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Chapter Text

When Rhodey had come to the Avengers Compound to take a break from hunting Barton, now Ronin, he hadn't expected this. He listened closely as Scott Lang, AKA Ant-Man, AKA a D-list superhero who supposedly got dusted five years ago, explained his idea for quantum time travel. Rhodey wasn't dumb; he went to MIT, but this was way out of his pay grade. If Tony were still alive (Mr. Rhodes, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It's okay, kid.) he'd drag Scott over to him and let Tony vet the concept of quantum time travel. 

Natasha and Steve looked like they were on the edge of hope. Scott looked at the three of them, "So, who do we talk to about this?"

It was a valid question. Rhodey crossed off names in his head. Tony, dead. Peter, last resort. Bruce, MIA. "Nat, do you know where Bruce is?" Steve questioned. 

"No, he went offline a few months ago. Last known location was somewhere in the Midwest," Natasha said softly. 

"Any way you could do it yourself?" Rhodey pleaded.

Scott shook his head, "No, I have a very basic idea of the quantum realm."

Rhodey sighed. He was down to his last resort, Peter wouldn't mind, right? "I might have a guy," he said.

"You have a guy? Who is he?" Natasha asked. 

Rhodey shook his head, "If I told you, you wouldn't want to come. Don't worry, he's trustworthy."

Steve stared into his eyes and sighed, "Alright, let's go."

-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Peter was having the perfect day. It was summer vacation and he was home from MIT hanging out with Pepper and his little sister, Morgan. After the dusting, he had lost everything, Aunt May, all of his friends, and Tony. Pepper had taken him in, even though she was mourning her fiancé and pregnant with Morgan. They had moved out of New York City and into a lakeside cabin. It worked out, Pepper wanted to raise her daughter in peace and Peter couldn't put on the mask without thinking of Tony.

Between college and being twenty-one (He was an adult now. Jeez) Morgan May Stark was the light of Peter's life. She was four and a troublemaker. Right now, Peter and Morgan are playing hide and seek. He had been looking for her for a good ten minutes when he started to get worried. "Mo, Mom made mac and cheese, I'm gonna go eat it all!" Peter yelled. 

Morgan came out from the shed near the lake. "No," she drew out the o's so it sounded more like "Noooooooooo".

Morgan came running toward him and clung to his leg. "You can't eat all the mac and cheese again," she squeaked. 

Peter lifted her up and grinned, "Just kidding, Mom hasn't finished making lunch yet."

Morgan threw her head back and pouted, "No fair." 

Peter chuckled, "We should get inside and wash up for lunch, Mo." Morgan still pouted. "If you stop pouting at me I'll let you have a juice pop after lunch," Peter offered. Morgan immediately smiled at him. 

Yeah, Peter was definitely having the perfect day. Then, he heard an unfamiliar car travel down the dirt road to their cabin. Peter set Morgan down on the ground, "Hey, how about you go head inside? I left something by the lake." Morgan nodded and ran off towards the cabin. 

Peter stood up and activated his webshooters. While he couldn't wear the mask anymore, he still kept the webshooters on in case something happened. The car stopped and Rhodey stepped out of the the driver's seat. He was followed by Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and another man Peter didn't know getting out of the passenger seats. 

Rhodey and Co. walked over to him. Peter looked suspiciously at Steve and Natasha before turning to Rhodey, "Hey, Rhodey, what's going on?" 

"Hey, Peter, we need to talk to you. You know I wouldn't come here if it wasn't big," Rhodey stressed. Peter knew he was right. Rhodey would never bring Steve or Natasha here if it wasn't urgent. He would've been pissed Rhodey hadn't given him a warning text if he hadn't left his phone in the garage. 

Peter sighed, "Fine, if we're talking business, we should sit down." Peter didn't like the sound of this. Rhodey knew he was retired and he wouldn't have come to Peter if it wasn't a last resort. 

Peter started to lead them to the front porch, where there were enough chairs for everyone. Behind him, Natasha was whispering to Rhodey, "Your guy is an eighteen-year-old?" 

"I'm twenty-one actually," Peter replied.

"You're enhanced?" Steve asked shocked.

"Yep," Peter drawled.

-×-×-×-×-×-×-

Steve watched as the kid, Peter, walked up onto the porch and sat in one of the patio chairs. Peter was twenty-one but looked younger. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was slightly curly. Rhodey believed that this kid, because that's really what Peter was, a kid, could help with quantum time travel and Peter was enhanced. Steve had his doubts about Peter being able to help with their time travel problem, but if Rhodey trusted him he would give the kid a shot. 

Steve sat down in the chair across from Peter, who was looking at Scott suspiciously. Rhodey cleared his throat, "Peter, this is Scott Lang, Ant-Man," Peter's eyes widened, "Everyone, this is Peter Parker." 

