Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony works as a psychiatrist at the New York Asylum, a place for criminally insane patients that are all kinds of dangerous. They are considered too dangerous for regular prison and for very good reasons. After years of working in this place, Tony knows the drill. They come, they leave, new ones come in. It’s no big deal, it never is. Until one day, things change drastically.

That day, Tony is presented with two new patients. Spider and Winter, real names Peter Parker and Bucky Barnes, but with the note to never, ever, call them either of those names. Apparently, the last time someone called Winter Bucky, the man ended with a broken arm and several broken ribs. So much for that, Tony thinks. Spider and Winter it is then.

The two have a criminal history like barely any other Tony has seen over the years, including bank robberies, kidnappings and several assassinations - Winter’s speciality - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are several warnings on the files when he goes through them, but Tony is confident that he will be able to handle them. He isn’t new to this, after all.

What Tony doesn’t expect when he meets Spider for the first time, is that he’s facing a literal kid. The boy is barely 17, the most innocent and sweet face one could imagine and the complete opposite of what Tony read in the files. As they start talking, Tony is more and more surprised to find out that Spider is obviously very intelligent and charming and that it’s almost a joy speaking to him. It makes no sense for such a young boy to be involved in this kind of criminal activities.

Winter, on the other hand, is far more intimidating than the boy. Older, in his late twenties, and with eyes so cold they pierce through Tony every second they are in the same room. The man barely speaks and when he does, his voice is like a shrapnel of ice, which has Tony relieved when he can finally leave again. Russian accent, but that’s all Tony can really conclude from the first meeting. He’s not looking forward to more.

Over the weeks that follow, in which Tony is assigned to examine both patients and give his professional view on them eventually, the doctor finds himself more and more intrigued with Spider than he realizes at first. The boy appears to have no bad bone in his body, which makes Tony wonder if he’s just part of this because Winter forces him somehow, but the way Spider talks about the other doesn’t sound like it at all. It’s clear that he cares for Winter and Tony can’t help but dislike the way Spider’s voice goes almost soft when he talks about him.

Soon, they drift away from the schedule Tony should be following and talk personal things, about Spider as much as about Tony himself, and the doctor feels more and more comfortable around the boy, to the point where he actually looks forward to meeting him again. It’s weird, it shouldn’t be happening, but it’s nice somehow. Tony never actually started caring for a patient before, but with Spider it comes almost natural, which should worry him much more than it does.

With Winter, things are far more difficult unfortunately. It’s almost impossible to get anything personal out of him or make him talk about his motives. The only time he will actually speak more than a sentence or two is when Tony brings the topic to Spider, who he quickly realizes the man is very protective over. It doesn’t take much to count two and two together and to understand that they are far more than just friends or partners in crime, which Tony doesn’t like at all. There’s nothing he can do about it though, so he swallows the bitter pill and stays silent.

Around a month after their arrival, Tony suddenly finds a note attached to the files on his desk one morning. A note that reads: Transfer to High Security Ward in NY State Prison on Friday. Examination results expected by Wednesday.

Tony is stunned and actually sits at his desk for five full minutes, staring at the note. They want to take Spider and Winter elsewhere, somewhere he won’t have access to them anymore. For Winter, Tony barely cares, but for Spider? No, he can’t let them take the boy away from him, it’s not going to happen. The kid is special, he won’t let him rot in prison, not if he can prevent it somehow.

That night, Tony comes back to the Asylum with a plan. He worked here for over ten years, knows the place in his sleep and as long as they are quiet, it will be possible to get Spider out of here. Tony doesn’t care that he throws away his whole life and is about to become a criminal himself by freeing Spider, he’s too focused on keeping the boy to even think about that. It took less than two weeks for Spider to completely wrap Tony around his fingers and his break in that night is proof of how much control the boy has over him, without Tony realizing it.

Spider is still awake when Tony arrives at his cell and opens it. He looks up confused, but doesn’t seem to be very surprised when he sees him.

“Get your stuff, we’re leaving,” Tony says quietly and without questioning him, Spider hops off his bed and grabs a small backpack with his belongings. Tony doesn’t ask why his things are packed, he barely notices it.

Once Spider is out of his cell, Tony closes the door again and turns to leave, but the boy suddenly walks into the opposite direction, down the corridor. Tony almost panics and runs after him, grabbing his arm.

“What are you doing?” he hisses. “We have to leave or they’ll catch us!”

Spider is quiet and still for a moment, but when he turns his head and looks at him, Tony actually freezes in place. Those warm and gentle eyes he loves looking into so much are ice cold and dark now, Spider’s piercing glare no less intimidating and dangerous than his friend’s.

“Winter,” the boy says sharply, just that, but Tony understands. He won’t leave without the other, no matter what Tony does. In this split second, Tony realizes that he has to break both of them free in order to save Spider, or else the boy will just stay here until they are caught.

With a groan, Tony finally gives in and huffs. “Okay, I will get him, you stay here.” He carefully pushes the boy into a corner so he won’t be seen right away if anyone comes by, then steps back. “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

It’s insane, it’s absolutely and completely insane, but Tony makes his way down the corridor to the very end of it, where Winter’s cell is located. Did their madness rub off on him, is that it? He’s freeing two criminals, dangerous and psychotic criminals no less, and he feels not even a shred of guilt. He has to be insane, there’s no other explanation.

