Peter Parker was a lucky kid and he knew it. He had had tragedy in his life, and sometimes it was hard to cope with, some days he felt far older than his 17 years. But at the same time, he was so so so lucky.
He had lost his parents, Richard and Mary in a plane crash when he was only 4 years old. He remembered them saying goodbye to him and promising that they would be home soon. But they never came home.
He lived with May and Ben for a short time only, a year, before they died in a failed carjacking. Peter had been found sitting in the back seat, terrified and now completely orphaned.
The next few months had been numerous foster homes that couldn't cope with him, with his night terrors and the fact he wouldn't speak to anyone. The Doctors all tried helping, but nothing worked.
And then Tony Stark had come into his life. His B.A.R.F machine had been brought in to try and help Peter, and the man himself had been there too, insisting that if it was going to be used on such a young patient for the first time then he would be there too to make sure everything went ok.
Within a month Tony brought his husband Steve Rogers to one of the sessions to meet Peter. They spent time together with him before and after the sessions, and the two men endlessly patient with him.
A month later and Tony and Steve brought Bucky to meet him. Bucky was quieter and reminded Peter of some of the kids that came into the houses with bruises and scars, thin and hurt and hunched on themselves. Peter had watched the big man sit in the corner and try to look as small as possible with a tilted head, and then he had walked over and held out his new reading book to Bucky to read to him.
The man had looked confusedly at him and completely lost when Peter dropped down in front of him and stared at him expectantly. Bucky had cautiously started reading to Peter as Tony and Steve came and sat either side of the young boy and listened to story time too.
After that, the three men came every day to visit Peter, going through BARF sessions with him, and staying and playing with him. He started talking and playing properly, laughing and enjoying his time with the men. It took a few weeks for Bucky to stop looking at Peter like he was terrified he was going to hurt him, and because of how careful and tender Bucky was with him, it was to him that Peter went when he was hurt or upset. It amused Tony and Steve and bemused Bucky. But they all became huge parts of his life.
Four months after he first met Tony the three men had come as normal, but they had sat Peter down with serious faces and told him that they needed to talk to him...and Peter had promptly burst into tears, something none of them were good at handling, sending all three of them into a panic. Five minutes later he was sat on Tony's knee being hugged tightly, wrapped in a blanket with three teddys, four books, a hot chocolate, a bar of chocolate and all three were looking at him with concerned eyes.
"What is the matter, Peter?" Steve had asked gently taking Peter's small hands in his massive ones. Peter had latched onto them while looking around the three of them.
"Are you going away?" Peter looked between the three of them terrified.
"Oh baby no!" Tony hugged him tighter quickly assuring him.
"Peter no, we wanted to ask you if you wanted to come and live with us!" Steve had said quickly, leaving Peter to stare open-mouthed at him.
"If that is what you want," Bucky added.
"To get to come and live with you?" Peter's felt his eyes widening as he looked at all three of them hopefully.
"Yeah, if you want," Tony nodded.
"You guys want me?" Peter hunched in on himself slightly.
"We really really do!" Bucky nodded.
Peter had burst into tears again but had managed to nod happily and agree in amongst the tears. They sat for nearly an hour pressed shoulder to shoulder hugging Peter between them.
And then Peter's life had changed.
He had ended up moving into the Avengers Tower and finding out that his new adoptive dads were members of the Avengers, he found out that Tony had a lot of money - 'it's all our money' Tony would protest - that he would have a whole Tower as his home, the best of everything that he needed - and a lot of the time what he wanted.
He spent a month getting used to his new home, getting used to living with his dads on their floor of the Tower. Steve and Bucky would come and get him of a morning after they had been for their run and had showered, Bucky would carry him through to the kitchen and the two of them would mill about, either playing, talking, watching Steve or helping him cook breakfast. Just before breakfast was ready Steve and Bucky would send him through to their bedroom.
There he would scramble up onto the giant bed in his dads' room and bounce on Tony until he woke up. Some mornings Tony would grumble and groan and drag himself from the bed, some mornings he would grab Peter and start tickling him, some mornings he would grab Peter around the waist and drag him under the covers with him for a snuggle before they got up.
They would then troop to the kitchen, Peter generally on Tony's shoulders and the four of them would have a cheerful breakfast together before one of his dads would take him to school, it was normally Bucky or Steve because Tony had to work a lot, but whenever he had the time, and sometimes when he didn't, he would take Peter to school as well. One of them would also pick him up and bring him home where they always had a fun evening together before all three of them would put him to bed.
He loved his life. He had a family again, and they all doted on him. Tony would spend hours with him in his workshop explaining things to him even when Peter realised that he had a lot of work that he should have been doing, and Peter loved the Bots in Tony's workshop.
Bucky and he would spend hours reading together, going through book after books snuggled into what had become their chair by the window, Tony and Steve wouldn't sit in it realising that it was important to Peter and Bucky. They would have Bucky's homemade hot chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows and cinnamon, an Avengers blanket over them as they cuddled together and read their latest book.
