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“Ms. Romanov?” A squeaky teenage voice called from the doorway. Natasha stopped beating up the punching bag in front of her and grabbed her water bottle.
”What’s up Peter?” She asked between gulps. She patted the spot on the bench next to her and Peter sat down. She watched him fidget with his hands in his lap.
”I, um..it’s just- I mean…” Saying the kid looked nervous was an understatement. There was more fear in his face than when he first came to the tower and the Avengers introduced themselves at the same time. She gave him a small smile to encourage him to continue. Peter took a deep breath and tried again.
”Mr. Barton-“ Natasha raised her eyebrow and gave him a look that read, ‘how many times do we have to tell you to call us by our first names?’ “-Clint told me to come down here. He said you!d be here and that I should um, I should talk to you. Natasha’s eyebrows furrowed.
No offense to Clint but he wasn’t nearly as smart as Tony or Bruce. Those two were the ones Peter usually hung out with since he was one of the most brilliant teenagers anyone on the team had ever met. So there must have been a reason for him to be talking with Clint and for Clint to direct him to her…
”You were talking to Clint?” Peter nodded. “Why did he tell you to come to me?” Peter shrugged and didn’t say anything. He was a terrible liar. “Alright, can you maybe walk me through what happened then?” Peter glanced up at her and then turned his gaze back to the floor.
”Sure, yeah um- basically I was on call with Ned, he’s my friend from school, and I was complaining about my-“ He cut himself off and chewed his finger nails. Natasha out a hand in his shoulder.
”It’s okay Peter. You can trust me,” she said. Peter seemed to relax and his shoulders loosened up a little.
”…my binder.” Oh. Everything came together after he said that. Peter was trans. Clint was trans. No wonder Clint was talking to him. Obviously Peter hadn’t finished his story so Natasha didn’t know all the details, but it made so much more sense.
Natasha was the first person other than his wife that Clint came out to. She remembered it clear as day, the tears in his eyes when he thought he was going to lose her and the relief when he didn’t. Now Natasha saw that exact same expression on Peter.
Natasha kept quiet and let Peter finish. What she heard made her blood boil. Steve overheard Peter’s conversation and walked over to him. Peter greeted him like normal and all Steve said was, “So you’re a girl?” Peter had tried to explain but Steve wouldn’t listen, “If you were born a girl than that’s what you are.”
Natasha could just imagine how heartbroken Peter must have been to have one of his heroes demolish everything he’d worked so hard for with a few careless sentences. Natasha had never killed super soldiers in her line of work, but she figured it was as good a time as any to start.
After Steve left, Peter just sort of wandered around the halls for a bit until he ran into Clint. Clint being trans wasn’t exactly a secret among the members, the exception being Steve. Peter heard Tony and Bruce talking about getting him a new binder one day and decided to tell him what happened. It sounded like Clint reacted in about the same way Natasha did.
By the time Peter was done with his story there were tears in his eyes. “Peter I’m so sorry. We knew Steve was old fashioned and that’s why we never told him about Clint, but…” She watched Peter, sniffling and holding back tears, and her instincts took over. She wrapped him in the tightest hug she’d ever given knowing that his super strength would keep him safe.
”I’m going to kill Steve,” she announced. Peter laughed a little and it made Natasha the happiest she’d been since Clint had rescued her.
”That’s what Clint said,” he giggled. When his sniffling died down almost completely, Natasha let go of him. Then she grabbed both his shoulders.
”Look at me.” He did. “Thank you for trusting me and thank you for trusting Clint. Now, we may have tolerated Steve and his little comments when it was just Clint and Steve didn’t know, even if we really shouldn’t have. But none of us, not me, not Clint, and none of the other Avengers, will tolerate him invalidating you or anyone else anymore. So you and me are going to go get Clint, gather up everyone else, and we’re going to have a little talk with Steve. Okay?”
Peter nodded. He still seemed a bit nervous but a small smile was making its way on to his face. “Good. The world doesn’t need a transphobic Captain America. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if we need one at all.”
The two left the gym to go round up Clint and everyone else. It was time to kick some America’s Ass.