When he opens Winter’s cell, Tony isn’t even surprised to see the man standing up immediately without asking why. He just cocks his head and signals the other to follow him, then leads him back to where he left Spider. The boy is still there and when he sees Winter he pushes himself off the wall and runs towards him. Tony watches with a bitter taste of jealousy in his mouth how Spider wraps his arms around Winter’s neck and kisses him, but now is not the time for this.

“We have to leave, now!” He says sharply, grabbing the boy’s backpack from the ground. “They will follow us, so we need to find a good place to hide. My car is right outside, but if we waste any more time, we’re screwed.”

“We know where to go,” Winter says surprisingly and wraps an arm around  Spider’s waist. The boy turns and gives Tony a happy, mischievous smile.

“You’ll come with us, right?” he asks, big doe eyes far too innocent for everything Tony knows about him. And yet, there are no alarms going off in his head, as Spider disabled all of them perfectly over the last weeks.

“Always,” he simply answers and leads the other two out of the building.

When they drive off, Tony is fully aware that he is now just like them, a criminal on the run and that being caught again is out of question. But there is no time for worry to creep into his mind, especially not when Spider leans over to him from the backseats and kisses his cheek. It’s not much, it’s like throwing him a bone at best, but it’s enough for Tony for the time being.

Now, two became three, but does it matter? Maybe he’s gone insane, it’s not like it would surprise Tony. And besides, he never felt this kind of thrill before than he does when he’s close to Spider. Even if it will turn out to be the worst decision of his life, he doesn’t regret it even a little bit. He’s one of them now and they will stick together til the bitter end. Come what will.

Chapter Text

He’s on the run from the police.

That’s something Tony keeps thinking about day in and day out, the idea just too surreal and unbelievable to fully accept it. After freeing Spider and Winter, the trio is moving constantly for almost 48 hours. When Tony is too tired to keep driving, Winter takes over so he can sleep and vice versa, taking them through five states during those two days alone. At one point, Tony asks where they are even going, but Spider assures him they would tell him when it’s time and Tony simply believes the boy, not sure what else to do.

For a while, it feels like he has been kidnapped without even realizing it. But that’s crazy, or not? He freed the two willingly - well, he freed Spider willingly and Winter because he had to, but it’s the same in the end. There is no way they are holding him hostage, he can’t believe that.

Still, during the third day, this feeling becomes stronger and stronger. One of them is always there somehow, whether it’s while Tony eats or stretches his legs or even when he takes a piss. It’s starting to get frustrating and eventually, Tony summons the courage to ask Spider what this is all about. The boy gives him a sweet and at the same time serious smile.

“We gotta keep you safe, right?” he says in the most innocent tone of voice that has Tony actually speechless for a moment. “If someone saw you and called the cops, we might get caught. I don’t want that. We’ll be safe soon, until then it’s better if we keep an eye on each other.”

Tony refrains from mentioning that people could call the police when they see them together anyway, somehow not wanting to cause any more drama. Spider sounds genuine and if he starts to doubt him, this whole thing will only turn sour. So, Tony nods and doesn’t complain, despite thinking about it constantly.

The place they finally arrive at the day after is nothing Tony expected. They have to hide, obviously, so he didn’t think of any luxury or even a house itself, but he gets at least that. Sort of. Winter drives up to a cabin in the middle of the woods, not shabby or tiny, but instead actually rather modern looking and giving off a sense of comfort somehow.

“That’s the place?” he asks dumbfounded and Spider nods, clapping his hands.

“Finally home!” he exclaims before storming out of the car, something that actually makes Winter laugh quietly. Tony doesn’t comment on it, but it’s the first time he sees the other man show any kind of emotion other than anger and he doesn’t forget it.

The cabin itself is quite big on the inside and surprisingly well furnished. There’s a fireplace and a small kitchen and a very comfy looking living room. There’s also a bedroom that’s built under the roof, reachable through a ladder and spanning the whole width of the cabin itself and half its length. He can spot a bathroom under the stairs, which isn’t big, but seems to have the necessities at least. And they aren’t on the road anymore, that’s a huge relief already.

“Oh no, Muffin died!” Peter exclaims just as Tony and Winter step into the living room area, sounding extremely upset. A moment later he comes out of the back part of the living room, holding a small glass container with a very much dead tarantula in it. Tony can’t help that he flinches, but it’s completely ignored.

“Don’t worry, we can get you another one,” Winter says quietly, taking the container from Spider, who immediately leans against his shoulder.

“We’ve been gone for too long…” the boy sniffs and looks sadly at the dead spider.

“It’s not your fault, okay?” Winter rubs Spider’s shoulder before pulling back. “I’ll bury her, or do you want to?”

Spider shakes his head and wipes his nose. “No, I… I don’t think I can,” he mumbles. “Thank you.”

Tony is still completely confused when Winter nods and walks back out with the container in hand, his eyes glued to the boy. It’s so clear that he’s sad and upset, mourning even, over a simple spider no less. Somehow, this whole scene gets to Tony on a level of emotion he could have never foreseen.

“You okay, kid?” he finally manages to ask and Spider looks up at him as if he forgot he’s there for a moment. Maybe he did, Tony thinks when the boy nods.

“Just sad, that’s all,” he sniffs, wiping his eyes. “She’s been with us for so long, I didn’t want that to happen.”

“He’s right, you know? It’s not your fault,” Tony tries to soothe Spider and lays a hand on his shoulder. “You were away for over a month, you didn’t want to leave her alone for that long.”

Spider nods and leans against Tony’s chest, sighing. “I know, I just wish she’d be okay,” he says quietly.

