Everyone goes to the zoo and you and Peter have fun! (And get into a little trouble).
Word count: 3,700
———————————
"Are we ready?" Steve bends down and asks you, taking the giant rucksack from you that you'd been holding.
You nodded silently so he held out his hand and helped you into the car.
"Daddy should be here soon", he narrates, making sure you're buckled in properly before shutting the door and walking to the drivers side.
He leant over his seat and spoke to you about all the different kinds of animals you'd only ever seen in books.
He didn't always agree with zoos so they found a sanctuary a little over an hour away and both your dads were ecstatic to take you.
"Are you excited?" He asked.
You gave a little nod and started chewing your finger as Steve carried on talking.
"We're going to see elephants and monkeys!" He said happily.
"And fish", you added quietly.
"Yea, fish to! And we might even see a lion!"
Your eyes widened at the mention of it. Steve thought you'd be more excited about seeing a lion.
"It can get us?" You said in a small voice.
Although you had shown everyone you were practically a genius already, you were still very much a child. And having never been to a zoo before, you didn't really know what to expect.
"Oh, no baby. The animals can't get us, don't worry it's safe". He leant over to hold your hand until Bucky opened the passenger side door and got in.
"About time!" Huffed Steve.
"About time", you copied, making them laugh.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, but someone took forever in the bathroom so I was behind schedule", he glared at Steve who shrugged.
"I had to do my hair".
"What hair Steve? You barely have any!".
A sudden giggle from the backseat reminded them you were listening. So they smiled at each other and started the drive to the zoo.
"Who's ready to see some animals?!" Bucky shouted.
"Animallssss!" You shouted back with your hands in the air.
It was quiet for a moment before you looked out the window and mumbled to yourself.
"Gonna see fishes".
Steve gave Bucky a funny look.
"Why does she keep talking about fish?"
With a chuckle Bucky looked over to see you still looking out the window before replying.
"Peter showed her finding Nemo and now she keeps talking about them".
This had been happening a lot more since you and Peter became friends last year. The kid was obsessed with films and had started showing you all sorts of things that you then wanted to know more about.
"Hey, isn't the plural of fish still just fish? Not fishes?" Steve looked to you through the mirror.
"It's fishes", you replied shortly.
Bucky thought about it and turned around.
"Are you sure? I thought it was fish?"
"No! Fishes!" You huffed.
Both men laughed and Steve looked up, speaking gently.
"Remember what we talked about y/n? Sometimes if people don't understand, you need to explain what you mean".
You sighed before finally turning to face them and moved your hands around as you spoke.
"More than two of one species is called fish. But if there's more than one species of different fishes it's called fishes!"
Bucky peered over to Steve and whispered,
"Is that right?"
"I don't know... we'll ask Bruce when we get there".
The rest of the journey was fairly quiet with Steve and Bucky talking between themselves as you rocked in your car seat, looking at the different scenery as you drove past.
"Ahhhh!" You squealed excitedly, pointing to the big sign on the way in.
You parked up and saw Nat, Wanda and Sam getting out a car opposite. You tried to get out and go to them but you had a fingerprint scanner on your car seat so you couldn't get anywhere.
"Get outtttt", you yelled until Bucky walked around and finally opened it.
He grabbed onto your hand however so you couldn't run away, and held you tight until Steve had collected the bags.
"Are we ready", you finally heard and you all started walking into the entrance.
You hopped around, trying to look at everything as Bucky kept ahold of you. There was a small line to get in but someone called over to you all. Tony was sticking his head out of a side door and was waving everyone over.
"I don't wait in lines", he said cockily.
"Pete!" You shouted, running over and Bucky finally let go of you.
"Y/n!" He yelled back, "look at this!"
He held a small paper map of the entire place, showing you what animals were in each section. The biggest part, highlighted in green, were the bigger wild animals like lions and rhinos and apparently the ones Peter was most excited to see.
You saw the smaller blue section off to the other side and saw it was the aquarium. That was what you were looking forward to the most.
The group slowly made their way through some corridors and out into the bright open space of the zoo. It had a giant path leading around most of the site with exhibits coming off it at different points. Large grass areas for sitting around were already full of families eating or playing games.
