Archive of Our Own

To Wish Upon a Star

(or how to mess with them entirely)

~.~

The first time Virginia Potts saw them, she was only five years old, sitting alone on a stone bench in a park, watching other children playing on the swings while her mother chatted distractedly with their new neighbor.

They had recently moved to the city and she didn't know anyone yet; her friends were miles away and for a five-year-old it seemed like the end of the world.

It was when she turned her face away dejectedly to stare at the ground that, in the next instant, another pair of feet stopped directly in front of her, and Virginia, surprised, looked up and found herself face to face with another pretty girl around her age, with long dark hair, fair skin, and bright big brown eyes that gazed at her with barely concealed excitement.

"Hi! My name is Morgan! I'm six years old and I like juice pops! Can I be your friend?"

Virginia blinked in surprise, then slowly nodded her head and held out her hand to shake the other's.

"I'm Virginia... I moved here with my parents two days ago, I don't have any friends yet."

"I know." Morgan nodded decisively. "I'll be your very first friend and we'll be best friends forever! Come on, let's play!"

Before Virginia could say anything, the other girl grabbed her hand tightly, pulled her off the bench and dragged her across the park to the swings.

They played for several minutes and Virginia would never forget that Morgan was the first person who had managed to make her smile since she had arrived in that new city.

Her mother approached some time later, accompanied by a young man with short dark hair and kind brown eyes.

"It's time for us to go, Morgan."

Morgan pouted.

"I don't wanna go."

"You know we can't stay any longer."

"Who are you?" Virginia asked curiously.

"This is Peter, dear; he's your new friend's older brother." Her mother replied and Virginia saw Peter smile gently down at her.

"I'm so happy to meet you." The young man said sincerely, and Virginia liked him immediately as much as she liked Morgan.

"Do you also live in this neighborhood?"

Virginia's mother asked and Peter politely shook his head.

"We're just passing through... We're traveling to meet our parents."

"Oh, what a shame! My daughter was so happy to play with your sister! If you lived closer, they could see each other more often! If you're ever in town again, please don't forget to stop by!"

Peter agreed with a smile and a nod, and Virginia watched with a hint of sadness as Morgan got off the swing and turned to her. The other girl held her hands tightly and handed her a miniature, curious, strange object that had a round shape and emanated a soft white light.

"Accept it, it's a gift, and a promise that we'll see each other again very soon!"

Virginia held the object affectionately close to her chest as she watched her new friend and her brother leave.

...

The first time Anthony Stark saw them, he was only six years old, having just built his first V8 engine to impress and gain his father's approval; instead, the rigid man had simply dismissed him in favor of attending a government meeting he considered far more important, causing his son to burst out of their mansion in a fit of inconsolable tears.

Tony ran as far as he could from the old building and hid among the trees in their garden, huddled up and crying miserably with his arms wrapped around his legs and his face buried in his knees.

It was then, some time later, that a firm, comforting hand landed on his small shoulder and a voice he didn't recognize called out to him.

"Hey, buddy! Are you alright? What happened?"

Tony's red eyes peered up at the teenager he didn't know.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" It was a huge, private property after all.

The other smiled shyly, but his brown eyes were friendly.

"Hi, I'm Peter! I'm... Well... I'm sorry for barging in like this, it's just that I'm looking for my little sister. She ignored my warnings and managed to jump the fence. I had no choice but to come in too, to look for her."

"Your sister?" Tony tilted his head to the side curiously, his current sadness momentarily forgotten.

"Yes! I know she must be somewhere here among these trees and I'm sure I'll find her soon, but..." Peter observed the boy kindly. "And you? Are you alright?"

Tony nodded and wiped his runny nose on his sleeve. The boy forced a face of feigned indifference.

"I'm fine, you can go look for your sister."

Peter hummed and instead of walking away, he sat down next to the six-year-old, surprising him.

"You know you're very, very smart and that one day you're gonna change the world, don't you?"

Tony looked at him with wide eyes.

"Will I?"

Peter nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Of course you will!"

"How do you know that?" The boy asked, half hopeful, half suspicious.

