Steve had immediately felt bad for what he had just said. "Tony. I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Tony placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, a serious look in his eyes and Steve swore he had never saw the one thing he was seeing in Tony's eyes. Fear. "You have to promise me one thing, Steve. That you will make sure that your child never ever gets raised the same way as I was."
Steve held up his right hand and stood rigid,"I swear on Avengers' honour."
Tony shot him a bright smile as he swiped away the holographic screen in front of him. "Then let's go adopt ourselves a kid."
(At the Orphanage...)
Both Steve and Tony sat in front of the orphanage's reception area where they faced a young brunette in her mid thirties. Steve had spoken first. "I'd like to adopt a boy who goes by the name of Peter Parker please."
"Of course. Peter's a wonderful boy and I'm so glad that he's finally getting adopted." The owner of the orphanage who goes by the name of Kelly said cheerfully.
Both Tony and Steve looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean finally?" Steve asked.
"Oh. Well, Peter is quite... special if there is a lack for a better word. It has been quite a struggle for young Peter ever since he was introduced to us. He had quite some trouble when it comes to adopting him. Various families have returned him to us after a short period of time." She smiled sadly.
"Please do wait a moment. Peter! Come down! There's some people here to meet you." She said, cutting off the silence. A small boy with brown chestnut hair and brown eyes came down the stairs with a small book in his hand. "Peter, say hello to Mr Rogers and Mr Stark."
"Hi." He said as he cowered a little, standing in front of two of the superheroes he admired his whole life.
Steve and Tony both turned to him and gave him a bright smile, not wanting to scare the boy off. "Hi, Peter."
Peter looked at Kelly to Steve and Tony, confusion spreading in his features. "These fine gentlemen want to adopt you."
Peter shook his head and looked down sadly, not wanting to meet their eyes, and his next words had shocked them all. "Oh. You don't want me. You'll put me back here in no time. You should adopt Wade instead. He's a really nice guy and you'd definitely be better off with him. He's a really awesome guy and you'll definitely like him better than me. In fact, I'll go get him right now." Peter was going to made a run for it when Steve grabbed his hand and he winced a little.
Steve shook his head as he turned Peter to face them gently, not wanting to hurt the boy or scare him off further. "No, Peter. We want you. No one else." He said politely. He was definitely shocked at why Peter wouldn't want to be adopted. Don't all orphans want to get adopted by nice parents? Why not Peter?
Peter looked back at Steve with some tears in his eyes that were threatening to spill.
"Are you sure?" He asked, waiting for an answer from the super soldier.
Steve nodded his head reassuringly, "One hundred percent."
Peter sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you."