Tony finds himself wrapping his arms around the boy and pulling him close, without even thinking about what he’s doing. “It’s gonna be okay,” he promises, pressing a kiss onto Spider’s head. “You gave her a good life, that’s all that matters.”

The two are silent for a few minutes until the door opens again and startles Spider. He peeks around Tony, who turns his head to look at Winter too, and both see the other man nod. Nothing ceremonial, nothing special. Just a note that the job is done, that’s it.

“We’ll need food,” Winter says and walks over to squeeze Spider’s shoulder. “The usual?”

Spider nods and smiles at him. “How long you think you’ll take?” he asks.

“A few hours, maybe five or six,” Winter shrugs as he walks into the back of the living room where Spider got the dead tarantula from. “We still have enough money, so that’s no problem. Anything special you want?”

“Lucky Charms!” Spider demands and runs over to hug the man. “And some new clothes maybe? I’m growing out of mine…”

“Alright, Lucky Charms and clothes,” Winter nods and hugs Spider back quickly. “We can’t have you run around naked, you’ll catch a cold.”

At this, Spider giggles, a sound so adorable and cute that it makes Tony’s heart flutter. The boy walks back over to him and wraps his arms around his waist from behind. Eventually, the two sit down on the couch and Spider starts talking about Muffin, dwelling in happy memories of his little arachnoid friend.

Around fifteen minutes later, Winter comes back to the front and Tony could swear he’s looking at a completely different man. He shaved, which takes a few years away from him already, and is now dressed in a dark hoodie, simple jeans and a cap on his head. At first glance, he looks like anyone else on the street. Even his left arm - the one that's made of metal and always gives Tony the chills - looks normal, his hand stuck in a glove. It’s almost impossible to recognize him from the photos in his file Tony read or from the recordings in the asylum.

“I will do the regular run,” he says, nodding at Spider and pulls the keys to Tony’s car out of his pocket. “You can have those back, I won’t need them.”

“Don’t you need a ride?” Tony asks surprised when he catches the keys Winter throws at him and the other smirks, shaking his head.

“Your car is too conspicuous right now, I’ll take one of ours.”

Tony just nods and Winter leaves, not without patting Spider’s head before doing so.

“How many cars do you have?” he asks eventually, his curiosity too strong to ignore it. Spider laughs at the question and sits up.

“We have a few standing around,” he informs him with a grin. “Learned the hard way that having a car nearby that’s not on any search list of the police is a good idea.”

Tony raises a brow at that. “How long do you live like this already?” he wants to know.

Spider shrugs and leans against the back of the couch, putting his feet up on the table in front of them. “A few years,” he says casually. “Winter picked me off the streets when I was around twelve, been with him ever since.”

Tony bites back a comment at that, not even wanting to imagine what Winter did to the twelve year old kid he found. It explains why he’s so protective over him though and why Spider does the same, at least.

“And you just drive around, rob banks and kill people?”

At this question, Spider laughs and throws his head back as if he just heard the funniest joke ever. Tony watches him confused, trying to stop his lip from jerking. The boy is gorgeous when he laughs, it’s like his body reacts without his consent.

“We need to get by somehow, don’t we?” Spider finally says with a sweet smile. “He’s an assassin, that’s his job. People pay him to take others out. Guess they did something to deserve it, but that’s none of my business.”

“So, you don’t care that he kills people?” Tony asks surprised and Spider shrugs again.

“He’s a cool guy,” he says. “And it’s just a job, really. It’s nothing personal.”

“What about the kidnappings? Your files said you had a few of those on your back too.”

“Huh?” Spider actually looks confused for a moment and it looks very genuine. Then, it looks like something clicks and he laughs again. “Oh, those! We didn’t hurt anyone, just got some money to return the people safely. We would have done it anyway, I guess. But the money was helpful.”

Tony thinks he’s in some sort of comedy sketch at this point. How can this boy be so sweet while telling him that his friend - or whatever Winter is - goes out killing people and they kidnap others for money? By now, Tony knows that Spider isn’t as harmless as he looks or acts, but at the moment he just sees the cute boy that he is, not the ruthless criminal.

“You’re scared of him, aren’t you?” Spider asks after a while that they were silent and Tony is actually startled by the observation. It’s pretty obvious, he figures, but that doesn’t help.

“He’s… I don’t know, creepy?” he huffs and shakes his head. “You just see that he’s not messing around and that he’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty intimidating,” Spider agrees and nods. “But he’s really nice, actually. Just very protective and he doesn’t trust people.”

“He surely doesn’t trust me,” Tony laughs sarcastically. “He looks like he wants to burn me.”

Suddenly, Spider wraps his arms around Tony’s neck and kisses his cheek, then snuggles against him. “I won’t let him,” he says with a bright smile. “He won’t do anything like that if I tell him not to.”

Tony is highly confused, but still wraps an arm around the boy’s shoulder. He can’t say he’s not relieved to hear that, even if he can barely believe it.

“So, you two won’t kill me at night and bury my corpse somewhere in the woods?”

Spider chuckles amused and shakes his head. “No chance,” he grins. “You’re mine now. I will keep you.”

As degrading as those words should be, Tony likes the sound of them. He likes Spider a lot, knowing he wants to keep him is kind of nice, actually. Maybe this can work out somehow, even if it means indulging a life of crime to go by. Is it wrong and messed up? Absolutely. But does he care about such details? Not at all.

