Chapter One: The Fighter

The first year was the hardest. A year full of leads and pairs of the team going off to check on them, always coming back with nothing but disappointing news that often left Peter in tears. They tried to keep things as normal as possible for him, keep him in a routine and keep his spirits up, but there was only so much they could do. The few days that Peter found himself even for a moment forgetting the situation, the child felt almost instant guilt over it.

It didn't take the media long to pick up on the missing Avengers, and that did nothing to help the situation. Keeping them at bay was a task, and Peter couldn't always be protected from their shouted questions when he was ushered in and out of the Tower.

"Any news on the Captain and Iron Man? How is Peter fairing?" asked one who caught Darcy and Peter at the park somehow, even though they used the secret exit out of their home and everything.

"I will Taser you man, back the hell off." Darcy said, already reaching into her purse. The threat didn't seem to deter the reporter, which Peter found kind of stupid, because every time he ever heard Darcy threaten to Taser someone, he'd always seen her follow through on the warning.

"It's been almost a year, will the process to have them declared dead be started soon?"

Darcy tasered the man, not an ounce of regret on her face. She stood over him, shaking on the ground from the shock. "My boyfriends are the goddamn Hulk and Hawkeye!" she yelled at him. "Come near Peter or me again and you'll think that was a little tickle!"

The anniversary of the day the team came home two members short comes with them no closer to finding Steve and Tony. Sometimes Peter could hear them at night, talking. The phrases 'dropped off the face of the earth' and 'no traces' are what he heard the most.

The second year is marked with Peter becoming more and more used to the disappointment and the idea that there was no real promise his fathers would be found, no matter what he had been told in the past. There were days that he managed to be happy and not feel guilty about it.

The first big change comes three months after the first anniversary, the announcement that they were adding members to the initiative. It was decided that though Stark Tower was indeed the headquarters of the team, they would hold off on actually moving new members into the tower for the time being, allowing them to spend time there, but not live there. For the most part, Peter didn't see them around, and when he did, he went quiet, still not sure how to take these new people in his world.

A second change came when Thor and Jane announce they'd be having their first child. That announcement sent the seven-year-old into a panic.

"I—don't—want—you—to—leave—though!" the boy exclaimed through sobs.

Jane, who had been holding him in her lap trying to sooth him, let a relieved smile slip onto her face. "Oh Peter, is that why you're upset?" she asked, and when Peter nodded, she cupped his face with both her hands and made him look at her. "Peter, Thor and I aren't going anywhere. You're stuck with us. And the new baby. You're just going to have a cousin now. I promise no one is going anywhere."

Peter sniffled, tears still falling when he asked, "Really?" Jane nodded, tugging him into a tight hug.

Time moved on, days blurring together into weeks and months. The fourth year is when Loki starts working on making his penance with the Avengers, and when Clint, Bruce, and Darcy announce their first child. The sixth is when Bucky was found, or re-found, or whatever. He's the first person to ever be allowed to move into the tower right off the bat, though he was very closely watched and considered under Natasha's direct supervision. After all, he was still shaking off remnants of Soviet brainwashing and memory loss.

It's the tenth year when the biggest change happened, a sixteen-year-old Peter bitten by a spider on a science club trip. It's barely a month later that when Spider-Man popped into existence, identity the most heavily guarded one in history, founding Avengers supervising him carefully. They all knew there would be no stopping the boy, and rather than go through the process of trying, they set up rules and guidelines and boundaries to keep him safe. Sometimes Peter would think of breaking these [a lot, really], but all he had to do was think of his fathers, gone in action, and he squashes the thoughts. Still, there are a few things he can't stay out of.

The day still came every year, the anniversary that no one can ignore. It's rare that they themselves talk about it, not the founding members and people who were there that day at least. Peter always heard the newer Avengers talking about it, only to quiet quickly when he entered the room.

And there's still the media. News stories and specials on television, articles in magazines and the papers. Reporters always called to ask for interviews [after Darcy tasered that one, most knew better than to just show up shoving microphones in their faces] and when Peter was seventeen, they sat him down and told him it was his choice if he wanted to talk about it. He was kind of shocked with himself when he answered 'yes' without even seeming to think about it.

"So it's been eleven years; you were only six when it happened, right?" the interviewer asked. They picked the show carefully, they didn't want anyone who would go at him too hard, digging for information Peter couldn't give. Peter still had a hard time talking at first, only nodding in response to this question. "And now you're seventeen. You've proven to be quite the young man, if rumors are anything to go by. Smart as Tony Stark and as good as Captain America. Do you get people comparing you to them a lot?"

Peter smiled, and he knew it probably looked a bit strained. "I do, but I have to tell you, I'll probably never be as smart as my dad, and no one can be a good as Pops."

"Do you remember them well?"

"Yes." Peter said, nodding vigorously. There was a pause, and the woman was clearly waiting for Peter to elaborate. He sighed, running his hand through his forever messy mop of hair. "Pop was great. He always had a good story to tell me when I couldn't fall asleep, he worried if I would so much as sneeze, and made me feel like I was the center of his entire world.

Dad was just, he was always so full of life. He'd take me down to his workshop and let me watch while he did stuff. He'd get so excited explaining things that I got excited even if I didn't understand. They both always had a smile and hug for me when they got home from missions, it didn't matter how long they'd been gone, what happened out in the field, how hurt they might've gotten. I always came before anything else to them."

"And then one day they didn't come home." the interviewer prompted carefully, and Peter's smile fell.

"One day they didn't come home." he said in agreement. "And that was the worst day of my life. My biggest fears realized."

There were questions on what he remembered of that day ['everything'], what it was like growing up with the Avengers raising him ['they're the best family I could honestly ever ask for or dream of having'], did their continuing to fight crime bother him ['someone has to do it, I've learned to accept the dangers and just hope they stay safe'], his plans for college ['majoring in science definitely, I kind of want to minor in photography'], and so on and so forth until they get to the last big question.

"They've still not declared the Captain and Iron Man dead. I have to ask, do you believe they're still alive?"

That stopped him. He opened and closed his mouth, completely unprepared for the question. Sure, in some part of his mind he had known it would most likely come up, but he had refused to dwell on it. Finally. "Of course I do. I'll believe they're still out there until someone give me definite proof that they're not."

Notes: And that would be the first chapter . The real story will start happening next chapter! For that though, I do have a note of the various kids that will appear in here, so everyone can start with a sort of idea of who's who? They won't be major characters but they'll still be there, and there are definitely more than the two mentioned. I'm going to put who they belong to, names and ages, which will hopefully avert some confusion!

For Thor and Jane we have: Elli, a girl who at the start of the next chapter will be 10. Followed by another girl, Freya [7], and a boy, Gunner [4]

Clint, Darcy, and Bruce have: A girl, Imogen [8], Twins, a boy named Abbot and a girl named Lucille [6], and newborn boy named Jackson.

Finally, Natasha and Bucky have a little boy, Ilya [2].