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“Okay, where the hell is Ironman?” Steve asked Peter, bursting through the elevator doors with a sense of urgency that would have fazed him, had Tony not specifically warned Peter that this was about to happen.
“Who knows. Probably left to go get…” He trailed off. Tony had given him an example.
“Go get?” Steve asked, gesturing for him to continue.
“...Tea.” Peter finally finished.
“Go get tea? Really, Tony Stark, a tea drinker?” Steve asked. Peter shifted uncomfortably, fiddling with the hem of his spiderman suit. He hadn’t had a chance to change his sense of the mission. Steve snapped his gaze to Peter.
“You know don’t you?” He asked although it wasn’t really a question.
“What? Who? Me? Never…” He stuttered.
“Dammit kid, this isn’t a game. Tony endangered everyone's lives, including yours, he can’t go hiding from that like an overgrown child!”
Okay, that upset Peter. Not just because he knew the reasons for Tony's departure. “Hold on, you can’t go calling people names like that!” He said,
“Oh come on, not now Peter. Besides, who says I can’t.” Steve said.
“I- Bu- You did !”
“I never said that,” Steve said.
“Yes, you did! The 15th installment of Rappin’ With Cap!” Peter said. Surely he would remember. “So you’ve been treating others poorly?”
“That never happened- “ Steve said. Peter opened his mouth to argue but Steve interrupted before he could start. “Anyway, that’s not the point. Just let the adults handle this one.” Steve said.
“Why? Every time-”
“Hello!” Tony called from several rooms over, surprising Peter, because he knew that his lab, where he was definitely hiding, was on the other side.
“There you are,” Steve yelled, striding over.
“Here I am,” Tony said, smirking.
“What the hell was that? You put everyone in danger-”
“Saved your life, your welcome,” Tony interjected.
“What?”
“Continue, I put everyone in danger.” Tony prompted. Steve looked frazzled before continuing.
“Yeah, you did . We need to be able to rely on each other. If you’ve off running around like a chicken with its head cut off then we will never be able to trust one another. How would you feel if Peter ran off doing whatever the hell he wanted.” Steve asked, throwing a hand back at the teenager.
“Like it was a Tuesday,” Tony said calmly.
“Sorry,” Peter said. He liked to issue blanket statements like that sometimes.
“You’re good Pete,” Tony said.
“Oh, great, so Peter’s gonna be an annoying ineffective shit when he’s older just like you,” Steve said.
“Hold on, lay off the spider kid, he’s like, an annoying little ray of perpetual sunshine I've been trying to do tests on him,” Tony said. “I wanna understand it.”
“Oh, so you’re testing children now!” Steve said.
“Not a child.” Peter chimed in, earning a glare from both parties.
“Seriously dude, what happened? You’re acting like it’s the end of the world. That was last month.” Tony said, redirecting his glare to face the blonde.
“I just want you to respect me as a leader,” Steve said.
“And what do you do as a leader exactly? Pay for things? Nope, that's me? How about designing everything for the team? Oh, wait, also me. Or maybe save everyone when the giant slug thing was planning on eating them with their back turned? Oh yeah, that was me too .” Tony said, waving his arms for emphasis. He didn’t look upset with Steve in the slightest, which unnerved Peter, just incredibly annoyed.
“You know what Tony, I’m done being nice about this. Either you shape up or you’re off the team.” Steve said, towering over the short inventor.
“Peter,” Tony said suddenly. “Would you be so kind as to go to the lab please?”
“Uh, no?” Peter said.
“I’ll meet you there in a minute, but I don’t want to harm your image of me as a human being forever, so I would really rather you not hear this.”
“Dude, he’s like, a super soldier, no way am I leaving,” Peter said.
“Peter. Now.” Tony instructed, and Peter very quickly forgot he was stronger than Tony, even with the iron man suit, and felt compelled to follow orders. He walked into the kitchen, before quite literally bumping into Natasha.
“Oh, hi Ms.Romanov!” He said, ``I was just… uh…”
“First off call me that again and I shoot you, second you can come spy on them in the vents with me.” She said, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him into the vents before he had a chance to argue.
“Wha-”
“Shh. Sound carries up here.” She whispered, positioning herself so they could both see, facing each other and looking down through the grid.
“Sorry.” He whispered back, focusing on the conversation below. He couldn’t hear very well, but FRIDAY rather helpfully patched the conversation in through his earpiece.
“You know, back in the 40’s-”
“Why would you ever think I gave a shit about what happened in the ’40s?” Tony asked.
“Well, it is the area your father is from.” Steve shot back.
“So another point against it?”
“You need to respect me Tony,” Steve said.
