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Chapter Text

          “Ready to go?” Steve had asked him once Tony had crossed the dusty road. Currently, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were in the 1970’s in order to obtain the tesseract after they had failed to keep it in 2012. Tony had just finished talking to his past father and was making his way back to Steve.

          Tony held up the briefcase with a triumph smile spread across his face. Steve nodded, and they both quickly made their way to a darkened corner. Their Ant-Man look-a-like-suit’s unleashed the helmet and sealed it around their heads. Both Avengers nodded to each other before pressing a button on their wrist, letting themselves disappear without a trace from the 1970’s. Side by side, Tony and Steve could see the other Avengers ahead of them as they quickly made their way through the mystic Quantum Realm, splotches of variety of colors speeding past them.

          Tony’s grip on the briefcase tightened. He was so close to fixing what Thanos did. He was so close to getting Peter back. The kid who always had a smile on his face. The kid who wanted to make his mentor proud. The kid who enjoyed his life.

          The same kid who had plead to the universe to let him live as his body agonizingly slowly disintegrated into nothing but dust particles on an unpopulated planet.

          Not again, Tony thought, a determined look appearing. I won’t let you go like that ever again. Definitely have to ground him for his entire life at my cabin.

          As Tony was thinking about ways to keep Peter safe, he didn’t notice how his wrist was sparking along with Captain America’s. Steve glanced down to see his wrist sizzling with sparks and electricity. Turning his head, he could also see Stark’s suit acting up as well.

          “Tony, something’s wrong–“ Steve started to say before both of them were thrown into another path, tumbling away from the others. A blinding light flashed in their eyes for a moment. Then, they were both transported into a different timeline.

          Tony and Steve land on their feet. The man of iron stumbled a little as he took the time to get his bearings. Little stars sparkled in the obsidian sky, littering the horizon with millions of their kind. Nearby, the city of New York was thriving with life. Orange and yellow bright lights were explaining that the people there were still awake, refusing to let slumber overcome them. Tony glanced behind him to find an old and abandon building sitting there. The walls of the building were vandalized and abused while the windows had gaping holes inside of them. However, Tony noticed that there were some lights flickering inside of the building.

          Tony tapped Steve’s shoulder to get his attention. “Let’s go in there,” Tony explained, “we don’t know how long we will be in… whichever time we are in. Staying hidden from people is our best option. We affected the timelines already, we shouldn’t do it to another. Also, take the scepter too. People could be lurking around here.”

          Steve nodded and together they cautiously patrolled to the opening of the building. Immediately after entering the building the two Avengers were met with a freezing cold atmosphere. Huge pillars towered above them, stretching their limbs all the way to the top of the ceiling. A cloudy fog strolled across the room and twirled around them in a mischievous yet somber way. Tony wondered if the fog was thrilled to have their presence here, but at the same time, frightened for them. Their footsteps silently echoed throughout the building as they continued forward. A few seconds later, Rogers froze up. Tony watched as the super soldier’s head perk up and look around.

          “Someone else is coming.” Steve warned. Tony didn’t argue as they both wander silently to one of the large pillars. Not even a minute later, someone stealthily made their way into the building through one of the larger and broken windows. Tony squinted their eyes to see who it was, but was unfamiliar with the wavy clothing that stuck onto their body. However, once the unknown person had leap to one of the pillars and stuck to it, Tony’s eyes widen and his whole body tensed up.

          No, it couldn’t be. Tony thought the kid was at that homecoming thing the entire time. He should be having fun dancing around with a bunch of teenagers and not to mention act like a regular high school student. Why would be in this random building, away from safety?

          “FRIDAY,” he whispered carefully, knowing Peter had enhanced hearing, “do you have any idea why Peter’s here?”

          Steve had seen Tony’s body become stiff, for he raised a questioning eyebrow as Tony’s AI answered him. “No, sir. I was not aware of Peter going to this area.”

          “Peter’s AI… Wouldn’t, uh what’s her name… Karen! Right, wouldn’t Karen have told you?”

          Tony felt FRIDAY hesitate before responding. “Sir, you had taken away Mr. Parker’s suit. His AI and I would not have been able to contact each other.”

          Tony’s blood ran cold. He cussed under his breath as he realized his mistake. Steve was still looking at him, wondering who this newcomer was and how Tony recognized him. Stark waved him off, not daring to take his eyes off of him. His heart strings pulled tightly against him. The grief of missing Peter still plagues him. Seeing him now only made the blight spread swiftly in his heart.

          I’ll get you back kid. Tony promised.

          The past Peter’s feet carried him into the middle of the building until he stopped. Tony winced silently as he realizes that the kid is wearing his very first Spider-Man suit. The suit that he created by himself with no help from anyone, not even from Stark himself. Past Peter stayed there his head snapped in another direction. With his enhanced quickness, past Peter ran into another room. Not once did he feel the two set of eyes following his movements.

          Steve stepped out from his hiding space and quickly went to Tony. “Who was that? Is that person someone you know?”

          Tony took a moment before answering. “Yes. His suit is far more advanced than that. You met him already Rogers.” Stark soon found himself beginning to follow past Peter’s trail. The fear of losing him again was back and fresher than ever. Steve followed closely behind.

          “Met him before? I don’t recall that.” Steve admits.

          Tony steals a look at him. “Remember Germany? And then I called out ‘Underoos!’ and a kid with webs stole your shield?”

          Steve frowns before his eyes lit up in recognition. “Queens?”

          Stark nods and continues to lead the way. He knows that once they go back to their timeline, Steve will lesson him about how he should never bring children into a war. For now, all that is his main goal is following his kid and revealing what he is doing so far away from homecoming. The two men enter another room and were greeted with large mechanical wings, glistening threateningly underneath the moon’s glare through the cracks of the window. Tony swallowed nervously. He knows who owns this machinery.

          “Adrian Toomes.” Tony breathes out. Steve’s blue eyes rest onto Tony. “He’s this guy that tried to steal my tech. Pe– the kid was able to stop him though.”

          Rogers hummed in response. Walking slowly but quickly down the steps, Tony saw past Peter swinging lazily yet stealthily around a corner. Tony and Steve slithered after him. Stark can feel tension starting to rise in the atmosphere. He knows that Steve can feel it was well, for the super soldier’s grip on the scepter tightened. Just as they arrived the corner, they both heard past Peter shout “Hey!”

          Both Avengers rounded the corner to be greeted by past Peter march over to a guy near a desk, a single lamp lighting the space near the man. The room they were in was much larger than the other rooms, and, just like the entrance of the building, this room had long pillars as well. Shadows and moonlight mixed together created a blue hue inside the room. Tony stared at the man. His own walls were struggling with pounds of fear and anxiety, but now another weight has been dropped on the structure: anger. A boiling, fuming anger at the man who brought a kid into danger.

          A kid who you couldn’t save.

          Shaking his head to flush away that negative thought, Tony watched as the man turned around and look at past Peter.

          “Surprised?” Past Peter said, his voice muffled through the clothing as he continues making his way to the man.

          “Oh, hey Pete.” Past Adrian replies, wiping his hands and fully turning his body to face past Peter. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

          Past Peter kept advancing towards the Vulture, determination showing in his stride. “It’s over, I got you!”

          “You know, I gotta tell you, Pete…” Past Adrian trails off as he starts to put on his brown leather coat with fur on the edges of the inside. “I really, really admire your grit.”

          Tony breathes in deeply, watching past Peter’s pace slow down. The man finishes putting on his coat as he continues.

          “I see why Liz like you. I do. When you first came to the house, I wasn’t sure. I thought ‘Really?’” He leans against the table, both hands resting on the edges of the table. “But I get it now.”

          Past Peter stops in the middle of the room. “How could you do this to her?” He asks, his voice containing a small hint of somber for the girl.

          Past Adrian kept looking at him. “To her? I’m not doing anything to her, Pete. I’m doing this for her.”

          Tony grimaces quietly. Yeah right. Next to him, Steve had a scowling look stretched across his face. He clearly didn’t trust this guy either.

          Past Peter didn’t believe him as well. “Yeah.” Was all he said before quickly raising his arm. A small amount of webbing flashed out, landing directly on past Toomes’ left hand, trapping him. An empty bottle of wine fell sideways from the impact. Past Adrian gazed at the webbing before sighing.

          “Peter… you’re young. You don’t understand how the world works.”

          Past Peter lifted his arms up for a while. “Yeah but I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong.” He also points a finger accusingly at the Vulture.

          Past Adrian’s physical appearance showed that he was getting fueled with frustration. “How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys.”

          “Mother fuc…” Tony mumbled the rest of his cuss. He can see what this guy was doing. Twisting and pulling information to make it look like he wasn’t the bad guy. Past Adrian was actually trying to get past Peter to have sympathy for him. Looking back now, Stark really hoped that this guy was also one of the unlucky ones who got dusted.

          “Those people, Pete, those people up there,” Past Toomes continues, “the rich and powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us.”

          The man gestures towards past Peter and himself. “You and me. They don’t care about us.”

          Past Peter shifted back and forth with uneasiness. The words were getting inside his head. Words that were eating away the past events past Peter had with Tony Stark. Clenching his fists, Tony narrowed his eyes at past Adrian Toomes. He doesn’t know what he was talking about. Times had changed. He has changed. Peter meant the world to him. Somehow, that kid had squirm his way into his heart and refused to leave. Tony would always keep an invisible barrier up and turn down people, but Peter was an exception. He cast some kind of flame that melted the barrier the man had for so long and stepped through the remains with purpose.

          So whatever this guy was saying to his kid, he can shove it all back up his ass. Tony cared so much about Peter. Hell, all it took was one look at the photo of him and Peter with Peter’s Stark Institution internship confirmation for Stark to make time traveling become a damn reality. He had so much passion for Peter that he was willing to go back in time to get the stones and revive everyone. Yes, his love for Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, and everyone else was strong, but the love he has for Peter was made of iron. Peter would bring out a side of him that none of the others could really do; Over-protective, a huge amount of fear, compassion, and those were just the ones at the top of his head. Overall, Peter was the most important human in his eyes right now, and he’ll be damned if Adrian fucking Toomes can get in their way.

          As a matter of fact…

          Tony started stepping out into the large room past Peter and past Adrian were in. Steve quickly noticed and grasp his arm.

          “What are you doing?” Steve hissed, dragging Tony back into the doorframe. “We can’t mess up anything else, just like you said!”

          “He’s trying to get into my kid’s mind,” Tony growls, “my kid, Steve! I wasn’t here for him then, but I can fix this now.”

          Steve shook his head somberly. “No. You can’t do anything. You shouldn’t even think about doing this. Besides, this is not your Spider-Man. This is this timeline Tony Stark’s Spider-Man. Anything you do that is about interacting with this timeline’s Peter will confuse him and really change this timeline.”

          Even though Stark hates to admit it, Rogers was right. He was also being selfish. His grief was overcoming him, making him selfish. Peter wouldn’t want that.

          “I just really miss him.” He whispers, letting himself sink back into his spot by the doorframe.

          “I do too.” Rogers says, patting his back in a comforting manner. “Even though I didn’t know him for long, I can tell by the way he acted at the airport in Germany that he had a bright spirit.”

          “Peter was going to be better than all of us.” Tony says, gazing longingly at past Peter.

          Steve nodded. “I’m sure he will be.” Tony and Steve then turned back to the conversation past Peter and past Toomes were having.

          “…Why are you telling me this?” Past Peter questions, shaking his head in the process.

          “Because I want you to understand. And…” Past Adrian opens his eyes more. “I needed a little time to get her airborne.”

          “Her?” Steve wondered out loud in a hushed voice right as the man in the coat flips out a knife. A humming noise quickly follows and soon the mechanical wings Tony and Steve saw earlier crashed through the concrete wall, heading towards past Peter. The kid turns around in one fast motion and jumps up, out of the brutal wing’s way.

          “Pe–“ Tony began but was quieted by Roger’s hand. The super soldier shook his head.

          I have to help him! Tony flickered his orbs back and forth between the fellow Avenger and past Peter, who had just dodge an attack by flinging himself onto one of the pillars and pushing himself off of the solid structure. Steve shook his head again, his eyes harden but also soft. Stark could feel one of his blasters slowly forming on his left hand. If anything were to happen to this Peter, Tony would not hesitate to help, even if it means screwing up this timeline. However, Cap will still stop Tony from accomplishing his goal, to Stark’s dismay. He knows that, yet all of his emotions were begging Tony to step up and protect the kid.

          “Tony…” Steve warned. Tony grumbled in annoyance and frustration and let himself be dragged back into watching the scene ahead of him.

          “I’m sorry, Peter.” The Vulture says to the kid, who just turned around after the powerful wings crashed through the wall again. Stark noticed that past Toomes’ hand had been released. The wings then came back down from the ceiling and zoomed overhead. Past Peter rolled away from danger and stood up.

          “What are you talking about that thing hasn’t even touched me yet!” The kid dressed in blue and red comments, raising his voice over the rumbling of the mechanical wings circling around them, stalking the two people as if they were prey in the open, waiting to be forced down to the ground by a predator and get cut off from this world.

          Past Adrian shrugs a little, acknowledging past Peter’s observation. “True. Then again… wasn’t really trying to.”

          Tony, Steve, and past Peter watched as the wings kept on destroying the pillars supporting the roof of the building. Tony processed what past Adrian said right as the wings of the Vulture sliced through the second to last pillar. Steve had realized what Adrian was doing before Tony did.

          “Stark, he’s going to collapse the building!” Rogers exclaims right as the last pillar was cut in half. Immediately the ceiling fell down, the support beams no longer holding its weight up. Tony watched in horror as past Peter looks up and tries to shield himself before the tons of solid material fell on top of him, a cloud of dust bursting from the impact and began to mix itself with the moonlit fog. Tony could no longer see past Peter’s body anywhere.

          Feeling like the breath was knocked out of him instead of past Peter, Tony stood frozen, staring at the place where past Peter use to be. All of that mass on top of him, slowly suffocating him, forcing all of the air out of his lungs as his bones slowly cracked until they were broken in half just like the pillars…

          He shouldn’t be under all of the rubble. Tony could’ve done something. He shouldn’t have listen to Steve. Screw “don’t change the timeline.” His kid was in trouble. Past Peter was struggling underneath a building. A damn building! Peter never told him about this. Peter–

          Oh god. Peter. A few days after crashing the plane, Peter had nightmares. Tony always assumed that it was because he was in a frightening situation by controlling his plane. Using only webbing to move a plane away from civilians and saving many, many lives. He thought that the burden Peter had during that time was haunting his dreams. Crashing a plane on a beach and being in its presence as it burst into flames can poison a person’s mind during slumber.

          Tony Stark was wrong. Tony was oh so wrong. The plane didn’t disturb Peter. It was a damn. Collapsing. Building.

