Superfamily
I
Mama Spider
"We need to talk about this, Tony."
"No, Steve, we don't."
Steve felt exasperated and tired… so tired. The mission had been long and tedious and dangerous and all the ands that he wished it hadn't been. His heart felt like it had been plunged with Tony into the ice before Hulk had fished him out. Now that Tony was safe, he felt like a part of him had been left behind in the ice. He had held his husband in the quinjet on the way back to home, Tony wrapped in heating blankets, declaring through blue lips and clattering teeth that he was fine. Everyone ignored him, except Bruce who pushed his glasses up further on his nose and stared hard at his friend.
"You took a dip in the Artic, Tony. If it hadn't been for the suit, you'd be dead."
"Steve's done it before," Tony had declared petulantly, pouting a bit. Steve had tightened his hold on his husband but didn't say anything.
"You're not Steve or the Big Guy or Thor. You're Anthony Stark and as much as you hate it, it makes you vulnerable."
Bruce had walked away from him then, going to the other end of the quinjet to take a look at Clint who had took a bullet to the arm. Straight in and out, flesh wound. Hurt like hell though from the dark look on Clint's face. Tony had sniffled then and Steve didn't mention his wet eyes as they had tears in them. Bruce had oh-so-delicately just outed one of Tony's deepest fears.
"Rest, love," he said instead, tucking Tony's head into his chest. "We'll be home soon."
'Soon' came about 14 hours later.
They had came into the penthouse late about 3 in the morning, shuffling in slowly as Tony had been slow to awaken due to the almost-hyperthermia he had endured. They had left their gear behind in the quinjet to be taken care of later. The penthouse was quiet. Happy was snoring on the couch with an Iron Man blanket wrapped around him, still in his suit and his dress shoes on his feet. Steve ambled on toward the hall as Tony woke up Happy so the man could go home. Steve's feet seemed to take him to the room across from his own and Tony's, seemingly of their own accord. He had gently opened the door and peered into the darkness, two little eyes twinkled in the dark.
"Papa…?"
The voice had been sleepy and soft. Steve watched as his tiny son sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes with blue sweater covered hand. Steve knew he should feel bad for waking his son. However, the overwhelming desire to just see him and to acknowledge that his boy was living, breathing, real seemed to unthaw his heart and send it racing in his chest.
"Papa…? Are you… okay…?"
Steve tried to control his movements, tried to keep from running or leaping across the space of the dark room to his son's bedside. His movements jerky like he wasn't used to his body anymore, like he didn't feel competent to even be in control of his body at all. He found himself collapsing beside his son on the boy's bed, arms reaching out to his son, pulling him strongly into his arms. His hug was stronger than normal, much like the sensory hugs he would give the boy to calm down when the outside world became too much. The boy hugged back just as tightly, his superhuman strength showing up when so often the child tried to hide it. His hug almost hurt Steve, his bony arms digging into his ribs. Steve barely covered a sob when he realized that his boy was trying to ground him.
"Peter… I'm better now. Papa just needed to see you."
Peter nodded against Steve's chest. "I understand." And Steve had no doubt that he did. The child who had spent the first five years of his life in the hands of Hydra – who had been a shell when he had been found but had latched on to Steve and Tony immediately bonding them together quicker than if they had tried to bond on their own. Peter had been their son before Tony and Steve were even each other's really.
Steve pulled back gently when Peter's strength began to lighten. His boy smiled sleepily at him, his face slightly aglow from the nightlight by the door. "Go to sleep, Petey. I'll see you in the morning," Steve whispered, standing up and made slow work of tucking in his boy. He ruffled the child's curls gently.
"Night, Petey pie. I love you."
"Love you, Papa."
Steve had stayed awake all night, thoughts whirling in his head. What if he had come home alone back to Peter? What if all he could return of his husband was lifeless armor with an even more lifeless man trapped inside? What if he had to raise Peter alone? What if they were both gone? Peter couldn't lose his family. He needed his family. He was an enhanced child. Who else could care for him? Who else could love him as much as his fathers?
All that thinking led him to where they were now. Him and Tony. Tony turned away from him, body tensed. Steve understood that Tony didn't want to think about it. Despite the mask of arrogance and confidence Tony showed to the rest of the world, Steve knew that Tony was full of what ifs. Steve was sure that Tony had the same fears and Steve knew that they maybe even affected Tony on a deeper level than his own. Tony was so insecure of himself with a whole childhood full of emotional turmoil enough for the both of them.
"Tony, think about Peter."
"I am thinking about him!" Tony roared, throwing his hands up in the air and whirling on his husband. Steve was grateful that the room was soundproofed and that Peter was happily playing in his room with Natasha. Tony's eyes were wild and panicked and he ran a hand jerkily through his hair. "I am always thinking about him! I'm determined to live, Steve! Why are you so damned determined to die?!"
"It may not be up to us, Tony," Steve replied softly. "And I know the both of us. We won't stop fighting." He sighed and met Tony's wild gaze. "We will fight as long as we can… It's just there's no guarantee that we'll win."
/
It didn't come easily to Tony to admit, three days later, to his husband in the dark of their room, that Peter needed a family – even if it wasn't them. Tony had cried then, letting out years of anguish, hand gripping his arc reactor that kept him alive. Steve had simply held his husband and stated that they would think of something – that even if they did not live, Peter would. And that Peter wouldn't only live but thrive.
Peter would be loved.
It hadn't been easy as these thoughts weighed on their mind. They thought of their team. Who could be the next in line to be the guardian of their precious boy? The team was vulnerable as much as them but it had to be the team. One of them. Any of them. Maybe all of them. But how would they choose?