Steve and he would spend hours drawing, his blonde dad teaching him how to draw after Peter had ooed and awwed over his drawings. Steve was patient and would go over things again and again patiently until Peter got it, and even though his pictures weren't very good Steve praised every single one, and every single one of the went up in pride of place in the kitchen.
Life was perfect.
It had become scarily easy to think of these men as his dads, all three of them. They clearly loved him, every day they spent together, they seemed to love him more and more. And Peter had grown more and more terrified that he was going to lose them, that they would be made to go away from him the way that everyone else he loved went away.
Tony had caught him in the throws of a horrible nightmare, making his way to bed after being in the workshop most of the day. He had scooped Peter up, helped him change from the accident he had had, and he had taken him into the kitchen.
He gently placed Peter on the counter and started moving around the kitchen, and soon the smell of hot chocolate filled the air. And Tony had told Peter about Jarvis and Anna, the two people who raised him, the two people who loved him very very much. He told him about how they had cared for him, raised him, taught him how to be a good man.
And he told Peter about how he had lost them. That they were taken away from him, long before he was ready. But they were always with him, little things he remembered about them, the smell of perfume that he had bought for Anna every birthday, the smell of the aftershave that he had teased Jarvis about being an old man's aftershave until the Englishman had grabbed Tony and rubbed against him transferring the smell, even when Tony was 15 and nearly as big as him.
He told Peter that they were never really gone.
Peter had sat quietly watching Tony make Anna's hot chocolate, he had stayed quiet until they were on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket and sipping their hot chocolate. And then he had admitted that he was scared about losing his dads.
Tony had hugged him tightly and told him that they were pretty strong and hard to hurt. Steve and Bucky healed quickly and were super strong, he had a suit of armour. He admitted to Peter that what they did was dangerous, but they looked after each other, and their friends looked after them, and now they had an even bigger reason to come back home.
Peter had giggled when Tony told him that his Aunty Natasha had also threatened to bring them all back to tell them off if any of them did anything as stupid as dying, and they were all terrified of Natasha so they would do as they were told.
Tony had always been honest with Peter and he had promised Peter back when they first met that he would never ever lie to him. He had cuddled Peter closer to himself and he had told the young boy that should something ever happen to them, that Peter would be looked after and he would always have family and people to look after him. And then he had turned Peter around and made him look at him, and he had promised his young son that he and his dads would do everything that they possibly could to make sure that they always always came back to Peter, and that having him in their lives made them even more determined not to lose.
Tony had carried him to their bed that night, and at first Peter had been worried that Steve and Bucky wouldn't be happy with that, but both men had opened their eyes when Tony reached the bed, and when Tony explained that Peter had had a nightmare both men had reached up and pulled him between them while Tony went to change for bed. Bucky had combed his fingers through Peter's hair and Steve had hummed a song softly, and by the time Tony climbed in behind Steve and snuggled close so he could rest his hand on Peter's shoulder, the young boy had practically been fast asleep.
After that, he was slowly introduced to the other Avengers who also lived in the Tower but had been staying away to let him settle in. It was easy enough to do considering each other Avengers had their own floor, Peter had found out that the kitchen and living room of his dads' floor was where they would normally gather together when they wanted to spend time with each other, but they had been using somewhere else.
The first to be introduced to him was Uncle Clint. He was good with kids, and he was really friendly and fun. He had walked over to where Peter had been standing nervously in front of Tony with Bucky and Steve either side of him, sat down on the floor in front of Peter and asked if the young boy wanted him to teach him how to shoot arrows. Peter had giggled uncontrollably as his dads complained loudly and Steve told Clint off, and then told Bucky off when he had told Clint that Peter would learn to shoot guns with him first.
After that it had been fun, Tony had had to go work on his projects and Steve was in the kitchen cooking, but he sat between Clint and Bucky watching a film and getting to know his Uncle Clint.
Uncle Clint had also told him all about the other Avengers, especially Aunty Nat, who Clint had told Peter was his best friend in the same way that Ned was Peter's best friend. Uncle Clint had stayed for supper and had looked beyond pleased when Peter asked if he would read him a bedtime story shyly.
He had been worried that Clint would be bored of him by now, or his dads would be upset that he was asking someone else to read to him, but the four men had all look so pleased that he could not help but grin back at them. Tony had got him ready for bed and he had said his good nights, and then he had led Clint by the hand to his bedroom.
He older man had ooed and awwed over his bedroom and complemented Peter on his style before they had lay down on the bed and started reading. Peter had managed to con Clint into reading him at least four books, something his dads had caught onto, before Steve knocked on the door and poked his head in with a grin, clearly knowing exactly what Peter had done. He told Clint to finish the story and then it was sleep time.
Uncle Clint had given him a kiss to the forehead and told Peter that he was really glad that he was part of the family and that he would always, always, always protect and look after Peter before tucking him in and leaving the room.
Over the next month, Uncle Clint was round a lot of the time, getting to know Peter better and spending time with him. He would come to pick him up from school with his dads sometimes, and one time even picked him up by himself. Peer enjoyed his time with his Uncle, and as the month went on started to love his Uncle more and more.