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One minute, Peter was studying in his room, waiting for Bucky to come home then the next he was in a alleyway.
Then, a voice so recognizable was behind him. He frantically turned around to see Uncle Ben and.. his younger self. A shot rang, echoing the silence of the night. He turns to see Uncle Ben gets shot.
Peter sobbed for the lost of their uncle. Then he walks away, trying to find a way out of this nightmare.
So, he ran. Fast as possible, away from the scene. Then he is somewhere in space. Titan, where he and other heroes— Mr. Stark?— fought Thanos.
There, he saw himself and other heroes get dusted. God, did it hurt when he saw Mr. Stark again. Desperate to gather whatever is left of Peter.
Then the room— space?— changes to a different scene. Mr. Stark dying, sacrificing himself to save the universe. Past Peter sobbed loudly for the lost of Iron Man, his somewhat mentor. Comforted by Ms. Potts.
He turns to see himself, hunched over something in a pile of rubble. He knows this place, too well. The voice of Past Peter sobbed out. "You're okay, you're okay." His voice shaken and frightened. Present Peter walked over to see the bruised face of himself then— Aunt May whose shine in those eyes slowly fading away.
And he cried, again. "Just gonna catch my breath." Aunt May said, softly. "I'm right here.. I-I'm right here." Past Peter cupped her face in his hands as he glance out for a second to catch his breath then back to her. Tears threatening to fall as they both breathe together, slowly.
"We're okay. Just me and you." Past Peter uttered softly to his aunt. Present Peter couldn't see this anymore, couldn't experience this anymore.
So he walked away. Down the halls of the building as he hears Past Peter muttered May's name, "Would you look at me please?" He mentions her, one too many times. Desperate to get her conscious again, but nothing worked.
She's gone. Present Peter could hear himself repeat the same saying all over again.
He closed his eyes as he walked to— wherever this thing he is in would take him. He hears the soft and broken repeated words. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry—" from Past Peter.
And before the scene changes, he could hear a shot. The shot that hit his shoulder. He breaks a window, jumping through it to land where the Statue of Liberty was. He could see himself negotiating with Doctor Strange. And God, did he cry again when he saw MJ and Ned.
He sees himself telling them both that it'll be okay, that he'll come find them and explain everything. He didn't, yet he promised.
Past Peter kisses MJ for the last time, doing his signature handshake with Ned, then webs out of the scene. Then the spell happened.
Present Peter follows after Past Peter then he lands back into the apartment he's staying in with Bucky. He hears screaming outside of his window, rushes to see multiple people panicking and sharing hugs with their loved ones. Seems like he wasn't the only one experiencing those stuff.
Then a dawn of realization came upon him. If he experienced this then..
He grabs the phone off his table, frantically messaging Bucky, calling for anything only to be sent to voicemail.
❄️🕸️
What a shithole that was. Going through his past of HYDRA, falling off the train, killing people as the Winter Soldier, and Steve. It sucks, a lot. Thankfully, The Void is stopped so there's that.
Then after that shithole, came another shithole. Valentina then announces that he and this group, Thunderbolts or whatever, are the New Avengers to the whole world. And now here he was, in the Tower. Where Steve was, Stark, Romanov, Banner, Odinson— he thinks?— and Barton. It felt off, being in a place where once the heroes were. And now, they are the heroes.
"Well, that happened." Yelena begins as she and Ava sat down on the couch with Bob who was still confused on what happened.
"I'm really sorry guys for whatever happened—" Bob begins to apologize for the tenth time before someone cuts him off. "You should stop blaming yourself, Bob! You did amazing out there, hey?" Alexei flops down onto the couch, accompanied by two protests from the girls.
Bob smiled tightly as he fidgets with his sleeves. John came to sit next to him, just separated by arms length. "New Avengers, wow." He deadpanned.
"Tell me about it, Valentina just randomly announced it without telling us." Ava put her legs up on the coffee table.
"It's Valentina, you really think she's gonna tell us beforehand?" Yelena snorted, copying Ava.
Bucky, who never voiced anything since they got in the Tower, huffed out a breath. "Trust me, it's gonna get worse from here. Maybe." He shrugs, expecting a call from Sam definitely about this New Avengers thing— maybe Peter too.
Shit.
Yelena notices the way his posture stilled in place. "What is it Bucky?"
"Shit shit shit—" Bucky mutters, running his metal hand through his hair. Taking out his phone out of a pocket.
He sees multiple messages and three missed calls from Sam. But that didn't matter now— maybe later— he sees more messages and forty missed calls from Peter. Fuck.
When he calls Peter back, it didn't take long for him to answer. "Bucky? What— what happened? Are you okay? Like I- I saw.. fuck.." The voice grows quieter and quieter, then nothing. He hears sobbing.
"Peter? Hey hey, it's me. I'm okay. Look, I'll explain everything. Are you okay? I know you saw some terrible shit so don't try lying." He turns away from the group and softens his voice, comforts the kid— his kid as he sees Yelena mouthing 'Peter' in a confused expression to the others who shrugged.