          Why did I take the suit away. Tony shakily exhaled, his heart racing with panic and regret. I wanted to protect him. To prevent any more dangers happening to him. Why is it when I try to shield someone, they end up getting hurt? I hurt my own kid by taking away something that kept him safe. That thought dawn downing on the man of iron shattered his heart. Scratch that. His heart was already shattered from earlier events. This current one only broke the small pieces into even smaller ones.

          Shaking his head, Stark dropped the briefcase and stepped out from the door frame, advancing towards the mess past Peter was under with great dread all over his frame. His Iron Man suit already started to form around him as he drew closer. Steve placed the staff onto the ground next to the briefcase and ran in front of Tony. He placed his hands firmly against the scarlet and gold metal.

          “Remember what we both said, Tony.” Steve murmurs. “No more changing timelines.”

          “I don’t give a damn about changing the timeline anymore.” Tony retorts through his helmet, although his voice shook from emotion.

          Roger’s shoulders slumped. “Please Tony. We have the stones. We just have to get back to our time and reverse the snap.”

          Tony’s brows furrow in rage. “The kid I care so much about is suffocating underneath all of this,” he waves his hand in front of him towards the pile of solid blocks, "and all you want me to do is walk away and let him suffer? My timeline or another, he is still Peter Parker, and I made Peter Parker my responsibility, because if he died, I feel like that’s on me, and it will be on me because I decided to do nothing to help. I don’t need that on my conscious, Cap.”

          ”And if you died… I feel like that’s on me. I don’t need that on my conscious.” Those words were back to haunt him like everything else in his past.

          A small pebble fell from the pile. Both Avengers clamped their jaws shut and listened.

          “Hello?” Past Peter’s voice rang through the air. “Hello? Please, hey! I’m down here!”

          Tony’s heart is definitely gone now. The kid’s voice was filled with young terror and pain. He was trapped under a building in the dark and all alone. Only he was not alone right now. But he currently doesn’t know that. Hearing the 2017 Peter’s voice echo throughout the room made him think that the kid was probably scared senseless at the thought of him dying with nobody around to help him.

          Tony couldn’t take it anymore.

          Shoving Steve hard, he fired his repulsors and flew to the pile. He heard Cap mutter under his breath when he forcedly moved the super soldier out of his path. Stark’s metal feet landed right in front of the pile with a clank. Still bright, the moon cast a beam on his armor, illuminating it to become a wine red and lighter gold to any viewers nearby.

          Past Peter must’ve caught the sound of both Iron Man’s repulsors flaring to life and the hard echo of metal touching the rough floor, for Tony heard the kid’s voice speak through the concrete. “Mr. Stark, is that you? Please help me, I’m stuck down here! I can’t move! I’m sorry about everything I had said! Don’t leave me here!”

          His feet were glued to the ground. Flashbacks of the aftermath to the battle on Titan crashed into his face. Hearing those two words again kept on eating Tony from the inside. Remember those waves of emotion that were flooding him? Yeah, it just turned into a tsunami. Tony opened his mouth to answer the kid when electricity started to spark on his wrist. He disperses his armor to see that the year was changing from 2017 to 2023. Stark looks behind his shoulder to see Steve’s wrist is doing the same thing as well.

          No, Bruce don’t take me back! Not now! Tony franticly took one of the heavy boulders in his hands, trying to lift it up.

          “Peter!” Tony gets out right before he disappears from the scene. Steve sadly looked back at the rubble, hoping past Peter had some way of getting out, before dashing back to the scepter and briefcase. His time traveling suit’s helmet shut tightly around his head before he disappeared as well.

          “… Mr. Stark?” Past Peter’s quiet and small voice whimpered. Only his echo responded.

          With Tony, he staring blankly ahead of him. He was back on the time travel platform in the Avengers compound with Steve holding both the briefcase and the staff. Roger’s gave him a somber look as he stepped closer to Tony. Stark didn’t want his pity. Tony was so close, so close, to saving his kid. To make up for those 5 years ago when he let Peter fade away because of his failure to stop Thanos. Even the universe giving him a second chance would still rather see him fail than succeed.

          His teeth bared, Tony blinked with fury. He stomped past Steve and made his way through Scott and Thor to get to Bruce. Bruce’s large green form didn’t stop Tony from his rampage.

          “Sorry about the mishaps Tony,” Bruce says. He looked down at the machine, a smile flashing onto his lips. “Your suits malfunctioned for a bit, but I was able to get you back safe and sound. Do you and Steve have the…”

          Tony’s palms rest against the chest of Bruce and pushed him backwards. Bruce stumbles from the impact, confusion written all over his face.

          “You know who wasn’t safe and sound just now? My kid! He was trapped under so much concrete. A god damn building collapses on top of him and right as I’m about to save him, you transport me back here! Peter was so damn frighten down there, Bruce! I could have saved him! But thanks to you, he’s stuck there for god knows how long with nobody there to help him out!” Earth’s best defender huffs out his anger, taking another step to Bruce.

          Multiple pair of hands held onto him and moved him away from the large green man. Tony struggled. He wanted to go back. He couldn’t just leave Peter there. The kid was in pain from being devoured by concrete. He was about to dig his kid out, hug him close, tell him he was safe as he tells Peter that it wasn’t his fault, but the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’s mistake.

          “Stark calm down.” Natasha was saying. “What happened happen. You can’t go back to whatever timeline you and Steve ended up in.”

          “Besides, we have all of the stones now!” Scott yips, eyes full of excitement. “We can bring everyone back!”

          Tony looks at the hyper man. If not for Scott Lang reappearing, all of them would still be wallowing in their sorrow and grief. Inhaling deeply, Stark raised one of his hands and ran it through his hair. God, he must’ve looked like a rabid dog just now.

          “But Peter, he was right there…” Tony’s voice drops and he hangs his head low. The ground seemed more interesting than the people around him.

          “We can get Peter back as well.” Steve comforts him. Tony nods slowly. He raises his head and makes sure his view is directly on Bruce. Bruce must have taken a few steps forwards, for he was closer to the group of concerned people surrounding Tony. Stark knew he shouldn’t have done that to Bruce. The green scientist was just trying to save everyone, not cause more pain.

          “I’m sorry Bruce. It’s just, when I saw the kid getting hurt again, I couldn’t stand it. I thought I would be able to save him this time. I know what I was about to do in that timeline was wrong, but he’s just a kid, and he got hurt when I wasn’t around and I thought the dangers of changing a timeline can go damn itself when my kid was experiencing pain and–“ Tony’s rambling was cut short when Bruce put a hand on Stark’s shoulder.

          “I get it. Your emotions got the best of you. I understand, obviously.” Bruce addressed himself with his hand. “It happened to me all of the time. It happens to everyone eventually. I forgive you.”

          If only I can learn to forgive myself. Stark thinks to himself.

          Bruce’s hand was replaced by Steve Roger’s. The super soldier squeezed the inventor’s shoulder to get his attention. Roger had honesty written all over his face, as well as purpose for their upcoming goal.

          “We can get everyone back now,” Steve reminds Tony, “no more grieving, no more thinking that it was our fault. We can finally get everyone back. You can finally get Peter back.”

          Tony nods, a smile slowly forming on his face. Around them, the rest of their teammates sagged with relief. Turning around, both Tony and Steve went back to the warping pad to gather the other two stones. Both of them walk down the steps and followed their teammates.

          The man with the iron suit walked with dignity. He was going to bring his kid back. Peter’s nerdy talk about Star Wars and Legos, his cheery smile every time there was a new upgrade to the suit or just being near Tony, giving Tony an update about what’s been going on with patrol or school by leaving a voicemail, his enthusiasm when he was working on a project with Tony. Stark missed all of it. But he wouldn’t be mourning any longer, because today, the Avengers will be bringing back the dusted. Today, everyone will reunite with those who fell into the unlucky category once Thanos snapped his fingers.

          Today, Tony Stark will get Peter Parker back, and hopefully let Peter crack open his shell about what happened back in 2017.

Chapter Text

          Do you know those moments when you rip off a Band-Aid and it hurts for a small amount of time before the pain goes away? That’s kind of what happened with Peter. One moment Peter was clinging onto his mentor for dear life, begging Mr. Stark to do anything to save him as his body started to slowly dissolve, thanks to his cursed enhanced healing, and the last thing he sees is Mr. Stark’s body hovering over is, the wounded man’s eyes full of fear and terror for the boy before Peter gets engulfed into a dark abyss. The next, he’s lying on his back, dust swirling around in the air above him. Peter recollects his surroundings before remembering that he is still on the foreign planet. Heart pounding, the first thing he thinks is Where is Mr. Stark?

          Sitting up, the boy in the spider suit can see the man with the greenish-gray skin and red markings standing and helping up the girl with antennas and slightly large black eyes. Another man with a red coat and brown hair– Wasn’t his name Quill? Peter questions– was looking around for something, for his eyes looked disturbed and his movements were quick and jolted as he scurried around. Peter blinks twice and tore his gaze from the space aliens to his hands. Nothing was agitating his spidey-senses. His fingertips weren’t crumbling away like last time, and there was nothing for his healing ability to fix. However, just to make sure, Peter curls his fingers in to make a fist and continues to repeat that action. Eventually, Peter concluded that he would not be fading away again.

          The teen was so lost in thought that he didn’t sense the mystic arts master approaching him. Once a hand rested on his shoulder did he notice the presence of Doctor Strange. Turning his head, Peter saw Strange staring at him. The bruises from the treacherous fight with the Mad Titan still lingered on the man’s face. Besides that, he seemed to be fine.

          The man with the cloak stretched out a hand. “Are you okay, Peter?”

          Peter was about to ask him how he knew his name before recalling their time on the doughnut-ship-thing where the boy thought Doctor Strange had used a fiction name while introducing himself. Nodding, Spider-Man reached out and took Strange’s hand. Strange lifted the boy up to his feet.

          “Do you remember anything up to this moment?” Strange ask him. Peter realized that the man was studying him, as if he was considering what level of intelligence Peter had.

          Like I could forget all of this! Peter laughs silently to himself before answering the doctor’s question. As he was explaining his story, Strange nods from time to time. It seemed that Peter was correctly describing the events that had happened. Even if the praise of telling his story was small, the teen caught a glimpse of Strange’s lips tugging up into a small smile.

          “… after Mr. Quill and you disappeared, my spidey-senses stated acting up.” Peter was saying. When Strange raised one eyebrow, Peter explained how he had a 6^th sense that tells him whenever something bad is about to happen. “It’s really useful sometimes, but it also gives me false alarms. Anyways, after you guys were gone, my spidey-senses were activated. I was so confused and my body was all tensed up and weird, I never felt like that before. All of a sudden, I felt so weak and sick, and I went over to Mr. Stark, but I was so weak that my legs were giving out, so I basically tumbled into him. My hands started to slowly tear apart and I realized what was happening.”

          Peter took a breath in. By now, the three other people they were with had come over to listen to Peter. “It… it was really terrifying, Mr. Doctor Strange sir. Everything in my body was flaring up and ripping apart, I didn’t know what to do and Mr. Stark never looked so scared before. I didn’t want to leave him but my healing wasn’t working and the process didn’t even slow down for a second. Well, it was slowing down, but not stopping. Soon enough I ended up on the floor because my legs- it was terrible, my legs were gone! I felt like crying but I couldn’t cry in front of Mr. Stark because I want to prove that I’m good enough but I think I did anyways and I thought I failed him because the last thing I said to him was ‘I’m sorry’ before I blacked out and I never felt so disappointed in myself and hysterical at the same time and I just wished I pulled off that gauntlet quicker but instead I let him down and we all got unlucky because of my mistake and it’s my fault that I was so slow and didn’t hold on long enough-“

          He didn’t realize it, but the poor boy started hyperventilating for blaming himself. His eyes were wide and frantic and he was getting no oxygen inside of him. Hands were shaking as if he was stuck in a freezing environment and all he could think of was it’s my fault we lost I should’ve been better I should’ve done more I should’ve been stronger I should’ve-

          Interrupting the frighten kid was Strange. He tried to snap the kid out of his trance by shaking him but it didn’t work. The Guardians were getting anxious. Lifting his hand, Doctor Strange brought it down and slapped Peter’s face. Star-Lord, Mantis, and Drax jumped, not expecting the man in a cape to do such an action to a child. Peter stops talking. He stares ahead of him, his eyes blank.

          “Breathe in, kid. It’s not healthy to talk constantly without hesitating to take a breath.” Strange keeps his eyes on Peter. Peter does exactly what the mystic person says and takes a deep breath in before releasing it. The teen’s hands halt their shaking and his sight clears away the cloud that blocked his view.

          “Thanks,” Peter sighs out, relieved that he’s not suffocating from his own words, “I don’t… I don’t know what’s gotten into me just now.”

          Quill smiles at him softly. “It’s okay kid. We’re just as confused as you are.” Eyes landing on Strange, he adds, “Care to explain flashy hands?’

          Doctor Strange shakes his head. “In time, everything will be revealed. For now, I want to talk to you three about something.” Turning to Peter, he points at a tall jagged boulder a few yards away. “Wait for me over there. What I’m about to tell them is entirely different what I have to say to you.”

          Peter nods and makes his journey towards the boulder. Since there were no enemies to fight or any tasks to do, the high school student took more time to look into his surroundings. Around the area the dust particles were still hanging in the same spots. No breeze was present to push the small abiotic material to a different location. In variety of spaces sat abandon machinery. Rust took over most of the large structures. Pieces of metal rods poked through both the deserted floor and the other electronics. The sky itself seems to be in a lost state. Pollution wavers the atmosphere. Beams of sunlight stream through the puffiness of the toxic above Peter’s head, but most of the brightness was held prisoner. Broken ships and burnt buildings were scattered everywhere, as if the people from this planet were fueled with nothing but panic as life and their species was slowly being brought to their knees. A small amount of pity impaled his heart. Nobody deserves to be drain from life in such a distasteful and inhumanly way, not even the people that use to live on this unpopulated planet.

          Arriving at the solid mass, Peter leaps on top of it and watches the four older people from afar. He knows that he could easily use his hearing to listen to their conversation, but refuses to. If it’s not for him, then why bother hearing it. Instead, Peter whips his mask on and choses to talk to his AI, Karen.

          “Welcome back, Peter.” Karen greets him. Peter grins. During his battle with Thanos, he didn’t budge to summon her, but now, he’s glad that there is at least someone he knows really well to talk to.

          “Glad to be back, Karen.” Peter says. He thinks for a moment. “Karen, do you have any information on what happened after we… died, I think?”

          Karen is silent for a few seconds. “I’m sorry Peter. I’ve searched through my history but I could not seem to find any data besides now and then.”

          Peter gives a thumbs up. “Thanks for trying anyways.”

