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Safety has always been relative, for Peter.
Every single person he’s had as a parentle figure has died. Mary and Richard Parker. Ben Parker. Aunt May died two years ago. He’s seventeen now.
Everything so far in his life has been safe – but only when compared to something else. Getting shot? Safe compared to climbing a flying jet over New York City while being shot at by your girlfriend’s dad. Not having anyone as parentle figure? Safer than losing them all in progressively more painful ways.
But when he came back to the tower crying, somehow he threw that all out the window.
Flash had been particularly cruel that day. He’d been deadnamed all day, called every name in the book, had an apple thrown at him(he couldn’t catch it, because a normal kid couldn’t do that), and to make things worse, Ned was out with the flu and MJ had been busy bullying the beaurocrats at City Hall into giving her a meeting to propose a new ordinance or something. So he hadn’t had any comfort or anyone to talk back for him. So he came home crying. He hadn’t even been able to face Happy, taking the subway to the tower instead and climbing the window washer’s lift to get to his pseudo-mom Natasha's kitchen window. When he dropped in, as usual, he dodged her knife before dropping his bag on the counter.
“rebenok-pauk((baby spider))?”
“Mama pauk((spider)),” Peter choked a bit as he launched himself into her arms, nearly knocking the woman over. She seemed to take it in stride, at least, carefully guiding them to the couch. Clint appeared for a moment. Or at least Peter assumed he did, based on the scent of cologne and leather that entered the room, along with Natasha’s quick words, and then the absence of that scent. He couldn’t say how long he just sat, curled into the older Avenger, letting himself be rocked. Trying to shut out the argument Bruce and Tony were having three floors down, the burning toast in the communal kitchen above them, the light screaming in his eyes even with his face buried in Natasha’s shoulder, and the sounds of the city. Subconsciously he heard Natasha speaking softly, and then all of the sound and light being drowned out. And the scents were milder.
“Waddidyado?” He asked quietly.
“FRIDAY put the room into Sensory Overload mode, rebenok-pauk((baby spider)). Do you want to talk about it?”
“I-it was a bad day, Mama Pauk, I dont wanna do this anymore.”
“Did you get called the wrong name?”
“How you doin’ Emily? Bet you miss looking like you should!” “You ain’t much of a girl anymore. So weird” “So now you’re a tranny and a faggot Emily? Imagine what your mummy would say!” “How’s your boyfriend? I hear he has a taste for real men. Gross on both sides”
“Y-yes…”
“Is it the same person as last time?”
“Yes…” Peter spoke hesitantly. “And no, you can’t kill him.”
“How many dicks did you have to suck to get an internship?” “Where’d you get the Black Widow’s necklace? The only place I’ve ever seen it is between those gorgeous boobs of hers” “‘Personal Intern to Tony Stark’, really?”
“Ned and MJ weren’t there, I take it? Oh, don’t look at me like that, you don’t defend yourself properly ever.”
“They weren’t.”
“Alright.” Surprisingly, Natasha let the subject drop. “Star Wars marathon? Low volume, of course.”
He shoudln’t have trusted her to not do anything . Of course she’d do something – this was the Black Widow they were talking about, after all. Natasha did things fully or not at all, and the one thing the press definitely knew about her was that she didn’t care much about many people, but if she cared about someone, hurting them was a death sentance. Reinforced by the fact that she did what she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. No one could stop the Black Widow when she was on the warpath.
What he did not expect was for Natasha to appear in full gear after a mission, bloodstains, dirt, and all, outside of Midtown School of Science and Engineering, for dismissal right before Christmas Break three days later. A crowd was already forming, only kept back by her glare, and said blood. On her face, suit, and in her hair. MJ was practically cackling. Peter groaned, checking his phone.
1:51pm
Mama Pauk: I’m picking you up today, Happy has the day off.
2:05
Mama Pauk: didn’t have time to grab a disguise, I guess I’ll be easy to find;)
Peter groaned.
Me: you did this on purpose, didn’t you?
Mama Pauk: 😈
Mama Pauk: no comment. Now get over here, I can see you, you know.
Evidently, he wasn’t getting out of this one. Bracing himself, he pushed through the crowd, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. One corner of Natasha’s mouth turned up, the closest to a proper smile she gave in public.
“There you are, pauchok((spiderling)),” she said briskly, but full of hidden affection. Flash and his goons picked that exact moment to break through the crowd, leering obviously as Peter had placed his backpack in Natasha’s cargo compartment and had started a visual checkover for wounds.
“Hey Nat, what’re you doing here, with Penis Parker? She’s a bitch, you know.” Flash slipped up.
“Shit.” Peter cursed. “ Run .”