"I saw Aunt May and Mr. Stark dying and.. and.. everything that happened and Uncle Ben, again. I can't— Bucky, where are you? Please— please." He tried to speak through the phone, but his voice trembled with every word, choked by sobs and long, quiet pauses where only his shaky breathing and the occasional sniffle filled the silence.
"I know kid, I know. Look, come— come to the Tower okay? The Avengers Tower."
He hears the breathing stop for a second, he wants to tell Peter to breath but Peter spoke first. "Why?" The voice wavering.
"Just.. come here. I can't explain over the phone." He hears a small hum of agreeing before the call ends. He sighs, this was gonna be a pain in the ass to explain.
He turns back to the group to see them all confused and shocked. "Winter Soldier can be soft!" Alexei is the first to speak, his voice like a bomb, loud. Walker breaks out of his trance to cover his ears.
"Who is Peter?" Yelena asks, pure confusion visible on her face.
"You'll see." His voice turns stern again. He texts Mel to let Peter up when he arrives.
They all groan, wanting to know the answer but they will see for themselves. Whoever this Peter is.
Around fifteen minutes later, they hear the elevator dinged, the doors open to reveal a boy in his early twenties— the hell is he doing here?— run to Bucky's arm, ignoring the others, sobbing into his shoulder.
"Hey, hey. I'm okay. Hear my heartbeat?" He points to his chest, where his heart lays, unbruised and still beating.
And they stood there for a minute or two, Bucky appreciates the group for not being loud— even Alexei surprisingly and Walker to not immediately ask questions. The entire place was silent, only left of Peter's muffled sniffles. he hugs him tightly, not wanting to let go yet.
He rubs the kid's back in a circling motion, muttering reassurance into his ears. The sniffles began to disappear fortunately before Peter pulls away from the hug, brushing away the tears away from his eyes as Bucky puts his hands on Peter's shoulders.
"Okay?" Peter nodded slowly, his breaths coming in steady, deliberate draws as he tried to keep himself composed.
A faint, sorrowful smile tugged at the corners of Bucky's lips as he looked at the boy, eyes soft with unspoken emotion. He reached out and gently ruffled Peter's hair, a quiet gesture of comfort that said more than words ever could.
The boy turns, surprised to see five other people watching them with sorrow looks. "Who are they?"
"Who are you?" Ava retorts back with a soft smile as Bucky turns both of them to face the others.
"This is.. my son. Peter."
Then there was silence. He could see the others' expressions turn from soft, sorrowful looks to shocked, amused expressions. Bracing from impact, he covers Peter's ears then counts five seconds.
One, two, three, four—
"SON?!" All of them yelled except for Bob who remains shocked.
"Yes, son," Bucky repeated, his voice low and steady, carrying a weight of affection. He watched as Peter waved at them with a bright smile, the kind that lit up his whole face—completely unaware of the storm quietly brewing behind Bucky's calm eyes.
"Since when?" Yelena questions, followed by agreements from the others.
Bucky sighs, should've expected this question. "I adopted him, around two years ago."
A bunch of noises reoccurred. Some of shock, amusement, and agreement. "Nice to meet you, Peter." Yelena called out, her voice carrying gently across the space. He returned the smile, nodding in acknowledgment.
"Introduce yourselves." Bucky called out to the group— team?— as he encourages Peter to do the same.
"I'm Peter Parker.. Barnes." Bucky stills beside him before he relaxes, definitely going to have to get used to it.
"Ava Starr." She phases through the couch, reached out to give his shoulder a light squeeze before stepping back to sit again.
Before Peter could say anything else about her awesome powers, he hears the blonde lady from her spot. "Yelena Belova."
"John Walker." Mr. Walker says from his spot, still looking at Peter with a look of.. hurt?
He's gonna have to dismiss that for a while when he sees a big dude approaching him. "Ah, Winter Soldier's son. I'm Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian! Nice to meet you." He took Peter's hand in his, shaking it firmly.
Bucky breaks the handshake off, Mr. Shostakov laughed, muttering about memories of his own as a father at the same time he could hear Ms. Belova groan in frustration and— embarrassment?
Then the last guy is someone who looks a bit confused by everything but his smile is bright. "I'm Bob."
Peter smiled back. "Hi Mr. Bob." He hears laughter from the others. "What a polite son you have." Ms. Belova says from her spot.
"My Aunt May taught me to be polite, Ms. Belova. It's the standard." She struck an awed expression. "Call me Yelena and everyone else by their names. No need the Mister-Miss stuff, okay?"
Peter sighs, hearing the same thing from Bucky two years ago. "Got it." Not even trying to argue with them, he shoots a thumbs-up.
Realizing the situation, he finally asks Bucky. "Are you guys a team?"
Before Bucky could reply, someone else does. "We're the New Avengers!" Alexei yelled from where he sat, raising both his arms up.
Peter's jaw dropped. "The what?!"
Definitely a long explanation needed.