Chapter Text

Waiting for Winter to return has Tony extremely nervous for some reason. Not that he’d be afraid of being alone with Spider, he likes the kid a lot, but he’s not used to the place and they don’t really have anything to do, which makes the mood a bit tense. After around half an hour, Tony gets tired of just sitting around in silence and speaks again. A dumb question, but he has no idea what else to ask.

“Do you have electricity here?”

Spider takes a moment to answer, apparently lost in his thoughts until he realize Tony spoke. He turns his head and looks at him.

“We have a generator, but we usually turn it off if we leave the state. I don’t know how to turn it back on, Winter usually does that,” Spider explains, shrugging.

“Want me to have a look at it?” Tony suggests, glad about the possibility to actually do something useful. Spider’s face lights up.

“You know how to turn it on?”

“I can try at least,” Tony shrugs. Won’t hurt, right?

Spider claps his hands and jumps up, taking one of Tony’s before starting to pull him outside. Behind the cabin there’s a shed and inside, Tony finds an old diesel generator. He only has to take one look at it to know he will be able to turn it back on - he’s worked with these things in his youth when they weren’t considered ancient yet.

“You got any tools I can use?” Tony asks, pushing up the sleeves of his shirt. Spider nods and kneels down to pull a box out from under a shelf.

“But don’t break anything, Winter will be mad,” he grins and Tony grins back, a bit shakily.

“I’ll be careful,” he promises and starts getting to work.

Spider watches Tony the whole time, sitting to his left on a big box, his feet dangling a bit above the ground. Tony has a hard time not constantly looking at him, he just can’t help it. When he finally manages to turn the generator back on, it roars for a moment and Spider lets out an excited squeal.

“You did it!”

He jumps off the box and hugs Tony tight before running back into the house, probably to see if everything works fine. Tony uses the time alone to put the tools he used back and to check the fuel tank for the generator - it’s still half full, so it should last them for a while at least. It’s five minutes later that he steps back into the cabin, finding Spider in the kitchen where he inspects the small fridge.

“Thank God we emptied that thing mostly before we left,” he huffs and pulla out a small box that was left over, making a face before dropping it into the trash bin. “Winter better hurry, I’m gonna starve here.”

“Why are you even calling him that?” Tony asks before he can stop himself, curiosity getting the better of him. Spider looks up, frowning.

“What do you mean? That’s his name.”

“Well, not really, is it?” Tony raised a brow. “Just like Spider isn’t yours.”

“It is now,” the boy says sternly and almost slams the fridge door shut. He looks angry suddenly and, even if just a little, hurt too. Tony swallows.

“Why’s that?” he asks, trying not to sound like he’s intimidated and walks over to one of the stools at the counter across from Spider. “I saw your real name, why did you change it?”

“Winter gave me my name,” Spider says quietly and turns his head. “Peter was weak and sad, but Spider isn’t. He said I can decide if I want to be weak or not and I didn’t want to.”

“Is that why he changed his own too?” It’s not really the worst answer he could have gotten, Tony knows that. And talking about Peter seems to upset the boy to a degree, which makes him feel kind of bad to even have asked.

“He changed it before we even met,” Spider shrugs and picks up a small knife from the counter behind himself. “I like his name. And mine. They fit us.”

Tony is quiet for a moment, watching Spider as he turns the knife in his hand, the movements getting increasingly faster and more complicated. The boy’s eyes are glued to the blade, fascination written all over his face. It’s eerie to watch him like this, but Tony can’t really look away either.

Suddenly, Spider flips the knife and grabs it tight, then turns and throws it hard at the wall, hard enough for the blade to get stuck in the wood. Tony is so shocked he actually yelps, not expecting anything like this to happen, and stares at the knife with wide eyes.

“Huh,” Spider huffs with a smirk, finally turning back to face Tony, who keeps trying to process what the hell just happened. “You okay?”

“What the fuck was that!?” Tony asks, staring at Spider in shock. “Why did you do that?”

Spider just looks at him for a moment and then shrugs, walking over to the wall to pull out the knife. He actually has to work getting it out and Tony notices that the mark it left isn’t the only one. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time one of them did this.

“Sorry if I scared you,” the boy says with an apologetic smile and puts the knife back into a drawer. “Sometimes I just…” He shrugs again as if it’s obvious what happens sometimes.

“Maybe warn me next time,” Tony gulps and tries his best to calm down again. “I nearly shit myself.”

Spider chuckles into his hand and walks around the counter, wrapping his arms around Tony from behind. The extreme change in behavior is more than confusing, but the touch does help Tony calm down. He manages to wrap an arm around the boy halfway too, awkwardly patting his back until he pulls away again.

“You’re really something, you know that?” Tony says with a smirk, to which Spider grins and leans forward to kiss his cheek.

“Of course,” he laughs. “I’m something crazy.”

Tony blinks surprised. “I didn’t say that, I-”

“Oh, but I am,” Spider interrupts him and shrugs. “I don’t mind, really. I’d rather be crazy than boring and hate my life. Winter says it’s fine, being crazy doesn’t mean you’re bad.”

“Maybe not, but killing people, kidnapping them and stealing kind of does.”

“So what?” Spider asks seriously, bracing his hips and narrowing his eyes at Tony. If the situation would be any different, he would look absolutely adorable like this. “We just do what we have to do, we don’t kill people for fun! It’s Winter’s job and he does it very well! Maybe it’s bad, but that doesn’t mean we are bad!”

This logic intrigues Tony more than he likes to admit. It seems that the lives of others exist on a different level than his own and Winter’s for Spider, making them less important and nothing he really cares about. Nothing that really surprises him, he has seen this kind of behavior before, but there’s something different about it this time that he didn’t figure out yet.

