Chapter Text
When Sam and Bucky were told their next mission was to raid another base they thought was linked to Hydra they expected it to be easy, that it would be just like the last few times they went on a mission just like this one, well apparently the universe had different plans for them, sam hated the universe for that, so did Bucky.
When the two had walked into the base barely anyone was there except for a few guards and scientists trying to leave last minute but of course the duo stopped them. They searched every room down the hallways which felt like it took forever, what made it worse was Buckys constant complaining and Sam was ready to just punch him in the face to shut him up till he opened another door and the two stopped in their tracks.
There in this little room was a small child, maybe 5 or 6 years old, laying on a hospital like bed, asleep and attached to a couple machines. The two men glanced at each other and quietly stepped inside observing the room. Bucky made his way to a stack of papers sitting on the counter to the far left of the room while Sam looked over the sleeping kid.
His hair was brown and curly and he was pretty small, why would some base be keeping a small kid like this here? How low were these people?
Sam's thoughts were interrupted when Bucky called him over in a low whisper. "Sam, come look at this"
Sam walked towards him and looked at the papers, one paper had Russian on it and Sam raised an eyebrow and looked at the other man "I can't read Russian, man."
Buckys mouth made and 'O' shape "oh right I forgot.." Sam rolled his eyes and gave Bucky his attention again. Bucky cleared is throat "well the paper is titled Spider and it says here the kid" he jerked his head in the kids direction "has crossed DNA from a spider..he's enhanced."
Sam's eyes widened "they were gonna..."
"Make the next super solider." Bucky nodded finishing his friends sentence. The two stood in silence till Sam turned around and saw an empty bed, the bed should definitely not be empty.
"Um..Bucky.."
"Yeah?"
"The beds empty."
Bucky turned quickly and walked towards the bed placing a hand on it where the kid just was. Sam circled around the room searching for the tiny child while Bucky looked under the bed. Nothing.
Sam looked over at bucky "we didn't hear the door open so there's no way he just got out.."
Bucky popped his head up and nodded, he let out a quiet gasp "what if he's like Clint and went into the vents or something!"
Sam rolled his eyes "I doubt he can even open the vents you idiot he's like probably 4 or 5 years old"
Bucky frowned "I'm not an idiot for giving a perfectly reasonable answer!"
Sam groaned while he searched the cabinets and ignoring Bucky till a jar fell out of said cabinet and onto the floor breaking into a bunch of pieces.
"Shit!" Sam was about to bend down to pick up the glass till he heard another voice that definitely wasn't Bucky.
"Shit!"
Both men froze and slowly looked up at the ceiling and saw the kid sticking to the ceiling hanging upside-down. What the hell.
Bucky gasped and immediately placed himself under the kid incase he fell and looked at Sam "why would you swear infront of a kid!?"
Sam threw his arms in the air in frustration "I didn't know he was still here!"
The kid giggled while he watched the two adults argue he then stopped sticking to the ceiling then casually falling into Buckys arms and smiling. Bucky held the child like it was a bomb about to explode.
"Hi!"
Bucky smiled awkwardly "hi.."
Then the boy started to wriggle in Buckys arms wanting to be put down, which Bucky quickly did so. The older man glanced to Sam who looked at him and then to the kid.
Sam cleared his throat to get the kids attention which worked, he stared back down at large brown eyes "um hello-"
"Hi!" The kid smiled, excited to greet him. Sam smiled a bit "I'm Sam and" he pointed at Bucky "that's Bucky, do you um..have a name?"
"Peter!" The boy beamed and said his name happily, it was like he was excited to finally be able to talk to people.
Sam nodded "ok nice, how uh old are you?" The boy shrugged.
He shrugged.
Sam raised an eyebrow "you...don't know how old you are?"
Peter nodded still smiling like it wasn't slightly concerning that he didn't know his own age. Bucky made his way over the them and looked down at the kid.
"Do you know where you are?" Sam looked up at Bucky giving him a 'really' look that Bucky frowned at in response. Sam gave all his attention back to Peter who shrugged again.
"Only four rooms" he said while looking between the two men.
Sam frowned "Only- only four rooms? What does that mean?"
Peter pointed at the door "Class, Gym, potty"
He pointed to the floor "bed" and looked back at Sam.
Bucky nodded "I think he means he's only been to four other places in this base." Sam raised an eyebrow and also nodded.
Before either men could ask another question Peter walked away from them and wandered around the room. Sam glanced at the kid then to Bucky.
"Ok um..what-what do we do?"
Bucky shrugged "I dunno...I mean it's obvious he has no parents..if he did he wouldn't be here, left behind in this small room" he crossed his arms, upset that Hydra and locked this kid here and most likely did tests and experiments on him then just left him behind. "It's clear his vocabulary is limited and he has zero idea what's going on.."
Sam nodded staring at the ground and back at Bucky "should we just hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D?"
"What?!" Bucky let his arms fall to the side "we can't just- just hand him over to S.H.I.E.L.D! They'll probably run more tests on him and just lock him up!"
Sam placed his hands on his hips, out of any ideas "well then what do we do?!"
Bucky remained silent in thought before he slowly glanced at the kid and back at Sam "what if...we just..take him to the compound..and I dunno..keep him there?"
Sam's arms fell to his side, he honestly did not know how to react to this. "Keep- keep him at the compound?! The Avengers compound?!"
Bucky nodded.
"And what?! Take care of him?"
Bucky nodded, again.
"Bucky. I'm not fit to take care of a kid! Hell neither are you!"
Bucky sighed "there's really no other option Sam, we can't leave him here, we can't send him off to rot in a cell for the rest of his life and be treated like a lab rat! I mean look at him!"
Bucky grabbed Sam by the shoulders and turned him to look at Peter who was currently rummaging through drawers without a care in the world. Sam rolled his eyes and looked at Bucky.
"Weren't you freaked out about holding him just a couple of minutes ago?"
Bucky, still holding on to Sam's shoulders, nodded "yeah but...he kinda grew on me, I mean he's adorable and quiet"
The other man sighed "ok. We'll take him back, have him checked at the medbay and we'll let the team know about this situation"
A small smile appeared on Buckys face and he let go of Sam to speak to Peter. Sam watched as he bent down to speak to the boy, who in return smiled and nodded to whatever the man was saying to him. Bucky stood back up to walk towards the door but stopped suddenly when Peter grabbed his hand, which caused Bucky to be surprised while Sam smiled and chuckled.