Red Scare
Movie/Game/Show: Marvel
Dynamic: Peter Parker/Reader
Warnings: some au where everyone’s in the compound and happy because :), i wrote out a russian accent for pronunciation purposes (it’s then quickly wrote out but hey), “slowburn” written by someone impatient, fem pronouns
Summary: Peter just really wants to hold your hand and gets embarrassed by Nat and Tony to do it.
Word Count: 3.5K
~~~
Steve was the one who’d found you originally. Well, fought you - to be accurate. The super soldier was a target you’d been put on as a Widow when Natasha found you both and broke the fight up. She’d just barely managed to convince Steve to keep you around - insisting that she could help defect you from Widowing and mold you into a new Avenger. It’d worked for her, surely, it’d work for you too - she just needed time. Time that, while hesitant to do so, Steve eventually granted.
Natasha graciously took you under her wing and began teaching you about American culture and how to blend in for more than spy work.
Now, Natasha watches with furrowed brows as Wanda approaches you. She had her arms crossed tensely as you two came to a meet in the middle of the room. She watches you, her dear student, reach out, hesitating before softly taking Wanda by the shoulders and leaning in to gently kiss her left cheek, then right, then left again.
“Okay,” Natasha put up her hands, signaling the two to stop, “so, ученик, you see where you went wrong there? If Wanda’s a stranger, you wouldn’t kiss her on the cheeks, right?”
“Vanda is friend, no?” you gestured between you and the other woman.
“She is,” Natasha nodded before jabbing your forehead with her index finger, “but you need to pretend she isn’t, just for right now.”
Throwing your hands up in defeat, you huffed, “Vhat? I’m bad guy because zis is ridiculous?”
“No one’s trying to say you’re the bad guy,” Wanda gave you a smile and pat on the shoulder, “Just in need of a little more practice.”
“We should start working with accents,” Bucky pitches in for the first time since ‘American etiquette’ lessons began that day, “Her’s is a dead giveaway.”
Natasha nodded before glancing over at the clock, “I’m sure you’d love to do that one, big guy.”
“Why me?” Bucky sat up straighter - he was no good with one-on-one interactions unless they were fights, and with your upbringing in the Red Room, Bucky was certain you didn’t need any combat training.
“I’ve got a mission to get to with Wanda,” the assassin pat the man’s arm with a teasing grin, “So, unless you wanna see who else is available for that, just sit tight till we’re back.”
The two redheads were out before Bucky could even reply, a sigh leaving his lips at the new awkwardness of the situation. It wasn’t even his idea to be involved - he just got looped in because of his time with HYDRA. Which, in his opinion, was unfair - Natasha and Wanda were at least actually Eastern European, he was lumped in by association. He stood, beginning out of the common room with a nod for you to follow, muttering under his breath.
“If I may,” you interject, nearly rushing to keep up with Bucky’s hurried strides, “zat eh, Spider. Spider boy. Is only one home. Stark, maybe. But Spider, definitely”
“Parker…” the man takes a glance at you, trying to shove his disdain for the boy back, “Sure. He should be in the lab.”
It doesn’t take long to find Peter with Tony, Bucky knocking on the doorframe to catch both of their attention, “We need help teaching accents.”
“And articles,” Tony interjects, pushing a stool beside Peter’s and motioning for you to sit, “Unfortunately for you, lavalantula, it’s hard to take you seriously when you say things like ‘get in house’ like a cavewoman.”
“Mr. Stark- “
Before Peter has the chance to defend you, you’re quirking a brow at the man and putting your own two cents into his take, “In fairness, vhat idiot vould get in different house?”
“Accent and articles!” Peter claps, a forced smile bright on his lips, “Will do, Mr. Barnes, you can trust me.”
“I really don’t,” Bucky glares at the poor boy all while he leaves, “If she starts making references to your movies, I’ll personally bring you harm.”
“Opposed to what?” Peter murmured, “Impersonal harm?”
That brought a small laugh from between your lips, causing Peter to perk up once again at the positive attention. It isn’t every day he gets to make a former Russian assassin laugh, he supposes he should take it as a compliment.
