5:00am, Friday, March 7, 2014
The entire class spent their precious time picking their seats on the bus. They were all half asleep despite the caffeine necessary with any field trip, especially when they have to leave early so as to get to DC before rush hour.
All of the school oriented activities had to be done today because they're not available on the weekend.
Steve was in the main office picking up his chaperone packet. Luckily his kids and their friends were all in his group. He seriously didn't like Flash, he had no right to bully Peter, and by connection, the triplets. But they would be easier to handle if they were all in one group. Thirty hours in another state in a bus full of middle schoolers. What could go wrong?
After the long parental debate with the teachers about the appropriate bedtime, the parents are let out to join their kids on the bus. Steve scratches his beard as he squeezes through the bus doors, clearly not meant for his massive frame. He sits down next to Xander. Ronnie, MJ, and Peter were in the seat in front of them, with Ned and Henry on the other side of their row.
"Ok everyone" Mr. Harrington, the middle school teacher that's transfering to the high school at the end of the year says to get everyone's attention. "As you all remember, please be on your best behavior. Two, please keep track of your groups. We don't need to relive what happened in '09" he laughs by himself, nobody else thought that a student getting lost in Canada was at all funny. He clears his throat. "And chaperones, please don't go anywhere not on you itinerary." And he sat down because it was clear that most were tuning him out.
Xander turns to his Dad, "You excited for the Smithstonian Dad?" he whispers sarcastically. The Smithstonian had other exhibits in it that he was excited to get to see his dad's perspective on some of the old planes and ships.
"Oh yes, I'm giddy." He whispers back. Xander rolls his eyes at his ancient father. "Don't roll your eyes then come whining to me because I won't let you guys stay up watching TV."
"What?!" The triplets and Peter gasp in unison.
Mr. Harrington turns to the triplet's father. "Is it true that they're psychic?" He asks the question on everyone's mind. They've asked Natasha before, but she always quipped back with something weird that would leave smirks on the triplets faces. It could get really creepy sometimes.
"I never know the difference, it doesn't bother you as much when you've lived with it for three years." He answers while trying to not answer anything. The triplets smirk again, slightly scaring everyone but Peter, they lived with him for a few months after all.
Five nearly torturous hours later that consisted of pranks, jokes, and that annoying 'wheels on the bus' song, they arrive at the Smithstonian for the first part of their trip. Steve made sure that he had his baseball cap on to hide as much of his hair as possible along with the one shirt that wasn't skin tight on him. He also wore lifts in his shoes in case any of the kids wants him to stand next to the height comparison for any reason a seventh or eighth grader would have.
"You guys excited?" Steve peers down to the seat in front of him where the three had not woken up yet and were all snuggled together. Wow, he never thought that he would associate the word snuggle with MJ. Ronnie tiredly opens her eyes.
"No, I didn't get any sleep because Xander and Henry were using those video games that they're not supposed to" Henry and Xander look at her, aghast that she would share their secrets. "Please, you guys know not to play Mario Kart during the night, even one of the neighbors called." Steve nods, he heard them but he wasn't the best with punishments. He decided earlier that a day with him watching over them was probably embarrassing and therefore enough punishment, for now.
Mr. Harrington tells everyone to get into their groups. Peter and Ronnie push MJ off the seat and she glares at them. Steve makes them all sit the right way as the bus stops, ever the rule follower.
Peter stands up to stretch out the second he could, earning a glare from Mr. Harrington. The chaperones pick up the information and passes at the second floor entrance visitor booths. Plans were made to join together for lunch at twelve then go to their next location. Other than that, they had free reign of what they want to do. But of course, Ned wants to go see the Captain America exhibit.
And it's with a heavy heart that Steve obliges. He brings the group of seven down the escalator. The overhead speaker starts narrating what's going on in every exhibit wall while they walk through. Steve looks at the picture of him and the Howling Commandos, Bucky. He always stood out. The only one other than himself that he couldn't save. It still haunts him every day.
"Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier. Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division." The overhead narrator announces and Steve feels a tug on his shirt. Ronnie is pulling him to where they talk about his life before the war. That was Steve Rogers, not the body, but the person. He wasn't Captain America, he was just a kid from Brooklyn.
It has a scale of where Steve had his huge shift. Peter and Ned pulled up the triplets to see. Yeah his thirteen year old daughter is taller than him than he was at 25, that's nice.
He wasn't embarrassed by his kids seeing his exhibit since they knew everything about him, but it did feel weird having a sick 5'4 him be measured up by them. He hopes that they will never be like him. He steps next to the figure, careful that nobody saw any similarities now that he is here with his kids.
It does help that they're here though, especially since he doesn't want to start crying like he did last time. His life framed in photos, but it also wasn't his, a weird combination.
They finish skipping around the lower floor, and almost head up but MJ sees a sign of what she thinks is a kick-ass female. She pulls the rest of the group after her to watch. The short interview with Peggy starts and the triplets can see the look in their father's eyes. They know that he knows that he belongs here, at this time with his family, but he will never forget everything that the Commandos and Peggy did for him.