          The teen swears he could feel Karen smile. “Your welcome, Peter. I do have a suggestion though. Contacting Mr. Stark could be our best option to find out what is happening. Would you like me to get in touch with FRIDAY?”

          Peter’s brows rise. He didn’t even think about the idea of contacting Mr. Stark. Yes, he was curious of why he suddenly left Peter all alone on the ground, but it must’ve been a good reason, right? Otherwise, his mentor would’ve brought Peter along, conscious or not. Besides, it’s only been a few minutes since he passed out and then woke up from Thanos’ snap. Surely Mr. Stark wasn’t far away.

          “I don’t see why not,” Peter beams. “Karen, call Mr. Sta-“

          He stops his order when he notices Doctor Strange nearing him. Swinging his legs, Peter says, “We’ll have to do that later Karen. I’ll be right back.” With that, Peter’s mask retracts to reveal his face to the filthy area. With the help of his magic cloak- So cool!- the man with a goatee levitated up to the top of the boulder and stands next to Peter.

          Silence lingers between them for a moment. It was Doctor Strange that broke it. “You might not take what I’m about to say really well.”

          Peter doesn’t say anything. Strange takes that as a sign to continue. “Five years had passed since the snap.”

          Peter coughed, swallowing his own saliva from surprise. That was really unexpected. Doctor Strange’s cloak drifted from its master’s shoulders and went to Peter’s side. The cloak raised a corner and patted his pack until Peter raised a thumbs up. Seeing that the child was okay did the cloak of levitation made its way merrily back to Strange.

          “Has it really been that long?” Peter rubs a hand over his face. “Are you really sure half a decade flew by? I mean, we just fought Thanos a few minutes ago!”

          Doctor Strange shakes his head. “Time was short while we were stuck in the soul stone. You may think that we were unconscious for a moment, but for the ones who were not affected by the snap, five years had come and gone.”

          “Five years…” Peter says to himself with disbelief. He sits hunched over, fiddling with his thumbs. Was Strange telling the truth? He didn’t feel like anything happened though. A thought impaled his mind, causing him to tense up. What has Ned done over the years? What about Aunt May? What about Mr. Stark? Peter groans in frustration and buries his face in the palms of his hands. The teen with spider abilities can still scent the blood on his fingers, as well as feel the clumps of dirt clogging his fingernails and the faint taste of copper in his mouth, but that was not the things that were bothering him.

          Mr. Stark. Oh god, what has Mr. Stark been doing for the past 5 years. Grieving? Mourning? Disappointed in Peter? Disappointed in himself? Peter didn’t want his mentor to think that way. It wasn’t Mr. Stark’s mistake that cost half of the universe- possibly more, from the casualties the dusted had caused by leaving so suddenly- to crumble up into a pile on the floor. Peter had the gauntlet on his hands and was so close to pulling it off. Mr. Stark must’ve been thinking that because of him Peter felt the wrath of the infinity stones. Those negative thoughts must’ve been weighing on him for 5 years without anything to blow away those leaches that slowly drain the life from him till there was nothing left. All because Peter wasn’t good enough to rip a dang gold mitten that contained a Fruity Pebbles collection off of Grimace from McDonalds.

          His right hand curls into a fist and he slams it down. The boulder’s surface creates a small crater for his fist. Cracks that look like loose strings of a spider web were born from the impact. Tiny loose pieces from the large material tumbled down onto the ground below. Peter can feel liquid forming at the corners of his eyes but refuses to let them escape. He huffs before looking back at Doctor Strange.

          “What took them so long?” Peter whispers, voice cracking. “What was- what made them hold back for such a long time? I thought Mr. Stark would have immediately done something to get us back. I thought…”

          Strange gazes back at him. No emotions were in his eyes, but Peter could’ve sworn that there was a small amount of pity that had leak through a small opening through the wall Strange kept up. “That is not my place to tell. What I can tell you is that we are about to enter another battle.”

          “Another?!” Peter exclaims. “Why would we have another? We’re back, aren’t we? Doesn’t that mean that Thanos was defeated?”

            Doctor Strange tore his eyes away to watch the Guardians. Like before, Mantis was jumping up and down, her body raising a few feet higher than what it originally should be before landing safely on the ground. Quill and Drax were talking to each other, the man in the red coat making arm movements as he talks rapidly about something. “If another fight is happening, then no, he is alive. I don’t know why, but I do know this.”

          Strange turns back to Peter. Peter straightens his back when he sees the older man’s face. The mystic arts master had a serious expression, his orbs filled with concentration. “Since we are back, that must be because Thanos does not have the gauntlet anymore. Stark and anyone else that is with him now does. Thanos will do whatever he can to get that gauntlet on his hand once again. We cannot let him use it, so we will have to keep him away from it, as well as keep the gauntlet away from him.”

          Peter perks up. “Like the game Monkey-In-The-Middle?”

          Strange scoffs. “Way worse. Anyways, back on track. The gauntlet could land in anyone’s hands. It could land in theirs,” he gestures towards the Guardians, “it could in mine, or it could land in yours.”

          Peter’s gulps nervously. To have such a powerful weapon in anyone’s hand was dangerous. But in his? Super dangerous. The variety of risky possibilities when it comes to Peter carrying the holder of the six infinity stones were endless. Not to make himself look bad, but he’s a teenager. Nothing good happens when a teenager is given a responsibility. Ask anyone, they’ll give you the same answer.

          “M- My hands?” Peter squeaks.

          “Yes, even if you find it hard to believe that it could, there’s a possibility that it might happen.” Doctor Strange leans closer. “If it does, listen to what I’m about to say, and listen well. Think hard about the actions you will decide to take if the gauntlet does end up in your hands. Wise decisions are everything when it comes to a life or death situation. I know you are really intelligent Peter. I trust you to make the wisest choice as possible to deal with those stones and the gauntlet. Do you understand me?”

          Peter automatically nods. “How would you know if I ever get them, Mr. Doctor Strange sir?”

          Doctor Strange hesitates. “Anything can happen. I do not know whether you will have the stones or not. Just in case, remember what I said. Be wise, and think rationally. Sometimes, the fate of the universe depends on the smallest decisions that will make a huge impact.”

          His cloak started rippling, and Peter watched as Doctor Strange’s feet lifts off of the boulder’s. He begins to float back down to the ground and towards the Guardians. Once his feet were back on solid, Strange looks over his shoulder.

          “By the way, just call me Doctor Strange. ‘Mister Doctor Strange sir’ is too formal, even for me.”

          Peter smirks and lets out a small laugh. Now alone, he was left to ponder with his thoughts. Would the gauntlet ever reach his hands? He didn’t like the idea of swinging around such a valuable weapon. What if he drops it? What if someone on Thanos’ side took it from him? Will everyone go after Peter once they realized who was keeping the gauntlet away from Thanos? Peter visibly shuddered. Also, why would Doctor Strange tell him to make the right choice? Anyone else possibly can, but Peter? He was known to make stupid choices. He crashed a plan carrying Stark tech onto a beach. He had gotten his suit taken away all because he wasn’t able to stop the Vulture from tearing the ferry in half and putting all of the passengers lives in harm’s way. Peter even had a building collapse on him and never told anyone, not even May. Not even Ned. Not even Mr. Stark.

          Definitely not Mr. Stark. He would have been so disappointed in him again, who knows what the man could have done? It was the right decision to not tell Mr. Stark, even though it was really idiotic. But this time? Something even worse might rest on his shoulders, and he might decide on a terrible idea all over again. Actually, thinking about it now, Peter noticed that yes, his ways of thinking were questionable, but they ended up being the right thing to choose- besides the ferry, of course. Yet, who’s to say that he will get lucky this time when the gauntlet is in his grasp?

          Not when. If. Peter reminds himself. He still couldn’t shake off the feeling that Doctor Strange was not telling him something important.

          Peter peers towards the mini group to see Strange in front of the weird yellow sparkly portal. On the other side of the portal was a few other people that dressed like the mystic man. In front of the other magical people was the Asian man Peter had seen before back in New York City when they were fighting Squidward’s look-a-like and a larger monster.

          “I remember seeing on T.V that in Wakanda the soldiers and their king tried stopping Thanos with the help of that Banner person and some other people they know really well.” The Asian man was saying. Strange hums.

          “Then send people there. If the king’s army is too large, we need more than one person opening portals for them to come through.”

          The Asian man signals the people next to him to go to Wakanda and address their plan with the king. Next, he tells a few other people to look around New York City for any other people. Finally, the last place he says for a few other people was to go to New Asgard- Wait, Thor lives on Earth now? I have to get an autograph!- and tell the Asgardians to prepare for battle. When that was settled, Strange turns around to face the Guardians and Spider-Man.

          “Once everyone has been alerted about our plan, we will begin to arrive at the place Thanos and the others who survived are in. Wakanda’s king will be the first to arrive, and we will follow. The rest of the battle plan is up to the survivors.”

          Drax unsheathes his knives and holds them out so that the sharp ends were facing the ground. “If Thanos ever comes near me, I’ll make him regret ever getting rid of us in the first place!”

          Quill rolls his eyes before taking his own oddly-shaped guns out, his lightly stormy-gray mask slipping over his face. “Not if I get to him first. He won’t stand a chance against me now that I’m better than ever.”

          Mantis shook her head. “Even if you two combine powers you still won’t bring Thanos to his knees.”

          Peter snorts at that comment. Pressing the spider on his chest, Peter felt the familiar feeling of his mask shielding his identity once again. Blinking, Peter greets Karen again. Like always, his AI responds with a light tone.

          “Do you still want to contact Mr. Stark?” Karen asks. Peter lays his back on the boulder, face directed at the dim sky.

          “No thanks Karen. We will be seeing him soon.” Peter felt a fizzle of excitement bubbling inside of him. He’s been so worried about the gauntlet and how his mentor had felt in the last 5 years that he never had the chance to think about what Mr. Stark’s reaction would be when he sees Peter again. Will he be excited, like Peter is? Or will he think his vision is just playing tricks on him again? We’ll just have to wait and see. Peter concludes.

          His ears perk up at the sound of thousands of people cheering. Propping himself up on his elbows, Peter catches thousands of Wakandian soldiers on the other side of the portal. Strange must have made a new portal, because the scenery was different from the dark environment the Asian man and the other mystic people were in. The determination and vengeance was on every soldier there. Spears gripped tightly in their hands, they all chanted the same word their king, T’Challa, also known as Black Panther, would howl out. Technically advanced ships soared across the sky as the drumming of the soldier’s feet were in unison.

          Peter’s excitement started to increase, along with fear. They don’t look prepared for a battle; they look like they’re prepared for an all-out war!

          The teen lifted himself up so he was crouched on the boulder. Doctor Strange nods at the Guardians before drifting his eyes towards Peter’s hidden ones. Their eye contacted seem to last longer than usual. Strange made Peter feel that the man with the cloak wanted to tell him something. Peter tilts his head to one side in a questioning manner. Quickly, Strange hovers over to him.

          “Keep in mind what I said before,” Doctor Strange murmurs, “and be careful out there. Remember, wise decisions, Peter.”

          Peter gives him a thumbs up. But why though?

          Strange than goes back to the portal to exchange a few words with the Asian man before the portal closes. They waited for a few seconds before the cloak lifts Doctor Strange off the ground. He moves a few feet away from the Guardians and Peter before raising his hands. Peter springs to his feet as he sees the familiar tint of orange arriving on the man of mystic art’s fingers.

          “Get ready.” Strange warns before moving both hands in a circular motion. Another portal opens up to reveal another area. The Guardians swiftly made their way towards the opening. Peter shoots a web at the nearest cliff and flings himself towards the portal. Using another batch of webbing to get him closer, Peter holds his breath as the sunset-sun portal pass by him in a blur. Landing some ways from Quill, Peter’s face cover went back into hibernation as he straightened his back. The destruction in front of him stuns him. They had moved to another area with clouds of more dust swirling around them. A building to his left was violently torn apart while the sky had a slightly same appearance as the sky back on Titan. The earth below them had scorched marks with no plant life thriving. In front of them stood Captain America, disbelief yet relief in his expression while the super soldier pants hard breaths. Behind Captain America, however, was the worse view Peter has ever seen.

          Thanos, with body armor attached to his body, stood firmly as he watches more portals open to reveal even more people. The Mad Titan looked anger from the new rivals, yet pleased. Circular ships and huge pillar ships towered over Thanos’ army of… What even are those? They reminded Peter of the Aliens movie series. Those four armed creatures moved restlessly in their spots, waiting for their leader to signal the attack. Drool dripping from their mouths, more of them poured out from the ships behind the frontline. Moving his eyes, Peter recognized the tall and skinny frame of the Voldemort look-a-like, his arms hidden behind his back. Standing by him was three other space beings, including that huge monster Peter and Mr. Stark fought before. How were they alive? Peter doesn’t know. Maybe after this mess is over Mr. Stark will tell him what has happened.

          Speaking of which, where is Mr. Stark? He didn’t have time to sight see anymore because another portal started to open above him. A huge ship from Wakanda floats above him. More Wakanda ships soon started to arrive from different portals. Even more soldiers were being revealed as well. From the Asgardians with their ancient and historic armor flanking them to the people that Doctor Strange was talking to before with their orange symbols spinning lazily in front of their open hands, everyone seemed to be here.

          This is it. Peter gave a small hop. His brows sunk down as he glared at the enemy in front of him. This is the end. No holding back.

          “Avengers!” Captain America shouts from his spot at the front of the ready heroes. Chills slivered down his spine at that one word. Peter never expected to hear that one word again, let alone be in the exact same area as the Captain himself. Spider-Man crouched down into a fighting stance, spreading his legs to prepare a huge leap once the American hero gives the word. With his heightened hearing Peter managed to hold back an enthusiastic squeal as his idol from his childhood whispers the second word of the iconic phrase.

          “Assemble.”

          Chaos erupts on both sides. Black Panther was the one to charge first, followed closely by his warriors. Shaking from nerves, Peter launches himself up into the sky and swings towards the enemy, mask flashing over his face as wind dashes past him, away from the upcoming danger. He could see Thanos pointing at him and the other heroes with his weapon as a sign of permission to attack. A few seconds of both sides running at each other before they finally collided. Peter swung down low and landed a kick on one of the alien’s oval face before swinging back up and letting go of his web. The teen did a somersault in the air before his head was facing the ground and the aliens underneath him. Grabbing one of the alien’s head in his hands, he flipped them over so that the alien was the one who had its head facing the ground and Peter had his feet planted on the earth, and chucked the off-world creature at two others. Explosions and cries filled his ears, causing him to wince a little. The huge Wakanda ships fired their highly industrialized ammo at the large creatures that flew above everyone else. The huge guy from the German airport, Ant-Man, was also tackling those flying creatures to the ground as well. Asgardian soldiers and Wakanda warriors stood back to back as they brought the aliens to their knees or stabbed their hearts out.