He cleared his throat as Tony went about the lab, “Alright, I think that first we should start with articles.”
“Sounds pointless.”
“They kind of are, but we use them here, so…” he scratches at the back of his head, “How about we try making the ‘th’ sound first, sound good?”
“Not really.”
It was a few days with learning from Peter, but you’d felt as though so much progress was made towards the lessening of a Russian accent. Or maybe the praise that slipped from Peter’s lips just made the most minor step forward seem like a leap. The praise brought a new bubble of joy in your chest, one that was never there when Wanda, or the ever rare Natasha, complimented your work. Maybe it’s because Peter was born and raised in America that made it seem more valid - maybe it was his buzz and excitement at teaching. Maybe it was just him.
“Why don’t you try telling me about your day, to get used to speaking with what you learned so far?”
“Uh,” you fumbled, trying to translate the events in your head before speaking, “I woke up. I trained v- with Thor. Then he left for mission,” you paused, realizing your mistake and sighing.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Peter was quick to jump in when he assumed self-doubts were bubbling up, “You’ve got a lot of time to learn, don’t beat yourself up over a mistake. English is a pain in the ass to learn, you should be proud of yourself for picking it up so fast.”
“Yeah?” he could sense the hesitant disbelief in your voice.
Even so, he didn’t let up, giving a confident nod, “Yeah. Just start over whenever. You were doing really well.”
You took a moment to plan out the response in your head, running through it internally a few times before giving Peter a verbal run through, “I woke up. I trained with Thor. Then he left for a mission. I went to the lab. Now I’m here - with you.”
“See? You’re already doing so well, you should be proud. We can work on elongating sentences later down the line, but this is already pretty great!”
You take a moment, planning the pronunciation in your head before responding, “Thank you, Parker.”
“Peter,” he jumps to say, shrinking back slightly at his own eagerness, “Peter is fine, if you wanna call me that.”
“Piter,” you try the name on your tongue.
“I don’t think we’re saying it the same way,” he nods curtly, “but that’s okay! Doesn’t have to be perfect the first time.”
“I would like to try again,” you whisper his name to yourself a few times before repeating it aloud, “Peter…”
“Right! Wow, you’re so good at this already,” Peter turns to Tony, who’s doing a poor job of pretending he wasn’t listening to the pair, “Isn’t she smart, Mr. Stark?”
“Coming from you, kid? That’s a big compliment.”
“I think it’s well-deserved,” he gives you a chuckle, “I really mean it, you’re good at this and this is just a few days into working on your accent.”
“You think so?” there’s a wave of sheepishness that comes with Peter’s attention, with his wide-eyed, all-believing stares that leads you to scratch at the back of your neck, “Good. I would not enjoy to be a bother for long.”
“Not a bother, at all. I like spending time with you, even if it’s just to teach you about American accents.”
Tony closes his eyes and shakes his head, honestly not believing the words as they come out of his mouth, “You two live together, you could hang out whenever you want, kid.”
“Oh, yeah, huh?” Peter’s eyes seem to come alive again, “We should, then. Hang out, I mean. Outside of these accent lessons, unless you don’t want to.”
“No, no,” you feel a small, unfamiliar smile stretch over your own lips, “I vou- would. I would like that, very much.”
“Yep,” Tony slaps a stack of papers on the desk before beginning to make his exit, “Definitely have to work on those sentence frames, Captain Ivan.”
For the duration of Natasha’s absence, you’ve stopped coming to Bucky for lessons on Americanization. Sneaking off with Peter to the kitchen when you can.
"I used to think that melancholy was a vegetable."
"You're genius enough to catch Stark's attention, but thought melancholy was the name of vegetable?"
"Doesn't it sound like it though? Can you really tell me I'm wrong?"
"No, no, I can see it. Like celery and the uh, the one fruit. They had a baby."
"The one fruit?"
"The one, I forgot the word. Don't you have a word for дыня?"
"You do realize I have no idea what you just said, right?"
Sometimes to either of your rooms, or walking together around the perimeter of the building, or traversing through the little garden Wanda had been working hard on.
"Would you like some food? I'm ordering."