In the coming weeks, Peter chose for them.
/
The mission had been for Fury. A favor owed really, nothing that was alarming. So, Natasha and Clint went off to do their duty with smiles and laughter. Neither had been worried. It had been something they hadn't done hundreds of times before. The team hoping that nothing would happen in the interim with two of them gone. But then again, since the Artic mission, things had been rather quiet.
A week later, Clint called from a hospital phone to tell Steve that Nat was in surgery from a gunshot wound. He had sniffled when he reported that it didn't look good. Nat had only one request before she passed out. She had wanted to see Peter.
After the surgery, Natasha had been transferred to the Avengers medical floor. Peter would sneak past the doctors, using the ventilation to get into Natasha's room, only to curl up in the tiny space beside her and the edge of the bed to sleep. After he was caught in there the third time, Helen ordered to the rest of the medical faculty that Peter could stay and then she brought Peter a tablet and pudding cup. Sometimes, Peter would sob beside the unconscious woman but most of the time he spoke to her softly, telling her stories of the team, or his friends at school, of his fathers or that he simply wanted her to wake up.
Helen had no doubt that Natasha would make a full recovery. However, her injuries had been serious and despite her training as a child, Natasha was still only human and not superhuman.
It was nearly a week later that Natasha was able to be taken off sedation long enough to be fully awake. When her eyes opened, she blinked heavily from the harsh overhead lights and took in the white walls and sterile smell of the medical bay of Avengers Tower. It was only moments before she spied Peter, curled up against her thigh, red hoodie on his head with brown curls seeping out from beneath. He had most of his face buried in the space between her leg and the bed. She noticed with a fond smile that the boy was without shoes, with bright green Hulk socks on his feet.
"Mаленького паучка," She rasped at the boy and frowned at the harshness of her voice. She reached forward with a hand, taped to an IV, and began to gently rub lazy circles on the boys upper back. She cleared her throat gently and spoke again, this time her smile returning as she spoke to the boy. "Питер, wake up, love."
The boy stirred a bit and sat up, his laziness evident to how exhausted he was. With his senses, he should have awoken the very minute that she did as he would have noticed her change in breathing pattern. "Natasha?" he whispered, rubbing his eyes with a blue mittened hand. He blinked several times – and then to Natasha's surprise, his brown eyes quickly filled with tears before he launched himself into her arms.
"I'm okay Pete…" she shushed gently, ignoring the twinges of pain in her abdomen that his weight was causing. She frowned again as the boy sobbed into her neck.
/
After hours of being poked and prodded by Helen and a rousing argument with Clint, that still had Natasha's nerves on edge, Natasha was left in her medical room with Peter, Tony and Steve. When Clint had come to see her, before the tension between them sent her best friend stalking from the room, it had been hard to get Peter to leave her side. After she had helped coax the boy into eating lunch upstairs with Tony, Steve stayed behind to give her a soft hug and kiss on the forehead.
"Welcome back, Nat," he had said just as Clint had knocked on the open door, a bouquet of flowers hanging loosely from his grip. Steve had smiled at Clint and left shortly afterward.
She hated fighting with Clint and Nat had been staring at the lilies that Clint had brought her on her nightstand, wishing that she could let herself cry. Tony had entered quietly with a vase and took over prepping her flowers for her as Steve came in and softly locked out the rest of the world.
"Natasha…?" Only Steve could ask a million questions in the amount of time it took to say her name. She shook her head at him as Tony sat the flowers down at her bedside. She frowned at the quiet in the room, as Tony moved quietly back to his husband's side. She watched as Steve took his hand and Tony stared at the lights behind his sunglasses.
Her body immediately went on alert. "Is something wrong?"
Steve cleared his throat awkwardly. "No not really, Nat. This is… This is just something that is hard for both of us." He glanced at his husband and scratched the back of his head. "You see, Nat, we–"
"I got this, Steve," stated Tony, all confidence in his tone but Natasha noticed the shakes in his hands as he took away his glasses. If she was shocked to see the tears in his eyes, she said nothing.
"When we all found Pete," he said quietly, taking her hand in his and she stared at their hands. This was the first time ever that Tony had been vulnerable with her. Tony cleared his throat and began again, tears clearing from his eyes and voice somewhat. "When we found Pete, he connected with me and Steve. He was our boy before we were each others'. Pete made it easy for us to accept what was between us and love each other the way we wanted. Pete accepted us when we were afraid that no one else would. We still had the team and Pete had the team and we had our little family and… well, that's all we needed."
Tony finally made eye contact with her and Natasha couldn't look away. "Pete needs more, Nat. We all have dangerous jobs. Every day we may not come back to see the next. The Avengers are a family and well, we're definitely not a normal family. Pete's got two dads and well, we decided he needs a mom too."
"W-what?" Nat wasn't used to her body rejecting its training. She would spend the rest of her life blaming her shakiness on the drugs and her love for Peter.
"He's already picked you Nat. He picked you the same as me and Tony," Steve spoke softly coming up behind his husband and placing his hands on Tony's shoulders. "If something happens to one of us, Pete will still have family."
"We've um… we've made it official," Tony said as he dug papers from his suit jacket. He laid them carefully on her bedside table and pulled it to her lap. A fountain pen was laid gently on them. "His guardianship papers. All that's needed is for you to sign, Mama Spider."
And for the first time in so long that Natasha couldn't remember, so long that she thought her training had wiped the ability from her, Natasha burst into tears.
Author's Note: Hope that wasn't too confusing. More to come! Stay tuned!