Chapter Text
This day was about to change your life. Did you know that? No. You didn’t. And you would not have a clue what big changes happened at that day, not even for the following weeks and months.
It was one of those butterfly effects kind of things. At least a little bit like it.
You sat in a little café. It was quite a bit away from your flat but you just felt in love with it and took the extra route here just to sit and watch. The café was just homy and the waitress were nice. By now they even knew your name and your usual order. It was a different kind of home.
The wind was dancing through the trees as a dishevelled looking young man stumbled through the streets. His eyes searched hectically every piece of ground they found. You could ignore him, but you didn’t. You wanted to help him. You good act for the day.
And that changed your life without you even knowing.
You stood up and went to him. “Hey is everything all right?”
He looked at you out of worried, big, brown eyes, he shook his head.
“I lost him,” he whispered scared.
“Who did you lose?” His eyes were darting everywhere, not resting for a second.
“Lucky.”
“Your dog?”
“Yes. No.” A heavy breath. “He is the dog of a friend of my father. I wanted to take him for a walk, but he ran away.” You saw tears in the eyes of the teenager. He was worried sick. Not just because of the trouble he could get into, but more because of the dog, now lost and alone in a big city with lots of traffic.
“I’ll help you find him. I work sometimes in the animal shelter.” You tried to gift him with a reassuring smile.
“What does he like to eat and where did you lose him?”
One could believe you just invented world-peace with the look he was giving you.
''*''*''*''
That lead to you and Peter standing at the edge of the park with a pizza in your arms.
“Are you sure that will help?” Peter asked. He was still worried sick, but at least he wasn’t panicking anymore.
“Yeah. Most animals have a good sense of direction and go the way back to the place where they last saw their owner, or a trusted person. And the pizza will just help us lurking Lucky out faster.” You smiled at the teenager. You had learned much and nothing at all about him in the last hour. Every question you shoot at him he answered, without answering them.
But the important things you still learned. He cared for animals. Deeply. Maybe even more than for people. He was nervous but could focus on an instant and he was smart like no teenager you knew.
He was going places that was sure.
You waited with Peter for an hour. After that he knew far more about you than you about him. He knew that your working place and appartement were nowhere near your current place. He knew that you worked in a little souvenir shop selling tourist all the crap nobody needed, that you sometimes volunteered at an animal shelter, that your mother had had a dog before she passed away and that your father had never existed in your life.
After an hour of that, a scared looking dog was starting to slowly approach the two of you. The moment Peter saw the fur and the face of the dog every piece of nervousness and anxiety left his body like somebody pulled the plug.
“Lucky! Buddy! There you are! You had me worried sick my friend!” He continued to coo at the not-longer-missing-dog till he had his first bite of pizza and Peter was able to put the collar back onto Lucky.
After that you were at the receiving end of the most beautiful and genuine smile you had seen in the last months.
He tousled the fur of the dog and after that was the first time you saw Peter looking at his phone. He went pale.
“Fuck.”
“Hey,” you mockingly scolded him.
“I have to go,” he said while he started walking. “But thank you. Really. I want to thank you, but I have to-” and he nearly tumbled over his own feet. You were not able to supress your smile. He was gone before you could mutter another word.
That kid was going places. Even if he would get there late.
''*''*''*''
After the little adventure you went back to your flat. Today had been your day off, but tomorrow you had the morning shift and with that you had to hit the hay early. Otherwise, you would not be a function human being. The way home was long, but you enjoyed it.
It was a way to stretch your legs a bit, to enjoy the change of the seasons and you didn’t have to smell the stench that was made in the subway. It was your way. You liked to walk more than to take the subway. You were slower, it was more complicated and sometimes really stupid, but you liked it more and with that you walked back. Headphones in and a new song in your ears.
''*''*''*''
Nearly a week later you sat in the café again. Watching the people passing by and your face lit up the moment you saw a young man approached you, this time slower and not with panic filled eyes. You had wondered if you would see him again.
You smiled at Peter. He was a beautiful young man.
“What can I do for you today, Peter?” you greeted him as he stood in front of your table.
He grinned and scratched his neck.
“Well. Nothing. But I wanted to thank you. You really helped me and I wanted to proper thank you for it. It was really nice of you and yeah. Thank you.”
You chuckled. “It’s all right Peter. It was my pleasure.”
You invited him to sit with you. And just like that you started to chat. He complained about school, you about costumers, you shared silly stories. You about nearly every part of your life, but Peter stayed strictly with school. It was all right with you. He didn’t have to share anything he didn’t want to.
And just like that it became a ritual that you and Peter would meet up in the little café and chat a little. He was a bright kid and it was nearly impossible to win a debate against him. He had interesting views of the world, but would be a little skittish from time to time.
He would tell you about his school like you were his big sister and ask for advice for some pranks and you were happy to help him. After all it had been ages since you had had something like that.