You also noticed lots of funny statues of animals and cutouts you can put your face into. And then something even better stood out. You quickly snuck away and ran over to a big cutout of a lions butt with a small button next to it. Pressing it, a giant spray of water flew out its butt and made you giggle and jump out the way.
"Y/n?!" You heard Steve yell, already sounding slightly panicked.
"She's over there", someone pointed out.
You came up with a hilarious plan and stood next to the button. Steve came and knelt in front of you so you would look him in the eye.
"Y/n, you can't run off today, okay? If you want to see something, you tell us first".
You nodded slowly and waited for Steve to finish speaking. Right before he stood up, you pressed the button and the water sprayed out, straight into his face.
You burst out into giggles and heard a few of the others join in. Steve was clearly still confused at what happened and wiped a hand over his face and rubbed it out his eyes.
Bucky walked over, laughing just as hard as you, and put a hand on Steve's head. He looked towards the lion cutout and laughed even harder.
"You've been scent marked by a lion apparently, Stevie".
"Great", he mumbled, looking at you and trying not to laugh along. "Come on you", he finally said, picking you up and walking back over to everyone else.
"Eventful start", Nat chuckled.
"Yes, no trouble today kiddos", Tony said with his finger wagging at you both.
You and Pete looked towards each other and giggled again.
"We should be saying that to you too", Bruce said.
You started walking around together, visiting the different birds and flamingoes before moving onto the monkeys.
A tour guide stood in front of a few people beside the enclosure and you listened in.
"We have an extremely large area for these animals to roam around in, unlike a conventional zoo, which means they can sometimes be hard to see. We have free to use binoculars scattered around the site to make it easier".
You stopped listening and walked over to some, trying to pull yourself up but they were too tall.
Steve seemed to notice and came over, picking you up and positioning you in front of them.
"See anything baby girl?"
You looked a bit longer and gasped.
"A gorilla!"
The tour guide had come over without you noticing and spoke.
"That big one is a silverback gorilla. Do you know what their scientific name is?"
She was going to carry on, not expecting you to know the answer when you spoke.
"Gorilla beringei".
She paused, bewildered.
"Um, yea actually, that's right".
You didn't notice her shock and carried on watching the family of them that had now started to come into view.
"She likes to read", Steve said awkwardly to the woman like it would suddenly make sense.
"Well, you must be a very smart little girl", she laughed and walked away, back to her group.
You moved on and saw some smaller monkeys sitting inside, away from the sun. They had orange looking fur with darker patches on their face and arms.
They swung around on their toy ropes and one of them jumped on top of another, making you laugh.
"Uncle Tony, uncle Tony", you yelled. "I want a spider monkey!"
Sam laughed as he walked past and shouted back at the group.
"She's already realised you'd be most likely to buy one for her".
"It says you're not allowed them as pets anyway", Tony yelled back after clearly just searching it.
"She's not having a monkey", Steve declared, "and stop buying her everything she asks for", he said to Tony.
After a full discussion on how cool it would be to own a monkey, it was decided it would be too mean to keep one in the tower. (Even if it had its own floor).
"Let's see the lions now!" Peter said for the tenth time.
And to his delight, that's where you all headed.
As you got closer, the trees started thickening and there was a lot of different gates to walk through. Lots of different signs attached to them talking about safety and emergency boxes incase an animal escapes.
You quickly turned around and held your arms up to Steve who picked you up and held you to his chest.
"They can't get out, remember?"
You nodded but still looked around timidly. You didn't really want to walk by yourself as the area made it seem so open. Like you were really in there with them. It reminded you of the film Peter made you watch called Jurassic park. Now you imagined a huge T-Rex looking behind the tree, waiting to stalk forward.
You hid your face in Steve's neck and he placed a comforting hand over your back.
You all followed the path and looked out for animals behind the fences. You heard Peter say something about a bear one time but you didn't look. It went on forever.
Eventually, Peter ran somewhere and started squealing.
"It's a lion, it's really a lion!"
You snuck a peek and saw it walking majestically right along the line of the fence. Whimpering, you hid your face again and Steve held you tight.
"It's okay, it's behind a fence and it's staying there".
You looked up again and saw Bucky was standing right up close, with the lion staring at him from behind the bars.
"Daddy!" You yelled and began kicking and wriggling until Steve put you down.
As soon as your feet hit the floor, you sprinted over and put yourself between Bucky and the lion, growling at it.