Peter nodded his head, "Nice to meet you guys." He looked Steve in the eyes, "So, what do you need my help for?" Peter looked resigned like he already knew he was going to do something he would regret. 

Natasha, Rhodey, and himself looked over to Scott to explain. Scott explained for a second time. Peter's eyes widened. After Scott was done explaining, Peter looked over at Rhodey, "What you're asking is borderline impossible. He," Peter pointed at Scott, "had a one in a billion shot at surviving, and he got lucky." Peter looked down at the ground, "We could fuck up everything, you can't ask me to do this Rhodey, I can't lose anyone else." Peter looked over at Natasha, "If you're asking if it's possible, the answer is yes, but it's risky. You could fuck up the past and the present. And how would you get back? There's too many variables and I, I can't risk Morgan and Pepper," Peter's voice cracked. 

Steve wondered what this kid had been through and how many people Peter had lost. For a second, Steve saw Wanda after she'd just joined the Avengers in Peter's place. They were both too young and had lost too much, and Steve couldn't do anything to help. 

Steve was snapped out of his thoughts by the front door opening. Pepper Potts came out and whispered something in Peter's ear, then she patted Rhodey on the arm and went back inside. She look happier, healthier than when Steve saw her last, around five years ago. He wanted to say something to her, apologize for not being there. Before he could do anything Natasha started to speak.

"Peter, we're not asking you to time travel with us, but this is a chance to undo everything that bastard did to us, to the universe," Natasha said. Peter was silent for a few moments. Steve was nervous, it was possible the fate of half the universe rested on the shoulders of a twenty-one-year-old college kid. 

Peter sighed, "Okay, fine. I'll look into a safe way to time travel, but I can't promise anything."

"That's all I'm asking, Peter," Rhodey said. Rhodey stood up and hugged Peter, "Call me more, I wanna hear about MIT, okay?" Peter nodded. Steve, Natasha, and Scott stepped off the porch and walked towards the car. 

"Bye, Rhodey. I'll call you later."

"See you later, Squirt."

Chapter Text

Peter had been looking at the hologram table for hours. He had looked at hundreds of research papers and tried thousands of equations. Whenever he fixed one problem another problem appeared. If he fixed the whole "timeline collapsing" issue, then a "you come back to a completely different universe" issue would appear. He was considering giving up and watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine for the hundredth time. He was exhausted, but he had promised Rhodey that he'd try. 

The doors to the lab opened and Pepper walked in, "Are you okay, Peter? You've been down here ever since Rhodey left." She pulled him into a side hug. He was taller than her now. When he first moved in with her five years ago, they were about the same height. Now, Peter was two or three inches taller than her. He was grateful that she took him in. They bonded over Tony's memory, and then, a little after Morgan started speaking, he started to call her mom. Even though he missed his parents and his aunt and uncle, Pepper was his mom, Tony was his dad, and Morgan was his little sister.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Mom. Turns out inventing time travel is harder than it looks," Peter said sarcastically. 

Pepper smiled sadly, "Maybe you should sleep on it, it's almost eleven." 

Peter turned his head to look at her, "What? I missed saying goodnight to Morgan?"

"Yeah, but I don't think she noticed. She was so tired after fighting bath time that she didn't even ask for a story," She chuckled. 

"Sounds like her" Peter smiled softly. He hesitated for a second, "I think I'll try this a few more times before I go to bed."

"Alright, goodnight sweetheart," she kissed his forehead. She stopped at the door, "Don't stay up too late." Then, she walked out of the lab. 

His eyes drifted to the picture of him and Tony on the wall. They had taken the photo to show Aunt May that the internship was real. Unknowingly, they both gave each other bunny ears and held the certificate upside down. It was his favorite picture of him and Tony. If only Peter had more time with Tony.

Peter looked at the hologram one more time. "FRIDAY, run a simulation with an inverted Mobius strip, please."

"Of course," the hologram rearranged itself. He adjusted some particles and compensated for decomposition. Peter optimistically looked over the model's status. 

MODEL SUCCESSFUL

"Holy fuck." He just invented time travel. On August 27th, 2023, at 10:48 PM, Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark invented time travel. Peter collapsed in the nearest chair and covered his mouth to keep himself from screaming with joy. 

He was going to get Tony back. He was going to get his dad back. 

His joy didn't last long, he had to make a plan. He could go ahead with plan A, give the Avengers the ability to time travel, stay out of it, and pray that he got Tony, May, and all his friends back while he kept what he had with Pepper and Morgan. 