          Ducking so an alien flew over him, he twirled around and latched a web at the alien. Grabbing the chemical rope with both hands, he spun around and used the alien as his own weapon. After knocking out a decent amount of aliens, he flung his weapon creature towards one last alien. He could see more aliens descending towards him.

          “As much as I love to tango with you guys, I have to find Mr. Stark.” Peter waves at them before shooting a web at a Wakanda ship and lifted himself off the ground. Now being carried around, Peter scan the battlefield for his mentor. Thor and Captain America were fighting with hammers before Thor hesitated and told the super soldier to switch hammers with him. The guy with the metal arm was firing at the aliens with, wait is that a raccoon? Shaking his head, Peter caught a glimpse of Mr. Stark. He was alone, his hands glowing as he shot beams at the aliens. Spider-Man unleashed his grip on the webbing and let himself drop to the ground. He landed on a scarred hill that was slightly higher than the land Mr. Stark was standing on. The big muscular unearthly person smacked Iron Man with one of his hands. Back lying on rubble, Mr. Stark tried to stop his attacker from hammering him into the ground, but his weaponized hands had no effect. Panicking, Peter ejected a bunch of webbing at the huge organism’s arm and pulled him away from Mr. Stark. Peter visibly winced as Ant-Man’s foot compress the foreigner’s body into the ground, but that doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is getting to Mr. Stark.

          Leaping off of the hill, Peter stumbled a little as he made his way to the man he just saved. “Mr. Stark! Agh, holy cow!”

         Peter grabs his mentor by the arm and lifts him onto his feet. Mr. Stark’s expression had surprised written all over it, but Peter continued to ramble on. “Do you remember when we were in space? And then I like vanished and, what’s all that gray stuff in your hair?”

          “It’s just gray hair.” Mr. Stark huffs out in a low volume, motioning towards his head in a small movement.

          So it’s not soot then. “Oh that’s okay, I’m sorry.”

          “It’s alright.” His mentor responds, his voice still hushed in disbelief.

          “Anyways, Doctor Strange was there when I got back right? And he used his spinning thing-“ Peter fumbled on his words for a second when he felt one of Mr. Stark’s hands wrap around his back before engulfing him into a hug. Instincts kicked in and he hugs back, wrapping his own arms tight around his mentor.

          “What are you doing?” Peter asks in a small voice as Mr. Stark pats him on the back once, but he didn’t care. Peter was registering the fact that this was the first time him and Mr. Stark hugged without it being a misunderstanding. This is also the first time Mr. Stark has seen him in five years. Burying his face into the crook of Mr. Stark’s neck, he felt Mr. Stark peck him on his cheek before tightening his arms around him, bringing him closer as if he thought Peter would crumble into the air again. Peter returned the action, embracing Mr. Stark. A warm feeling flooded his body. Peter felt tears prickling at the corner of his eyes again. He had left Mr. Stark in a state of grief for half a decade and made the man hurt himself mentally and emotionally whenever the thought of Peter crossed his mind. Peter had caused pain and misery to Mr. Stark all because he didn’t take the gauntlet off on time. With a shuddering puff, Peter closed his eyes, tuning out the clashing of the battle around them. Not only was this hug a sign of Mr. Stark caring about Peter, but the fact that Mr. Stark had risk a whole lot to undo the snap and bring him back was also a pinpoint of Mr. Stark missing him a lot as well. Something had snapped inside of Mr. Stark all because of Peter’s absence in his life.

          Never again will that happen. Peter vowed. This time we will win. I won’t leave him in that state ever again.

          Sadly, both of them had to part ways. Before jumping back into battle, Mr. Stark placed both of his hands on Peter’s shoulders and squeezed them.

          “Be careful, please.” Mr. Stark says softly, his chocolate-brown eyes meeting Peter’s doe ones. Peter nods and smiles gently before backing away. They kept looking at each other for a few more seconds before placing themselves back into the fray. While trapping an alien onto the ground with his webbing and breaking the jaws of another, Peter notes how Mr. Stark kept a close eye on him, blasting one of the aliens that almost blindsided Peter. Spider-Man knows that his mentor was just being overprotective, and he didn’t blame him. At a time like this, everyone needs to keep watching each other’s backs.

          A little way into the fighting something was able to catch Peter’s eye. Something dangerous. Black Panther was surrounded by large debris and stones. The lithe light-gray man had his hand up, slowly moving the trapped Wakanda king towards him. In Black Panther’s clutches was the gauntlet. Everyone else was too stuck in their battles against the aliens to do anything. They couldn’t let Thanos get the gauntlet back! Peter refused to let the opportunity of redeeming himself go.

          “Mr. Stark cover for me!” Peter calls out, throwing an alien away before whipping out a thick string of web and lifting himself into the air. Instantly Mr. Stark’s attention turns towards him. His hands formed into the familiar guns Peter saw him almost use when Quill had Peter as a hostage. The huge blasters hum to life before letting out balls of electricity at the aliens below Peter. The aliens ignited into flames, their shrieks of agony ringing through Peter’s head as he soars above them. Only when Peter was close enough to help Black Panther did Mr. Stark become occupied with the enemy around him.

          “I got it!” Peter shouts. T’Challa spots Spider-Man closing in and raises the gauntlet. Peter swipes it from the king’s hands with his webbing and swings away with it. As if he was a tracker, a small crowd of aliens immediately sprinted towards him. Peter landed roughly on top of a lone alien as the off-world creatures drew closer, their jaws parted open to release their revolting breaths and claws scraping patches of dirt off of the ground.

          The teen never tried using this technique before, but it was now or never. “Karen, activate Instant Kill.”

          His spider eyes shrunk and the snow-white pupils became a slightly glowing vermilion color, the center of the eyes being a lighter red while the edges were almost red wine. Four golden spider legs sprung from their hibernation and curled around Peter. The first alien to draw near was impaled on the spot. One of the legs made its way through the alien’s dark brownish-gray chest and appeared at the other side, creating a hole. Soon after the first alien’s death others were surrounding him. The highly developed legs moved in lightning speed, killing as many aliens as possible as Peter moved with them, spinning in circles. The screams the aliens made once pain surged through their bodies was the main reason why he never liked the feature Mr. Stark had installed inside of the suit. He will admit that it is definitely useful at a time like this though.

          After more of the aliens going after him had fallen, the hairs on his arms and back of his neck rose. Something was about to happen. Frantically looking around, Peter hoped that his spidey-senses were just making a mistake again, when he hears a loud thundering sound from above. He looks up to see the hovering ships’ cannons coming to life. Large blue lasers stormed down to the war below, destroying everything it came in contact with. Getting distracted was the one thing he shouldn’t have done during an ongoing battle. More aliens started to drop onto him as if they were a hive of bees gathering pollen from the same flower. His extra inanimate legs tried to hold the creatures off, but too many kept coming from either side of him.

          “Erg, I got this!” Peter told himself, using his free arm to help push the aliens away. It had little to no effect on the enemy troops. “… Okay I don’t got this. Help, somebody help!”

          Why would I even think I could handle this by myself? Peter criticizes himself. This isn’t like the building! I had more time to lift that thing off of me! These guys just keep coming!

          Again, his spidey-senses tingled. He heard the familiar sound of Mjolnir zooming overhead. Lifting his head, Peter used his free hand again and pressed the button on his palm. A string of web ejected itself out of the container and latched onto the ancient hammer. The force of the hammer going in a different direction caused Peter’s body to get carried along with it, releasing him from the clutches of the pack of aliens. Never in his life would he expect to be riding Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor- or was it Captain America’s hammer now? Doesn’t matter. Nevertheless, It’s still very cool.

          Ned’s going to be so jealous! Peter boosts.

           He kept on clinging to his web until a missile came down, cutting his rope from his ride. Peter’s body plummeted towards the ground, the gauntlet slipping from his hands. A flash of blue armor dived towards him. One of his spider legs had hooked itself into the gauntlet as a hand wrapped around his own and pulled him back into the air. The person who grabbed him was in a blue suit, similar to Mr. Stark’s, but wirier than Mr. Stark’s bulky one. Boosters were glued to the person’s back, the lighter from the boosters was a dazzling orange mixed with yellow to create a dawn color.

          “Hang on, I got you kid.” The person says. Peter perks up at the voice, immediate familiarity coursing through him.

          I didn’t know Ms. Potts has a suit! Peter gushed. What else has Mr. Stark done while I was gone?

          Ms. Potts lifts Peter a little bit more before throwing him over her head. He spun in the air until he saw what Pepper had thrown him to. A woman with light tan skin and Asgardian armor was riding a winter-white pegasus, a sword shining in her clutches. Peter landed on the pegasus’ back, the mythical animal’s wings flapping wildly in the air, causing some of its feathers to disconnect from its wings and float gently down into the raging conflict below.

          “Hey, nice to meet you- OH MY GOD!” Peter screeches as they dived down, blue bombs raining down faster than before. The woman guided her pegasus to dodge all of the shots. As they drew near a cliff, one of the large bullets slammed into the large structure, causing the winged animal to holler in alarm and make a sharp turn. Peter to let out a gasp as he was thrown off. The gauntlet was released by one of his spider legs as he fell down, wind rushing past his body. The teen reached out and took the huge glove. He brought it close to his chest as he dropped down. Luckily, his golden metal limbs wove around his body, protecting him from the impact. Peter got back to his feet and ran forwards. Barely escaping one of the large deadly blast, Peter kept dashing until he found a large pile of cement blocks leaning against each other to form a protective barrier and an opening that looked similar to a caverns entrance. Peter ran underneath it and held the gauntlet even closer.

          While Peter was protected from the huge alien weapons, Thanos had been scanning the battlegrounds for the gauntlet. Gold flashed a few miles away from him, and he caught sight of Peter holding the glove. The best part for Thanos is that because of his weapons firing non-stop, the child had nowhere to go. Grinning, Thanos turns to three of his higher authority figures.

          “Get me over there.” The purple Titan demanded. They all nod, and the skinny gray man lifts his hand. The ground beneath Thanos disconnected with the earth and lifted him up. The Mad Titan hovered towards the spider-ling and the gauntlet with cheetah speed. A woman with a long staff and a man with ridged weapons followed in suit. Aliens from nearby ran after them, vowing to protect their leader. Ant-Man was the first to notice the change in the alien’s attitudes. His eyes traveled further down to see where Thanos was heading. Seeing the enemy charging at a defenseless Peter with the gauntlet activated alarm bells.

          “He’s going for the gauntlet!” Ant-Man yells out. That got a reaction out of the heroes. Mr. Stark was the first one to take action, using all of his fuel to get to his kid. An alien heard Iron Man’s repulsors and jumped up, knocking the man down to the ground. Aliens started to swarm Iron Man’s body, claws scratching on the metal. Captain America saw this and threw his shield at the crowd of monsters. Thor and the Guardians had been racing towards Thanos when they were cut off by the four-armed creatures. Anyone who had been in the skies were distracted by the large floating monsters or had been too busy veering away from the violent blue bullets. Even the Wakada and Asgardian soldiers could not get in front of Thanos. The kid was on his own.

          Speaking of who, Peter had heard Ant-Man’s cry and widen his eyes at the sight of the purple man blasting towards him. Thanos was a bit too close for Peter’s liking. Franticly his head rotates left and right, desperate to find an escape route. The missiles kept him from running anywhere, and even if he could move, there was no other places to hide from the aliens that prowled the harassed land. His fawn optics scattered around for a few more seconds until they landed on the man who had seen the future. To his surprise, Doctor Strange was staring back at him. Peter watched him, hoping that the wizard will help save him

          Please help! He’s nearing me! Why won’t you help me? Peter knew that Strange was occupied with the huge amount of water that almost overflowed the landscape everyone was fighting on, but he remembers that Strange had an ability to make copies of himself. Why isn’t he doing that?

         Drops of liquid pelted down on Strange’s face as he slowly lifted his index finger, repeating the amount of wins they will have against Thanos. One. Peter struggled to accept this. Did Strange know that he was going to get the gauntlet all along?

          I do not know whether you will have the stones or not. But Strange had seen the future! He must’ve known that Peter would be in this situation! Doctor Strange had sense that Peter figured out his plan, for he removed his eyes from Peter’s to the gauntlet. Peter followed his gaze and studied the dazzling creation. If he ever wanted to use the gauntlet- which is a no, by the way- he couldn’t because the gauntlet was too big. The stones gleamed gently, each of them illuminating in their own special colors and abilities. Just watching how calm the stones acted in this problem the heroes were facing made Peter relax a little. These stones were too precious to let Thanos get them. Putting a palm on the yellow stone, he felt warmth spread throughout his body. He hovered his hand towards the orange stone and, like the yellow stone, place his hand on it and felt the familiar warmth poison his body once again. With every stone he touched, a warm feeling responded. With every stone he touched, he felt the tension his body had been holding fade away.

          I trust you to make the wisest choice as possible to deal with those stones and the gauntlet. Strange’s voice rings in Peter’s head. A lightbulb flickered on inside the mind of Spider-Man. He had an idea. It was a terrible idea. A really stupid idea. One that might not even work. It’s worth a try though.

          Placing the gauntlet on the ground, Peter crouched down, resting on his knees as he rotated at a 180^o angle so his back was facing the ongoing conflict. He inhaled than exhaled, his breathing a little off. Peter’s heart was pounding rapidly in his chest. Everything around him slowly drifted away until silence greeted his ears. It was nothing but Peter and the gauntlet now.

          “Okay, you got this Spider-Man, you got this.” Peter tells himself, trying to boost his confidence with encouragement. The kid with spider abilities reaches forwards and places his index finger and thumb on the orange stone. Like before, that benign feeling came back to sooth him. He studies the stone for a second, admiring the wondrous orange aurora.

          Peter gulps. “This is a terrible idea, this is a terrible idea, why am I going through with this I’m dumb I’m so gonna regret this Aunt May and Mr. Stark are going to kill me this is a horrible-“

          Catching himself off-guard, Peter brought the stone briskly to his mouth, and swallowed it whole.

          ...

          …

          …

          Reality came smacking back at him as if it was a frying pan. The many sounds on the field returned. An unsteady amount of power spewed inside of him, mixing with the huge amounts of affliction. Peter groans in agony and almost wraps his arms around his stomach, but stops himself. He has to keep going. For Aunt May. For his friends. For Mr. Stark. For everyone who is fighting to save the universe. For everyone who cannot defend themselves.

          Pushing through the uneasiness that nestled inside of him, Peter grabbed the red infinity stone and did the same exact motion. More unfamiliar strength and pain streamed through. Peter kept going though, blinking furiously to keep himself conscious as he snatches the blue stone. With every stone he consumed, the two different flames grew larger and larger, scorching every cell, vein, anything you can name within him. His spidey-senses were going haywire and his enhanced healing was desperately trying to stop the pain. Sweat was dripping from his forehead. Peter’s hands were trembling while a trail of blood slivered down his nose and into his mouth. The taste of copper weaves its way through his taste buds and into his throat. Still, Peter picks up the last stone, the one Doctor Strange was protecting from Thanos before. Does he dare to look behind him?