“Did you ever kill someone?” he asks eventually, his voice forced to stay calm and just sound interested, not accusing. The question takes Spider by surprise for a moment and he blinks, dropping his hands.

“Why?” he wants to know, the anger on his face turning into worry. “Why would you ask that?”

“I just want to know,” Tony says honestly, taking one of the boy’s hands. “I mean, if I’m supposed to stay here, I should get to know you, or not?”

There’s a minute of silence before Spider finally nods and then, much to Tony’s surprise, he suddenly crawls into his lap and wraps his arms around his neck, hiding his face. Tony, not knowing what else to do, carefully holds the boy by his waist and rubs his back with his free hand.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he says quietly, wondering what had happened for the kid to react like this when he was perfectly fine with Winter and his kill count. “It’s okay, really.”

Spider slowly shakes his head, burying his face against Tony’s shoulder. “I can’t tell you yet,” he whispers, clearly distraught by thinking about this alone. “Someday but… not now. I’m sorry…”

“Hey, it’s alright, I promise,” Tony says in his most soothing voice and presses a kiss onto the boy’s head. “You don’t have to tell me yet, not if it upsets you so much.”

It’s like this that Winter finds them half an hour later, Spider still holding onto Tony. The boy has fallen asleep by now, probably too exhausted by the long trip and Tony didn’t have the heart to stand up and wake him again. When Winter walks in he expects him to be angry, but he simply runs a hand through Spider’s hair before carefully picking him up.

“I need your help emptying the car,” he says to Tony, who nods and stands up. Winter lays Spider down on the couch and pulls a blanket over him before they both go outside to carry everything he bought inside. There’s not much talking between them, besides Winter telling Tony where to put things, but it’s not as unnerving as it could have been.

Once they are done and Tony finally pours himself a glass of water, Winter speaks again. He’s sitting at the counter like Tony before, a glass of bourbon in front of him, and looks at him sternly.

“How much did he tell you?” The question isn’t accusing, but it’s clear he expects an answer. Tony empties his glass and takes a deep breath before giving him one.

“Not much. That you found him when he was twelve and protect him. And that you kill people.”

Winter nods and huffs, seemingly pleased. “It’s a job, it makes money. We need money to live and he needs a home.”

“Yeah, he does,” Tony sighs and looks over at the still sleeping boy. “You care for him a lot, huh?”

“You know I do.”

“Good.” Tony nods slowly. “I do too and I don’t want to take him from you, no worries. I just want to understand him.”

“If you hurt him, I’ll kill you,” Winter says as a matter of fact, taking a sip from his drink. “You’re here because of him, that’s all. I accept you because he wants you to stay.”

Tony swallows, but nods again. He expected this much, so it’s no surprise.

“I won’t,” he assures Winter seriously. He’d rather ask the other to kill him than ever hurt Spider.

Chapter Text

Spider slept for around an hour before waking up, rubbing his eyes and being visibly confused. Winter made something to eat by that time and Tony sits in the chair next to the couch to leave the boy some space, but now comes over to him.

“Did you sleep well?” he asks with a smile, running a hand through Spider’s hair.

“How long was I out?” Spider asks, looking around.

“Just an hour, don’t worry,” Winter informs him from the kitchen and turns to him. “You hungry? Dinner is done in a few minutes.”

“Hungry like a bear!” Spider laughs and sits up properly, kicking off the blanket. “Did you get me some clothes?”

“Of course, go check them out and then wash your hands.”

Spider rolls his eyes with a smile and gets off the couch, hurrying to the wardrobe that’s built in under the stairs. Tony himself deposited two bags of clothes down there earlier that the boy now goes through to find something he likes. When he comes back, Tony has to look twice because he can’t believe the kid just put on hot pants and a shirt three sizes too big. Apparently he did though and Spider hops over to Winter happily, stepping on his toes to kiss his cheek.

“I love them, thank you!” he smiles before rushing to the bathroom to wash his hands. Tony scolds himself for looking at the boy’s ass when he walks by and gets up to help Winter set up the table.

Dinner is rather quiet on Tony’s part, who’s surprised Winter actually knows how to cook. Spider and Winter talk about things that need to be done around the house and Tony hears the boy excitedly tell his friend that Tony turned on the generator again, which earns him a nod from the other man. Tony nods back a bit awkwardly before continuing to eat, somehow glad the effort didn’t go by unnoticed.

There is not much to do during the evening and after Spider cleans the dishes he drops onto the couch next to Winter, leaning over his lap to look at Tony apologetically.

“Sorry we don’t have a TV here right now,” he says. “We usually have Netflix, but we lost our stuff when they caught us, including our laptop.”

“I can get us a new laptop tomorrow,” Winter promises, resting an arm over Spider’s back.

“And with get you mean buy?” Tony asks and raises a brow, to which Winter gives him a look that can only be described as a warning to shut up.

“I will organize one,” he simply says and that’s the end of that topic. Tony knows better than to ask again, even if he’s not comfortable with the idea of surrounding himself with stolen things.

They spend the evening mostly in silence or with Winter and Spider talking until it’s late enough to go to bed, which is when Tony realizes there’s only one bedroom - and only one bed. Winter already climbed up the ladder to the bedroom and Spider looks at Tony expectantly, who doesn’t feel comfortable with the idea of sharing a bed with the other man at all.

“Do you have a pillow and blanket maybe?” he asks, looking up at the boy. “I’d rather sleep here.”

