Work Text:
After dying and coming back, and seeing Tony die in front of him, only to not actually be dead and get saved in a last-minute Hail Mary, people could forgive Peter for being a little clingy. And if they couldn't? Oh, well. He didn't care. When he found out that the only reason Mr. Stark even tried to figure out the whole time travel thing was because of him? He didn't cry. There was just wind that blew something into his eye.
When he found out that May had been dusted too, and now they had no place to live and no belongings, he didn't even have time to panic before Mr. Stark was moving them into the tower, giving them their own floor, with a credit card to get things they needed. He even hired May as a nurse for his company. Even May got something in her eye that time.
He still lived in the cabin with Ms. Potts, well, now, Mrs. Stark, and Morgan. He had a daughter! He tried not to feel jealous, but it didn't really work, until he actually met her. Morgan was the perfect mix of her mom and dad, and she immediately had him wrapped around her finger. From the moment she looked at him and asked with wide eyes if he was really Spiderman, then when he said yeah, she threw herself at him in a hug saying he was her favorite Avenger, he was wrapped. He thought it was cute when she wanted to work in the lab with him on his web-shooters, but he thought it was amazing when she actually kept up. Then again, her father was a genius, and her mother was Pepper Potts. He had never met a more intimidating woman, and he LIVED with May.
Everything was going great! He went to school every day, went patrolling every evening, kept up on his homework, spent weekends at the cottage. He was happy. Of course, that meant something bad had to happen. When he went home to change into his suit, and saw Mr. Start sitting on his sofa, alone, he knew it was bad. When Mr. Stark turned to him, and he saw tears in his eyes, he knew it was really bad. When he opened his arms and enveloped him in a hug, he got scared. He could feel Mr. Stark trembling.
"Mr...Mr. Stark? What's wrong? Is it Morgan?" He didn't know what he would do if something was wrong with Morgan. He loved that girl like a little sister. He would do anything for her.
"Oh, kid...kid. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. There's nothing wrong with Morgan." Peter felt a wave of relief hit him, before Mr. Stark continued, "it's May. Oh, God, I'm so sorry. She had an aneurism, and it was so quick, too quick, they had no time to try to save her..."
Peter couldn't understand what he was saying. It was almost like he was trying to say May died. But that couldn't be right. May couldn't be dead. Shaking his head, he tried to back up, but Mr. Stark just held him tighter, murmuring to him.
"No. You've made a mistake. You have to have. May's not dead. She can't be dead. She's May." He started crying, and he didn't know why, because it wasn't true, it COULDN'T be true. "She's all I have left," he let out in a whisper.
"She's not all you have left. You have me, and Pep, and Morgan. We love you kid. I'm sorry. I'll take care of everything for you, just tell me what you need."
Knowing Mr. Stark wouldn't lie to him about this, Peter slowly crumpled into himself, until Mr. Stark was basically carrying him. He started sobbing, loud, wracking sobs, holding on to Mr. Stark for all he was worth. It hurt. He hurt so bad. He had a building collapse on top of him, and it wasn't as bad as this. The only thing that was similar was when Uncle Bed died in front of him. Because that's what happened. Aunt May had died. She was dead. She was never coming back.
He didn't realize that he had blacked out until he slowly came back to himself, with Mr. Stark running his fingers through his hair in a soothing manner, rocking him slowly back and forth. Wiping his eyes, he backed away, whispering out a thank you. To which Mr. Stark just waved it away, saying he was always there for him
"You want to come back to the cabin with me? I'll try to keep Morgan reigned in, and Pep would love to have you there. She wanted to come with me, but she had to stay with Morgan. We thought she would be a bit much right now."
"Yeah, yeah, thank you Mr. Stark. I just, I just don't want to be alone right now." He almost started crying again, but was able to hold it in.
"It's ok Pete. You're not alone. You'll never BE alone. You'll always have us."
When they got to the cabin, Pepper was waiting at the door and immediately enveloped Peter in a hug.
"Hey, Pete. How are you? Stupid question, I know, but will you be okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"
Peter just shook his head no, trying to keep his tears at bay. He didn't know which question he was answering. He didn't know anything right now. He was just existing.
"Peter?" he heard a small little voice and looked over to see Morgan looking at him questioningly. She looked confused, and a bit scared. She had never seen him anything but happy before. He held out an arm and she came running over to him, throwing herself into a hug.
"Hey, Momo." It was all he could get out. He couldn't think. Everything felt like it was coming to him through a veil. Sometimes he would snap into focus, but those times hurt, because he remembered everything. He preferred the veil. There was no Aunt May dying behind the veil. No aneurisms. No nothing. It was just him, drifting along.
"Peter, are you okay? What's going on? It's not the weekend. Why are you here? Not that I don't want you here! I love you here! But you don't usually come if it's not a weekend. And I had school today, and I have it tomorrow, so it's not the weekend. Are-"
Pepper gently interrupted Morgan, running her hand through her hair, not letting go of Peter. "Hey Morgan, it's okay. Peter's going to be staying with us for a little while."