"I don't have any money, sorry."
"I did not ask if you had money, Peter. Do you want food or not?"
"But I can't pay you back and then I feel all icky on the inside part."
"Think of it as gift then, no paying back needed. Gift for being a good friend."
"Aw, you think I'm a good friend?"
"If I had to have a first friend, then I'm glad it was you. You're a good person, Peter. I'm glad we met."
"I'm really glad we met, too."
Little times set apart to spend time together that always begin as lessons.
"You ever heard of solipsism?"
"Maybe, what is it?"
"Uh, the belief that everything around you was created in your mind."
"Then yes, why, Peter?"
"Well, I just was thinking… You know, if everything around me is imaginary then you're the best thing I've ever come up with."
"Peter…"
"I'm sorry, was that too cheesy?"
"No, I just- it was really nice, actually. Thank you."
"Well, don't thank me, it's true."
Times that quickly morphed into discussions on Peter’s favorite movies or what little parts you miss of home.
"Would you ever go back? Like, to Russia?"
"Only if I had to. Too many poor memories there."
"What would be 'having to'?"
"If someone I really cared about needed me to. You or Natasha, mostly."
"You'd go back for me?"
"If you were in need of saving and I had to return to Russia to do it, yes, I'd go back."
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."
"Peter, it is quite actually the bare minimum in terms of saving you."
Nobody expected it to last longer than the time that Natasha was gone - she was like a big sister to you, a safeplace when the Tower felt cold. So, when she came home and you didn’t re-glue yourself to her hip - people were quick to notice.
“I didn’t think Parker could get worse,” Sam noted under his breath, “But there he is, digging underneath the bar.”
Truly, Sam could’ve just looked away - but it was hard to do that when he was watching Peter fucking Parker, the littlest Avenger, try to win a game of footsies with you at the kitchen island. It’d be a cute sight if Sam weren’t the one having to see it.
“I’m staying out of it,” Bucky shook his head, staring down at the table as he pushed his food around his plate, “I haven’t been hungry since they got in here.”
Suddenly, Peter stands, “You’re low on coffee,” he points down at your mug before moving around the counter to the pot, “Do you want more? Just, while I’m up and here.”
“I hate that kid,” Sam shook his head, standing up and starting out of the kitchen, “I hope she rejects his ass.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Steve muttered, “In a way only an ex-Widow could manage.”
“She would’ve eaten him alive on the field, you know?” Bucky shook his head as he watched Peter contently refill your coffee and you give a rare smile only he and Natasha ever really knew, “I miss those days.”
“You try so hard to content me…” you begin, unaware of the conversation behind you, and tap your fingers on the counter’s marble, “Why?”
“You seem nice,” he shrugs, deflating when all you shoot him with in return is a skeptical look, “You do - you are. I like spending time with you.”
Before he can scold himself, you’re smiling again, patting his shoulder, “Thanks, Peter, you’re reassuring. I will be training with Nat if you need me.”
Peter expected a lot of things in his life - joint pain when he’s old, to be an Avenger with Mr. Stark, for missions to not always go perfectly, but gaining a crush on a girl who, admittedly, kind of intimidated him, wasn’t one of those things. But, also admittedly, it wasn’t entirely unwelcome, he’s noticed. He waits for Steve to make his exit before turning in his stool to face the only other man left in the room.
“Hey, Mr. Barnes?”
“Oh my- what?”
“You know Miss Romanoff, right?”
“Nat?”
“No, that’s Ms. Romanoff.”
“You mean ученик?”
“Sure, yeah, that’s what you guys call her.”
“Why are you calling her ‘Romanoff’, that’s not her last name at all.”
“No, but she’s like Ms. Romanoff's sister, or daughter, or something, so it fit. Anyway, do you know her?”
“Yes, Parker, obviously I know her.”
“Well, I think I may or may not like her like more than a friend, a lot, and I was wondering if you knew what she was into? Like date-wise… or gift-wise… or hey, even partner-wise, if she talks about that, ever.”
“She doesn’t and please don’t involve me in this. Go ask Nat.”
And so, Peter does ask Nat.