“And why would I do that? You have given me nothing to respect. Hell, you insult the kid to his face and behind his back,” Natasha's head shot up at that, and Peter recognized the murder in her eyes without her saying anything. “Whatever happened to Mr ‘I don’t like bullies, no matter where they are from’?”
“How the hell would you know that quote?” Steve asked.
“You mean before they slapped it on every coffee mug in the state? Probably from my father's Finding Captain America room.”
“Don’t you disrespect your father, he was one of the best men I ever met,”
“He was a drunk asshole who couldn’t tie his own shoes without the help of two pretty blonde. Honestly, I know college wasn’t exactly an option for you in the 40’s, but I thought you were smarter than that.” Tony yelled.
“You are half the man your father was.” Steve spat. Peter took in a sharp breath at that. Literally everyone, including the media, knew that Howard Stark was a no go topic for Tony.
“Welcome to genetics 101!” Tony yelled, throwing his hands up. “If we’re having our little hour of honesty right now then I am ashamed I’m even half Howard Stark.”
“No, you aren't, because not even half of Howard would be that stupid!” Steve yelled and Peter winced at his tone.
“You’re talking about a man you never met,” Tony said calmly, ever the composed businessman.
“What are you talking about, of course I met Howard.he was one of the best men I ever knew.”
“See you say you’ve met my dear father, but then you say things like that and I get confused,” Tony said, leaning against a wall.
“It’s not my fault your father was a better man than you.”
What happened after was so fast that Peter was pretty sure if he had blinked he would have missed it. Tony moved to the wall past Steve, shoving their shoulders together in the process. Steve reacted instantly, pushing back at Tony. Peter readied himself to just out of the vent, but Natasha places a hand tightly on his shoulder, holding him firmly in place.
“Excuse me,” Tony said with mock sympathy.
“What is wrong with you? Why can’t you just be respectful for once in your life? Steve asked.
“The moment you give me a reason to respect you I promise to change my attitude. Excuse me.” Tony said again, trying to maneuver past the soldier to the door. Steve must have thought Tony had different intentions, because he swung his fist, coloring with Tony’s jaw in a sickening crack. That was all it took for Peter and Natasha to jump down from the vents.
Natasha went to Steve, using her size to her advantage to maneuver him away, whereas Peter instantly went to Tony. It didn’t look like Steve had hit him too hard, far from his full strength, but Peter knew from experience that that didn’t mean anything. After his aunt, he wasn’t taking any chances. He shook tony by his shoulder and was rewarded with a groan and a string of curse words he definitely wasn’t allowed to repeat.
“FRIDAY, call medical,” Natasha shouted at the ceiling, before swelling to face Steve. “Rodgers, what the hell was that?”
“He wouldn’t listen!” Steve defended. “You weren't there, he was trying to attack me.”
Natasha was clearly having none of it. She kneeled next to Peter and took stock of Tony for a moment. He was somewhat alert, which Peter was thankful for, but he looked like he’d have a nasty conclusion for a while. “You’re benched, Rodgers. Go wait in your room for further instruction.”
“Nat, you can’t do that! I didn’t do anything wrong! He was trying to attack me, it was self-defense.” Steve said, actually starting to look worried, and it hit Peter, Steve genuinely thought Tony was going to hurt him some way or another.
“Actually,” He said, not realizing he was talking until the words were leaving his mouth. “She can. Page 642 of the avengers manual. ‘If a teammate in a leadership position shows questionable judgment that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that they may be a harm to themselves or others, the physically oldest in the vicinity has temporary leadership and may use disciplinary actions as seen fit.” He quotes. Natasha nodded thankfully at him, whereas Steve looked completely shocked.
“He attacked first!” Steve said finally.
“Steve, go to your room, I’ll have FRIDAY show you the footage,” Natasha said, rubbing a hand down her face.
0o0o0o
Peter hesitated a moment before opening Steve’s bedroom door. The super soldier was sitting on his bed, face in hands, watching the images that FRIDAY had provided. It didn’t seem like the first time he had watched the footage, because as soon as the clip ended he rewind it, sliding the progress bar back with his finger and started watching again. Peter knocked hesitantly on the doorframe. Honestly, he had no idea why he had come into the room, he just knew that he felt like he should.
“Come in,” Steve muttered, not looking up. Peter awkwardly stepped into the room, letting the door swing closed behind him.
“Hi…” Peter said, playing with his fingers.
“Peter, I swore he was going to hit me,” Steve said. “But I keep watching the footage and I don’t see anything. I mean, he walked near me but…” Steve buried his head in his hands again.
“I mean… it didn’t look like it to me but who knows…” Peter said. He knew. Of course, he knew it was super obvious if you were paying any kind of attention, but he wasn’t going to act angry. He wanted to for sure, but he’d seen first hand the consequences of that.