He could go on his own. Put the mask on again, get the infinity stones, and do his own snap. No, he couldn't. The plan required Pym-Particles, and he didn't know where to get them. He would need Scott for that, and he didn't think Scott would let him go on his own. He also needed to know where the infinity stones were. He only knew about the time stone, so he would need the Avengers's knowledge on the rest. 

Peter was reluctant to give the Avengers the task. They almost always made things worse before they made it better, and Peter couldn't risk that. He could go with them, expose his identity, make sure nothing goes wrong, and save billions of lives. Or he could play it safe. Tell Rhodey it didn't work, stay here with Pepper and Morgan, and become the CEO of Stark Industries one day. 

He looked over to the picture of him and Tony. Peter knew his choice.

-------

Peter took a week preparing blueprints for the time machine (sixteen-year-old him was screaming) and the suits they would wear. He took his time, nothing could go wrong on this mission.

Once he was done, he thought about calling Rhodey. Then, he thought about what Tony would want him to do and drove upstate to the Avengers Compound to make a dramatic entrance. 

--------

Steve was looking over the yard in front of the Compound after another failed attempt when Rhodey walked up to him. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Steve spoke up, "Any word from Peter?"

Rhodey sighed, "No, he hasn't replied to any of my texts or calls. Pepper says he's been in his lab since last week." 

"Sounds like Tony," Steve replied. "I have to ask, is he Tony's?" Steve had thought about it for a while, it couldn't be a coincidence. Peter had Tony's eyes and hair, he was a genius, and he lived with Tony's wife and daughter, and Steve could see a little bit of Howard in him. Given Tony's reputation, he wouldn't be surprised if Peter was a product of one of Tony's one-night stands. It also wouldn't surprise him if Tony wanted to keep a young Peter away from the chaos of the Avengers. 

Rhodey turned to look at him, "No, but Tony basically adopted him after," Rhodey looked at him uncomfortably, "after Germany." 

Before Steve had a chance to respond, a car came speeding down the driveway. The black sports car came to a stop before them, and Peter stepped out of the driver's door. Peter smiled at Rhodey, "Guess who invented time travel," he beamed.

Steve mentally added another reason why Peter was Tony's son, they both loved dramatic entrances.

Rhodey hugged Peter, "I knew you could do it, Squirt!" he said proudly. Steve looked at Peter, his dark circles were still there and his hair was a mess, but he looked better than the last time he saw him. Maybe, because he was smiling this time. 

Rhodey let go of Peter, and Peter looked over at Steve, "Oh, Mr. Rogers, I have something for you." He opened the trunk and pulled out Steve's shield. "I found it in the garage and had to get it out before Morgan used it as a sled." 

Steve took the shield gingerly, it was almost insane how much he missed his shield. Steve smiled at Peter, "Thanks, kid. Call me Steve."

----------

Rhodey and Steve led Peter through the halls of the Compound. Rhodey put an arm around Peter, "So, any reason you've been avoiding my calls? I ask you to call me more and you do the exact opposite."

"Are you aware of how much work it takes to invent time travel? No, I didn't think so," Peter snarked.

"Wow, what happened to the sweet little boy I used to know? What happened to calling me Mr. Colonel Rhodes War Machine Sir? College changed you," Rhodey dramatically replied. 

Peter raised an eyebrow, "You met me when I was sixteen and I only called you that once, get over it."

Rhodey sniffed, "You're breaking my heart, Pete."

Steve held the door for them as they headed into the lab, Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner were standing around a dirty van with wires attached to it. Then, Ant-Man appeared by the van.

Steve's eyes widened, "He's not an old man any more?"

Peter looked over at what seemed to be a time travel device in a van in confusion, "He was an old man?"

Natasha scoffed, "And a baby, and a teenager."

"Let's just say it's a good thing you got here when you did," Steve said earnestly. 

Bruce walked up to them and held out his hand for Peter to shake, "Bruce Banner." Banner was skinner than Peter thought he would be, but he guessed the Hulk takes care of the heavy lifting. Honestly, Peter was excited to work with Bruce Banner. He was one of his idols before he got to work with Tony. After the spider bite, Peter looked up to Banner because he was also a respected scientist who got powers from radiation. 

Peter shook his hand, "Peter Parker, looks like you need some help."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Think you can help?"

Peter nodded.

Chapter Text

Bruce followed as the kid, Peter, walked over to one of the hologram tables in the lab. Peter turned on the table. "Hello, Peter. Starting a new project?" FRIDAY chirped. 

FRIDAY knew Peter? He must've worked with Tony at some point. No, Bruce thought, he looked too young. Peter looked like he was in his early twenties now, five years ago, he would've been in his late teens. So, he couldn't have worked with Tony. Maybe he was a Stark Industries employee. Rhodey had his arm around Peter when they walked in, maybe a family friend or a relative of Pepper's? It didn't matter, all that mattered was if the kid could help or not. 

