A Family of Flaws

Chapter Twenty-Two; A Team Or A Family

  She groaned, the same exhaustion from earlier flooding her face. Peter had brought up the idea of him getting a job to May a few days after she came back from the hospital and she had been so upset that she hadn't spoken to him for days, and since then he had been too nervous to bring the thought back up in conversation. So she was working her many shifts once again.

  "Sorry, baby..." May mumbled as she grabbed her phone off the table and checked the message. "Work." She confirmed with a grim tone, flashing Peter a guilty look.

  "Do I need to sign anything quickly?" May asked softly, gathering her things while Peter reached an arm into his bag and fished out the paper that had been shipped to the apartment, he had no idea how it had been mailed so quickly but he didn't question it.

  "Just this line." Peter answered, the excitement overcoming his worry for his aunt as she quickly signed the line he pointed to and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks, May, love you." Peter called out as his aunt pulled on her coat and grabbed her purse, rushing out the door in a hurry.

  She waved at him distractedly, calling out a distance 'love you' as she went, and then she was gone. Peter sighed, once again worried for his aunt, but he pushed those thoughts away and glanced over at the signed paper. He could do the internship.

  Peter felt like he was floating as he carefully pushed the paper back into his bag and wandered into his room, crashing onto his bed with a dumb smile plastered on his face. He could do the internship. Those words flashed across his mind again and he let out a small giggle. He felt genuinely happy, almost giddy.

  And for once he thought of Ben without any sadness, knowing his uncle would have been even happier than Peter if he knew that Stark Industries had offered him an internship.

—
—
—
*Bruce's POV*

  Bruce read through the file again, slightly surprised by this Peter Parker kid. The teen's intelligence was impressive and some of the projects he worked on were college-level, good enough that they even intrigued Tony.

  Bruce had of course been curious when he heard that Tony was actually going to let a teenager be his intern, though the man said he wouldn't let the kid into his lab until he completed a few weeks in the lower labs. That was understandable, but Bruce was a little excited to meet the kid, and yes he was going to meet him even if Tony wanted to keep the team away from him at first to make sure he was going to be a more permanent intern.

  It was nice to meet younger people who had the potential to rival Bruce or Tony. Now, he wasn't saying Peter was that smart yet but when Bruce was Peter's age he was on a similar intelligence scale so he knew the kid had a promising future if he continued to grow in his intelligence.

  The elevator door dinged opened and Tony stepped out, a cup of coffee in his hand as he wandered into the lab. He smirked at Bruce and leaned over his shoulder, taking a quick glance at the file he was reading through for the umpteenth time.

  "Can you stop stalking the kid already, Brucie?" Tony asked with a snort as he walked over to his usual workplace and sat down. "You're almost as bad as Nat and that's saying something."

  Bruce rolled his eyes but pushed the tablet away, turning it off and instead focusing on his current project. "I was just curious, Tones, it's not often that someone catches your attention." Bruce responded with a shrug, tinkering with the object that sat at his workplace.

  "And don't be a hypocrite— I know you researched this kid for hours before you actually decided to offer him an internship." Bruce grumbled under his breathe, not caring if Tony heard.

  The duo lapsed into silence after the small exchange as they began to work on their own separate projects, making a few snarky comments or sarcastic remarks as the time passed.

  The hours went by quickly, neither noticing the approaching late hours as they sat immersed in their work. That was until the elevator dinged once again and Steve stepped into the lab with an unimpressed look on his face.

  "Nope— c'mon. You two need to eat and rest." The ex-soldier commanded while Tony groaned, sticking his tongue out like a child while Bruce sighed and stood up, slouching over to the elevator while Steve tried to usher the pouting man onto the elevator.

  It nearly took ten minutes but once Tony was on the elevator he was quickly distracted by what the team would be having for dinner, which was honestly not something Bruce was looking forward to. This shit was going to take at least another hour to decide. Fucking fantastic.

  The three men stepped off the elevator together and stared out across the chaos, unaffected by the sight that usually greeted them during dinner.

  Clint was standing on the island table like the chaotic gremlin that he was, shouting some random shit that Bruce didn't feel like trying to decipher at the moment. Thor was shouting back at the archer, but he wasn't even saying words, he was just plain shouting. Bruce sighed, that was just Thor for you.

  Wanda was sitting on the love seat as per usual with Vision, the duo was whispering amongst themselves as the chaos erupted around them. Scott and Sam seemed to be plotting on the couch together with Natasha sitting on the ground in front of them, staring at them with an unimpressed expression.

  Bucky was in the kitchen reading through the list of restaurants and fast food establishments, looking confused as he stared at the many options. Steve sighed from beside Bruce and walked over to Bucky, trying to help him while Tony wandered over to Clint to most likely bother him. Those two were such children and they strived to bully one another at every opportunity.

  Rhodey and Pepper were there for once, the latter looking disappointed as she stared out across the utter chaos that was the Avengers team. Rhodey stood beside her like he was completely used to this kind of behavior, and considering the fact that his best friend was Tony, he probably was.

  Bruce walked into the living room and sat down on the ground beside Natasha, sharing a look with her as they sat together and stayed out of the conflicting parties. But they were both in agreement about one thing— no more pizza.

  The whole situation was such a typical thing to happen and Bruce realized how oddly domestic it all was. A small smile rested on his face as he admired the team, almost like a chaotic family.

  Domestic was a fitting word to describe them when they weren't fighting off villainous figures. And Bruce could honestly say it made a warm feeling bubble up inside of him as he called the team a family. It felt right.

  He glanced over at Natasha and noticed the same smile resting on her face, almost unnoticeable, but he had known her for years and he knew how to read her micro-expressions. She was thinking the same thing and he knew it.

  Her eyes flickered in his direction and they met eyes, sharing a knowing look before they turned back to stare at the family that they had created in the tower.

  Bruce never would have thought that by joining the team he would be apart of something so much bigger than he had ever imagined.

  It definitely didn't start well— far from that actually. They had almost despised one another when they first met, forced to be a team that none of them had agreed to join, but he would be forever grateful for what that blossomed into.

  His thoughts flashed to Spider-Man, the masked hero that was warming up to the team faster than Bruce had been anticipating. If he revealed his identity would he join this makeshift family?