“That’s Miss Romanov to you,” Natasha said sharply. “Only my friends and family call me Nat.”
“Her girlfriend calls her Ah Satan!” Peter joked, trying to diffuse the conversation.
“Peter, is this the one who has been bothering you?”
“Emily! I don’t know what she told you when she offered to suck Stark’s dick, but she’s a girl! Her name is Emily Marie Parker!”
“ His name is Peter Benjamin Parker,” Natasha said coolly. It was a bad sign when she was this level of calm. Outright dangerous. “And she is doing nothing of the sort. I suggest you stop talking before the Winter Soilder shows up.”
“Natasha, Ne privodi Baki! On ne tak uzh i plokh!((Natasha, don’t bring in Bucky! He’s not that bad!))”
“Miss Romanov! I didn’t know you were coming!” MJ came up with Ned in tow, actually smiling a bit.
“ You are allowed to call me Nat,” Natasha corrected, shaking MJ’s hand.
“What are you doing here?” Ned asked.
“Can’t I just want to pick up my kid?”
That got a reaction. Flash sputtered as his goons retreated, and MJ grinned triumphantly. The rest of the crowd immediately started shouting, and those who hadn’t been recording already started.
“I suggest you make better choices, Eugene. I know everything there is to know abour you. And all of your family. And friends.” Natasha grinned. Her near-feral one. “So I’d suggest not threatening my son.”
“syn((son))?”
“YA uzhe mnogo let nazyvayu tebya svoim rebenkom, Pyotr((I’ve been calling you my kid for ages, Pyotr))
“YA dumal, ty shutish'! YA ne dumal, chto ty na samom dele dumayesh' obo mne kak o svoyem rebenke!((I thought you were joking! I didn’t think you actually thought of me as your kid!))”
“konechno da, rebenok-pauk. Ty takoy zhe moy rebenok, kak Stark ili Mey((of course you are, baby spider. You're as much my kid as Stark's or May's))”
“YA lyublyu tebya, mama((I love you, mom)).” Peter smiled, and Natasha nodded.
“YA tozhe tebya lyublyu((I love you too)). Now let’s go.”
Natasha took him to a safe house upstate for winter break. They only came back for Christmas Morning with the Avengers, and somehow Peter was able to work through his fear of losing yet another parent. His mom dropped him off for school the monday after, but leaving wasn’t something he really wanted to do. Nat was his person , the only person he felt entirely safe with. Christmas break had been spent laughing and playing board games and sledding and sleeping. They’d fallen asleep on the couch reading, and he’d woken up to Natasha having left silently and returning with cocoa for when he woke up.
Midtown seemed less daunting now. Maybe she was rubbing off on him, but for the first time he felt in control. No one called his deadname, but Flash was waiting across the hall from his locker. Anxiously, he started talking to Ned.
“Mom and I got to go upstate, did you know she can land a triple axel? She taught me a waltz jump!” he chattered, grinning. It was nice to be able to share family holiday stories like the other kids.
“Man, that is so cool! My mom and grandmother made, like, insane ammouynts of food! That reminds me, mom sent you a box of all your favorites!”
“You’ll have to thank her for me, that’s amazing!”
“Oi, Parker, how’d your holiday go? Really got a mom now? How’d ya’ find one that likes kids who aren’t normal?” Flash snarked. Peter groaned.
“Loki, no.”
“Loki yes.” Loki appeared, grinning. Goddamn shapeshifters. “I suggest you get away from Peter. Now.”
“Who’d you get, a cosplayer?”
Loki looked genuinely annoyed, snapping their fingers. Natasha appeared next to him, giving him a Look.
“I though I said to warn me, Loki.” she was wearing jeans and a buttondown, but still looked like she could kill someone. Possibly moreso. “Eugene, the next time you speak to my son or any of his friends like that, it will be the last time you speak. And if I happen to hear about you speaking that way to anyone,
especially
LBGTQ+ people, we will have a problem. Understood?”
“Y-yes ma’am.”
“Good. Loki, for the love of all that is good in this world, let me go finish my breakfast now, I have to go scold your brother for setting the sink on fire. Again.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that,” Loki deadpanned, clapping. In the interim between the god’s words and her disappearance, Natasha rolled her eyes and smiling a bit.
“Have a good day, kid. MJ, text me if anything happens. Loki’ll stay with you, don’t do anything Stark would do.” with that, she turned into a mist of green swirls, waving a bit. Loki gave Flash one last glare, before disappearing. Peter could hear the dragonfly buzzing around his head, and spotted it a moment later. Emerald green with an unnatural sparkle. A guardian.
There was one thing he knew for certain, and that was that he was safe. And Nat wasn’t leaving any time soon.