Hi friends! Back with next chapter. Thanks a million for reading this story.
Enjoy :-))
June stood baffled for few seconds wondering the reason behind Peter's outburst. There were tears in the boy's eyes and she did not approve it at all since Peter had always been close to her. Seeing him hurt, angered the woman and she stormed towards the couple "Mr Rogers. May I ask what did you do that brought tears in Peter's eyes?"
Steve held his hands in surrender "Mrs Hopkins. You're getting the wrong picture here. We care about Peter, Infact a lot"
"Then why is he crying and why would he say that he doesn't want to see you both ever again. Peter was your responsibility, I trusted you with him" June frowned and raised a warning finger "If you have hurt the boy, I swear I'll go to higher authorities and..."
"Please calm down. There's no need to get all hyper. For last two days we have been taking care of Peter in the best way. You can ask him if you want"
June could see sincerity in Steve's eyes which confused her even more "Then... then what happened?"
Steve sighed "This morning... just before you came.. we asked Peter if we could adopt him"
June's eyes widened "What? You want to adopt Peter?"
Steve nodded firmly "Yes. We have kinda gotten attached to the kid. We think it would be great if he could be a part of our family"
June was shocked. She didn't expect 'this' explanation for Peter's tearful eyes "Are you sure Mr Rogers?"
"We have never been so sure in our lives but Peter... I think freaked out or something. It is possible if we could talk to him again, maybe convince him?" Steve requested and hoped June would agree
June pressed her lips "Let me talk to him first Mr Rogers. Peter is a very sensitive boy and seeing what he's been through, it will be difficult to convince him. Let me take him back home and I'll contact you when he's ready"
Steve nodded sullenly, pain clearly evident in his eyes "Yeah.. okay. That sounds good"
"Thank you for taking care of Peter" June smiled and left. Steve went behind her and caught a glimpse of Peter who was sitting in the car. His heart broke on seeing the boy was silently crying, occasionally wiping his eyes with his long sleeves "Oh kid. Let us in Peter. Give us a chance"
Steve stood until the car drove away from his porch and sighed closing the door behind. He laid his head on the door blinking back his own tears because if he was feeling miserable then Tony surely must be devastated. He took a deep breath and turned around to talk to his husband "Tony"
Tony was staring ahead with blank eyes and it worried Steve. He came closer and caught Tony's elbow "Hey you with me? Tony"
Tony blinked, finally snapping out of shock "Yeah yeah.. I'm here.. I'm good"
"Tony it's gonna be okay" Steve said softly, carefully approaching his husband "We will..."
Tony waved him off and suddenly started pacing "Ofcourse it's gonna be fine! Why would you think otherwise... I mean Peter's going to come back right...I'm fine.. I think I'm overreacting to the whole situation..Peter will come back... he's going to see we are good people.. we are not going to hurt him..." he scoffed "...that's ridiculous right... I love the kid, you love the kid... ofcourse everything is going to be fine...I'm sure..."
"Tony..." Steve's eyes stung with hot tears. Tony clearly was not taking Peter's rejection well. He didn't know what to say that would make his husband feel better
Tony stopped pacing and faced Steve "Did we do something wrong...Is he scared of us? What if he never wants to talk to us? What if he never comes back Steve?"
"He will come back"
"How can you be so sure!?" Tony yelled taking short anger breaths "It's all your fault!"
"What?"
"If you weren't so strict with him, he wouldn't have left us. Peter is just a child Steve. We should have approached him differently... oh God it's my fault.. is it because I yelled at him this morning... Steve it's my fault.." tears rolled down from Tony's eyes and Steve immediately took him in his arms
"Sshhh...it's not your fault. I promise it's not your fault. Please calm down babe"
Tony clutched Steve's shirt and cried "Why does it hurt so bad? It feels so... so empty. I know the kid was here only for two days but now I don't want a house without him"
"I know. I understand but we have to be patient. I'm sure June will get through him. Don't forget Peter's mind is fragile right now. All his life he's seen nothing but pain. It will take time for him to trust anyone...even us"
Tony sniffed and pulled back "You're right. We shouldn't loose hope"
Steve smiled "We shouldn't and we won't"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Peter it's been two days. You cannot hide from me forever" June walked inside Peter's room where the boy was standing near the window staring at the other childrens playing in the background. June sighed at the silent response, picking up the clothes that were scattered around the room "They called again"
Peter squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arms around himself. He knew June was talking about Tony and Steve. If he was being honest, he missed them so much. He missed how they took care of him despite of his rude behaviour. He missed Tony's bookshelf. He missed Steve's small scoldings. He missed their homemade pancakes and waffles. He missed sleeping in his room. Tears surfaced in his eyes and he bit his quivering lip
"Peter, atleast talk to them. Mr Stark has been calling five times a day just to make sure you're okay. They even wanted to come here but I stopped them. I know you're not ready but I also need to know why"
Peter remained silent. He couldn't see them again. He didn't deserve their love. Everytime and everything goes wrong with the people he cared about and he wouldn't live with himself if anything bad happened to Tony or Steve
June piled the clothes and crossed her arms "If you're not going to talk to me then I'll have to make this decision on your behalf"
Peter wiped the tears and turned "What do you mean?"
"You're still a minor Peter and according to orphanage rules, I have the right to put a child into a family of my choice"
"What? That's bullshit!"
"Actually it's not son. Mr Stark and Mr Rogers are perfectly capable of taking care of you so I can hand you over to them and..."
"You'll do no such thing!" Peter shouted and ran out of the room "I hate you!"
OTHER SIDE
"You didn't eat much" Steve changed the gear as he cleared out of parking lot "That was the whole point of taking you out to dinner"
Tony sulked leaning back on the headrest and mumbled "I wasn't hungry. Besides it looked like you had lost your appetite too and it was your favorite restaurant"
Steve didn't reply and concentrated on the traffic ahead
Tony glanced at his husband "You miss him too, don't you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yeah it is" Tony gave a small smile "I just hope..."
Steve's phone buzzed and he parked his car on the side of the road. He looked at Tony, eyes shining with hope "It's June"
"Pick up! Maybe it's about Peter" Tony got excited and felt his heart pounding in his chest "Put it on speaker"
Steve nodded and pressed on the speaker "Mrs Hopkins?"
"Mr Rogers you've to help me!" came June's frantic loud voice, alarming the two men in the car. Tony caught Steve's arm, worry leaking from his eyes
"What happened? Is Peter alright?" asked Steve, mentally praying for Peter's safety
"I.. I don't know. We had a small argument and Peter .. he just ran out... I thought he'd be back by now but he hasn't shown up yet"
Tony's eyes widened while Steve got straight into cop mode "When was the last time you saw him?"
"It happened in the evening so I guess... six hours back"
"What!? It's almost midnight! Why didn't you call us before?" Tony yelled but Steve shook his head "Tony calm down. Mrs Hopkins do you have any idea where Peter might be at this hour?"
"I'm sorry... I don't know.. please find him. I'm really worried for Peter"
"Don't worry. I'll call you back as soon as I find him" Steve hung up the call and looked at Tony "We have to find Peter"
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