“You were there?” Steve asked, snapping his head up.
“Uh…”
“Why the hell were you there? Didn’t Tony tell you to leave?” Steve asked. Technically he had, but it felt more like a suggestion to Peter. “And where even where you? I didn’t see you anywhere.”
“Me and Ms. Natasha was in the vents. It was her… idea…” He said, Okay, maybe not the best thing to mention at the moment.
“In the vents. Great, just great. That's what I need. I freakin kid seeing that.”
“Hey! I’m not 18 but I see fights all the time.” Peter said. His patience with the super-soldier was wearing thin. He needed a mediator here, but Natasha was currently grilling Tony and his doctors about Tony's condition at the same time, and he was worried what the results of involving anyone else would be.
“You’re just a kid Peter, you shouldn’t know about that stuff yet,” Steve said, turning his attention back to the laptop. He clearly felt horrible about what happened, and Peter should probably let it go.
“Is that all I am to you? A stupid kid you need to protect?” Peter asked.
“A teenager's place is not in the middle of fights,” Steve said, not looking up.
“Really, because according to the history curriculum at my school you were getting in fights in back alleyways long before you were old enough to drive. And I have superpowers .”
“Well that was different,” Steve said.
“Why?” Peter was going to actually hurt someone if this continued.
“Because it was a different time, okay Peter. Fights didn’t mean as much back then.”
“Just because culture changed doesn't mean people have. I’m out patrolling every night and I see all kinds of things I wish didn’t happen, but they do and so I’m not going to stand by and watch when I could help.” Peter shot back. “Isn’t that what you’re all about?”
“Maybe I was once,” Steve said.
“My goodness, you are being dramatic today. Seriously what happened? You walk in, pick a fight with Mr. Stark, punch him, leave, and then pick a fight with me when I come to check on you?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t come in here intending to start an argument,” Steve said. “I know you better than that.”
“Clearly you don’t know me at all if you think that’s something I would do,” Peter said. Steve just scoffed at that. “Mr. Rogers, I still don’t understand. Even if what you said was true, which I honestly believe it was, why would you try to hit Mr. Stark anyway?”
“What are you talking about kid?” Steve asked with a sigh.
“Well, you’re a superhuman, like me right?” He asked. Steve shot him an incredulous look.
“Yes.”
“So why would you try to punch Mr. Stark? I mean, even if he was trying to hurt you, it was like, super dangerous.”
“Well, punching people can hurt them, that's true,” Steve said.
“No like, well, I’m stronger than you, but even just with what the serum did, you need to be super careful. Like, one time I forgot on patrol and I punched a guy in the face and it broke his skull.” Peter said. It had possibly been one of the most disturbing things he had seen to date.
“What?” Steve asked, looking alarmed. “You killed a civilian?”
“Where are you even listening? No, I killed a kidnapper and murderer.” The man had been a total psycho. He’d kidnapped several other children, and Peter had caught him trying to get his fifth child when Peter found him. The guy had confessed to everything, and he’d totally forgot to pull his punch. Even then it hadn’t been full strength.
“Why didn’t we ever hear about that? You can’t go fighting people like that on your own!” Steve said, looking extremely bothered.
“Well, if I called you in for back up every time I did that I would be calling you in every night. Besides I can handle myself.” He said pointedly. “Anyway, I was coming here to tell you that Mr. Stark has a moderate concussion and will be under close supervision for the next week and a half, but they don’t think there was any permanent damage.”
“Serves him right,” Steve muttered.
Peter would like to make one thing clear, he had fully intended on letting it go. In fact, that was mostly why he told Steve himself instead of FRIDAY. He’d wanted to tell him, maybe see Steve be apologetic for a minute, and then be on his way to buy the most obnoxiously large stuffed animals he could get his hands on for Mr. Starks' room.
But no. Steve had to go make his life hard.
“Listen Captain. Mr. Stark didn’t tell you the full circumstances of what happened, but I saw. Believe it or not I get a pretty good view from up in the buildings. If he hadn’t stepped in then you’d be in a pine box six feet under by now.” He said, taking a step towards the soldier. To his surprise, Steve backed up. Maybe Natashas criminal intimidation lessons were paying off.
“He disobeys a direct order!” Steve argued although he wasn’t looking particularly threatening right now.
“He saved your life. And to be perfectly honest Mr. Rogers, I have to agree with what he said before. Mr. Stark has been much more a leader of this team I’ve ever seen you be.” He said, turning around.