Spider’s expression is a mixture of disappointment and sadness, but he nods and goes to get what Tony asked for from the bedroom before going to bed himself, with a quiet ‘goodnight’.

Tony isn’t quite sure if his request upset Spider or not, but something tells him the boy did expect him to go to the bed too. After tucking himself in, Tony tries to sleep for a few minutes before he suddenly hears quiet voices coming from the bedroom. Since there’s no door, there isn’t much privacy, which leads to him hearing everything.

“I don’t wanna.” Spider, sounding sad.

“What’s wrong?” Winter, obviously confused and surprised.

“Just not in the mood.”

There’s a moment of silence before Winter speaks again and Tony can hear shifting.

“At least don’t lay all the way over there then.”

After that, the two are quiet again and Tony lays there, looking at the ceiling in the darkness and wondering if it’s his fault that Spider declined whatever Winter wanted - Tony isn’t stupid, he knows very well what this was about. It takes quite some time before he finally falls asleep and Tony knows he has to make up for this somehow, whatever it was that he had done wrong.

-----

In the morning, Tony wakes up from the clinging of porcelain from the kitchen. He sits up and yawns, looking over to find Spider getting mugs out of the cupboard. He wear the oversized shirt from the night before, what else Tony doesn’t see due to the counter.

“Morning,” he says and yawns again behind his hand. Spider turns around, smiling weakly at him.

“Do you want coffee?” he asks quietly, putting the mugs down. “Winter usually sleeps longer, so we have to be quiet.”

“No problem,” Tony shrugs, not at all minding. “I’d love a coffee, always helps me wake up.”

While Spider is busy making the coffee, Tony get to the bathroom to relief himself and make sure he looks presentable, as much as possible at least. He notices without surprise a third toothbrush that appeared in front of the mirror, a bit away from the other two. With a smirk, recognizing the symbolism behind that immediately, he takes it and brushes his teeth before returning back to the living room. By that time, Spider already brought their coffees over and sits on the couch with his legs crossed.

Tony sits down a bit away from the boy and looks at the coffees. One of them is clearly dark, the other extremely light, which makes him smirk.

“The black one is mine?” he asks and Spider chuckles.

“We’ve got cream and sugar, didn’t know how you liked it,” he explains and takes the light coffee, taking a sip. “I love mine sweet.”

Tony smirks and gets some sugar from the kitchen, stirring it into his own coffee before taking a sip. It’s quite good actually. When he sits back down, Spider suddenly leans against his shoulder. Tony quickly looks over his own and after confirming Winter is still asleep, wraps an arm around the boy.

“Did you sleep well?” Spider asks after a bit, sounding slightly worried. “The couch isn’t very comfy…”

“It was way better than sleeping in my car,” Tony chuckles and squeezes Spider’s shoulder gently. “Sorry if I upset you last night, I just… don’t really feel comfortable with the idea of sleeping in the bed.”

“You don’t have to be scared of him, you know” Spider says and looks up, the innocence in his eyes far too real to be an act. “He’s okay.”

“I don’t think scared is the right word,” Tony sighs and shakes his head. “He creeps me out a little.”

“Yeah, he can be pretty creepy,” Spider shrugs as if he heard that often enough in the past. “He’s not one to be nice and smile or stuff like that. But he’s still cool.”

“I only saw him smile once, when you ran up to the house yesterday,” Tony tells him as a matter of fact, which has Spider chuckle.

“He will warm up to you eventually, I promise,” he smiles at him. “Just don’t push him. If people push him he can become… difficult.”

“Difficult?”

“Well…” Spider bites his lip and sits up, looking over to the bed to make sure Winter is still asleep before continuing. “He had a pretty rough past, you know? I only know what he told me, but he was in the army as a pilot and his jet got shot down over Siberia. He lost his arm because of that. When he was found it wasn’t by his people and the ones who found him pretty much turned him into who he is now. They made his new arm and they conditioned him. He doesn’t like talking about it and never explained what exactly happened, but when he came back here it was ten years later and only because he killed every last one of the guys who held him captive before.”

“That sounds awful,” Tony whispers, surprised something like this was still happening nowadays. As if Winter hadn’t been creepy enough already before, Spider’s story makes it much worse.

“It was,” Spider nods and takes his mug into his hands, turning it. “I think they brainwashed him, but he broke out of it partially. Sometimes he changes, especially when he’s angry. He becomes… really cold and ruthless, it can be pretty scary. That happened before they caught us too. Something made him snap and he’s reckless when that happens.”

“The files said you were caught robbing a convenience store?”

“Yeah, we were running out of money because his last job kind of blew up and needed cash,” Spider explains, making it sound like robbing people is the most common way of getting money. “The store owner called the cops and things went downhill from there.”

“So, you only know him like that, huh?” Tony asks, earning a nod. “You said you were twelve when you met? What happened?”

Spider shrugs. “I lived on the streets and pickpocketed my way through the day, which normally wasn’t a problem. Until I tried to pickpocket from him and he caught me.”

“Damn, bad idea.”

“Yeah, I thought so too when I was suddenly held by a guy with a metal arm who looked like he was about to kill me,” Spider laughs and shakes his head. “I didn’t know why, but he let me go. The next day, I saw him again. I had this place where I was sleeping, nothing fancy, just some place under a bridge where I was safe from rain and that night I heard someone sneak around there. I took the knife I usually slept with and when I went out to look, I found Winter.”

“What did he do there?”

