Crashing Through the Feelings

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Chapter 1: Crash Booker Stark


"Crash, get back here, now." Clint yelled after the young boy. Ever since Tony had adopted him at age 8 after the New York events, Crash had been a troublemaker for all of the Avengers. They still loved him nonetheless, however. Crash had just turned 12 and was in the mindset of the rules not applying to him.

Crash stopped in the middle of the intersection, standing in front of Avengers tower. "What are you gonna do, Clint? Call Dad?" Crash stood still in the road, with his arms out to his sides. Clint looked to his left and saw a car, speeding towards Crash, who had yet to see the car.

"Crash, get out of the road!" Clint yelled as he started to sprint to save him. Crash looked to his right and saw the car coming. He knew Clint wouldn't get to him in time, so he closed his eyes and braced for the impact. Just before the car hit, he was picked up off the ground and taken to the front of the building. His eyes still closed, Crash was shaking until he realized he was on the ground, not hit by the car.

"You realize how stupid you can be sometimes?" Tony was standing in front of him with his arms crossed in the Mark 58 Iron Man suit. Crash opened his eyes at the voice and looked up.

"Dad!" He threw his arms around the suit, and put his head against the ARC Reactor in the chest plate. Tony hugged him back and held him close. Clint ran back from the edge of the road where he had stopped when he had seen Tony.

"I mean seriously. You almost just got ran over. And what have I told you about disobeying adults?" Clint stood behind Crash and put a hand on his shoulder. Crash looked up at Tony and frowned.

"Don't do it. I'm sorry Uncle Clint." Clint smiled and ruffled his hair.

"It's okay kiddo. Just don't scare me like that again." Crash looked over to Clint and smiled and nodded. He pulled out of the hug with Tony and turned to face Clint. Clint leaned over and gave him a hug, then turned him to face Tony.

Crash cocked his head and squinted his eyes at Tony. "How did you know I was in trouble though?" Tony smirked and looked at Clint.

"Fatherly instincts I guess." Crash straightened his head and his expression went blank. He jokingly hit the arm of Tony's suit too hard, and hurt his hand. He shook it off and shook his head.

"You've only been my dad for what, three years now? I doubt that's fatherly instincts." He laughed with Tony and Clint and started to walk back to the tower. He stopped short, then turned back to the two still standing on the sidewalk. "Wait a second. Did someone tell you? Like a specific someone who always knows my location and vitals?" Clint looked to Tony confused, then back to Crash.

"What are you talking about kid?" Clint was too confused on what either of them were talking about.

"Beckett, did you tell Dad I was leaving?" Tony looked down, then back to Clint and started to walk to Crash. Clint walked behind Tony and stood, still trying to understand who Crash was referring to. Tony motioned Clint inside, so he shrugged and walked in.

Crash looked up to Tony and stared at him, waiting for Beckett to talk. "Beckett told Friday that your anger levels were rising, and from past experiences, I know what you do when you get angry. So I came before you got yourself into anymore trouble, and you are lucky I did." Crash hung his head and kicked at the ground.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Tony sat his hand on Crash's shoulder and turned him around to face the building.

"No need to be sorry kiddo. Just please, don't do it again. I don't want to lose another member of the Avengers." Tony smiled to himself as Crash looked up to him, the smile bright on his face.

"I'm an Avenger? Really Dad?" Tony started walking to the building, Crash trailing not that far behind.

"Course you are Crash. That's why you got a suit too." They walked in to the main floor of the tower and were met by Pepper. Pepper bent down to look at Crash and to make sure he was okay. Once she was done, she pulled him into a hug, and hugged him close.

"Pepper, I'm okay. Dad saved me right before I got hit. It was so cool! I wish I could do that too." Crash was already exaggerating the story from what it had been. That was one of his greatest flaws. While he never meant any harm about it, Crash lied, or over exaggerated things too much sometimes. Pepper pulled back out of the hug and looked him in the eyes.

"Crash, don't you ever do anything like that again. You almost gave me a heart attack." Tony stepped out of the Mark 58 and walked over to Crash, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Pepper, honey, he's fine. I was there the entire time. He was never in full harm anyways. The car wasn't even real. It was just a hologram." Tony slightly laughed as he said the last sentence, but stopped when he saw the look on Pepper's face. She stood up and looked down at Crash, who knew it was time to leave.