He makes up an excuse about wanting to be more agile on the field to drag her away from you before popping the question, “Do you think she likes me?”
Natasha doesn’t need clarification, she’s seen the way Peter looks at you whenever you’re around each other. It’s sweet. It’s like he’s seeing a full moon for the first time. He’s so attentive and soft towards you. Sure, the dynamic of a gentle-natured superhero from Queens and a Russian ex-Widow, current Avenger-in-training is a little strange, but she’s all for it if it means you’re happy. You’re like the little sister she so desperately wants back.
“She might,” the redhead shrugs, “Poor ученик isn’t so open with her feelings, kid. I can barely get her to open up about what she thought about dinner let alone her feelings towards the others,” when the boy’s face drops, she tilts him by the chin to meet her eyes, “That being said, I’ll talk to her. She’s a lot nicer to you than she is with the rest of the team so I wouldn’t kill that hope so fast.”
Peter barely manages to smother down a smile before nodding, giving an awkward thumbs up, and racing back down the hall, a “Thanks, Ms. Romanoff!” echoing after him.
Nat purses her lips in thought of who could be able to help her. Who was nosy enough and bothersome enough to try and set up two teenagers?
“Hey,” Tony pointed to the group of Natasha, Wanda, Bucky, and yourself on the couch, “Red Scare, in the training room.”
“Vh- Which one of us are you referring to?”
The man simply tapped the door frame with a nod, “Five minutes or I’m docking your missions.”
“He can’t do that,” Bucky shook his head, eyes narrowing as realization sat in, “Can he?”
And so, in under five minutes, the quartet found themselves in the training room with Tony.
“Underoos needs some training with fighting tactics known to HYDRA - so, who here wants to be the helpful little hero to do that?”
You look between the others, quirking a brow and shaking your head, “HYDRA is not a hub of top secret fighting techniques, it would be like pairing Peter with anybody else.”
“Sounds like you need to get familiar with other fighting styles then,” Natasha tuts, “I’ve let you off too easy just training with me.”
“I literally fight Steve and Thor all the time, there isn’t much difference just because he’s American,” you narrow your eyes at the woman, “If you both are up to something just admit it now.”
“No, no, there’s definitely a difference,” Bucky pitches in - though clearly not content with being roped into the mess of getting Parker a girlfriend, “He’s all in-your-face and forceful, you’re more like sneak-and-stab.”
“Because I am spy and he is fighter!” you shout, looking to Wanda with wide eyes, “Am I being the specific one? I feel as though I am not being the specific one.”
Wanda feels guilt run through her veins as she shrugs, actively knowing she’s aiding in tricking you, “You should give it a try. For comparison reasons.”
“You’re all making me feel crazy and I do not like it, I am at least a little certain this is a form of manipulation.”
“You’re a spy, you should be able to tell,” Bucky pats your back, “Anyway, I’m busy - you have to fight the kid.”
“Vision and I had a dinner reservation,” Wanda ducks out of the room quickly.
Tony points at you with raised brows, “You got it then, Xenia Onatopp?”
“I- “ you sigh and throw your hands up in defeat, “I suppose I do.”
A few minutes later, Peter is shoved into the training room while you stuff on a pair of gloves - eyes sliding over to the doorway to look at his jumpy form. You scoff, “They are up to something and I feel like I know what.”
“What? What - what do you mean?” Peter nervously crosses his arms and tilts his head, “Up to what?”
“Peter,” you raise a brow at him in question, “do you expect me to believe you are dumb? They are making us spend time together like this, what could that possibly mean?”
His mouth opens and closes, eyes avoiding your gaze like it’s deadly, “Who knows, honestly?”
Shaking your head, you begin removing your gloves, “Okay then, do not talk to me until you are ready to tell the truth.”
“Wait!” Peter latches onto your hand as you pass him by the doorway, “Wait, wait, wait… I- I’m sorry. I just really like you and so I asked Ms. Romanoff for help and I didn't think that she’d team up with Mr. Stark because nothing really good comes from Mr. Stark meddling in things other than tech and saving the world, but she did and they did this. I would’ve said something but you’re just really cool and I was scared you wouldn’t like me back so I tried to see if Ms. Romanoff could test the waters for me.”