          Peaking over his shoulder, Spider-Man flinched when he sees how close the Mad Titan was. A few more feet and the purple man would be right behind Peter. The kid encloses the green stone in his hand one final time before popping it into his mouth. He struggles to force it down his throat at first, but was successful making the stone submit. Peter gasps in pain but relieved that he was done. With unsteady hands, he flips the gauntlet over. That way, Thanos won’t know that the stones were missing.

          Pl-please let… this work. Peter begs. If you c-can hear me sto-stones… don’t make me thi-think that this was- was a foolish plan.

          Wind from behind ruffled his hair, causing Peter to duck his head. He winced when a spike of pain harassed his brain. One again, Peter looked over his shoulder. He was greeted with the sight of Thanos towering over him. The Mad Titan glared down at the teen, his rough hands curled into fists. If looks could kill, there’d be a hole in Peter’s chest right now. Armor clung to his body that Peter had not seen when they fought each other on Titan.

          “You’re a foolish being,” Thanos snarls, “if you ever thought that you could keep me from achieving my goal.”

          Peter didn’t have time to react when he was suddenly knocked aside by Thanos’ left fist. The teen yelps, his body rolling harshly on the earth, leaving a long dent in the ground and making pieces of dirt shoot up into the sky like blazing fireworks on the 4^th of July. His body was violently stopped by a mount of rocks. Dizziness clouded his mind while his vision became blurry. Ringing throbbed in the kids ears as the stones inside of him released another burst of energy. Peter whimpers from the pain and shuts his eyes tightly. He leans his head against the rock, feeling the familiar dampness of the crimson liquid bleaching into his far from neat brown tufts.

          The ringing died down, letting Peter get the chance to open his eyes again. Squinting, he sees Thanos picking up the gauntlet. Without bothering to check for the stones, Thanos slips it on. No color or power were sweeping through his veins like it had done with Peter. Thanos still had an evil smirk on his lips. Thinking that there was so much power that he wouldn’t feel it, the purple Titan forms his covered hand into a snapping action. Besides Peter, all of the heroes were heading towards Thanos. They did not want a repeat of last time, so they fought through the waves of aliens with all they had. The blue missiles that had been dropping from the ships had stopped, which gave the Avengers and everyone else an advantage to push forwards.

          Don’t bot- bother. Peter wanted to holler at them, but couldn’t because of the state he was in.

          Thanos laughed at his enemy’s desperation. “You should know now that I, am inevitable.” After saying that last word, he snaps his fingers.

          Nothing happens.

          Everyone stopped, frozen in place. Even the aliens and the flying monsters knew something was wrong. Peter’s smirk was hidden when he saw the confusion cross Thanos’ face. Turning the gauntlet over, his confusion turns to anger once he realizes that there was not even one stone in any of the slots. He slowly turns towards the direction he had hit Peter.

          “What have you done! Where are the…” Thanos’ voice dwindles away into astonishment. Everyone followed his gaze, including Peter. Underneath his suit he could see all of the colors on a rainbow glowing harshly on the left side of his chest. The stones had traveled through his body because of Thanos punching him, and somehow, they all ended up near his heart. Small strings of energy weaved through the left side of his suit as if the colorful lines were beckoning something to near and let them leech onto them.

          Lightheaded, Peter slowly picked himself off the ground. Spider-Man used the huge rock as support. He kept his eyes on Thanos, glaring daggers into the puple Titan’s eyes as he brought his left hand to his chest. The strings eagerly sunk into each of Peter’s fingers and the center of his hand. Each string was a different color. An orange streamed into his pinky, red with ring finger, blue paired with middle, purple for index, green caught his thumb, and yellow nestled in the center. Peter hisses when another blast of pain made him tremble, but never stopped watching Thanos. He brought his thumb towards his middle finger.

          With great power, comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben’s quote echoes in his head. For a moment his gaze flickered towards Mr. Stark. His face plate was lifted, revealing his large eyes filled with dread and trepidation for his kid. Iron Man’s eyebrows lifted as the man mouthed ‘Don’t do it Peter’ to the teen, who shook his head solemnly. He had to do this. He had to protect the ones he loves. He will not lose anyone else. There was no way out for him.

          Peter was in the endgame now.

          Bringing his eyes back to the Mad Titan, the killer was too stunned to move, but was still able to talk. “You have no chance of survival, insect.”

          Peter frowns at him. “I… am n-not an insect.” He coughs up blood before saying his final words.

          “Spider-Man… is an arachnid.” With that, he snaps.

          His vision was engulfed with nothing but white for a brief moment. Then, spots of actuality came back. Peter had his back against the rock. Golden spider legs were scattered in front of him, broken and severely damaged. His arms were limp at his sides, his left hand charred but not to serious. The main issue was actually his chest, where the stones have been resting. The left side of his chest had a gaping hole through it. Spurts of blood splattered onto the floor. Peach skin had become an oily color that faded away into an ashy hue. A sickening yellow surrounded the edges of the dead gray skin. The muscles in his chest that were supposed to be a regular shade of maroon was now cerise mixed with an obsidian tone. The smell of rotten flesh was sickening; the smoke rising from the deceased cells made it worse. A bowl of the red liquid was laying in his chest and flowing down his ripped open suit, creating a small ominous puddle. Sparks jolted from here and there at the sliced wires that were painted with red. His internal body fluids were also splattered on the lifeless object behind him. The stones laid hidden beneath the mess inside of the injured spider. His heart…

          Peter’s heart was fluttering in tiny, restless beats. Pumping blood into his body became difficult, for the ruby liquid started to leak through the micro nicks on his heart. Threads that had been attached to the fragile organ were down detached and hanging like the vines in the jungle. The teen was gasping for breath. He had expected to feel so much pain. Yet, the only sensation he felt after the snap had been nothing but cold. His body should be on fire, but there was no feeling except violent iciness. Peter could not speak nor could he move. His head was tilt slightly sideways, eyes blank with no emotion. His parted lips were starting to turn blue while more blood trickle down from his mouth to his chin.

          On the outside, Peter looked emotionless, but through his thoughts, he was panicking. Did I do it? Why can’t I feel anything? Why is there so much blood? Where is Mr. Stark? Did I accidentally kill Mr. Stark and everyone else? I knew this was a terrible idea!

          Some of Spider-Man’s thoughts had been answered when his dull eyes spot the familiar red and yellow suit heading towards him. Mr. Stark tumbles out of his suit once it made contact with the ground. He frantically heads to Peter, kneeling in front of him and scanning the teen’s wounded body. Hands quivering, Mr. Stark espied the gash standing out on Peter’s body and went to put his palms on the circular cut to stop the bleeding. He recoils when his hands end up going inside of Peter’s injury. Peter’s blood now coated the man’s fingers.

          “No, no, no, no, no, no, kid don’t do this to me.” Mr. Stark beseeches. “I just got you back, I- I told you to be careful, I can’t lose you again. You have so much to live for, you shouldn’t have thrown it all away like that, please don’t die.”

          All Peter did was blink, staring at the man with a cloudy look. I’m sorry Mr. Stark. I’m so, so sorry sir.

          By now the rest of the Avengers and company heavily dragged themselves towards the pair. Thanos and his army were gone, nothing but ashes in the wind. The survivors were silent when they advance closer. Captain America was holding his broken shield loosely, sorrow written on his face along with his companions Falcon and Bucky, who stood on either side of the WW2 veteran. Clint was leaning against Natasha. The archer was deep in his mind; if his kids ever had done that, he would be acting the way Stark was acting with the teen. Natasha usually hid her emotions, but now, her wall was wide open and a tear steadily made its way down her cheek. Rocket was perched on Thor’s shoulder, thinking the same thing Clint was thinking when it came to Groot. Star-Lord was blaming himself because if he never had attack Thanos in the first place back on Titan, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Thor was remembering how his brother, Loki, had sacrificed himself for his brother’s life. Bruce had turn away from the sight of the dying kid; they should have made another gauntlet for the right hand, they should have known something like this would have happened. T’Challa had Shuri tucked closely to his side, who was staring at the spider with pure sadness. Captain Marvel, who had arrived right after Peter used his own life to save everyone else’s, stood in between Asgardian and Wakanda soldiers, wishing that she arrived sooner. Rhodey and Pepper closed in next to Tony, both crouching on either side of the desperate man.

          “FRIDAY?” Pepper asks, knowing the AI can tell what she is asking about.

          “Chest severely damaged as well as his back, left hand has a 1^st degree burn while area near his heart contains 3^rd degree burns. Multiple skin cells gone, chest muscles crucially torn apart, and his heart is critically bleeding out. Major blood vessels have been disconnected from the heart and some of his veins are clogged.” FRIDAY hesitates. “I’m sorry Mrs. Stark. Medical attention is not an option.”

          Peter strains to listen to Mr. Stark as his hearing becomes blurry. “What is then? Why isn’t his healing doing something?”

          “From my observation, using the infinity stones had damaged his abilities. His enhanced healing and other powers must have been affected and cannot be used at this time. I am sorry sir. There is nothing any of us can do to help him.”

          “No! There has to be a way, there-“ Tony sharply turns to Doctor Strange. The man with the cloak had been standing a little bit close to the trio, Wong at his side. Strange’s eyes were blanketed from a shadow, expression unreadable. “Why did you let this happen! He’s just a kid!”

          Doctor Strange shook his head. “There was no other way.”

          “Bull. SHIT!” Stark roars. He was about to stand up when he felt a freezing hand rest on his. Peter had been struggling to regain mobility in his arms after his mentor’s outburst, and was able to elevate his burnt hand and place it against Tony’s clean hand. Tony gave his kid full attention and covered the cold hand with his warm one. Peter let a sigh escape through his nose, his vacant eyes now soaked with desolation. He was going to leave Mr. Stark again. That was the last thing he wanted to do, but the blood pouring out of him was evidence that this was not preventable.

          Come on, let me speak, one last time. Peter begs. His cerulean lips twitched a little.

          “I… I’m…” Blood jammed his throat, causing the teen to gag and gurgle. Tony tried shushing him. “I’m… s-sorry, M’ser… ‘ark…”

          Tony lets out a hollow laugh. Tears inched their way at the corner of the man’s dark brown orbs. “I have to ban you from saying those words kid.”

          Peter lets out a puff that was supposed to be a chuckle. If the situation was different, the teen would have been flat out nervous and thinking that the man was just bluffing. His breathing hitched when the chill settled back into his body, refusing to let Peter gain movement from this point. Splotches of darkness were creeping at the edges of his vision. Fluttering his eyelids, Peter fought to stay conscious. It’s a miracle that he’s been staying awake for so long right now, but like everything, all good things must come to an end.

          “Don’t close your eyes Peter,” Stark was saying, snapping his fingers in front of Peter to keep him from drifting away, “sleep is bad. Please- kid, Pete, don’t you dare keep your eyes close, open them back up right now.”

          He knows sleeping is bad right now. Sleeping meant unconsciousness, but sleeping and bleeding out meant death. Peter couldn’t help it though. His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier with every second that past and he was so exhausted. The coldness in his body didn’t help either, but it felt so welcoming to give in.

          “Tony, let him rest.” He heard Pepper whisper, although her tone contained regret.

          “No, you know what happens when they lose consciousness Pep.” Peter’s body shook when hands held onto his shoulders. “Peter don’t do this. You’re such a smart kid, you know that? You’re going to be better than all of us combined. We never got to announce that you’re the newest Avenger, Pete.”

          The spider-ling’s conscious was almost dim. “Please Peter… I… love yo…. n’t go…” His mentor was pleading Peter to cling onto that last rope of life, but his hands were slipping, and the icy-cold darkness overwhelmed him. With one last sigh, he lets go.

          “Hey! Wake up!”

          Peter’s eyes shot open and he lunges up. Breathing heavily, he looks down, expecting to see the disturbing sight of his open flesh. What he didn’t expect to see was the clothing he had worn before jumping out of the school bus on that faithful day. Gray jacket with medium black lines starting from his shoulders all the way to the end of his sleeves, a cheesy “lettuce” joke pasted on his blue shirt, pair of navy-blue jeans, stripped socks, and dark blue shoes with a muddy-brown underneath it. His web shooters were still wrapped around his wrists, but his backpack was nowhere to be seen. Confusion settled in him. Wasn’t he dead?

          Spider-Man took in his surroundings. Everything was orange. The sky was covered with faded mist that was a variety of light dawn colors. The ground he was sitting on was not dry. Liquid covered the entire ground, yet it didn’t seep into his clothing. Four pillars stood a few yards away from him with a roof carved in a neat and primitive way. Underneath the roof was a table with something radiating off of it.

          “Come towards us.”

          “W- who said that?” Peter stammers, jumping to his feet. He moved around in a circle, scanning the area for any lifeforms. He was met with only more orange.

          “Go to the table.”

          Obeying, Peter trekked towards the lone object. Water ripples from the disturbance of his foot. Drawing closer to the wooden table, Peter’s eyebrows shots upwards incredulity. Resting on the surface in a line from left to right were the infinity stones. Each of them were glittering in their respective colors. No blood was coating the mythical rocks.

          The green stone flashes. “Greetings, Peter Benjamin Parker. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

          Peter gawks at the green stone, bewildered. Did it just… talk?

          The yellow stone glistens. “Yes child. Time did speak to you. Will you not address him back?”

          “Oh!” Peter straightens his back. “I’m sorry for being rude Mr. Time sir! You just surprised me, that’s all. It- It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sir!”

          All of the stones let out a chuckle. Peter smiles a little. First impression was going well so far.

          “You can just call me Time,” The green stone beams, “and the yellow stone is Mind. Red is Reality, purple is Power, blue is Space, and orange is Soul.”

          Peter gave a small wave at the other stones. “Nice to meet all of you too! If you don’t mind me asking though, where are we?” His eyes wander around the area again. Still orange.

          Soul shimmers. “We are all currently in my world, the Soul World. It’s where everyone who has been dusted goes to.”

          “This is where I was, along with everyone else throughout those five years?” Peter questions.

          “Yes. The fifty percent of the universe who were not lucky, including you, were brought here. However, you don’t remember it because the time here is not the same as the time on Earth.”

          Peter nods, processing the information given to him. “Why here? Shouldn’t I be dead?”

          “That is correct,” Reality sparkles, “but also incorrect. Your body is currently deceased, but your soul is not. We had stopped your soul from going to the heavens. Instead, we brought you here.”

          Peter hesitates. “Why? I died.”