"Uncle Clint, Uncle Rhodey, you guys wanna come upstairs with me? I gotta finish my homework." Clint and Rhodey saw their chance to escape the argument that was going to ensue and thanked God for the thoughtful child. Though it was likely he just didn't want to be alone. Crash grabbed their hands and started to walk to the elevator to go to his room. Pepper turned away from Tony to watch Crash.

"After you are done with your homework, get a shower and get ready for bed. You have school in the morning." Rhodey stopped and looked over his shoulder at Tony, and wondered when he had become so responsible. Clint chuckled to himself, and Crash groaned at the fact that he had to take a shower. They got onto the elevator and Crash pressed the button to go to the floor his room was on.

"Tony, why does he call you by 'Dad', but still call me Pepper? I don't get it." Tony shrugged and threw his arm around Pepper.

"I don't know, honey. Maybe his father wasn't ever there for him, so the bar isn't set very high, but his mom was always there for him so it is extremely high. He'll come around soon enough. I know he cares about you though, because when I thought I had lost you after the Extremis testing things, and he heard it through Beckett over the comms from one of the other suits, Steve said he locked himself in his room until we got back and he found out you were okay." Pepper nodded, then turned to Tony and hugged him.

"So, Rhodey, why did the Nazi's invade all of those places that they did?" Crash was staring at the questions on his homework, trying to think of some nonsense to write. Clint looked to Rhodey and shrugged then looked over to Crash.

"You seriously have to do homework over World War II? Aren't you in like sixth grade?" Crash's eyes shot up to look at Clint, who shifted back in his seat.

"I'm in eighth, and yeah, apparently I missed this in seventh grade, so now I have to do it this year." Crash looked over to Rhodey smiling and chuckling at Clint. Clint shook his head and rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh.

"Crash, I'm not trying to put you off onto anyone else, but we don't know much about this stuff. How about you go ask Steve, since he fought against them. He might know more than we do." Crash looked up and to the left and stared at the ceiling for a few moments then stood up. He paced around the room for a couple minutes, mumbling to himself, then stopped and listened to Beckett.

"Sir, Mr. Rogers is up in his room. Would you like to go ask him now, or wait until you are done with your shower?" Crash laughed at the childish voice of Beckett, even though it was no squeakier than his own. Tony had designed Beckett to be as child-friendly for Crash as possible, so he could feel like he was talking to a friend, not another boss he had to listen to. Crash didn't have many friends that were around his age. He rarely left the tower without being accompanied by one or more of the Avengers or Beckett in his right ear.

"Beckett, this homework is due tomorrow. I gotta get it done before Dad gets up here. Let's go now, that way we can be back down before bedtime." Crash turned to Clint and Rhodey who were smiling at his reactions to Beckett. "And Beckett," Crash waited to hear him answer.

"Yes sir?"

"Stop calling me sir. I don't like being called something that older people are called. I'm still a kid." Crash waited and rubbed his chin.

"What should I call you then?" Crash shrugged, knowing Beckett couldn't see him because he was just an AI.

"Call me Crash. That's what everyone calls me, at least when I'm not in trouble." Crash nodded, agreeing with his own sentence then listened as Beckett chirped in his ear.

"Okay, Crash. We gotta go though because your bedtime is in 15 minutes." Crash ran back over to the table he was doing his homework at and grabbed his paper and his pencil. He turned to Rhodey and Clint who had stood up, ready to go to their rooms to get ready to go to sleep themselves.

"Thanks for helping me with my homework guys. My real dad never helped me with it when he was around." He hung his head thinking about his real family.

His mother was as sweet as could be. Her name was Caroline Reed. She had been a registered nurse at a hospital in Brooklyn, caring for patients in their time of need. She was the one who always took care of Crash, and stayed with his father, even through the abuse, for Crash's sake. She knew how important it was that a little boy had a father. She had to take the car most nights and take Crash with her and just sit for the night in a parking lot, crying herself to sleep while Crash slept quietly in his booster seat.

Crash's father was a drunk who usually hung around the bars in the boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx. His name was Jameson Reed. He worked at a factory outside of New York City, until he lost his job because of his drinking problem. Jameson was abusive to Crash and his mother until he accidentally killed Crash's mother being too abusive. Crash was taken from his father's custody and put into foster care at the age of 6. Crash ran off from the foster families many times, and eventually had no families that would take him. At the age of seven, he escaped from foster care, and lived on the streets until he was found by Tony in the aftermath of the alien invasion.