Peter gave him a warm smile.

"Because you're Anthony Stark! You can build and fix anything! You will be the best engineer of this entire universe!"

The boy's eyes filled with tears again; that was the nicest thing someone who wasn't his mother had ever said to him.

Tony's wondering surprise was interrupted when a girl around his age popped up from nowhere. She stared at them in incredulous exasperation.

"Pete! I can't believe you found him first! How could you?! I searched so hard!"

The teenager rolled his eyes at his sister's dramatics.

"Morgan, this isn't a joke. You can't just go around breaking into other people's houses like that." Peter scolded, without any real strength behind it.

Completely ignoring her brother, the girl jumped forward and Tony found himself being hugged by her; her arms strong around him and he awkwardly returned the gesture.

Peter, standing beside them, sighed and shook his head.

"You also can't just go around hugging people who don't know you yet out of the blue."

Morgan gave him a very pointed look.

"He knows me!" The girl looked at the boy. "Right?"

Tony said it more as a question than an answer.

"Your name is Morgan?"

"See!" The girl smiled radiantly as if Tony had just hung the moon for her. "Besides, he's sad! Hugs can heal everything, Mommy and Daddy always told us that!"

Peter reached out and patted the girl's head fondly.

"That's what they said." He had to agree.

After Morgan finally released him, Tony stared at the two curiously.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're here to see Mommy and Daddy!" Morgan helpfully provided.

"Now that Mo has finally shown up, it's time for us to go." Peter said, standing up and helping the two children to their feet as well.

Tony suddenly felt a hint of sadness knowing they were leaving already.

"Will I see you again?"

"Of course you will." Peter smiled gently at him and Morgan nodded enthusiastically.

"That's a promise!" The girl affirmed.

And as he watched them go, Tony realized he no longer felt so sad.

...

Looking at the stars in the darkened sky, lying side by side on the roof of the lake house, the teenager and the girl watched a shower of shooting stars cut through the vastness of space in a rapid explosion of bright sparks.

"Mommy once told me that if we make a wish on a shooting star, it will come true."

"She did?" Peter echoed thoughtfully. "I think she's right, Mo... We're just a very tiny spark compared to the vastness of the universe out there... If magic exists, why not impossible wishes that come true? I believe in that."

"Let's make a wish together, Pete!"

Morgan sat on the roof, looking at the sky.

"I wish Daddy was here, and our family together and complete; that one morning we could have a picnic by the lake, with Mommy giving us sandwiches and Daddy juice popsicles!"

Peter watched his little sister with eyes full of compassion and love; Morgan grinned excitedly towards him and nudged his shoulder several times.

"Go Pete! It's your turn!"

Peter looked up at the sky too and at the shooting stars, unable to prevent the sadness from settling into his heart.

Since they were wishing for the impossible... why not be sincere?

"I wish Mr. Stark had knew I'm his son..."

It was a recent and so very unexpected, accidental discovery that actually came to light in the garage's lab of the lake house, with FRIDAY running a blood scan. Apparently, at some time in the past Tony and his mother had met briefly at a party... Morgan had been delighted and Pepper genuinely happy, she hadn't hesitated to receive him into their small family with open arms, even before the truth came out.

Peter had been shocked.

His mentor had died saving their lives, without ever knowing it...

While watching the stars, Morgan hugged her brother.

"He will, Pete! He will." The six-year-old girl affirmed with the unwavering certainty of someone who knew their wishes would come true.

...

The second time Virginia saw her friend and her older brother was only five years later, when she was at school recess playing on the swing again with some of her other friends.

Virginia stopped mid-sentence as she saw both of them sitting on a stone bench in a nearby courtyard. She squealed with delight, jumped off the swing in mid-air and ran straight to them.

"Morgan! Peter! You're back!"

The six-year-old'd face broke into a wide smile as well; she immediately stood up and hugged Virginia, who was now a head taller than her.

"We promised we'd visit you if we came back to town, so here we are." Peter smiled down at her. "How are you, Virginia?"

"I'm fine! I've been living here for quite a while now and I've gotten used to the city, I've made lots of friends but I never forgot about you guys!"