The adults snickered and Steve looked shocked that you went anywhere near it after being terrified a second ago. Bucky however, could have cried. He thought it was adorable that you were protecting him.
You kept growling at it, trying to make roaring noises as it stared at you completely uninterested. It watched for a moment before slowly turning its back and ambling away.
"Did you save me, sweetheart?" Bucky asked as he picked you up.
You gave him a massive hug and squeezed your arms around his neck.
"You're so brave", he cooed as you all carried on walking to see the rhinos.
The rest of the big animals were awesome, and one of the giraffes licked Bruce's face and made him shriek which made everyone else laugh. Including the strangers stood around them.
Everyone had started to get hungry after that so you all made your way to the grass areas to sit down. After yours and Peters insistence, you sat very close to one of the playgrounds that looked really fun. With both your metabolisms, you stayed to eat before running off.
You both devoured multiple sandwiches before leaving together to play.
There were a lot of other kids which you didn't like, but you and Peter played together and you quickly forgot about everyone else.
The play structure looked like a giant castle with rope bridges connecting each section.
"Y/n, monkey bars!" Peter pointed out as you both ran over.
It was easy for you both with your strength, so you quickly went towards each other and tried to kick the other off. You giggled and kicked out, hitting his knee which made him wince but do it right back.
The adults still sat in a small circle eating their food when a random lady came over.
"Um, excuse me. I was just wondering if that was your child, I don't want them to get hurt".
They looked at where she was pointing and saw Peter hanging out one of the higher windows laughing as he tried to grab you. You had clearly climbed up the whole way despite there not being anything you were meant to climb on.
The adults looks at each other awkwardly as Bucky stood up.
"Yep, that's ours. Thank you", he mumbled before walking you and Peter.
You were still on the edge of the building, trying to reach up to Peter as you both laughed and stretched.
"Y/n, drop", Bucky yelled up.
You looked down to see him with his arms out and did as he said. You let go and dropped the pretty far distance and landed in his arms.
"Pete, can you get down?"
He nodded and squished himself back inside the window and ran down from inside.
Bucky had barely blinked as these things seemed to happen a lot. He did see a few worried faces from other parents though and felt bad.
Steve and Nat had walked up behind you both so Bucky turned and threw you at Steve.
"Don't get yourself hurt", he teased, tickling your stomach and watching you squirm. "Why don't we have a go on the climbing frame over there?"
He put you down just as Peter came out and you both ran over to the climbing frame. You pulled yourself up and climbed over to the monkey bars again, only this time, you and Peter climbed on top of them and peered down at the three adults.
Peter reached through and tapped Bucky on the head before you both burst into giggles and tried to climb away as the man reached a hand up to grab your ankles.
"Come here, you little gremlins", he chuckled, trying to grab you both as you squealed and clambered over the bars.
You turned around and reached down to pat Steve's head. He jumped up to grab you and you ran to the other side, nearly tripping and falling off half way through. All the adults stayed underneath to catch you if needed, but they jumped up, trying to grab you both as you giggled.
"Ahh, Petey, watch out!" You yelled as a hand came up and grabbed his leg.
He screamed and fell halfway down, catching himself on the edge and began laughing as he realised Bucky was trying to pull him off. You ran forward and tried to grab him and bring him back up but a hand grasped the back of your shirt and pulled you down.
You slipped and fell back into the arms of Steve.
"Daddy!" You wheezed through giggles.
You could hear Peter laughing as Bucky did the same with him.
"Auntie Nat, show us how to dangle upside down!" Peter shouted.
Nat smiled and walked up to the frame, hooking her legs in and dangling off one of the bars.
"Me tooo!" You shouted and climbed up to do the same.
Steve and Bucky watched the three of you hanging by your feet.
"Wanna go share another sandwich?" Bucky asked.
Steve looked at him funny and laughed.
"Like you would ever share a sandwich. But yea, let's go", he smiled and gave Bucky a quick peck on the lips before they walked back to the others hand in hand.
As you were upside down, a small boy came into view. He stood on the ground in front of you and didn't say anything.
With your great social skills, you glared at him. Eventually he did speak.
"Why do you have two dads? That's weird", he said in what you thought was a mean voice.
You unhooked your legs and did a small flip down onto the floor, something Nat had taught you a while ago.