You had moved to the big city after your mother had died. It had just been you and her for years. There was nothing in your hometown left for you.
More than one time Peter looked at his phone, went pale, a pained smile on his face and hurried away. You never asked, never commented. You wished him goodbye and let him go (run) on his merry way. It went on like this for weeks and weeks.
After Peter had yet again to jump away you made your way to the shop. It was a long way but you had to go, because the other workers were sick. Lucky you, to stay healthy and be able (doomed) to work twice as much.
Little did you know that you would meet on this day another person to turn your world upside down. Again with you blissfully unaware of it.
''*''*''*''
Peter hurried into the tower. The tower was one of the coolest buildings in New York, if one asked Peter. But he was a little biased, he lived in said tower after all.
But even if not, the tower was a work of art with the best of the best technology and security. In the beginning Peter had been quite intimidated with all of this, but by now he was used to it (he had even improved big parts of the security system).
Tony was the owner of the tower and he liked him, hell the man was his father by choice (Peter was still flashed with the knowledge that he adopted him), but Tony didn’t like that Peter refused bodyguards and with that even more so when his son wasn’t on time.
What was the case. Repeatedly.
Peter pressed hectically the button on the elevator, in the lost hope, that said elevator would move faster if it could sense his urgency.
In the field his father was working in, it was important that he could rely on Peter, that Peter was on time, otherwise the man would go insane.
The doors weren’t open all the way and Peter was already two steps away from the elevator.
“Mr. Stark I’m here!”
Tony was a paranoid man. Being a mob boss, he had to be, otherwise he wouldn’t live long enough to become one. And with that Peter was official his intern and with that Peter had to call his Dad Mr. Stark till his father gave him the o.k. that they were alone.
Or that only very trusted people were there. Yes, Tony Stark had to be paranoid, but he also had to have a little circle of people he could trust. Otherwise, he would have lost his mind a long time ago. To be clear, there were three people that knew who Peter was save his parents.
“Peter!”
Peter rounded the corner and found himself in the (very expensive) kitchen with his father and Clint. The man was one of the few people Tony trusted, he was one of the few people that knew that Peter was Tonys and Peppers son. Clint had a beautiful dog Peter adored. A dog that he only got to see on very few occasions. It was really a shame if one asked Peter.
“Hey Clint.”
“Kid.”
“Everything alright?”
Peter was a smart kid. He knew that his dad was not a man one wanted to mess with. Peter knew what kind of deals his father made. But Peter had been in the foster system long enough to know that the world was after the weak ones. That the world was cruel and nearly nobody did you a favour just to be nice.
The experience with you had been a lucky one out of 10 million. People like you were hard to come by, Peter knew. And Peter also knew that he should not tell his father or anybody about you. That had more than one reason. But it started with the story of how you meet. Clint would kill him for losing Lucky and Tony and Pepper and Clint for accepting the help of a stranger. Secondly it was nice to have a nice person in his life and not to get her constantly looked at by his father.
And lastly it was safer. For you. The less people knew about you, the safer you were. It was kind of the same for Peter.
“More or less.” Clint didn’t look happy, that and the way he stood in the kitchen was everything Peter needed to know to figure out that something was fucking terrible. And nothing was fine.
“Listen Peter”- oh no, it was never good when his father started like that.
“We have a problem:”
“With Rogers and his lot?”
Tony chuckled and looked at the ceiling.
“Oh, how I miss my problems with him. But no. It has nothing to do with Rogers.” Tony put his hands on the shoulders of his son. He loved the kid like nothing else in his life. He had never imaged that he would have kids, even less so to adopt a kid. But here he was. And it had been one of the best decisions in his life.
Peter and Pepper were his life. If anything would happen to them Tony would burn the city to the ground.
Without hesitation.
“Peter. You have to take a bodyguard with you.”
“Dad! No. We talked about it! Like 100 times before.”
Tony released a heavy breath. “Yeah. And you won every single time. But things are changing.”
That made Peter stood taller.
“What is going on dad?”
“The hydra-mafia is one incident away from declaring war.”
“What!?” Peters’ eyes were wide and his heart stopped beating.
His dad was a murderer. All right. Yeah, he killed people. But he had also very strict rules. No rape. No killing innocents, no killing children. Whoever disrespected those rules had to suffer the consequences.
Hydra didn’t have those rules.
But Peter was a teenager. And Peter didn’t want to give up upon visiting you and that was only possible when he didn’t have a shadow.
He was just lucky, that your favourite café was in the part of the city his father controlled. It left the tiniest of possibility for him to persuade his parents.
It was a heavy debate that evening.
But in the end Peter was able to pacify his parents. He didn’t have to have a shadow 24/7 just now. But he had to wear a special watch his dad had made now 24/7 (as if he didn’t already). And the moment his parents had even just the feeling hydra would declare war, Peter was stuck with a bodyguard. Or two.
Definitely two.
It was not perfect but it was …something.
At least Peter was still able to see you.