“You don’t know anything about the Avengers, Peter. We’ve done a lot together before you came along. One time me and Ironman took on Loki together-”
“Yeah, we debated it in class. I remember distinctly throwing a juice box at a kid because they said that Mr. Stark should have killed him. Just because I wasn’t on the team doesn't mean that I wasn’t affected by it. And Mr. Loki’s listening to us in the vents with Ms. Natasha right now.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” Steve said. Peter was going to retaliate when a tube of lipstick, which Peter recognized as the poisonous kind Mr. Stark had made for Natasha a couple of weeks ago, dropped on Steve's head. Steve very pointedly ignored it.
“Mr. Rogers, I am sorry I have to say this, but if I could do everything over again, fight you and Me. Barnes and everyone in Civil war, I would have hit harder.”
Okay, Peter probably shouldn’t have said that, but he didn’t think he deserved being punched in the face for it.
“What the hell Mr. Rogers? Why’d you do that?” He yelled, looking at the blood left on his hand. He barely had time to react to the next punch being swung at his head. Acting on instinct, he ducked below, before pinning Steve to the far back wall, holding him up so he didn’t have the opportunity to slip out.
“Peter let go of me,” Steve commanded.
“I- wh- No!” He said, There was a distinct noise of metal on metal, and the vent swung open. He didn’t need to look to see that Nat and Loki were going to be dropping down.
“Rodgers, stand down.” An unexpected voice barked. It startled Peter so much that he released the blonde, spinning around to see who it was. To his surprise Bucky was standing in the doorway, looking royally pissed off. Steve collapsed to the ground with a thud that made Peter fill with regret. He heard the voices of bucky and Steve, but Loki grabbed him by the collar and led him down the hallway, presumably to the medbay. He just hoped he wouldn’t run into Mr. Stark.
0o0o0o
Bucky waited patiently until Loki and Natasha were out the door with the dazed teenager before turning to his friend. “What the hell was that?” He asked.
“I’m sorry,” Steve muttered.
“No no no, you don’t get to fix this with a sorry buddy. I understand being upset with Tony, although you definitely shouldn’t have hit him, but Peter? Seriously?” He asked. This wasn’t the Steve he knew, that much was clear.
“I know I know, I’ll fix it I Swear,” Steve promised.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re planning on doing, but I guarantee it won’t be enough.” He said, ``What were you thinking? I mean, the kids 15. Superpowers aside, that's still messed up.”
“Yeah yeah, I know,” Steve said, burying his head in his hands.
“Steve, what happened? You need to talk to us about this. It’s not like you to be this reckless.” He paused. "Okay, it's exactly like you to be this reckless, but not with people you care about."
His friend was quiet for a long time, toying with something in his hand. Taking the hint, Bucky sat next to the blonde, peering at the object. He instantly recognized the Locket that Steve had kept Peggy's photo in.
“Steve?” He asked again, thoroughly confused by his friend's behavior.
“Pneumonia. Her niece called me right before the battle.” Steve said. “She’s still alive but…”
“How long do they think?” He asked, patting Steve's arm.
“Any day now. She could already be gone for all I know.” Steve said.
“Then why are you still here?” Bucky asked, standing up. “We need to go see her. Right away.”
“No Buck…” Steve said.
“Yes, Buck. Come on.” He said, grabbing Steve's hand without a second thought. The blonde stood reluctantly.
“I don’t… I don’t wanna think about it.” Steve said. “I just want everything to go away.”
“It’s not going to Steve,” Bucky said. “And if you don’t go say goodbye you’re gonna beat yourself up over it forever. Trust me, I know you.”
“She wouldn’t even want to see me,” Steve said, trying to tug out of Bucky's grasp. Luckily he’d had the foresight to grab him with his metal arm.
“You’re probably the only person alive she remembers.” He retorted, pulling hard enough to force the soldier out of the room.
“I don’t want to,” Steve argued.
“I would bet you a hundred dollars that if Peggy knew you chickened out of saying goodbye to her because you didn’t want to, she would slap you across the face.” He said, “Hell, with your little show with Peter you’d be lucky if she hasn’t already decided to haunt your ass.”
“Fine,” Steve said. “I’ll go but…”
“But nothing. You are going to go say goodbye, and then you are gonna tell her exactly what you did, and when you are coming back and apologizing for what you did.” He said firmly. “And I’m not responsible for anything Natasha does to your room while you’re gone, you brought that on yourself.”
“Okay,” Steve said finally. At this point, Bucky had managed to push him into the actual elevator and press the button before he could say anything else.
“Bye Steve.” He said as the doors closed. Satisfied that his friend would follow-through, he turned around, shocked to see a certain redhead standing right behind him.
“You still have the key card to his room?” She asked. He handed it to her without reluctance. His friend may be grieving, but he was sure as hell about to pay for hitting their friends.