"It's not weird", you argued back.
"Yes it is!" The boy insisted.
You stepped forward, but before you got any further Nat grabbed your shoulder and gently ushered the boy away.
"Back off kid. Don't be an ass", she mumbled under her breathe.
You watched him run off like nothing had happened and continued to glare.
"Come on, y/n, the zip lines free!" Peter yelled and you ran after him.
Nat went to sit down with the adults again and pointed to where you both were playing.
At some point though, you both got bored.
"Hey Pete, you wanna go do something fun?"
He grinned back and nodded his head.
"Let me just get my bag".
"Don't let them see you!" You whispered after him.
Barely a minute later, both of you were walking off to another part of the zoo. You watched some red pandas sleeping in the branches of a tree and saw a tortoise eating leaves.
Eventually though, you headed to see the seals.
"Hold my hand, y/n. So we don't lose each other", Peter said as it started to get busy.
You walked up onto a bridge that let you see into the seal enclosure and could see them from a distance sat on their rocks.
You carried on walking and went into an underground area where a large glass panel let you see into the water. After waiting a moment, a giant seal swam around right by the glass.
"Woahhh", you said in unison.
You stayed there for a while, watching them swirl in the water before moving onto the penguins.
"Where are they?" Bucky suddenly said, making the others look up at the empty zip line.
"They were there a minute ago", Wanda said as she stood up to look around.
No one openly panicked until they'd checked the entire play area and still couldn't find you both.
"Have you seen a little boy with brown hair and a little girl in pink shoes?" Steve asked one of the closest parents.
They shook their head so he kept going around and asking people as Tony called security.
"She's got pink shoes and he has a big blue rucksack?"
A lady walked up to Steve saying she saw two kids matching that description walk up the path about five minutes ago. Steve immediately ran the way she pointed, quickly followed by Bucky.
They ran past the pandas and tortoises until they stopped on the bridge overlooking the seals.
"Where is she?" Bucky asked worriedly.
Steve's head was spinning but he thought for a second.
"Oh... I think I might know".
They ran off with Steve leading the way. Not long later, they reached the aquarium and started searching.
"Excuse me, where are your clownfish?" Bucky asked an employee.
"Down there and the next right".
They ran up and rounded the corner to see you and Peter facing the tank with brightly coloured fish, each holding one side of his rucksack.
"Oh, thank god", mumbled Steve.
"Daddy, look it's Nemo!" You shouted as soon as you saw them.
"I know, baby, wow", Steve replied, too relieved to scold you now.
They hugged you and made sure you were both okay before telling you not to run away.
"I told you when we got here that you couldn't do this", said Steve with his nose buried in your hair.
The others finally ran in after getting their text.
"Why do they not have trackers?" Sam asked Tony seriously.
But before Tony could reply, he froze and slowly walked towards Peters bag. He unzipped it and a small fuzzy thing stuck it's head out.
"He was lost, we were gonna bring him home", you mumbled as Tony stared at a baby penguin.
Sam suddenly burst out laughing and had to leave the room as Steve groaned and put his head in his hands.
"Sweetheart, we can't keep the baby penguin", Bucky said softly.
You hugged and pulled the bag away when Tony went to take it.
"Hey! Back off kid, don't be an ass", you told him.
"Who was it?!" Bucky turned to the others to see who had taught you to say that.
No one admitted to it so he turned back and placed a hand on your shoulder.
"The baby needs to go back, his parents are probably missing him and really worried right now. Let's have Tony go take him back home".
You frowned but petted the baby's head gently and said goodbye, waiting for Peter to do the same. You watched as Tony walked away with the small penguin tucked in his arm.
"Why don't we have a relaxing walk around and see the fish", suggested Bruce.
The rest of the day went much smoother and a couple of hours later you found yourself back in the car on the way home with a book in your lap.
"We really should get her a tracker", Steve mumbled.
"Yea, but she can't know about it or she'll just take it out. Let's speak to Stark about it, I'm sure he wouldn't mind putting one on Pete too!" Bucky chuckled. "Also we didn't have to buy her a book, she nearly gave us a heart attack today".
Steve pouted as he watched you turn another page.
"But she loves them so much?"
Bucky grinned at his husband and leant over the centre console to place a kiss on his cheek.
"You're right, I wouldn't be able to say no to her anyway".