“You see where that was a mistake, right?” you reach up, brushing your hand through Peter’s bangs, “I do like you, Peter. A lot. So I would appreciate you being upfront with me rather than looking through Natasha for answers.”
“Right, and I’m sorry- “
“Was honest mistake, Peter, do not worry any longer.”
“Are you sure?”
“Would not have said so if I wasn’t. I do not like your worry.”
Peter wrought his hands together, lips pursed, "Can we not pretend to train and just hang out then?"
"Are you certain you do not want me to kick your ass?"
“Well, now that you said that I feel pressure to prove that you won’t,” Peter shook his head and sighed, “I’m okay with taking a loss today.”
“You didn’t even try, didn’t even initiate.”
“So I’m the bad guy cuz I don’t wanna get my ass kicked, okay,” the boy sarcastically muttered before laying his back against the wall and sliding down to the floor, “Hey, you’re bilingual, right?” at your nod of confirmation, he continued, “What language do you think in? Russian?”
You pondered the question before shrugging, “I’m not even sure I think.”
---
“So,” Natasha looks between the two, “how was the training?”
“Awful,” Peter shakes his head, “Hated it.”
“Right… and you, ученик?”
You look over to Peter, his subtle grin and fidgety movements, before shrugging, “He’s a child,” you sigh, “Terrible.”
“Oh, is that so?” Natasha squints between the two of you.
You both nod in unison, “Definitely.”
“Anyway,” you cut in quickly, “we are off to ask Thor to let us try and lift Mjolnir. Please, don’t meddle in teenagers who have will-they-won’t-they scenarios, just let us be awkward about it.”
“What she said,” Peter grinned broadly before gently tapping his finger against your hand and withholding a small cheer when you intertwined your hand with his and led him through the halls to find Thor.
He was almost scared how much he enjoyed the feeling of your hand in his, something so small and inconsequential and yet it made his heart flutter all the same.
“This is nice,” he lifts up your hands briefly.
“I would hope so,” you tease, “I like it, though, is cute, no?”
“It is. Definitely is. I think so.”
“I do, too. We should do it more often.”
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I need Michelle and Bucky friendship in my life with Peter and Steve equally sad and happy pls
OKAY, I love everything about this prompt. ENJOY!
MJ doesn’t want to like Bucky Barnes. she knows him as a Hydra agent that, over the century, murdered hundreds of people. besides, from what she could find out about him in the news he was hostile, dangerous and…ok, she’s a little biased. she knows that Bucky was a MAJOR reason why Tony recruited Peter and she can’t forgive him for that. not really. if Bucky hadn’t started that stupid war between the avengers maybe Tony never would have sought Peter out. maybe Peter would have been a normal teenager with superpowers in his silly suit. now, he’s a legit-the-shit superhero with all the tech he can get his hands on and ENDLESSLY dangerous missions. and she can only track that back to Bucky freakin’ Barnes.
and she cares about Peter. which is why the dislike for Barnes is palpable. he’s her dumb, noble boyfriend. idiot. HER idiot.
when he first takes her to the avengers headquarters she STRAIGHT UP ignores Barnes. she’s not particularly nice to anyone on “team cap”, tbh. again, she holds them slightly responsible for her underage boyfriend being a crime fighting spider person.
but she’s the WORST to Bucky. maybe Steve a little, too. but she spent a lot of time when she was a kid admiring Peggy Carter and in all of her journals and books she has nothing but amazing things to say about Captain Rogers so its hard to hate him.
Barnes THO. OH HO HO BARNES SUCKS.
Peter tries to explain to her whenever she’s being particularly rude at headquarters that Bucky is complicated and he’s not so bad. if only she would just TALK to him. but MJ is like hahahhaha nope. refuse.
until one night she’s sleeping in Peter’s bed (yes, she is. of course she is. pls.) at headquarters and she hears screaming. she tries to nudge Peter to wake him up, make him go see what’s going on, but he’s not there. she remembers he’s on a mission and won’t be back until the morning. she’s mostly alone at headquarters.
so who could be screaming?
she wanders into the kitchen and sees Barnes bent over the island screaming, his hands gripping the counter. its an alarming sight. she almost walks away, leaves him to deal with whatever is going on. but he’s sweating like he’s having some sort of attack.