“He was shot,” Spider simply says, his face darkening slightly. “I was terrified because I thought he changed his mind and wanted to teach me a lesson for stealing, wouldn’t have been the first time, but when I saw the blood I knew it wasn’t that. I managed to get him into my hideout so he could lay down and tried to stop the bleeding.”

Tony looks at Spider impressed. If he had been in this situation, he would have probably panicked and finished the job instead of helping this creepy guy.

“Looks like you were successful,” he comments and Spider gives him a weak smirk.

“I was scared I wouldn’t manage,” he admits, visibly upset by the idea. “He was so pale and wouldn’t speak, I didn’t know what to do. At some point he passed out and I panicked and actually slapped him because I thought he was dead.”

At the image of the twelve year old boy actually slapping Winter, Tony can’t hold in a laugh. It’s just too surreal and he feels kind of bad about it, but Spider doesn’t seem to mind.

“He barely flinched, but his eyes snapped open and he grabbed my wrist with his metal arm and just stared at me for over a minute,” Spider finally chuckles. “Then he said ‘Never do that again’ and I nearly pissed myself.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling,” Tony scoffs and takes a sip from his coffee.

“In the morning he had stopped bleeding, I managed to bandage his chest with a sheet I cut into pieces, and he said he would leave. I let him go.”

“How did you get to stay with him then?” Tony asks confused. He had expected him to go with the man right away for some reason.

“He came back a few days later,” Spider smiles weakly. “Asked me how I was living, what I did to get along, that kind of stuff. After I told him he asked me if I’d like to sleep in a real bed again and… I really wanted to.”

“Kid, I hope you know how dangerous that whole thing was,” Tony says and shakes his head. “You don’t go with a stranger who offers you to sleep in a bed !”

Spider shrugs and empties his mug. “I was cold, I was alone and I was scared,” he says quietly. “I didn’t have anything but my life to lose and at that point it wasn’t really something I cared about much. So I went with him.”

Tony huffs, trying to stop himself from asking the next question, but he knows he will do it. For some morbid reason he just has to know.

“Did you two… you know… came close after that?”

“You mean if we fucked?” Spider asks bluntly, taking Tony completely by surprise. His face turns slightly red and he nods, stammering an embarrassed ‘Yeah, kind of’. “Not right away. Winter was pretty distant, it took about two years before he was comfortable with being close to me. But since then…” He shrugs, figuring Tony knows the answer. He does.

“I see,” Tony replies, not sure why he expected anything else. He tries not to think about the fact the boy had been 14 back then - or that he’s 17 now, which is slightly better, he assumes, but not much - and that Winter was obviously in his 30s already. Whatever it is with them, it seems to be mutual and goes far beyond sex. “He never... hurt you, right?”

Spider quickly shakes his head and looks up at Tony as if he lost his mind. “He would never hurt me!” he says seriously. “He protects me and keeps me safe, we’re a team. I’d be dead without him and he understands me...”

“That’s good,” Tony says and forces himself to smile when he wraps his arm around the boy. “You should be safe, I’m glad he makes sure you are.”

That’s not really what Tony wants to say, but why make the kid feel bad about something he can’t change anymore and that he obviously wants? It would just be selfish and Tony doesn’t want to be selfish. Not only because he fears Winter might snap at him, but also because Spider doesn’t deserve to be hurt.

Chapter Text

After finding out a bit more about both Spider and Winter, Tony kind of begins to understand why the two stick together the way they do and why Spider was willing to risk getting caught to make sure Winter wasn’t left behind when Tony freed him. He doesn’t fully understand it, probably because imagining a brainwashed assassin in his 30s and a 12 year old being on the run together seems to cause his brain to malfunction, but it’s clear that they are not just acting. Whether or not Winter brainwashed the kid after meeting him Tony can’t say, but it surely doesn’t look like it from what he can tell.

During the next day, Tony helps Spider tidy up the place, which collected quite a bit of dust after over a month of being abandoned, and they even free part of the wardrobe for Tony, who doesn’t really have any clothes at the moment and has to borrow ones from Winter, but he’s glad about the space he gets. They will get him some clothes to change soon, but it’s not urgent, as both Tony and Winter wear similar sizes and even though Winter’s clothes are a bit too big at times, they fit and are enough for the time being.

The second night, Spider doesn’t even seem to expect Tony to come to bed with them. He simply wishes him goodnight and climbs up the ladder, making the other actually believe he can sleep peacefully. As it turns out though, Spider is in a much better mood that night and it doesn’t take long before Tony hears very obvious and explicit noises coming from the bed. He gulps and pulls the blanket over his head, but there’s no way to muffle the noise completely.

Tony just lays there eventually, listening to Spider’s moans that are slightly muffled through a pillow or blanket, but still perfectly audible. It’s weird and it’s making him feel very awkward because he knows they are aware of the fact he can hear them, but obviously don’t seem to mind. What’s worse, though, is the fact that the sounds the boy makes are in no way appalling. In fact, Tony notices quickly that just listening to them makes him hard and he doesn’t like it at all.

When there is finally silence again, Tony sighs in relief and forces himself to think of car crashes and dead puppies to kill his erection before turning around and trying once more to sleep. This time, he succeeds, but those gorgeous and pretty moans Spider made follow him into his dreams and it’s as much torture as it’s a delight.

There is a certain tension in the air the following morning and it’s pretty clear both Spider and Winter know exactly that Tony heard them the night before, but neither of them addresses it. Tony offers taking care of the dishes after breakfast just to have something to do and when he finally comes back to the living room, he finds Spider laying across Winter’s lap, book in hands and the man’s fingers entangled in the boy’s hair.

