay? Are you comfortable?"
"Yes." Remember: be polite. "Thank you, Mr. Steven."
Steven laughed and Peter vibrated against his chest. "You can call me, Steve."
Peter felt his cheeks burn. Steven-- Steve was laughing at him because he had called him the wrong name. So dumb! "I'm sorry, Mr. Steve, sir. I thought it was Steven."
Steve stopped laughing. "You don't have to apologize, Peter. My name is Steven, but I prefer Steve. That's my nickname."
Tony turned around to join their conversation. "Same way that my name is Anthony, but I like Tony. What about you? Do you have a nickname?"
"My name is Peter…" Peter replied, unsure if that was the right answer.
Tony and Steve laughed, but it didn't sound like a mean laugh. "Yeah, but do you have a nickname?"
Peter shook his head. "No one has ever given me a nickname before."
"Everyone calls you Peter?"
"Yes." Peter paused before saying, "Well, the older boys call me names. But they're not nice nicknames. Like loser and nerd. I don't like being called those nicknames though."
"We never would use those, Peter," Tony said immediately. "We can think of other nicknames. Nice ones."
"Tony's right." Steve said, wrapping an arm around Peter. "He's good with nicknames."
Tony turned back around and started the car. "I sure am, Pete. Oh, look I got one already."
Peter giggled, covering his mouth. Pete. He liked that. He let them know that much. "I like that name."
"There's a lot more where that came from. Just you wait."
Peter smiled and leaned back against Steve's chest. Steve held him in his arms as Tony drove slow on the road.
Maybe it wasn't the nickname that was making him so happy. Maybe it was the way he felt just being with Steve and Tony.
But then he remembered that he'd be sleeping in bed again tonight and they'd go back to theirs. He couldn't let himself be happy with them. Not unless he wanted to get hurt more.
That turned out to be hard. Even harder than his last math test. Tony and Steve let him run around the zoo and they lifted him up to see every exhibit. Peter liked the aquarium the best.
When a shark swam close to the glass, he let out a squeal and jumped back into Steve's arms. Steve laughed as he held him and brought him closer. "It's alright, bud," he said. "He won't hurt you."
Peter held onto Steve's shirt and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Bud?"
Steve's smile softened. "Yeah. You're my bud."
Hearing that, Peter couldn't help but lean forward and wrap his arms around Steve in a hug. Steve used the hand not holding him to rub his back.
"Alright, you two," Tony said, coming up behind them. "Let's say goodbye to Bruce and get some dinner."
Peter kept one hand tight on Steve's shirt as he turned and waved at the tank where the shark was swimming away. "Bye bye, Bruce!"
As they walked through the aquarium and zoo, Peter said goodbye to every animal they passed. He hoped they were happy here and didn't feel trapped like Peter did in the home.
When they were back in the car and Tony was driving, Peter craned his neck to look up at Steve. "Hey, buddy."
Steve hesitated before he blinked and looked down. "Is that me?"
"Yeah. We're buds, right?" Peter asked. Maybe if they were buds, Steve would stop by sometimes to see him after today.
"We sure are, Pete."
Peter smiled and now that he had Steve's attention, he asked, "Do you think the animals are happy in those cages? Do you think they ever want to be free?"
Steve hummed. "I think they don't mind being there. They've got friends. Remember how happy those monkeys looked as they climbed around?"
"Yeah...they were playin' with each other."
"They keep each other happy. You don't have to worry about them."
"Like the lost boys."
"The lost boys?"
"They're in my favorite book: Peter Pan. They've got each other and they're happy." Peter didn't have any friends to keep him happy. Maybe Steve and Tony could be his friends.
"Peter Pan? Good choice, kiddo," Tony said without turning away from the road.
"I like to borrow it from the library," Peter rambled on. "But the librarian says I have to start taking breaks between reading it so other kids can read it too."
Steve laughed again and Peter loved the way his chest rumbled under his head. He shut his eyes and relaxed in Steve's arms. He wanted to enjoy this while he could.
When the car stopped, Peter opened his eyes and saw them outside of a pizza place. Tony turned around and asked, "Pizza good for you, squirt?"
Another nickname. Peter smiled. "Pizza is good!"
And the pizza was good. It was delicious. Peter never wanted the meal to end because then that meant he had to go back to the home and Steve and Tony were going to leave him.
The only good part about dinner ending was that Peter was back in the car in Steve's arms one more time. Steve technically wasn't really holding him, but it was the closest Peter had been to being held in a while. Miss Romanoff gave him hugs sometimes, but nobody ever held him.
So while he still had the chance to savor it, he shut his eyes again and nestled his head against Steve's chest. He was still in the same spot when the car stopped moving again. Peter was awake, but he kept his eyes shut.
Someone shook him gently, but Peter remained 'sleeping'.
"Come on, sleepy head. Time to get inside," Steve whispered.
Peter let out a little moan and just held on tighter. He didn't want to go back to that cold room and that hard bed.
Peter heard the car door open followed by Tony laughing. "That's my favorite spot to cuddle too."
"I think he's asleep," Steve said in a low voice. "Do you mind grabbing him?"
"Of course."
Peter felt himself being transferred from one set of arms to another and even though Tony's chest wasn't as big as Steve's, it was just as comforting to lay against.
Tony ran a hand over Peter's hair a few times before he said, "Steve…"
"I know, Tony."
They didn't say another word and Tony hoped that whatever they were both thinking was good. He didn't want them to forget about him.
Tony walked and Peter knew they were getting closer and closer to the home. Peter wasn't ready to say goodbye. He had never been this desperate to stay with a family. Usually, he was excited to get back to his own bed at the end of the awkward night.
But this night was different. Steve and Tony were different.
Suddenly, the door was opening and he heard Miss Romanoff's voice. "Back right on time! How was it?"
Steve responded in a low voice, "I think we tuckered the little guy out."
Miss Romanoff matched his level of volume. "I can tell."
Usually, this was when Peter was handed back over and the family and Miss Romanoff sent him up to bed promising him that next time would be better.
Peter didn’t want a next time…
“Ma’am, I know you said that this would be a multiple step process to really decide, but Steve and I don’t need another day with him.”
Peter suddenly wanted to cry. They didn’t want him. They were just like everyone else.
“He’s right,” Steve added. “I knew the moment that I held him...he’s the one.”
Wait...they wanted him?
“We’ll do whatever paperwork that we need to bring him home tonight. We don’t need anymore time to think.” Tony held him a little tighter. “He’s our boy.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Miss Romanoff said, unable to keep her voice quiet. “You have no idea how much this will mean to Peter and believe me when I tell you, that he is just the sweetest little boy you’ll ever meet.”
“He’s perfect,” Steve said and Peter couldn’t help but open his eyes. Was this a dream? Were they tricking him? He looked up at Steve and saw him staring down with a small smile. Peter loved how Steve’s blue eyes calmed him. “Hey there, bud. Tony and I were just talking to Miss Romanoff about bringing you home with us. Would you like that?”
Peter nodded his head again and again as Tony tightened his hold on him. "Careful there, Pete. You're gonna nod yourself right out of my arms."
"Don't let me go," Peter said, holding onto Tony tighter.
"We will never let go of you, kiddo."
Peter knew better. He knew there were boys that were given real homes only to be returned a few days later. But there were also boys he said goodbye to that he never saw again.
He wanted to be one of those boys.
"Tony's right," Steve said, ruffling his hair. "You're stuck with us now."
Peter smiled as his cheeks began to hurt and he didn't even stop then.
"You're coming home with us, Peter Pan."