Chapter Text
“Y/N!”
“Get out of here!”
“No! I won’t leave you!”
“Y/N please! Please baby, go! Please!”
“No! No!”
“No! no no no no!” Your eyes flung open, you sat up straight in your bed, sheets all over the place, tangled in your legs from your thrashing. Tears fell freely down your face as you sobbed, heaving in gasps of air. Your hands were on your mouth, trying to stifle your gasps as you crawled to the head of your bed, curling into a ball. The room was dark but you could faintly see the sun slowly waking up from it’s sleep. You had often had these nightmares after the accident and you still couldn’t sleep. It had been months since your parents had died.
It had been an accident really, but that didn’t stop you from laying all the blame on yourself. The Avengers had been fighting some new super villain trying to take over New York, and an explosion had broken the fortifications of your apartment block.
The screams of your parents as the roof fell on them were still fresh in your mind as if it had happened yesterday. You had screamed as the Avengers had pulled you from the wreckage, unwrapping your arms from the cold bodies of your parents. That day was the end of your life, the life you had had before. Now you were here in, arguably, the best place in New York, Stark Towers.
There was no other family to take you, you had none. You had no one anymore.
You often saw the Avengers though. They all smiled at you and engaged in small talk, but behind the pleasantries, all you could see was pity. That was the thing that you hated, you didn’t deserve their pity, you didn’t deserve anything. You weren’t special, you were no one. Tony Stark didn’t seem to think so, he said you were pretty smart for someone your age, hell almost as smart as he was when he was that young.
He had offered to take you in and since there was no where else for you to go, you had been moved to the billionaire’s house, or rather, kingdom. Tony was still waiting for the adoption papers to go though. Any other kid would have been thrilled, but you weren’t anything. You hadn’t felt anything since the last shovel of dirt was thrown on top of your parents coffins, housing their cold, lifeless bodies.
The sun rose over the buildings, painting the sky with fire. You walked out into the hallway, empty as usual and headed for the kitchen. You sat down quietly with your breakfast and ate as you read your favorite book, one of your only possessions from your old house. You chewed as you flipped the pages, skimming it as you knew it so well. You heard footsteps coming closer and you looked up to find Tony walking into the room, smiling proudly as he put down a file with papers inside it.
“Guess what kiddo.”
You looked down at your book, ignoring Tony. He coughed awkwardly and continued.
“Your uh, your adoption papers, they uh, they went through. You’re officially a Stark!” Bruce walked in a smiled at you.
“Pretty good huh, Y/N?” You sighed, got up and left the room, heading to your room. Just because Tony was now your guardian, didn’t make him your father, at all.
Tony looked at Bruce.
“What happens next? I feel like I’m missing something.”
Bruce laughed as he patted Tony on his shoulder, watching you walk away.
“What happens next is you gotta raise a teenager. Good luck Tony.” Bruce walked away, already going to find Clint to see how long it was until Tony asked for help.
-----------------------------------------
“Don’t do this to yourself.”
You scoffed and continued your work.
“It’s not yours, so you can’t tell me what to do.” Tony sighed and moved in front of you, blocking your view of the mirror in your bathroom.
“I don’t think that dying your hair F/C is such a good idea Y/N, what will your school say?”
“Look, just because you think it looks weird doesn’t mean that it is automatically bad everywhere else, you may be a billionaire but you don’t decide what the law is you know.” You continued to put the dye in your hair, finishing that and wrapping it up to wait for the timer to count down. You stood up and went into the common area, followed by Tony complaining all the way with
It looks tacky.
I don’t like the colour.
You could have at least gone to a proper salon to get it done.
You turned around and put your hands up. “Enough! It’s done! Shut up about it and leave me be.”
“Hey, you can’t talk to me like that!”
“Says who? You?”
“Uh duh. Tone down the attitude or-“
“Or what! Huh! You’re not my Father!” Tony looked a bit taken back and his expression softened a little. “I know that Y/N I just-“
“Oh you know that do you? Then stop trying to act like him! You’re not him!” You walked past Tony and slammed your door shut. You slid against the door until you hit the ground and closed your eyes.
Clint popped his head around the corner and approached Tony. “Need any help? You know, I could see if I could talk to her?” Tony sighed, he knew all about the bet that Clint had with Bruce but he really needed this. Bruce would have to suck it up and wear those hawkeye boxers.
There was a knock on your door and you stood up, opening it slowly to see who it was. “Good, I thought it would be Tony.”
“Thanks?” Clint walked into your room, taking in the sparse decoration and bare walls. It looked like no one lived here if you ignored the unmade bed and food wrappers lying around. The bed bounced as you sat on it. “What’s up?” You looked at the timer on your phone as it went off, heading to the bathroom to wash off the dye. Clint followed, watching as you leant over the sink to turn on the water.
“You want me to…?”
“Yes, please.” Clint stepped over and began to rinse your hair out.
“Tony doesn’t like it.”
“Yeah.” Clint turns on the warm water. “I heard all, that.” You stayed quiet, closing your eyes. “You know, maybe you should try to listen to him a bit more, he is trying you know.”
Your eyes shot open and you sat up, grabbing a towel to dry your hair off.
“He put you up to this didn’t he?” You scoffed as you walked out of the bathroom.
“I can’t believe it. No you know what? I totally can, none of you understand. You all tell me that it’s fine and that you’re here for me and that it’ll get better but it won’t! It feels like everything is getting worse! And..I just.” Your words were getting more and more ragged as sobs took over your speech. “I just….nothing….is getting…..better……and I…..just…..wan…..want….my..” You broke off as Clint enveloped you in his arms as you let go, your sobs wracking your body as you let everything go. Clint rubbed your back and whispered to you.
“Hey, hey. shhh. shhhh. I’m here. I’m here for you. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here. Shhhh.” You shook your head as you cried.
“Hey, Y/N, listen to me. Listen to me. Okay? Just, look at me. Come on. Y/N.”
You lifted your head to look at Clint, wiping tears from your eyes with the back of your hand.
“Listen, I’m sorry about your parents ok? But you have to listen to me. It will get better. I know it doesn’t feel like it but it will. You’re always going to feel this way, but it will fade and it won’t always hurt this much okay? Trust me. And we’re all here for you. I know, we’re not your parents, but we are trying. And I know Tony is the most.”
You let out a ragged breath and gave Clint another quick hug and smiled softly at him.
“Thanks Clint. It’s hard, but, thanks.”
“Anytime, Y/N, anytime.”
You both let out a small laugh.
“Now, how about we continue with this dyeing business?”
“Sounds like a plan.