"Tony!" He screamed out as he watched the man fall. It was only paint but it was bright red and it hit Tony straight in the chest. Peter watched him fall and he ran over to him.
"I'm so sorry Tony, please don't die!" he yelled out.
"It's only paint kid and I think Stark has gone through worse" Clint commented.
Peter wasn't listening though. "Please don't die Tony, I'm so sorry I shot you" he was saying. Tony gaped at him and his eyes widened when the kid started crying.
"I'm fine Pete" he said quickly. He sat up and Peter threw his arms around him and sobbed.
"I'm so sorry Tony"
"Put all the guns away Clint" Steve whispered to Clint who nodded.
Tony didn't say a word but held Peter close. He had a feeling the kid was seeing something from his past. "It's all right Peter, I'm not going to ever leave you" he whispered.
Peter soon quieted and by then Clint had hidden all the paint guns. Peter pulled away from Tony and sat in his lap.
"Wanna talk about it kid?" he asked gently.
"I'm sorry….the paint…it looked like blood…it looked like…" Peter stammered and Tony nodded.
"Who was shot?" he asked gently.
"My Uncle" Peter replied softly. Steve, Clint and Bruce had seated themselves by their team mates and Peter glanced to them.
"I should have told you sooner. I didn't think a shot like that would affect me so much" he said looking to Steve mostly.
"It's okay Peter, it's good you're telling me now so we can keep an eye out for something like this in battle" he said.
Peter gave a small nod. "I didn't see the man shoot my Uncle. That's not why I freaked out. I found my Uncle a couple minutes later and there was a lot of blood all over his chest" he said.
"I'm okay Pete" Tony said and Peter nodded.
"Cap…I don't think I should battle with you all anymore…" he said and all four gasped.
"No! We need you out there Peter! You're an Avenger now kid and we won't abandon you for anything" Clint declares.
"But what if I cause another death?" Peter whispers. "I caused my Uncle's death Clint!" he then snaps.
"How? Peter you're not a murderer" Clint asks.
"Maybe I didn't pull the trigger but I helped the scumbag who did" Peter says and then sighs. "When I first got my power I thought it would be a great way to make money. I signed up for this cage match that would pay me big. I won the match and the jerk cut me quite a bit because I pinned the guy too early" Peter explained.
"I stormed off and the man was mugged about a minute later. He then came running to me as I'm standing at the elevator. The elevator opened then and I let him take it. My Uncle is the one who stood up to him and he was shot for that. I still blame myself for Uncle Ben's death" he finishes.
"You're not alone there kid. I can't tell you just how much guilt I feel every time the other guy is let loose"
"That's not really your fault Bruce" Peter told him.
"Neither is your Uncle's death. If I can't blame myself for what the other guy does then you can't blame yourself for your Uncle dying" Bruce replied.
"Yeah…but…"
"Same as I can't blame myself for what Loki forced me to do" Clint says and Peter nods.
"That's different though Clint. You were his puppet so really it was Loki who did the killing not you" he said. "No one forced me to let the bastard go, I did that all on my own because I was pissed off" he adds.
"It still haunts me though Peter. I could have killed everyone on the hellicarrier" Clint says.
"Yeah, but you didn't. You only damaged the engines and I managed to get the debris out and get it spinning again"
"Which almost killed you" Clint points out and gets a shrug. "Cap had my back" Tony responds.
"Guys…"
"Peter we can do this all day. All of us have bad memories and all of us live with guilt. We've learned to overcome it though by leaning on each other and that's what we'll do for you" Steve interrupts.
"Okay…thanks guys" Peter says giving in. He then stands up and noticed the paint guns are gone. "I guess the paint fight is over then" he says and the guys nod.
"I still got these though" Clint says and picks up two water guns. He gives one to Peter who smirks at the other three.
"I have a feeling we're going in unarmed Cap" Tony says and Peter nods before squirting him with the cold water. Tony runs off and out of the room but returns minutes later with even bigger water guns.
"Now we're in for it Hawkeye" Peter says and Clint laughs. "Not if we work together Spidey" he says and Peter nods. He lets Clint get on his back and starts swinging around so they got an aerial attack.
Peter can't help but smile now. It felt good to be an Avenger.