Now that Bruce was really looking at Peter, he noticed things. Like how Peter was wearing a faded AC/DC T-shirt (Bruce recognized the shirt. Maybe Tony had a similar one?), basketball shorts, Converse hi-tops, and weird-looking bracelets. Peter's hair was a mess and he had dark circles under his eyes. Peter looked like someone he would find in a library on a college campus. But if Peter was your average college student, why did he have access to FRIDAY and why was he here? 

Bruce was brought out of his thoughts by Peter, "No, FRI. Bring up project," he looked sheepish for a moment, "Project Name: Why Did I Agree To This?, document three, please, and thank you." 

A shape popped up. Bruce recognized it as an inverted Mobius strip. It was the same model that he had gotten yesterday morning. Across the table, Steve looked confused, "What is it?"

Bruce took the place beside Peter at the table, "An inverted Mobius strip. But it doesn't work."

Peter turned to look at him, "What?"

"We tried. That's what you walked in on," Bruce said.

"Did you make a time GPS?" Peter asked. What the hell was a time GPS?

"A what?" Steve asked.

"A time GPS," Peter said it like it was obvious, "Kinda like the DeLorean from Back to the Future. If you don't have a time GPS, you just end up pushing time through the person time traveling instead of pushing the person through time. I'm guessing that's what happened to Scott. Which is why he was an old man, a teenager, and a baby." 

Honestly, Bruce was impressed. He was fifty-three, had gotten his Ph.D. at twenty-six, he had been a scientist for twenty-seven years, and here was this kid, early twenties, inventing time travel. Apparently, Peter had done it in a week. Bruce could see why Rhodey had called him in.

"So," Rhodey said, crossing his arms, "What does a time GPS look like?"

"FRI, pull up document seventeen, please," Peter asked.

The model was replaced by an Ant-Man suit. Scott leaned on the table, "My suit?" 

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "If a 'time GPS' is Scott's suit, then why did the test runs fail?"

Peter enlarged the hologram, "It's a modified version of Scott's suit. The Ant-Man suit is the perfect base since we have to go quantum to time travel. It just needs a time GPS on the wrist to be time travel ready."

Bruce looked at the wiring on the wrists, "The rest of the suit can be remotely put together with the resources we have here, but the wiring on the GPSs is too complex for the machines here." 

Peter shrugged, "It's fine, I'll just get Rhodey to help me." 

Rhodey looked offended, "What? No." 

Peter's smile turned into a grin, "What happened to the Rhodey I used to know?" His voice grew deeper to imitate Rhodey's, "'You don't have to dumb it down for me, Peter. I went to MIT too, y'know."' 

"I do not sound- whatever. Whatever. I'm not picking fights with a child. What about the actual time machine? Scott's van won't fit us all." 

Peter's grin widened, "FRI, document fifty-one, please." 

A design filled the table. It looked like it was mostly made of mirrors. Bruce read the notes on the side of the hologram. It was an amazing design. Peter looked at his design with pride. Steve asked a few questions about safety and reliability, but Bruce focused on Rhodey. He looked at Peter with a proud smile on his face. Rhodey looked at Peter as if he hung the moon. Honestly, Bruce was starting to feel the same about Peter too.

Bruce put his hand on Peter's shoulder, "Let's do it."

------------------

While Bruce and Peter built the machine and suits, the others got the other Avengers that were scattered across the world. 

Peter and Bruce were in one of the bigger workshops cutting metal for the big machine Peter had designed. Bruce had let him choose the music, so he'd turned on his and Tony's playlist from his internship days. The music softened and Bruce spoke, "So, Peter, how old are you? Just curious." 

"Oh, um, I've been twenty-one for about three weeks now," Peter replied. It had been a good birthday too. Pepper and Morgan had gotten him a Star Wars Lego set like they had every year, but this year Morgan helped him put it together. It had been fun playing Legos with his little sister and Pepper had been 'secretly' taking pictures of the two to put in the family photo album. Then, Rhodey came over for lunch and a movie. (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the best Star Wars movie). After that, he went to a bar with a girl from his Organic Chemistry class, Gwen Stacy, and his roommate, Harry Osborn. He didn't drink much because he didn't like the taste and he couldn't get drunk because of his metabolism, but it was still fun hanging out with his two best friends (but they weren't Ned and MJ, not by a long shot). Harry had gotten drunk and started doing karaoke. He had pulled Peter up on stage to sing with him while Gwen laughed and recorded the two of them. And if they were singing Love Story by Taylor Swift the rest of the night, it was nobody's business. 

"Oh, happy belated birthday," he said. Bruce seemed awkward, it was like he wanted to talk with Peter but didn't know how to go about it. While Peter had gotten more extroverted over the years, he had never mastered the art of making small talk. He looked over the blueprints for the metalworking one more time so he didn't have to make eye contact with Bruce. 