Tony decides to take a shower to have some time for himself, which takes around half an hour, but when he comes back and sees the other two in the same position he frowns. There’s something rising in his chest that he quickly identifies as jealousy, even though he has no right to even feel this way. It’s very disturbing and Tony doesn’t like it.

“Is there anything to do?” he finally asks, simply because just sitting around was never something he enjoyed doing. Winter turns his head and looks at him, while Spider doesn’t even pulls his attention away from his book.

“We need some firewood,” Winter says and shrugs, eyes piercing through Tony as if to challenge him to go occupy himself with that. “Axe is in the shed.”

Knowing that he had the choice between chopping wood and watching Winter and Spider this close, Tony nods and decides to go with the wood. It will hopefully take his mind away from the other two for a bit.

It’s almost an hour later and Tony already piled up quite an impressive amount of wood - at least for his terms - when Spider suddenly walks over to him, seemingly happy and cheerful.

“You wanna take a break?” he asks with the sweetest voice and smiles at him. “I could need a hand cutting stuff for dinner.”

Tony nods and puts the axe back into the shed, washing his hands before joining Spider in the kitchen. Since he can’t spot Winter anywhere, he asks about him and Spider smirks.

“He wants to get a new laptop,” the boy tells him as he shoves over a chopping board, a knife and onions. “He doesn’t like silence, says it makes memories come back and such.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Tony says, but doesn’t go into detail. It’s a common thing present in people with PTSD and similar mental illnesses and traumas, so he’s not surprised.

“He’ll be back later, but I figured we still need to eat, right?” Spider smiles as he works on chopping pepper bells himself for what is going to turn out to be the side dish to rice and chicken. “You want some wine to go with it?”

Tony thinks about the offer for a moment before nodding. A glass of wine won’t hurt after all, right? Spider seems to be happy about the response and goes through the cupboard for rice while Tony finishes up the onions.

When the food is done, both of them decide to sit on the couch to eat, simply for comfort, and Tony quite enjoys how it turned out and how well the wine matches with the flavors.

“You’re pretty good with this,” he says, giving Spider a smile. “Did you learn that yourself or did Winter teach you?”

Spider swallows down his bite and chuckles into his hand. “He taught me some things, but most of what I know I learned from books and videos,” he admits cheekily. “It got boring eating only the same things after a while, you know?”

“I guess that gets pretty annoying, yeah,” Tony grins and takes another sip from his wine. “If you want to, I can show you how to do some pasta dishes my mom taught me. She loved cooking a lot.”

“Really?” Spider asks, his eyes sparkling at him. “That would be awesome! Can we make it a surprise though? I want to make sure Winter won’t suspect anything.”

Tony laughs and nods with a grin. “Nothing easier than that,” he says with a wink. “I can also show you how to make homemade ice cream. It’s really easy actually.”

“I love ice cream!” Spider laughs happily and puts down his plate before hugging Tony tight. “You’re awesome!”

Tony takes the compliment without questioning it as it’s really lifting his mood and once they are done they clean the dishes together, making the whole ordeal last no more than ten minutes. After that, though, there’s not much else to do.

“Come, I’ll show you the area!” Spider eventually suggests, grabbing one of Tony’s hands and pulling him up. Tony can’t really fight against the boy’s eager and follows him outside, which leads to a walk through the surrounding forest that lasts for over an hour. Spider seems so happy to show him everything, including the lake he loves swimming in whenever he can and the clearing where a family of rabbits lives. They don’t see them that day, but Tony doesn’t mind. It’s still nice and they have a good time before returning to the cabin.

In the evening, Winter does come back and actually has a new laptop that he asks Spider to set up - Tony figures he can’t do it himself and he’s not wrong with that. While Winter takes a shower, Spider and and Tony set the laptop up, Tony not even asking how they have such a strong internet connection out here before he makes sure Netflix will run smoothly on it.

They watch a movie together that evening before going to bed, some horror movie Tony doesn’t like much, but it’s better than complete silence, he figures. It’s a bit of a template for how things are going from then on, something Tony gets used to rather quickly. They will have dinner, then watch a movie or a few episodes of a show Peter wants to see and then go to bed. Nothing special, nothing dramatic.

That is until Tony notices a change in Spider’s behavior, something that only shows when they are alone at first, but quickly happens all the time and with Winter being there, it really starts making Tony extremely uncomfortable.

From the first day already, Tony knew better than to try and get between Spider and Winter. It’s never been a problem, not until Spider suddenly begins actively seeking his company in a much closer way than Tony is used to. The boy will lean against him whenever he can, brush his hands over his arms, hook his foot in with his legs under the table - all things that look innocent at first glance but that clearly aren’t.

Tony tries to stay rational and not give into those attempts, but the more he ignores what Spider does, the more determined the boy seems to become. It’s not uncomfortable at all when they are alone and Tony finds himself allowing the boy more and more freedoms during those times, but when Winter is there, things are completely different and Tony does his best to gently deny Spider’s advances in any way possible, which unfortunately only fuels the boy to try even harder.

There is only so much Tony can take and only so long he can ignore Spider’s attempts at getting to him. Eventually, he gives in partially, at least when they are alone, and Spider is so excited, he immediately crawls into Tony’s lap and starts kissing him.

Despite his fear of Winter’s rage, Tony simply can’t resist the boy forever. He knows he shouldn’t do this, but it feels too good not to and as long as they only do it when they are alone, things should be fine. Or at least he hopes so.