MJ puts a tentative hand on his back and Bucky whiiirls around like he’s going to hit her. she flinches and whatever demons are clutching at him release him. he collapses on the floor, an awkward swirl of limbs, sitting on the ground. and then he’s crying. and MJ really has NO idea what she’s doing. but she hugs him.
when he finally calms down, he mumbles a thank you. and hurries away. AND MJ IS SHOOK. like, wtf is that.
she asks Doctor Banner, because he’s a badass boss, and he’s the one who explains all of the stuff about Bucky. about how he was a victim of the Russians, how he was brainwashed and tortured and how he often has episodes. how they took a good, noble soldier and turned him into a weapon against his friends and family. how he carries the weight of all of the things he’s done and she suddenly feels like an ASS.
like, Peter tried to tell her. tried to defend him. and while she’s not thrilled that the civil war was why Peter got recruited in the first place, its not Barnes fault that Peter is noble and dumb. she’s going to blame Tony anyway.
so she finds Bucky during one of her visits at headquarters and sits by him in the library. they don’t speak but they do read together. and it becomes a regular thing. they start to read in silence next to each other. she’s not sure if its friendship, but there is genuine understanding between them.
and the thing that tips them over into real friendship is the whole team goes on a mission and peter gets catastrophically hurt. when they cart him in on a stretcher she starts demanding answers. and Tony can’t be bothered, he looks grief stricken. but when things calm down, when the doctors say he’ll be okay, Wanda lets it slip that if it weren’t for Bucky Peter would be dead. he saved him.
MJ marches across the waiting room in the hospital wing and throws her arms around Bucky. everyone seems surprised. even Bucky. but he wraps his arms around her and hugs him back. later, she finds out how long its been since someone has hugged him, really hugged him, and how surprised/happy he was that someone trusted him enough to hug.
after that, Bucky and MJ are tight.
they read together, bitch about fascism (because Bucky REALLY hates fascism for reasons) and they start to hang out. like properly hang out.
Bucky marches with MJ at BLM marches and women’s marches and science marches. he stands between her and the police whenever protests start to get rowdy and challenges police men to “try something”. he’s scary so no one ever does. that is him using his white privilege in a constructive way and she’s so proud.
also, Bucky teaches MJ to knit. its a weird thing they do together. she spots him knitting one night and he tells her how the monotony helps calm him down. how knitting is soothing. so she asks him to teach her. and then, like bosses, they’re knitting together all the time. they make everyone pussy hats and they make everyone crappy scarfs. everyone complains about how itchy the things MJ and Bucky knit. but everyone wears them, duh.
and then they take their friendship level up a whole other level because MJ likes to steal Bucky’s food and throw her feet up on his lap while they’re both reading in the library.
its when that happens that both Peter and Steve get a little jealous. like, they’re happy that Bucky and MJ are getting along. that they can be grumpy together. but, UM, MJ is Peter’s grumpy girlfriend and Bucky is Steve’s grumpy boyfriend. and neither of them want to share.
they try and be mature about it. Steve manages, somewhat. but Peter gets sulky about the whole thing. he doesn’t like it. no sir.
and when he tries to keep it together and not be a little shit, he always fails. but Bucky thinks its hilarious. so whenever Peter is around he likes to dramatically throw an arm around her. and MJ likes to bat her eyelashes at Bucky. before they both start laughing at Peter’s expense.
Steve loves to watch all of this happen from a few feet away, so glad that Bucky has found some happiness. a friend. he just sometimes misses when he was Bucky’s only friend. but as long as Bucky is happy so is he.
and Peter does get there. he can be a little sulky and then MJ will give him an indulgent kiss and tell him to get over it. and that always perks him up.
but Bucky and MJ don’t ever stop being friends. old man jokes happen. and MJ figures if she was going to be wrong about someone she was glad it was Bucky Barnes.
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