"Thanks." It was so awkward. At least Peter had something to do with his hands to distract him.

"Are you excited for the new semester to start?" Oh, school. That was something Peter could talk about for hours. Maybe he could steer the conversation towards science, something they both had in common.

"Yeah, I've only got a few classes left before I graduate." Then, he would go on to get his Ph.D. and become CEO of Stark Industries.

"Oh really, what school are you going to? Stanford, or maybe UC Berkeley?" Bruce seemed less awkward now that they were talking about school.

"MIT, actually." MIT had been Tony and Rhodey's alma mater, and even though Tony had told him that he didn't have to go to MIT, it had always been his dream. The college had become a second home to him. He had met his best friends there. The classes were challenging but rewarding. Peter had fun in his classes and around campus. Harry had dragged him to every party he could find, so he could "come out of his shell" and "learn to talk to people." Sometimes, he actually tried to party with Harry, other times, he crawled onto the roof of whatever building the party was in and studied. No matter what, Peter would always have a special place in his heart for MIT right next to Midtown High School and Stark Tower.

"Wow, that's great! What are you studying?" Bruce asked.

"Chemical engineening, Course Ten." Peter said proudly. It was hard work, especially at MIT, where they had one of the top chemical engineering programs, but it was satisfying. The course load had challenged Peter in ways he hadn't imagined possible, but it was all worth it.

"That's a hard program to get into, I'm impressed. Have you been researching anything in particular?" Bruce asked.

A smirk grew on Peter's face, "Time travel."

Bruce chuckled, "Yeah, I guess I walked into that one. Any plans after college?"

"Hopefully, I'll get into a good Ph.D. program and climb the ladder at Stark Industries," Peter said optimistically.

Bruce looked away from his work to look at Peter, "You work at Stark Industries? You're a bit on the young side for that, aren't you?"

Peter shrugged, "I got into one of their high school internship programs sophomore year. I've worked there ever since." Peter knew that he could trust Bruce with his secret identity, after all, Bruce understood the superhero life too, but right now Peter wasn't Spider-Man. He hadn't been Spider-Man since Tony turned to dust in front of him. He hadn't been Spider-Man since the incident on the rooftop.

-------------

Peter was sixteen years old and had only gotten the okay to go be Spider-Man again a few days ago. He was excited. He had been cooped up in Pepper's apartment for a few weeks now and needed to get out before he went stir-crazy. Pepper had been apprehensive about him going back out, but eventually agreed on the terms that Peter would take it easy and come back if he felt any side effects from his three-week malnourished trip to space. He agreed and hugged her, careful of the bump that was slowly growing on her stomach.

He went out into the city and walked a few blocks before crawling up a building to change into his suit. New York City was quieter. Before, a low chatter of voices and sirens filled the air. Peter had gotten used to the sound of the city that never sleeps, it used to be background noise for him. Now, the silence of the city was deafening.

Peter took off his sweater and jeans to reveal his Spider-Man suit underneath. This was it, he was about to be normal again, or his version of normal. Spider-Man was where Peter forgot about his problems and focused on helping other people. Soon, Peter would be lost in the calming rhythm of being Spider-Man and forget his problems for a few hours.

Peter fished his mask out of his jeans pocket and held it in his hands. He took a deep breath and put the mask on. The blue interface filled his vision and Karen's voice filled his ears, "Hello, Peter. You haven't put on the suit in six weeks. Did something happen?"

Peter felt his throat tighten, "Yeah, yeah. Something big happened. Um, Mr. Stark. He's, uh," Peter's voice wobbled, "He's gone. He's gone for good." Peter felt tears in his eyes. No, he wouldn't cry. He had cried enough in the past weeks. He had to go. He had to help people, he couldn't cry. He had to make Tony proud, He had to go be Spider-Man. He had to help. He couldn't disappoint Tony again. For a second, the ground took on a reddish hue. Titan, he was on Titan again. No, no he couldn't be. He couldn't be in space again. Not again. Never again. He couldn't get enough air in his lungs. Why couldn't he breathe right? The dust. It had to be the dust. They were dead. Tony was dead again. Black spots danced in his vision. He couldn't save Tony, he couldn't. It was his fault. His fault. He should've been stronger, faster. He let Tony die. No, no, no. Not again. Karen's voice rang in his ears. Why couldn't he hear her? He needed to focus on her, he couldn't be caught off guard here, "Breathe, Peter. Breathe." But it was so hard to breathe. Every breath was like sandpaper.

"Peter, I need you to listen to me," he could do that. "Name five things you can see."