          Space glisters. “Because you have done something that had baffled all of us. Not even Mind would have thought of the solution you had chosen.”

          Power flickers a violet light as he continues for Space. “Throughout the centuries of us existing, we would have never expected anyone to ingest us.”

          The teen shrugs, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. He crossed his arms against his chest. Peter can still feel a slight ache on the left side of his chest from using the powerful stones. “I couldn’t think straight. So much was going on, and I just- the gauntlet was too big for my hand.”

          “The gauntlet would have shrunk you know.” Mind flares at him. Peter gapes as the yellow stone continues. “The Avengers created that gauntlet because the Thanos from your world destroyed the original by destroying the stones from your timeline.”

          “Thank goodness you didn’t try putting it on though, or else we would not be able to save you.” Soul shines.

          “S- Save me? But…” Peter was flat out shocked and puzzled. Six stones were willing to save him? This was all too much. He doesn’t deserve this. He’s just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. “Wha- what makes me so special?”

          Power glows. “Because you used what our powers represented without actually knowing it or wielding us, which makes you worthy of saving. For me, you did whatever was in your power to keep us away from Thanos. Your capacity was very limited, yet you made it useful in the end.”

          Space beams. “You had to put us somewhere. Slapping us on the top of your hand would just make us fall. You didn’t know at the time the gauntlet would shrink to your size, so that was not an option for you. Putting us in your palm barely gave us any room. Covering us with your other hand to give more room would give you the inability to snap your fingers. Instead, you used the space you already had to contain all of us, which was your insides.”

          Reality flares up. “Thanos was nearing. You couldn’t let him get us. You knew that it was either you to use us or him. The pain you felt every time you swallowed a stone made your mission very difficult, but you pushed through it, choosing to face reality instead of getting defeated.”

          Soul glistens. “So many lives were at risk when it comes to Thanos wielding the gauntlet. Sacrifice happens all of the time. Instead of sacrificing half of the universe, you decided to sacrifice your own soul to keep the universe safe and alive.”

          Time twinkles. “The clock was ticking. With each second passing by, Thanos grew closer. Like power, you used the time you had to protect us, and it was worth it.”

          Mind fulgurates. “You tricked a strong opponent. You might not have the upperhand when it comes to strength, but your intelligence was greater than Thanos’. Intelligence is the key to defeat somebody far superior than you. With your mind, you chose an option that no one, not even us, would even begin to imagine choosing, let alone even thinking about it.”

          Peter was astonished. The stones, who have been existing longer than any being in the universe, were praising a teenager from Queens. “I- I don’t know what to say.”

          “Then don’t say a word,” Power lights up, “because we still have more to say. You’ve been through so much Peter, yet you refused to give up. We’ve seen your memories. Heaving all of that concrete off of your body had been the most difficult thing you’ve experienced before us. You never told anyone because you didn’t want to worry them, is that correct?”

          The kid with spider abilities nods. Space glows thoughtfully.

          “You chose others above yourself, no matter the situation. That makes you a worthy person, Peter. A pure one even. We, the stones of the universe, refuse to let death take you away from the ones you love. Mind, care to explain?”

          The yellow stone flashes. “If you had used the gauntlet, we would not be able to save you. Energy would have coursed through your arm first, then your heart, then your brain. Both your brain and heart would have been severely damage, thus, the possibility of living was very unlikely. But since we were inside of you and ended up at your heart, we were able to reach through your skin and suit for your hand. Only a little bit of our power went to other parts of your body, but it’s nothing we can fix. However, your heart was critically damaged, exposed even. To others, it may look like a lost cause situation, but we can replace your heart.”

          Peter unconsciously places his hand over his heart. He feels the peaceful thumping of the important organ in his chest as if it had never been in a bloody pulp in the first place. Orange mist swirls around his ankles as he thinks about what Mind had said. The heart is feeling right now is no longer pumping blood in his fallen body. Sliced, burnt, limp, useless, anything negative can describe the fragile organ right now. He definitely would need a new heart.

          “How would you be able to get me another one? You can’t just create another human organ.” Peter pauses. “Can you?”

          “We could,” Reality reflects a bright scarlet, “but doing that would mean we would be taking someone else’s heart, causing them to die. Besides, you’re too selfless to take away an innocent person’s life from them. All of us don’t want to be killers. We can form a heart by combining our powers, one that will last for a long time until your true time is up.”

          “But what about the timelines you are originally from?” Peter says worriedly. “You said that Thanos had destroyed the stones in this time. Since our universe is saved, won’t yours need you?”

          Time shimmers a deep pine green. “They will be perfectly fine without us. In fact, because of our absence, Thanos in those timelines will not be able to collect us and wipe out half of the universe. It’s a win-win for your timeline and the others, all because of your actions.”

          Peter smiles and gives a relieved laugh. “Wow, I never thought it that way.” He sways a little on his heels, all of his nerves dissolving. “Thank you so much, all of you. I- I’m truly grateful for what you are all sacrificing for me. If there’s any way I can repay you, please let me know. I don’t want to leave you all empty handed.”

          “You already done enough for us Peter,” Soul glistens, “you saved the universe from going through grief once again, and you saved other universes from experiencing the same fate this one went through. Now, you might want to step back.”

          Peter does as he’s told and backs away from the table. He watches in awe as all of the stones glow brighter than before. One by one, the magical stones rise from their spots, leaving a faint trail of their misty colors before it disappears. The stones created a circle and inched towards the center. A dazzling white envelopes the ancient rocks. Peter had to squint his eyes and bring a hand up to shield his face, for the light was so bright it might blind him. A gust of wind bursts from the powerful stones, causing Peter to lose his balance and be flung a few feet away. Landing on his rear, Peter firmly shuts his eyes as the white wavy blanket explodes. The teen slowly lowers his hands and cautiously opens his oak brown eyes. Levitating above the table was a crystalized heart, pumping steadily like any other heart. He could spot out the traces of sharp edges on the surface of the newly designed organ. It glistened under the beams of the soft orange lights that had dug their way through the cloudy atmosphere. The colors of the rainbow all whirled around the heart, causing it to become a variety of colors- mainly the original six colors. On the front of the heart were little pieces of the infinity stones, sticking out of the solid structure.

          “Is this my new heart?” Peter’s voice trembles with anticipation. The new creation was stunning to look at. It looked so valuable and rare that Peter jolted at the thought of someone ripping his chest open and removing his new heart with force.

          The purple pebble illuminates. “No one will take your heart Peter because no one, besides you and everyone near your deceased body right now, will know. Stand up and stay still child. We are ready to get your soul back to your body.”

          As the high school student gets back on his feet, a black bow and one arrow appears. The arrow was pulled back and aimed at Peter’s chest. Peter raises an eyebrow at the archery equipment, questioning the inanimate objects appearance.

          “This is Clint Barton’s bow and arrow,” Soul flickers as the stone answers the spider’s suspicions, “he sacrificed his trustworthy bow and arrow for me. Since he had used this type of weapon for such a long time, it was able to develop its own soul through the care Clint had given to it. You might not think it like me, but the parting between weapon and user was really a doleful sight to see.”

          Peter silently nods, not questioning one of the Avengers weapon anymore. If six random gems can make a heart, then an arrow can contain a spirit. The solid heart floats towards the tip of the arrow and locks itself onto the arrow. Every muscle in Peter’s body tightens as the bow pulls the arrow back further.

          “Relax yourself Peter. You will not feel any pain.” Time gleams calmly.

          “Are you sure?” Peter queries, a hint of anxiety in his tone.

          “We wouldn’t be doing this if it gave you more pain,” Time glints in response, “you’ve already been through enough agony. We don’t want you going through that again.”

          Peter sighs out the breath he held captive. Strange and Time had so much in common, Peter notes. Calm, collective, always knowing what will happen. No wonder the mystic arts master was chosen to protect the infinity stone. Giving a thumbs up to the stones, Peter inhales, exhales, and relaxes. The sable bow pulls back its companion one more time before releasing it. In a blink of an eye, the heart made contact with Peter’s left chest. His vision was met with the shades of unconsciousness for the third time.

          While all of this was happening, Tony was hysterical. Yelling at the kid to wake up, furiously tapping his cheek and shaking his tattered body. All the kid did during this was stare at him with dull, lifeless eyes. Staring back into those misty eyes, Tony was angry at himself. Those eyes should be bright and filled with excitement and wonder, not dead and dispassionate. The bleeding from Peter’s life-taking injury had almost stopped. The stones had halted their glowing as if their magical powers had gone into hibernation. Pepper tried coaxing her husband away from the teen’s body, but he refused. His hands curled around Peter’s shoulders, the same action he had done after they reunited on the battlefield. Salty tears trickled down his face, the liquid shunning itself into his goatee. Dried blood coated his fingers but he paid little attention to it. Shoulders shook from Tony’s silent weeping. He had told himself that he was going to bring the kid back. He had told himself to keep the kid safe. Why does he keep failing the simplest tasks?

          “Mr. Stark, is that you? Please help me, I’m stuck down here! I can’t move! I’m sorry about everything I had said! Don’t leave me here!” A small sob escaped Tony’s trembling lips. The kid had been so petrified under that building, and he did nothing. Peter had been slowly dying in front of him, and he did nothing. He was a terrible mentor; he doesn’t deserve Peter as his apprentice. Peter is a blessed soul, too pure for a Stark to be taking under their wing. Whenever Peter was in his presence, he always got hurt. This time, the universe thought that hurting Peter wasn’t enough.

          “Tony please…” Pepper murmurs, sharing a worried glance with Rhodey. “You have to let him go. He wouldn’t want you to grieve for him again.”

          Again. The mechanic had already grieved for Peter for five years, but did the universe care? Hell no.

          Tony shakes his head. “I’m not leaving him, Pep. I-“ His voice cracks. “I can’t.”

          Pepper’s hand was replaced with someone else’s. Tony remembers those rough yet soothing hands anywhere. Steve. Freaking. Rogers. Turning his head slightly, Stark peeks at the super soldier. The mask that covered his face was ripped along with his suit. Dirt and blood scattered across his face. Steve sadly looked back at Tony’s chocolate eyes.

          “He was supposed to be better than all of us.” Tony whispers, turning his attention back to the bloody body. He felt Steve’s hand squeezed his shoulder, showing that he agreed. The brunette placed his head on Peter’s chest, careful about the hole on the left side. Taking Peter’s scorched hand with both of his, Tony brought it to his own chest. Stark’s arc reactor was humming, showing signs of life while shining through the fabric. Yet, the teens heart was still, empty, sliced, torn, dead.

          “Please come back,” Tony pleads, “don’t leave. Everyone n- needs Spider-Man. Everyone needs Peter Parker. I need Peter Parker. Do- Don’t…”

          Pleading from the older man fell into deaf ears. His kid was gone. The universe took him away again, and they were never bringing him back. Eyes closing, Tony leans more into the limp body of Peter, tears mixing with the slightly dried splattered blood. Life was so cruel and unfair. It has never been friendly to Tony. Death would always take, and take, and take, because satisfaction was not in death’s dictionary.

          Universe had taken from Tony once again, and will never return his lost joy.

          …

          …

          …

          Universe had heard his wish.

          Universe had been thinking about his wish.

          Universe had answered his wish.

          A bright light pulsed in Peter’s chest, causing Tony to whip his eyes open in shock and lean back. The stones were illuminating beneath the horrifying mess, brighter than before. Everyone watched as the stones detached themselves from the insides of the body and flutter over Peter’s abused heart. Light washed over the dead body. Every scratch on his skin, every bump on his head, all seem to heal. The 1^st degree burns on Peter’s left hand faded away, replaced with cleanse peach skin. Dried blood crusted off the flesh and into the air. Skin around the opening on the left chest started turning back into its original color, the dead skin cells and ashes chipped off of Peter and onto the ground, abandoned. The six ancient stones crashed into each other, their forms mixing and shaping into something new.

          Tony couldn’t believe it. The stones just transformed themselves into a mythical crystalized heart. Its appearance was the same as any other human heart, only this heart had different colors dancing to the beat on the inside. Poking through the rock-like structure were the infinity stones, all of them twinkling one by one. Lightly, strings of energy slithered from the crystal heart to the unwanted organ. They wove around it in a delicate manner and lifts it up. As if it was a newborn, the glowing strands placed the old heart four or five inches from Peter’s body. The new heart lowers itself into the open spot. It nestled inside as multiple thin energy ropes sprung out. They laced onto the drooping blood vessels, connecting the tubes to the new heart. Throbbing once, the crystalized organ pumped bits of its powers into Peter’s blood stream. His clogged veins have now opened and lit up. Sparkles littered the edges of the exposed wound and began to seal it shut. After that, the lighting died down from the veins. Everyone waited in a hushed silence.

          A gasp of breath seeps through Peter’s lips, making his chest rise. Tony clutched Peter’s now healed hand and lets out a wet laugh. His kid breathing. Breathing meant living. Living meant pushing away the clutches of death itself. He doesn’t know how or why, but the stones had saved his kid. Peter was not leaving him any time soon.

          Thank you. Stark sighs. Rolling his shoulders, he turns his head around, and gave everyone a reassuring smile. “He’s alive.”

          The Asgardian soldiers and the Wakanda warriors were the first ones to cheer, closely followed by the mystic arts masters. Clint wrapped an arm around Natasha’s arm and gave her a side hug. Rocket had jumped down from Thor’s shoulder and stood next to the rest of the Guardians, grins emerging on their faces. Quill was even fighting to hold back tears. Thor lets out a victorious boom and flings Stormbreaker in the air, careful to not disturb the snoozing green snake that had replaced Rocket’s spot. Cloak of Levitation was patting Strange’s back, who was letting his hand stray through his dark hair while looking eased. Bruce covers his face with is good arm, wiping away tears. T’Challa hugged his sister tightly. Sunlight burst through the thick clouds of smoke and dust, resting its warmth onto the heroes. Carol was crying, happy that the teen refused to stay dead. Sam and Bucky bumped their fists together. Pepper, Rhodey, and Steve let out huge breaths of relaxation.

          Eventually, they had to get Peter back to a medical facility. Shuri suggested that everyone should go to Wakanda to get their wounds treated. Nobody went against her thoughts. Tony softly picks up Peter bridal style, his brown curls tickling Tony’s chin. The spider had a peaceful expression as he continued to breath at an even pace. What felt like the millionth time, Tony lets a few more tears slip from his eyes. Stepping through the portal Strange had created, he walks next to his wife and the man who had seen the future, grateful that Peter was alive and well once again.

          Tony Stark was grateful to have his son back.

Chapter Text

Yes yes I know, I should've had a chapter 3 out sooner. That's on my part and I apologize for this VERY long delay. :c

BUT HEY! Since all of this "Stay At Home" stuff is happening... I can work on a chapter 3 now. WOOO! Better late then never right? :D

HoWeVeR, since I lost the script to chapter 3 (I'm gonna check again just to make sure,) I have to create a new one before starting chapter 3. Cause I gotta know what to type before typing the story!