The ten-year-old girl spoke excitedly as she and Morgan separated from their hug.

Morgan grinned happily.

"But I'm still your best friend, right?!"

"You are! I always knew you'd come back someday, look!" Virginia pulled out a hidden pendent from under her shirt and showed the shiny round gift Morgan had given her; it made the six-year-old girl's face break into a wide smile.

"You kept it! I'm so, so happy! It's something so very, very precious!"

"It's my favorite pendent." Virginia smiled at them. "Are you just visiting the city? Will you be staying long? You could talk to your parents about coming over to our house tonight for dinner, I'm sure my parents won't mind it and Mom will be happy to see you again!"

Peter shook his head and gave the ten-year-old an apologetic gaze.

"I'm sorry, we're just passing by really quick this time... our parents... They're waiting for us. Right, Mo?"

Virginia saw the siblings exchange a look in silent conversation, and Morgan nodded reluctantly in agreement.

"You're leaving already?" Virginia inquired, surprised and disappointed.

"Unfortunately, it was just a quick visit..." Peter apologized.

"I wanna to stay longer, can't we, Pete?" Morgan gave her brother puppy eyes and the teenager chuckled softly, ruffling his sister's long hair.

"I wish I could stay too..."

Peter also stood up from the stone bench.

"Promise you'll visit me again?" The ten year-old asked.

The two siblings solemnly promised before continuing on their way, and only much later did Virginia find herself reflecting on them both; they seemed to not have aged at all.

...

The second time Tony saw them, he was eleven years old and was working in his parents' workshop, gathering the scattered parts of a gutted car engine with lazy enthusiasm; he paused momentarily for a five minutes and when he raised his head, he blinked in surprise at the two familiar figures standing by the building's entrance.

"Oh, it's you again."

"Hey, Tony... sorry to interrupt." Peter greeted him apologetically. "We kind of... got lost on the way and saw you here, so we decided to come and say hi."

"I don't mind." The eleven-year-old boy said, tilting his head curiously. "Peter and Morgan, right?"

The girl gave a wide smile and before either of them could say anything she was already clinging to Tony, hugging him like a little koala, arms around the taller boy's waist, so suddenly that startled him.

Peter sighed resignedly.

"What did I say about hugs out of the blue, Mo?"

"They're great to give!" The girl stated, giving a full tooth grin up at Tony. "Right?"

"Yeah, I think so..." The older boy patted her head awkwardly.

When Morgan finally let go, Tony saw Peter stop beside his current project.

"That's a great engine you're putting together." The teenager nodded in approval. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

"Go ahead."

Tony said and watched with genuine, pleasant surprise as the girl's brother plunged his hands into the greased, oiled parts and correctly assembled one of the engine's components.

"You do know this stuff too." Tony commented delighted and Peter gave him a warm smile.

"Of course he does! My brother used to help Daddy in the lab, they were always fixing a lot of things together. Mommy told me they'd spend hours there and she'd get mad because they'd forget to eat, sleep and even to pee!"

Peter laughed; even Tony snorted amused at the child's blunt honesty.

"She's right..." And observing the eleven-year-old kid, Peter offered gently. "I think we can stay for another half hour... if you don't mind, I can give you a hand here to put this whole engine together."

Tony readily agreed; it was the first time someone else had offered to stay with him and help with his projects. Both boys worked together fixing the engine while the girl lay on a nearby couch, watching them with great interest and occasionally offering her opinion here and there.

As promised, Peter and Morgan stayed for half an hour before leaving, and when he said his goodbye, surprisingly the engine was done in the middle of the workshop and Tony had never had so much fun before in his entire life.

...

"That doesn't look like a star, Mo." Peter said flatly, arms crossed over his chest and arching an eyebrow at his little sister.

"It doesn't have to look like a star to be one." Morgan replied in an obvious tone as she poked at a mystical artifact that she certainly shouldn't be messing with. "Have you ever seen a star up close, Pete? What is it supposed to look like?"