Okay, he could do that. "The clouds," Titan didn't have clouds. Why were they there? "My sweater on the floor, my jeans on the floor," The ground wasn't red, where was he? "The door over there, and the air conditioning unit." The sign on the door said 'roof access', he was on a roof? He wasn't in space, he was on Earth.

Karen's voice filled the air once again, "Good job, Peter. Can you name four things you can touch?"

Easy, "The roof, the ledge," when did he sit down by the ledge? "My shoes, and my suit." His vision was becoming clearer.

"Good, Peter. Name three things you can hear," Karen said.

"A woman on the phone, a police siren, and a radio." Peter's breath was returning to normal.

"Good job. We're almost done. Two things you can smell."

Peter sniffed the air, "A hot dog cart and really strong perfume." The lump in his throat was loosening.

"Good, Now one thing you can taste."

"The protein bar I had on the way over here." 

"Have you calmed down, Peter?" Karen sounded concerned.

Peter took a few more deep breaths, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. What, uh, what was that?" 

"That was a panic attack, Peter." Oh, Peter had helped calm people down from panic attacks before, but he never knew that's how they felt. He suddenly had a new respect for people who went through panic attacks regularly. All he wanted to do was go home and hug Pepper, maybe take a nap.

-------------

Peter snapped out of his flashback as Bruce chuckled, "Huh, I didn't know Stark Industries had a high school internship program." Right, he was in a workshop in the Avengers Compound with Bruce Banner working on the metalworking for a time machine

"Oh, um, yeah. It's not very well advertised. The only reason I knew about it was because my, um, dad told me about it," Peter said. Peter had never called Tony dad in front of anyone, not even Pepper, it was weird to say it out loud after saying it in his head so many times. Maybe he said it because Bruce wouldn't know who he was talking about, or maybe it was because he was finally going to see his dad again. Whatever it was, it felt good to say out loud. Maybe one day he would call Tony dad to his face. 

"Oh, cool. What kind of work are you doing at Stark Industries?" Bruce asked. He looked genuinely interested in Peter's answer. He always felt weird talking about Stark Industries, probably because he was called a liar when he talked about it in high school.

"Oh, nothing big. I work in an R&D department focused on making houses run on clean energy," Peter said offhandedly.

Bruce's eyes widened, "That's a big deal, Peter. That could revolutionize the tech industry and completely change our day-to-day lives. Do you have any finished products yet?" Peter was surprised by the way Bruce reacted. Usually, people would tell him it was cool or interesting, and then talk about what they were working on without asking any follow-up questions. Peter wished he could nerd out, what Harry called it when Peter rambled about his work, on Bruce, but he didn't want to seem immature in front of one of his lifelong heroes. He had to play it cool.

"We've patented a few and we've got some prototypes, but we don't have many products ready to sell to the public," he said. Before Bruce could ask him any more questions, Peter spoke up, "Have you been working on anything lately?"

Bruce looked back at his work, "Yeah, but it's mostly failed experiments."

Peter didn't want to seem nosey, but he really wanted to know what Bruce was working on.

"What is it? Maybe I can offer a suggestion," he asked.

Bruce's smile turned into a slight frown, "I don't think so, but sure. I want to combine the Hulk and Bruce Banner. Hopefully, I can get the Hulk's physique and my brain to be one," he hesitated for a moment, "entity. Instead of two entities sharing one body." Bruce looked over at Peter with a sarcastic smirk, "Got any suggestions?"

Peter's eyes were wide, "I think that's a little above my pay grade.

Bruce laughed, "Yeah, maybe a little." Suddenly, Peter's phone beeped.

Remember to eat lunch, take a break. I will tell Pep if you don't.

12:36 PM - From: Uncle R :)

Peter looked up from his phone, "It's from Rhodey, he's telling me to eat. Well, actually he's threatening me, but what's the difference?"

Bruce smiled, "We've got stuff for tacos in the kitchen if you want that."

Peter walked towards the workshop doors, "Sounds good, want some?"

---------

While Bruce was helping Rhodey and Scott test run the suits, Peter worked with a talking raccoon named Rocket and Nebula to finish the time machine. 

Peter looked over at Nebula, "Nebula, do you know what would happen if we sent you back in time and you hooked up to your server?"

She looked confused, "My memories would get backed up to the server," a realization dawned on her, "Thanos would see them."

Peter nodded, "That's what I thought. You'll have to stay here. We can't put the mission in danger."

Nebula, never one to argue with logic, nodded.

Soon enough, the time machine was built and tested, and all of the Avengers were in a conference room. They were discussing the infinity stones and where to find them. 

Peter had a few questions, such as, why was there a talking raccoon?, why was Thor drunk?, and why was Hawkeye so emo? Nonetheless, Peter took notes on when and where each stone was. 