Oh, yeah, and make sure to keep tissues near you, cause there's gonna be a BoNuS sCeNe, and you're not gonna like that. o3o

Anyways, keep your eyes open, cause that chapter 3 WILL happen!

Until then, see you all soon! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Chapter Text

     Sunlight soaked through the tall glass window. Heart monitor beeping steadily, the unconscious body of Peter Parker laid beneath the smooth fabric of a blanket. His curly brown locks were pushed to the side as his head rested against a fluffed-out pillow. An IV, with the length of a venomous scaly snake, slithered from his arm all the way to the hanging clear bag filled with fluids. Sitting next to Peter on a firm but comfortable wooden chair with a small dark red pillow on the surface was Tony Stark. Tony was watching the heart monitor, making sure that the steady beats didn’t go astray as he held onto Peter’s limp hand. Pepper sat next to him on another wooden chair, gazing out of the window into the thriving city below. From high above in the medical facility, the people below looked like specks of molecules moseying along. Blue skies greeted anyone who looked up. Trees flocked the pathways as trains zoomed above the residents of the city. All was calm from the aftermath of a vicious battle.

     Tearing her eyes from the glorious scene, Pepper studied Tony. He seemed to be in some kind of trance while watching the heart monitor create mini pixelated neon green mountains. Although his black suit had been torn, filthy, and wrinkled from all of the damage he had taken, he still kept it on. The man had refused to leave Peter’s side ever since they let him in the room they placed Peter in. Unblinking, the billionaire would sometimes lower his eyebrows before setting them back to their original position.

     Pepper placed a hand gingerly on her husband’s shoulder. “Is there something bothering you?”

     Tony finally blinked, Pepper’s voice knocking him out of his internal conflict. Shifting his body, he moved his eyes to his wife’s. The man with the iron suits nodded. Pepper raised an eyebrow, not believing Tony’s answer. Sighing, his shoulders slump as he answers truthfully.

     “I finally got the kid back, only to almost lose him again. I’m terrible at keeping him safe. Under my watch, he always gets hurt. Even when I turn my back he still gets hurt.”

     Pepper rubs his back gently, some dirt smearing onto her fingers, but slightly puzzled at his last sentence. “What makes you say that?”

     Tony hesitates. Should he tell her? The only ones who really know what he had seen was Steve, because he was there while it happened, and the others who had time traveled with the two Avengers. Stark mentally shakes his head, disappointed in himself. This was his wife he was talking about. Of course he should tell her.

     “I saw something,” Tony began, “before coming back to our timeline. Steve and I were coming back when our suits started to send us into a different year. We ended up at this warehouse that I had never seen before. Apparently, we were not the only ones there. Peter was also there.”

      Tony halts his speech, reflecting those terrifying moments of watching Peter engaging with the Vulture. “Steve and I followed the kid and saw him going to Toomes. I wanted to stop him, but Steve kept reminding me to not change anything. Toomes started to attack him, but was not specifically going for Peter, and then…”

      The broken voice of 2017 Peter vibrates in his ears, begging Tony to save him. He could still feel the dust invade his sight and sense of smell. The blue atmosphere that filled the dimly lit building still clings onto his brain. Tony looks back at Peter’s slumped body, the boy’s chest expanding and inflating in a calm motion. He reached out, lightly taking one of Peter’s hands and squeezing it gently. Nerves jabbed his arc reactor as if scientists were plunging needles into his arms, taking blood samples or injecting some kind of strange substance into him. Pepper kept on rubbing his back reassuringly.

     “You don’t have to tell me.” Pepper insists, but Tony shakes his head. He has to get this out. It’s been eating him on the inside.

     “The kid- shit, Pepper- he never mentioned this to me once. Toomes made a building fall on Peter. A fucking building, Pep. And you know what Toomes did? He left Peter there to die. He- he’s only a kid! I did nothing but stare! Peter… he was crying out for someone to help him. He could’ve died that day.”

     Death to Peter was a thought for Tony to dread. Under his protection, Peter had died twice. Twice. His kid had been selected as one of the unlucky 50% to leave this world. Tony still remembers the way Peter’s enhanced healing had been fighting off the snap’s effects. The way Peter’s spidey-senses had warned the kid that something was about to happen before Peter started to tumble towards Tony, his fingers beginning to peel off into the air.

     “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go, sir please, please I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go.” Peter had been saying the entire time while desperately clinging to Tony just before his legs fully dissolved into particles in the wind. He buries his face in his free hand, overwhelmed with a variety of emotions. Pepper solemnly kept her eyes on her husband.

     “He’s here now,” Pepper reminds him. “He’s breathing, his heart is beating, he’s alive. You feel his hand right now, don’t you? It’s not cold. Cold hands mean no blood pumping. No blood pumping means dead body. However, his hands are not cold. Life is in him Tony. Peter’s alive.”

     Tony nods, thumb rubbing the surface of Peter’s hand gently. Pepper was right. Peter’s hands were warm and the kid’s lungs kept expanding every time he took in a breath. The fabric of the blanket rustles slightly every time a limb twitches. The older man could see Peter’s eyes moving around under his eyelids every now and then. If Peter were dead, he wouldn’t be doing all of these actions.

     “Once he wakes up, I’ll talk to him about keeping secrets like this.” Tony declares, lifting his head. Pepper silently agrees with him.

     Not a moment later, T’Challa walks in with Shuri and two other doctors who appear to be young. Straightening his back, Tony grips Peter’s hand a little bit firmer. The two doctors have clipboards in their hands, swiftly jotting down Peter’s appearance. After writing a few notes, both young doctors watched their king and princess, awaiting their message.

     “What Shuri, our doctors, and some of our cardiologists had found was… really interesting,” T’Challa began, studying Peter’s face. “We’ve never seen anything like this before. The stones had combined themselves into a unique form of a heart and attached itself to important chords that were previously on the former heart.”

     The young doctors were scribbling every word their king had said as Shuri continued their discovery. “Blood is still going through his vessels, but something else is as well. We don’t know what it truly is, but what we have concluded so far is that the power of the stones made their way into every bloodstream and merged with his blood cells, as well as creating new blood cells. Since his body is enhanced it was able to take in the new substance with ease. If he was a regular human, then there might have not been a possibility of his system taking in the foreign power too well. He’s lucky he is enhanced.”

      Nerves were still rattling his body, but relief had been included in the fray. Peter will be alive thanks to the infinity stones. But he couldn’t help but wonder why the stones would do this.

     “Do you have any reasons why this might have happened?” Pepper asks as if she had read her husband’s mind.

     Shuri thinks for a moment. “I’m honestly not sure. One possibility can be that the stones must have liked him. Why? I don’t know. Must be his personality or something else. Either way, the stones have to have a good reason to save him.”

     That makes sense. Peter has always done good things to people, no matter the size of his actions, it always affected the person he’s acting upon. It even affected the Tony Stark. Nothing but good came out of the kid. No wonder the stones have saved Peter, he’s too nice and wants to save everyone. The Vulture had tried to kill him, yet he still saved him from burning alive.

     “Thank you.” Tony says. T’Challa and Shuri smiled at him while the two doctors placed their pencils into their clipboards.

     “There is a spare bedroom down the hall for the both of you.” T’Challa announces. With that, the king and his people left the room. Tony sighs and weaves his fingers through his hair, pushing his matted locks back into place. The corners of Pepper’s lips tug up into a soothing smile. A knock on the solid door made them both look up.

     “Come in.” Pepper said. The door groans in frustration as Steve Rogers walks in. Normal civilian clothing clings to his muscular body, causing his broad chest to be sticking out as if it was a scarlet rose in a field of daisies with cream petals. Stitches were scattered on his left cheek and on his exposed arms. A white patch covered a nasty gash on Steve’s forehead. Once tangled dirty blonde hair was now combed neatly, the sunlight in the window reflecting off his hair. He dips his head to Tony and Pepper.

     “I take it that you want to talk to Tony alone?” Pepper questions. Steve gives a small smile and confirms her question. Standing up, Pepper gives a quick kiss to Tony’s head before exiting the room. The super soldier leans against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. A comfortable silence follows They stare at each other, blue eyes meeting brown orbs.

     “How are the others?” Tony asks, looking back at Peter.

     “Those space people who call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy are staying for a while,” Steve starts. “The green lady they call Gamora is from a different timeline but is staying with them. Turns out Loki is also not dead. He and Thor are going to be going back to New Asgard once they discuss a few things. Natasha and Clint are trying to find a different bow for Barton, Bruce is studying that new heart of Peter’s with Shuri, and Wanda is also figuring a way to revive Vision without the Mind stone. Everyone is staying in Wakanda until things are settled.”

     “That’s good.” Stark says. Rogers lets his eyes wander to Peter.

     “How are you coping?” Now it was Steve’s turn to ask Tony. “About… the incident in 2017, I mean.”

     Tony hunches his back, his elbow resting against his knee. Not once did he remove his hold from Peter’s hand. “I’m still processing all of it. The kid always kept secrets, but I never expected him to keep… that to himself. I just hope that he doesn’t do that ever again.”

      Steve’s expression became a solace one. He saunters towards Tony and sits next to him.  Like Tony, he tilts slightly forwards and intertwines his two hands together. “That’s what I’m worried about now.”

     When Tony gives Steve a quizzing look, the blonde continues. “On the battlefield, when Peter was… dying… you said that he is our newest Avenger. You know what we’ve been through. Peter is definitely strong for his age, but now I’m concerned for his safety. Being on this team means going into danger. Are you sure he should be an Avenger?”

     I never thought of that. Tony had made Peter because of the problem they were about to face and he wanted to boost the kid’s confidence before heading into a fight. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That phrase included the time with Germany when he recruited Peter to fight the people on Cap’s side. When he saw Peter get knocked down hard by Scott’s huge hand, Peter get knocked down hard by Scott’s huge hand, Tony realized that this has to be the last time he ever lets the kid fight in something major. Yet, he continues to drag him into those situations. Adding Peter to the Avengers team will only increase his chances of getting hurt. Who knows what will happen in the future? Could Tony be leading Peter into a bigger threat? Should he tell Peter that he is not an Avenger anymore, just to keep him safe? Then again Tony would be breaking his kid’s spirit, and he might start thinking that it was his own fault for getting kicked off the team. Tony didn’t want to hurt Peter.

     “I’ll keep him safe,” Tony vows. “An eye of mine will always be on him in any situation. if a mission is too dangerous, I’ll make sure he doesn’t come with us. I- I won’t make the same mistake like last time. Never again.”

     Steve exhales lightly. “I’ll do the same as well. Teammates protect each other. Peter will be no different. The others will know that he is an official Avenger from me.”

     Tony blinks, appreciating Steve’s generosity to pass on the new knowledge to their fellow teammates. Together, the two Avengers sat in a peaceful silence, excluding the repetitive beating of the heart monitor. White fluffy clouds rolled in the horizon as the heroes sat in the quiet room, waiting for the child with the Infinity Heart to awake.

     Few days have passed. Peter still hasn’t woken up. Tony has not moved from his seat other than to go to the bathroom. Pepper went back to the cabin to care for Morgan. Shifting in his seat, the billionaire rested his head back and stared at the ceiling. Previously, he had called Peter’s aunt, and her reaction was well expected.

     “If you have just done more to get him back to Earth, none of this would have happened!” May screeches, causing Tony to wince and move his phone slightly away from his ear. It was as if she made her own voice become a huge speaker. “You know that he shouldn’t be in space! Peter- he died once under your watch. Then, when you and your little gang get him and everyone else back, what happens? He dies again! You were supposed to protect him. Because of this, he has an unknown heart in him that we don’t know what will do!”

     Tony was silent. May rambled on, muttering under her breath how she should have stopped Peter from being Spider-Man when she found out. The engineer stared at the floor, guilt swelling in him. Blaming himself is one of the things Tony Stark was good at. Others blaming him is never uncommon. He knows that Peter should have gone home once the parachute was activated. The possibility of Peter ignoring his orders was something Tony should have seen coming. May reminding him of his mistakes- both past and current- only deepened his sadness.

     “I- I know,” Tony responds, “that he’s to be protected. I never wanted this to happen. Peter was going home but he came back on the ship. I’m so sorry May. He knows how dangerous these missions are and yet… God, I’m so stupid. I want to keep him safe and I’m trying my hardest but something just has to happen to screw me over.”

     Stark hides his eyes with one hand and clenches the phone in the other. “I really care about the kid May. I never wanted this to happen. I try and try and try but I keep letting him down. You have every right to not trust me at this moment, but I swear to you I- I really love him. I’ll never let him do anything reckless or let him leave my sight ever again.”

     May is quiet for a moment, causing Tony to worry that she had hung up on him during his speech. Pulling his phone back, he can still see the amount of time they have been talking increasing by every second. Patiently, he waited for May’s response. A breath that came out as a sigh was released from Peter’s aunt.

     “Alright, Mr. Stark,” May murmurs. “I- I believe you. I’m sorry as well. None of this could have been prevented. It wasn’t your fault, I overreacted.”

     After that, they both exchanged a few words before hanging up.

      He looks out the window after a few moments of sightseeing the ceiling. Even at night, the city of Wakanda still appeared to be dazzling, maybe even more breathtaking than New York City. Light sky blue and mango-yellow lights from the buildings flourished in the darkness of the night. Stars twitched here and there while the full roundness of the moon beamed down upon the Earth. The streets below were lit to let Tony see that a few more people were still walking around.

     “You would’ve liked this Peter,” Tony speaks to the unconscious boy. “There’s so much going on here. It’s just like Queens, only there’s no crime rate.”

     Again, Stark grasps Peter’s hand, thinking that any given moment the teenager will leave him. “You’ve done a great job; you know that? You’re such a strong and brave kid. I never would have expected you to do this. This is just like you though. Always wanting to save everyone, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal of yours. Never want to let anybody down. You’re such a great superhero Peter. Definitely better than me.”

     If Peter had heard what Tony said, he didn’t show any signs of it. Gently, Tony placed his other hand on Peter’s, holding the limp feature with his own. Palms tingling, his chest tightened before he felt all of the stress and anguish he felt in the past 5 years came rushing back. His breath hitched while his shoulders shook. A small drop of liquid slid down his cheek. Few more tears followed in suit.

     “This isn’t how I expected to reunite with you Peter. Please wake up. I- I never forgot about you. It’s been so… unnatural without you. I’ve missed you so much kid. When Cap and the others came looking for me and found a way to bring you back, I feared that it wouldn’t work. I feared that, somehow, we might screw it all up. That’s why I was too skeptical to try out their idea. But then I saw that picture you made Pepper take. You remember that day? We finally gave you the official license as an intern for my company. You were so happy that we gave you that internship certificate. I missed seeing your happiness kid.”