"Hello. My name is Director Peggy Carter." A British voice greets as the interviewer asks her a question. "I started out in the war as a codebreaker, then I joined the SSR at the SOE position. I started up SHIELD with Howard Stark, a friend of mine from the war, and his partner Jason Wilkes." She gets asked another question. "His greatest feats. I would say in 1943 when he rescued the entire team of the Howling Commandos by himself. He put so much on himself that day to save Sergeant Barnes that I wasn't about to get in his way just to follow orders. But oh yes, 1944, that was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve...Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would...who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life. One of his many great achievements that will never be forgotten."
Daniel, Steve always got relief in knowing that he got to be a part of Peggy's happiness and that he didn't just make her feel pain when he died.
They run out of time after watching that feature because they had to figure out how to fit in three school groups at once, it must be field trip season or something. The groups come together in the lunchroom. Henry makes sure to tell his mom that one of the workers there was making eyes at his dad the entire meal. When they finally get back to the hotel after a tour of the Supreme Court, the four groups are divided up into hotel blocks. Four rooms each, that means the kids have to share rooms. Flash's mom almost throws a fit at the idea. After all that drama, Steve brings his stuff to his room for the night. He checks his phone for texts from his wife, sure enough, there is one.
Natasha: I don't like the way that the woman who was selling the class hot dogs looked at you. Do I need to take her out?
Steve: No, please. I have enough to handle with this field trip, I don't need a court case on top of that.
Natasha: You only have a court case if you get caught ;)
Steve: Nat *Shakes head disapprovingly*
Natasha: You even text like an old man. I won't keep texting you much longer, you have our kids to attend to. Love you.
Steve: Love you too
Peter has been following Steve the whole day, trying to think out why he looks so familiar, but he definitely figured it out after he saw him stand next to the cutout of Captain America without a beard. He also figured out about Natasha, the Black Widow, an Avenger and therefore one of the first people Steve would've interacted with when he woke up. He couldn't exactly place what part the triplets play in this whole thing, but he figures that he knows enough now that they could tell him. He just has to find a private space.
After the initial shock of realizing his best friends were the Black Widow and Captain America's adopted kids, he leaves his room that he shares with Ned to go and find one of the triplets. He walks out of his room and after a little bit of internal conflict, he knocks on Ronnie and MJ's door. MJ's head pops out. "Sup loser"
"Can I talk to Ronnie, alone?" He asks carefully, knowing that the wrong question would lead to a bunch of questions or teasing, neither of which he was prepared to deal with. MJ hollars into the room.
"I'm gonna be in the boy's room, just keep it down in there." She grabs her drawing pad to sketch the face of distress that is a teen boy losing a video game.
Peter steps out of the way to let her leave the room. He steps into the hotel room and locks the door.
"Hey Peter what's up" her speech slows as she sees his face.
"Did you not think that I could figure it out?" He asks. "Do you think I'm stupid? Why did you guys lie to me, for two years?"
She looks at his face, not only filled with anger and confusion, but also something that she can't quite place.
"No we thought that you might, that's why I'm prepared to tell you everything, but you have to listen. Ok?" Ronnie speaks slowly and she grasps his hand.
He sits next to her on her bed. "So it all started right before New York. SHIELD wanted us to work with him for a reason that we've never learned. We worked with him and he met Mom. They went and fought with the Avengers, but they also put us in one of our safe houses, that's why we were absent during the battle. Afterwards, they found out that our foster parents were killed and they adopted us. It's so weird but it happened. We've become a real family though. Mom and Dad have been married for almost a year now. Remember when we left school suddenly for a month?" Peter nods his head, remembering how much he missed his best friends who left without any warning or explanation. "Well someone found out, Xander found some relatives, Shuri. Without getting too into what happened, basically Henry and I were taken and our parents found us. I was tortured and I have the scars to prove it. That shows how dangerous it is for anyone to know. I don't want you or May getting hurt. My parents have done their best to keep clear of their enemies, but we need to be careful. And that means telling no one, absolutely nobody. You have to promise Peter."
"Yeah I promise" he answers, not really knowing what else to say while he processes this information. He looks into her brown eyes, matching his "Does Shuri know?"
"Yeah, I probably wouldn't have survived without her, literally. I'm a little glad you know though, us minis need to be on the same page." She jokes. He can see that it was a big enough deal for her to tell him this so he believes that she's telling the truth.
"Now I have some questions of the more fan boyish type." Ronnie sits up a little straighter. "Have you ever met any of the other Avengers? How many high security satelites have you hacked for fun? Does the timeline of that drama in South Africa last year have anything to do with you guys? And are you technically a superhero?"
Ronnie lets out a snort at the last one. "Ok one, no I haven't, not very many people know, not even the other Avengers. We barely told anyone and that even caused an issue when it got out, but we were able to contain it. Two, I've hacked more than I can count but probably over five dozen or so. Three, yes that was us in South Africa, but I can't tell you anything else for everyone's safety. The only reason that I'm ok with telling you this here is because I looked everywhere for recorders or cameras. And three I have been trained to protect myself because my parents taught me in addition to what I did when I was younger. I've fought off my fair share of bad guys, but technically no...yet."
"Thanks for telling me Ronnie."
Peter smiles at her, he didn't like secrets but it seems like he just entered a world full of them. He knew that it wasn't the best idea, but whatever it takes to keep his friends safe.
"Best friends?" She holds out her pinkie finger like she did when she was eight.
He intertwines their pinkies "best friends."
Just my experiences from being on school field trips. I hope I did Steve's reaction to Bucky and Peggy's exhibits justice.