Steve started, "Almost everybody has had an encounter with at least one infinity stone. Peter, what do you know about the time stone?" 

Peter stood up and paced in the front of the room, "The time stone belongs to Dr. Strange, a world-class neurosurgeon turned wizard."

Scott spoke up, "I'm sorry, a wizard?"

"He had a flying cape and did spells, he was a wizard," Peter snarked, "He held the stone in a necklace, lived in New York, and had another wizard friend."

Natasha looked up, "He lived in New York?"

"Yeah, why?"

"If you pick the right year, there's three stones in New York."

Peter's eyes widened, "Damn. Why does all the weird shit happen in New York?"

Chapter Text

The team took turns talking about their experiences with the rest of the infinity stones Thor was a drunken mess, Rocket was full of sarcastic comments and arrogant remarks, and Nebula was just depressing. Steve, Clint, and Natasha talked like they were in a military briefing. Even though the meeting was boring and Peter could barely understand anything, he took detailed notes on when, where, and who had the infinity stones.

Three stones, the power, soul, and reality stones, were in space and the other three stones, the time, mind, and space stones, were in New York in 2012. The team only had so many Pym-Particles, so they would have to split into teams to get all the stones. While the time machine and their suits were getting finished, Steve, Bruce, Natasha, and Peter planned the mission.

As they went to get suited up, Rhodey stopped Peter. He put his hand on Peter's shoulder, "Are you going to be okay? It's totally cool if you aren't ready for this yet."

"I'll be fine Rhodey, it's a different suit. I'll be fine," Peter insisted. 

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I am." He had to be. For Pepper and Morgan, May, Ned and MJ, Tony, for anyone who lost someone to Thanos's delusion.

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Peter looked over the team. If someone had told him five years ago this is where he'd be, he would've laughed at them. But now, standing with the ruins of the Avengers, he thinks there might be a chance they can fix everything. He even got Steve to send a message to the UN so that the world might be ready for half of its population to come back. 

Steve looked over the team as he started his speech, "Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck." 

Peter looked over at Nebula, who was manning the control board, and gave a thumbs up. Peter put on the helmet (not his mask, not Spider-Man, not again) and took a deep breath. 

Suddenly, he was flying through time. Peter decided that time traveling was one of the coolest things he'd done. Honestly, it was actually kind of pretty. Then, suddenly, they were in the middle of the Battle of New York 2012. 

The time heist suits disappeared to show everyone's armor. While Scott and Steve had their suits and Bruce was in workout clothes, Peter was in a gray tactical suit and combat boots. Padding and armor in the right places, his webshooters on his wrists, and a knife if worst came to worst. He didn't want to use the knife, but he would do anything to go back home to Morgan and Pepper.

Peter went downtown to find the time stone, and Steve, Scott, and Bruce went to Stark Tower to find the Tesseract and Loki's Staff. 

Once Peter was a few blocks away from the tower, he started to swing like he was Spider-Man again. Honestly, he had missed the adrenaline rush of being Spider-Man. But after Titan, he couldn't put on the mask without thinking of Tony's death. It relayed in his head on a loop. Then Morgan was born and he had a little sister to think of. 

After a few minutes of swinging, Peter reached the Sanctum Sanctorum. He climbed up the wall and found a bald woman in yellow robes. 

Peter waved to get her attention, "Hello, Ma'am, I'm looking for a Dr. Stephen Strange."

The woman raised her eyebrows, "You're about five years too early. Stephen Strange is performing surgery twenty blocks over there." She pointed west. "What business do you have with him?"

Peter pointed to the necklace she had on, "That, actually."

She put her hands in a defensive position, "No."

"Well, in about six years, an alien named Thanos steals the time stone and wipes out half the universe. I need the time stone to reverse it." 

"The time stone cannot be taken out of this moment in time. If it were to be taken, this universe would collapse. A timeline would branch off and billions would die."

"Please, I'm begging you." Peter needed that stone, he couldn't fail.

"If I save your timeline, I'm dooming my own." The infinity stones held the fabric of reality together. if you removed one, the whole universe would disintegrate. Thankfully, it was something Peter had accounted for.

"I understand, which is why once we reverse what Thanos did in the future, we come back to this moment and return it. It would be like nothing ever happened." That was the plan, at least.

"And how would I know that you would fulfill your promise?" 

Peter shrugged, "I look... trustworthy?"

The woman's eyes looked at him and then she raised an eyebrow. Peter sighed, "I know, but trillions of lives hang in the balance. People's lives were ruined, friends and families were torn apart. I was," Peter hesitated, "Some people were left with nothing. Please." Peter's voice cracked. He couldn't cry, not here. He had a mission to do. He couldn't fail. If he failed, he would also fail Pepper and Morgan. Morgan would never know her dad and Pepper would never hold her husband again. Not only that, he would fail everyone who lost someone in the snap. 

