Peter had been pulled from the room by Harley and Wanda as his breathing started to increase and his senses seemed to flare. The lights were too bright, the sounds too loud, his head was pounding as he was dragged into a room off to the side. He was vaguely aware of Wanda asking Friday to dim the lights and soundproof the room and slumped in relief when his headache eased.
Harley kept his arms around him but stayed quiet, knowing that despite the good intentions behind his soft words, they would only make things worse. The two waited in silence for Peter to calm down, aware that he was still crying and upset that all they could do was wipe his tears as more continued to cascade down his cheeks.
When Peter's sobs eased and he was only sniffling, he removed his head from where it was buried against Harley's chest. He took a deep breath and smiled shakily before he turned to face the Scarlet witch. He avoided eye contact as he began "Just get it over with," He said softly. Wanda looked at him in confusion. "Peter, what are you talking about?" Wanda questioned the boy.
"I- I'm a girl-" at Harley's warning squeeze, he reworded his sentence, "I was born a girl, not only am I bi and a mutant, but I'm also Trans. I'm not normal." He attempted to explain to the girl in front of him. As he had expected, she had an angry look on her face. Only it wasn't directed at what he thought it was.
"Peter" Wanda began harshly, softening her voice at his flinch, "There is nothing wrong with you. Firstly, who the hell wants to be normal? How boring would that be? But I don't care about the gender you were mistakenly assigned at birth. Your name is Peter Parker Stark. You are a nerd, a hero, a 'Star Wars' lover and a boy. You are my brother, and always will be. Nothing will ever change that."
Peter began to cry again at her words. Only this time his tears were happy. He launched himself at his honorary sister and gathered her in the warmest hug she had ever experienced. "Everyone else thinks the same way Peter, this changes nothing. I'm sorry I didn't make you comfortable enough for you to let me know. But in no way do I blame you or hold that against you, so don't start getting all guilty on me okay?" Peter nodded into her shoulder and they stayed that way for a while, Harley watching the two with a soft smile on his face.
After about five minutes of silence and another ten of convincing Peter to face the team, the three headed out of the room, towards the common room.
What they were unaware of was that while they were in there, Tony had been plotting ways to absolutely destroy the life of one Eugene Thompson. He had been told that Flash's father was likely to file a report against Harley for the beating his son took but with the number of witnesses and evidence he had against the bully, he would be destroyed if it ever made it to court.
Flash had been removed from the building and his name was put Red list, never to be allowed to enter ever again. Peter's teacher had been dragged into a separate room where Rhodey was currently questioning her with Steve, both shaking with rage at the news of what she said to Peter.
Tony got her fired in minutes.
He was now waiting for his son to return, unsure of how he was dealing with the fact that he had basically been outed to the Avengers, seeing as so many of them had training that would pick up on any change in behaviour amongst the people in that room. He knew most of them had but two and two together by now.
Tony was extremely worried for his son, seeing as the boy didn't want any of them to know, and even if he had, he would have wanted to tell them himself, on his own terms. He also needed to address Peter's bruises and make sure he was okay after the beating he'd received earlier in the day.
When the three entered the room, it was only him, Natasha, Loki, Shuri, T'Challa and Bucky there. Peter was in his boyfriend's arms, his legs around his waist and face buried in Harley's neck. Tony winced, Peter only did that when he was feeling extremely vulnerable. Harley shot the group a look to keep them quiet as he lowered himself onto the couch in the common area.
Tony came over and sat beside them after receiving a small nod from Harley. "Hey Kiddo," He began tentatively, "how you feeling?" He questioned his son. Peter turned his head to face his father as he gave a shy smile and whispered: "I'm okay." "I'm glad," Tony smiled back, kissing his son's forehead gently.
Peter turned his head when he felt something poking his leg and smiled when he saw Loki in snake form looking up at him questioningly. He giggled quietly and reached his hand out for Loki to climb up. The group looked on with small smiles at the familiar interaction, happy that Peter was comfortable enough to act like his usual self.
"Hey bud, you doin' okay?" Bucky questioned the boy. "I'm okay, thanks Uncle Bucky," Bucky smiled at the familiar name and nodded. Peter looked out at the room and flinched when he saw Shuri and T'Challa, still wary of their reactions despite Wanda's assurances.