     Tony bows his head. He seems to be doing that really often nowadays. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you Pete. I never say this to people besides the ones who are the closest to me, but you are one of those people. I love you kid. I genuinely mean this. Wake up soon Peter. This world still needs you. I still need you.”

     Seven more days passed. Stark smells awful. Dark bags hung underneath his brown eyes that had a red tint on the corners of his eyeball. The clothing he wore on the battlefield still covered his body, all wrinkled and still painted with filth as sweat drenched his armpits. Hair tangled with knots and uneven curls, his stomach would rumble from hunger. His tongue was dry and his throat was parched, but Tony refused to leave Peter’s side. Determined to be here when the kid wakes up, Tony would wave off people who told him to leave. Eventually they believed Tony’s words and left him alone. All except one, of course.

     Steve Rogers twisted the knob of the medical door and lightly pushed it open. Immediately his nose scrunches up and he waves his hand in front of his face. Tony’s gaze flickers to the super soldier as he stepped in. Steve could see the sun reflecting off of the engineer’s greasy brown hair. Closing the door so the revolting scent doesn’t disturb others in the hallway, Rogers proceeds to head to the sleep deprived man.

     “Hey Steve,” Tony croaks, eyes dazed while lazily lifting a hand. “Pete hasn’t woken up yet. How are you by the way?”

     Steve shakes his head. “Don’t act like that Stark. You smell so bad right now. Go take a shower and sleep. Peter’s not going anywhere.”

     Tony grunts disapprovingly. “I can’t. He might wake up any minute and I need to be there when he does.”

     “I’m pretty sure the first thing he wouldn’t want to see is the position you are in.” Steve replies. Tony huffs and his eyelids lower for a bit. Captain America taps Stark on the shoulder and the drowsy man startles awake, body jolting upright and eyes becoming wider than before.

     “Is he up?” Tony asks, wild eyes moving to the still unconscious boy. Steve sighs with pity and places a hand on Tony’s back.

     “Alright,” Steve says, “time to get up. I’m not letting you destroy yourself waiting for Peter to wake up. He eventually will and you know he’s in good shape already, so why not keep your health in check?”

     The blonde placed his hands underneath Tony’s arms, not bothering to flinch back when he felt sweat on his armpits. He lifts the brunette up carefully. Some dirt falls back onto the chair, making the once clean red pillow dirty. Tony weakly tries to get out of Steve’s grip by worming around. Steve keeps a strong hold on the struggling man, moving one hand to his waist while the other wraps around Tony’s wrist. Stark’s brows wrinkle in frustration as he tries to rip his wrist from the super soldier’s hand. In the end, he’s unsuccessful. The man’s body shook, fingers holding onto Steve’s arm. His brown orbs looked into Steve’s blue ones. Rogers stares back, viewing the delirious and distraught expression Stark had.

     “I- I can’t leave him,” Tony sputters out. “I need to stay with him, he might be confused and scared once he wakes up. Don’t take me away from him Steve- I can’t lose him again. He needs me near. I have to keep him safe, Peter won’t… he doesn’t-“

     Steve cuts him off. “He won’t go anywhere Tony. He’s safe here. Nobody will hurt him anymore. Peter’s fine.”

     Tony’s hand falters from Steve’s arm but he doesn’t let go. Steve also loosens his grasp on Tony. They stood there for a moment, Steve watching Tony’s reaction. Finally, Tony sighs and nods, his eyes downcast. 

     “Okay, you’re- you’re right. There’s nothing here to harm him. I’ll go and get myself all fixed up.” Tony’s eyes lifted. “Just, if he wakes up when I’m gone, please get me, alright?”

     The blonde nods, smiling slightly. Tony lazily grabbed the extra clothes Pepper left for him before she left and stumbled in the bathroom. Before closing the door, the brunette looked at Peter and then at Steve. Steve waves him off, reassuring the sleep deprived man that Peter was fine. Tony blinks and closes the door softly as if all of the energy he had has left his body. Steve watched the door until he heard the shower head running. Captain America walked towards the window and leaned against the wall. Crossing his arms over his chest, the blue eyed man watched the sleeping teen.

     I hope you wake up soon, Peter. Steve thought before staring out the window, thinking about what happened in 2017. Because Tony’s a mess without you.

     “So, let’s say my leg gets cut off. Where would I feel pain?” 

     Peter watches the stones as they all flicker, communicating with each other telepathically. Perched on top of the table, he has his arms on the table’s surface behind him as he kicks his legs patiently. Orange mist swirls around Peter’s legs like dancers twirling around their partners. It has been 10 minutes since he has asked that question and the ancient stones have been unable to conclude the problem. Next to him, Clint’s former bow’s string strummed because of Clint’s arrow. The teen turned his attention to the bow and chuckled.

     “I agree. You’d think ancient and mythical rocks would know every answer, but ask them a confusing question and it stuns them.”

     A few heartbeats after Peter’s response, the stones stopped flickering. Once again, Peter’s attention changed to the stones.

     “Do you have an answer?” Peter asks. The stones are silent for a moment.

     “We do.” Mind flashes. “Your question may have stumped us for a moment, but when discussing the problem together, we have found a solution. A being, like you, will not feel any pain in the leg because that limb is not attached to your body anymore. However, you will still feel pain in your thigh. The leg has been disconnected from the thigh, so therefore the pain you will feel will not be in your leg but your thigh. ”

     Peter smiles and huffs out a small laugh. Clint’s bow quivers again. Peter’s eyes widen and his hand flies to his mouth as he snorts, containing a much larger volume of laughter.

     Reality glistens. “Well excuse us for storing too much knowledge to come up with an answer right away Strings.”

     Throughout the time Peter has been in the Soul World, he and the stones- actually, Peter did it by himself- gave Clint’s bow the name Strings. After a while, the stones started calling the bow Strings too. In fact, since the infinity stones have been hanging out with Peter while he’s been stuck in a sleeping state, their tones have changed more. Most of the time the stones will dismiss the formal voices they’ve been so used to using. Over time, Peter has also been able to understand what Strings is saying when the object rumbles its string. 

     “Okay here is another one. What word is spelled without a vowel?” Peter smirked as the stones were quiet before the colorful stones started to shimmer fiercely, telepathically speaking to one another once again. The moment didn’t last for long before the world started to shake. Spider-Man sat up and looked around, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. The stones stopped glistening as Strings floated up, an arrow appearing attached to the pulled back string. A few seconds later, the shaking stopped, yet the orange glow of the Soul World seemed to fade a bit.

     “What just happened?” The brunette teen says, pushing himself off the table.

     “Your body must be waking up soon.” Time beams.

     Soul brightens up. “Time is right. When you come here and start to wake up, my world will start to dim its orange color.”

     Peter nods in understanding. “That’s reasonable. What happens when I wake up though?”

     “We do not know. You’ve been in the Soul World since you passed out on the battlefield. The only way to know what happens next is when you wake up Peter.” Space flares.

     Another rumble interrupts the stillness of the mystic world. Peter grabs onto the table to keep his footing. The orange becomes less visible as the fog disperses altogether. Clint’s bow dismisses the arrow and floats back down with the bottom end of it resting against the table’s surface. Once the rumbling is done, the only orange visible is the small area surrounding Peter and the magical inanimate objects. 

     “If this is goodbye, then I would like to thank you all again.” Peter turns around so he’s facing the infinity stones and Strings. “You’ve done so much for me, and you all kept me company during my coma- would I call it a coma? Maybe- and I don’t think I can thank you enough. I’m pretty sure I’ll forever be in your debt.”

     Power blinks. “For the last time, you do not need to thank us. It’s us who should still be thanking you. In addition, you are forever in our debt, seeing how you’re stuck with us until your true time comes.”

     Peter chuckles and smiles. The Soul World quakes, much more powerful than the last, and the last of the orange disappears. The teen with spider abilities’ vision began to blur. Peter heard Strings strum a goodbye before the Soul World vanished altogether.

     Blinking, the enhanced superhero was greeted to a harsh light filling his line of view. Peter kept his eyes closed for a few seconds before slowly opening his eyes. He was laying beneath a comfy blanket while lying on a surprisingly relaxing hospital bed. The room had paper-white walls with a long window on the side of it. According to the outside world, the time he woke up must’ve been around dawn. While peeling his brown orbs from the window, he caught a glimpse of dark brown tuft of hair in the corner of his eye. Sitting next to him on a wooden chair was Tony Stark himself. The man’s arms were crossed loosely over his chest while his head was bowed. Peter could tell from the dark circles under the inventor's eyes that Tony has been avoiding sleep. 

     Mr. Stark… Peter blinks sadly at his mentor. He didn’t think his recovering state would affect Tony that bad. 

     Careful with the IV in his arm, the teen lifted his hand and tapped Stark’s shoulder. Immediately Tony’s head jolted up and he whipped his head around, looking for the cause of the tap. When his eyes landed on Peter, he froze. Peter watched as shock mixed with relief ghosted the man’s face. Speechless, Tony placed a shaking hand on top of Peter’s arm, as if he was doubting what his eyes were seeing. When Peter placed his other hand on top of Tony’s and smiled, something inside the man broke. Stark bowed his head as his free hand came up to cover his eyes. The teen gripped Tony’s hand as the man’s body shook, a shuddering breath escaping his lips. The sun’s orange glow seeped through the window and covered both heroes, making them cast soft shadows in the plain room. Neither of them spoke. No words needed to be shared at the time. All that was needed was just the presence of a mentor and his kid.

     The two of them spoke to each other later on in the day. Before that, however, Peter was able to officially meet the rest of the Avengers, as well as the other heroes who help fight Thanos off. He was even able to meet the God of Mischief himself, which Peter never thought that would happen in his lifetime. Ned will definitely never hear the end of this once Peter gets back to Queens. Although, it wasn’t Tony who told everyone he was awake. No, it was Captain America himself. The super soldier walked into the room an hour or two later, with Peter and Tony still in the same position. Steve left silently to get the medical staff and Shuri to check on Peter’s condition, as well as to tell the rest of the heroes of the teen’s awakening. Throughout it all, Tony stayed silent. He kept his eyes on Peter, watching his every movement while staying near the teen. Why? Peter guessed that Mr. Stark might still be on edge. Peter couldn’t blame his mentor. He would do the same thing if this happened to Tony.

     Back in his bed, Peter was fiddling with his fingers. Next to him, Tony watched the business of Wakanda outside the window. The two of them were once again left alone in the room, and neither of them knew how to start a conversation. Peter should be able to start one; he’s always been a talkative kid. But, for some reason, neither of them could peep out a word. That is, until Stark took in a breath and looked at Peter. Peter stopped playing with his fingers and turned his attention to Tony, waiting for the man to speak. 

     “So, um, what happened? With the stones?” Well, Peter didn’t think that was the first thing Tony would say to him, but at least it’s something.

     “Oh, the stones spoke to me- well, not speak, more like lighting up when they talked- anyways, they told me how they were thankful that I defeated Thanos and gave me a second chance in life. I don’t know how but they formed some sort of crystal heart, and now that’s keeping me alive, at least until my true end comes, but I’m sure that won’t be for a long time! And while I was out I talked to the stones and Strings the whole time, since it was just us in the Soul World, and-”

     Tony frowns slightly and sits up a bit straighter. “Wait, who’s this “Strings” person?”

     Now it was Peter’s turn to frown at Stark. “You know Strings. It’s Clint’s bow, the one he sacrificed for the soul stone.” Then it clicked. “Oh now I know why you were confused. I named his bow Strings when I was in the Soul World.”

     Tony nods. “I see.”

     He cleared his throat before continuing. “There’s also something else that I’ve been meaning to, um, discuss with you about."

     Peter sits back, nerves tingling his system. Please don’t let it be about the suit again.

     Tony looks at Peter in the eye. “What happened with you and Toomes at that abandoned building?”

     Peter’s shoulders droop slightly with relief. Thank God, he didn’t mention the- wait what?

     “Wh- what abandoned building? What are you talking about?” Peter asks as all relief drains from his body. The teen tenses up and he nervously holds onto the blanket, making the surface wrinkle. 

     “You know what I’m talking about kid. When Steve and I were going back to this timeline, something messed up with the machine. We landed in front of an abandoned building in 2017. You happened to be heading there and when Steve and I followed you, what did we see? Toomes making a building fall on you. A building, Peter. Who knows what could have happened if you didn’t get out of there?” Tony took a moment to breathe. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

     Peter tore his gaze from Tony’s. Gripping the blanket tighter, Peter recalled the moment when the building caved in from Toomes and shoved him into the ground, burying him. He never wanted Stark to know about the building. In fact, he didn’t want anyone to know about it. Peter never even told Ned about the encounter too.

     “I didn’t think it was important.” Is all Peter could think of as a response. Apparently it wasn’t the right one, for Tony let out a frustrated sigh.

     “Of course this is important. Nobody just gets over traumatic experiences in their lives that quickly. You’d think I would get over you disappearing right in front of me in five years? Nothing like that will ever get out of my head for a long time. Not even other previous events that happened to me will leave my memory. I usually tell Pepper what’s wrong whenever something’s on my mind. It’s not safe to keep everything all holed up in that brain of yours.”

     Peter’s demeanor drooped. “I don’t want people to worry.”

     “By keeping all of this to yourself will make people worry.” Stark says. “It won’t go unnoticed.”

     “I know.” Peter murmurs. “I- I’m sorry. I know I should have told you about that too, but it- I just-”

     Tony interrupts him. “Stop. I banned you from saying that word, remember?”

     Peter nods, smiling slightly. He remembers his mentor crying above him while trying to lighten up the mood as he lay dying beneath him with a gaping hole in his chest. The teen fought the urge to rub the area over his new heart. Even thinking about the crystal heart made him a bit self-conscious.

     The man of iron runs a hand through his own hair. “For now on, tell me when something wrong happens, okay? Or anyone close to you, like May or that Ned kid. I don’t want to lose you again, Peter. I may not say it often, and I know now that I should say it often, but I care about you a lot. You’re… you’re like the son I never had.”

     Trying to hold back tears has been something Peter has done before, but had very little success at containing himself. Once Stark said that last sentence, the bridge giving him a chance had crumbled altogether. Tears slipped through Peter’s eyes as a sob escaped his mouth. Moving forward, Tony opened his arms and wrapped them around Peter, making sure to avoid the wires still connected to the teen. Peter rests his chin on Tony’s shoulder and wraps his own arms around his mentor. He clings onto Stark’s shirt with the same tightness he was using on the blanket. A few drops crawled from Tony’s eyes as well. Going unnoticed from the two was the slight glow from Peter’s left chest area. Exhaling softly, Peter relaxed a bit, as well as Tony. Everything was fine now. Both of them were fine.

.

.

.

Were they?