"What if you don't survive? What if something happens to the stone? I can't put my reality at risk for a promise. It's my duty to protect the time stone."

Peter took a step towards her, "If it's a sorcerer's duty to protect the time stone, then why the fuck did Strange give it away?" It was a question that Peter had asked himself over and over again. Why would Strange give it away if it was his sacred duty to protect it? Why would he sacrifice trillions? Sometimes, he imagined asking Strange, but the answer his brain came up with was always lacking. 

The woman's face was shocked, "What? What did you say?"

"On Titan, Strange willingly gave the stone to Thanos," Peter's fists were clenched. He needed that stone and he needed to get back to 2023 and he needed to save Tony and May and MJ and Ned. He needed to get out of here. "For some reason or another, Strange thought it was a good idea to doom trillions of lives. Maybe he saw something in the future or maybe he made a mistake. I don't know. What I do know is that I need that stone. I need that stone so I can bring him back and ask him. Please." Peter's chest was heaving and he was exhausted from working non-stop for two weeks. He needed to get the stone. 

The woman searched his face and eventually sighed. She moved her hands and opened the necklace. Peter held out his hand and held his breath. She put the time stone in his hand, "Strange was meant to be the best of us." 

"So, he must've done it for a reason."

"I fear you must be right."

Peter nodded, "Thank you."

The woman stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders. She squeezed them tight, "I'm counting on you, Peter Parker. We all are."

Peter held the time stone lightly in his hand, "Thank you, Ma'am." He ran off the building and started to swing towards the meeting point. The others should be there soon.

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As Peter got closer to the alley, he heard someone shouting. He crouched on the roof next to the alley, it was Scott yelling. Something must've gone wrong on the mission. No, no, no. He couldn't fail. He had to save Tony and May and Ned and MJ. He couldn't fail. How did it all go wrong? Peter should've gone with them. Made sure that it went right. No, no. He could fix it. He could fix anything. He could fix this. It was getting hard to breathe, why was it hard to breathe? He put his hand to his chest. The rising and falling of his chest felt off and his heart was moving too fast. Why was it fast? Fuck, fuck. Panic attack. He was having a panic attack. Shit, it was not the time for this. Fuck. Breathe, he needed to breathe. He needed to remember all the breathing exercises Pepper had gone over with him. In, slowly. Out, slowly. In, slowly. Out, slowly. In, slowly. Out, slowly. In, slowly. Out, slowly. 

Peter's heart was still fluttering, but his breathing was better. Scott's shouting turned coherent again, "No, no, no. There's no other options." 

Peter needed to get down there and figure out how to fix whatever they fucked up. So, he jumped off the side of the building. All three of them got into a defensive stance once Peter hit the ground. Peter waved, "Hey guys, what's going on?" 

Scott looked at him like he was crazy, "Did you just jump off a six-story building?" Yes, he did, but that wasn't the problem here.

"Yeah, what's with all the yelling?" He needed to know what the problem was. He needed to know how to fix it. 

Steve looked at him, "Do you have the time stone?" Why would no one answer him? He needed to know what was wrong so he could fix it. 

Peter patted one of the pockets on his tactical suit, "Yep."

"Good," Steve grimaced and hesitated for a few seconds. Peter was about to pull the knife on someone if they didn't tell him what was going on. Finally, Steve swallowed, "We lost the Tesseract." 

Bruce nodded, "There were some... unexpected variables."

Peter couldn't wrap his head around it. It was the past, how the fuck were there 'unexpected variables'? No, he couldn't freak out now. He had a mission to complete. Peter took a deep breath. 

"We can't go back to another place in time with the Tesseract, we don't have enough Pym-Particles," Bruce muttered. 

Peter tried to remember if there was ever a time when Pym-Particles and the Tesseract were in the same place. He had gone over hundreds of SHIELD documents in the past few weeks, there had to be something. Then, it clicks. "New Jersey." 

Steve looks at him confused, "What?"

"Military compound run by SHIELD in New Jersey. Sometime in the 1970s. Hank Pym and the Tesseract were in the same place," Peter said. 

Steve took a step towards him, "Are you absolutely sure, Peter?"

Peter nodded, "Bruce take the time stone, Scott take Loki's Staff. Go back to the present. We'll meet you there." 

He handed Bruce the stone. Bruce put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure, Peter? I'll take your place if you want me to." 

"No, I'll be fine. Go." Peter had to do this himself. If he wanted something done right, he had to do it himself, and this had to be done right. 

Scott looked between Steve and Peter, "If this goes wrong there's no coming back. You know that, right?"

Peter raised an eyebrow, "Thanks for the pep talk, dick."