"Peter Parker, if you believe for a second I think any different of you are very much mistaken and I will be highly offended," Shuri told the boy. With wide eyes, Peter nodded and Shuri smiled, satisfied. After a few minutes of quietly talking amongst themselves, scared to break the peaceful atmosphere, the rest of the Avengers filed into the room.
Peter turned wide-eyed to his boyfriend and looked at him with fear in his eyes. Harley pecked his lips and pulled him back into a hug, whispering quiet assurances in his ear.
When Peter was calmed a little bit, he turned himself around in Harley's lap but didn't get up, needing the support that his boyfriend provided him. Harley sensed this and kept his arms wrapped tightly around Peter's waist.
"So um, I-" Peter turned to his father who placed his hand on Peter's knee in silent support. Peter cleared his throat and tried again, only to have his voice crack. His face flushed with embarrassment as Harley whispered in his ear "You don't have to do this, I can tell them, or they don't have to know at all."
Peter smiled a little at his boyfriend before shaking his head minutely. He took a deep breath and faced the group who were watching him expectantly.
"U-Um, so, I'm trans. Surprise! Heh, yeah um, and that kid from earlier knew and he was calling me my deadname, the name I was assigned at birth, and he doesn't like that I'm trans and is comfortable showing that." Peter bit his lip as he looked at the group.
They were all being glared at in warning by those who were already in the know. They all seemed to be taking it well, though they were all going a bit red with anger towards Peter's bully.
Steve looked a little confused but after Sam whispered something in his ear he smiled and nodded, shooting Peter a wink. Peter seemed hopeful when there were no immediately bad reactions and was overjoyed when everyone kind of shrugged it off, realising that Peter didn't want it to be made a big deal.
They did, however, question him about Flash which made him shrink in on himself a bit. Bruce stepped forward and crouched in front of him, requesting to lift his shirt.
With an encouraging nod from his dad, he agreed and Bruce lifted the shirt to assess the damage. His stomach was painted blue and purple. Loki hissed from his spot in Peter's hair at the sight that had worsened since he had seen it earlier.
Harley kissed the back of Peter's neck to calm him as he squirmed under the hawk-like stares of the team. Bruce pressed on his stomach a little and Peter barely winced, unfortunately used to the pain. Bruce did get worried when Peter yelped in pain when he pressed on the boy's left side.
He smacked his lips together before beginning, "I believe you have a fractured rib, Pete," the boy stared at him in horror as the team let out strings of curses, uncaring of Steve's soft scolding of 'language'.
"Guys!" Peter got their attention on him, "I'm literally Spider-Man, I get way worse daily, calm down." While this did seem to placate most of them, Tony and Loki remained fuming.
Harley had been suspiciously silent but when Peter tapped his arm in question, he merely took a deep breath and released it, kissing Peter's back once more in an effort to calm himself, knowing he couldn't help Peter if he was in a blind rage.
"Ok, we're going to address why the hell you ever let that kid do that to you at a different stage, right now I want you and Harley to go to your room, change into some pyjamas and come back so we can all curl up together and watch a movie ok?" Tony stared Peter in the eyes as he told him what was happening. Peter nodded quickly and pulled his boyfriend from the room, keen to escape the stares he was receiving from the group.
When they arrived at the movie room, everyone was curled up on the various couches with copious amounts of microwave popcorn bowls scattered throughout the room. Harley sat down on the couch that held Tony and pulled Peter in between his legs as Loki slithered back up Peter's arm, still in his snake form, aware that the spiderling was in need of his presence.
As the 'Star Wars' opening credits played Peter took a look around the room, watching as Bucky climbed behind Wanda to braid her hair as Clint threw popcorn at him and saw Steve gaze at Bucky longingly, and he smiled.
No matter what, Peter would always have his dysfunctional 'family'.
And that was more than enough for him.
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The End
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1813 words (Christ)
Well, there it is guys, we're done! I hope you enjoyed my story :) I have to say I really enjoyed writing it and seeing all of your guys' comments never failed to bring a smile to my face. For those of you who don't write, you don't realize how much the small comments or the big paragraphs, the single votes or the spam votes mean. I swear they always made me grin like a madwoman. I love you all so freaking much, I never thought this book would get that many reads but right now we have over 12k, how crazy is that!?
Thank you for all your support my lovelies,
Lila out 💜