"No, I haven't... but I know that they're made of dangerous stuff, and that shiny stone over there also looks like dangerous stuff." The teenager grabbed the girl's hands and pulled her back three steps just to be safe.

It wasn't every day that you had the privilege of visiting the ancient monasteries of Dr. Strange's mystical friends, much less being left alone to wander around in permitted and not-so-permitted areas. It was some Avengers-related thing that, for some reason, had Pepper and a couple of superheroes meeting up there, leaving the siblings with a lot of free time to use for no good since the teenager had offered to watch over the girl.

"I heard one of the monks say that they have so many magic stuff here! I'm sure one of these things can bring Daddy back!"

"I heard that too, Mo, but that's not how it works." Peter sighed and tried to reason with his sister, explaining gently. "There are things here that are dangerous... Dr. Strange kept the Time Stone here, which was one of the Infinity Stones that... That made Mr. Stark go away."

"It's Daddy, Pete, you have to say it right! How many times have I told you? Say it, Daddy!" Morgan gave an exasperated look, very similar to her mother's, and Peter sighed again, giving in.

"Dad." He muttered and his sister nodded contentedly. "We can't be messing around here, Mo; I'm sure Pepper will get mad."

Morgan shot another exasperated look at her brother and said with the same patience of a teacher instructing a small child.

"It's Mommy, Pete, you have to say it right too!"

Peter sighed resignedly again.

He had tried several times to explain that although Tony was his biological father, Pepper wasn't his mother, but Morgan seemed to not understand—refused, in fact—to see him as a brother with different parents. So the first time the girl, too much clever for her own good, made him call Pepper "Mom" to the woman's face, he almost died of embarrassment wishing the ground would open a hole under his feet and swallow him, much to the amusement and warm fondness of the strawberry blond-haired woman; even Pepper took pity on him and got along with it.

Morgan stamped her foot, impatiently waiting.

"Come on, say it right, say Mommy!"

"Our mom is going to get mad." Peter muttered then, sighing again, much to the delight of the six-year-old.

"Trust me, Pete, when Daddy's here again hugging her, Mommy won't be so mad anymore." Morgan explained, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

...

Tony strolled through unsteady steps across the deserted streets of the MIT campus; the sky had already darkened and he slowly dragged his body back to his and Rhodey's dorm room.

He was so drunk from the last nightclub party he'd decided to butt himself into that the eighteen-year-old could barely see what was right in front of him.

He almost bumped into Peter and only avoided falling sprawling on the ground because the other teenager grabbed him by the shoulders with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Are you okay, Tony?" Peter asked with concern.

The student gave him with a surprised gaze, blinking several times to clear his vision; then down at the girl, and up to him again.

"Oh... it's you again..." He slurred the words, but spoke them clearly, with more firmness than he seemed capable of.

"Come on, let's help you get back to the dorms, you were going there, right?"

"Yeah..."

The teenager agreed and the small group started walking again, his weight supported by Peter's shoulders and the little girl at his side, holding his hand tightly.

"Why do you two never change?" Tony asked then out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" Peter inquired quietly.

"You both..." With his free hand, the student made a random gesture in the air to indicate his two unusual friends; first Peter and then Morgan. "You're still a kid and you... you're still an even smaller kid, and come on... I met you when I was six years old, guys... I'm drunk, but I'm not dumb."

"No, you're the smartest person I know." Morgan stated all too seriously, with such a strong reverence that Tony fell silent.

"That's true..." Peter agreed softly as they arrived at the dormitory building. "We... kind of messed up with some magic stuff and got stuck in a time loop, we're traveling... trying to get out of it."

Tony stared hard... really... really stared hard at them.

"Temporal loop?" He repeated slowly.

"Time-travel, da-" Morgan closed her mouth, Peter gave her a sharp look. She smiled innocently at Tony's oblivious, confused gaze. "Tony."

"Magic stuff... temporal loop... time travel..." He repeated slowly, again.

"You're smart, you know this stuff, you're good at this. You even managed to do it once-" Faced with the other warning look from her brother, Morgan changed the subject. "Never mind."

"...what?" The student murmured, confused.

"We're here." Peter cut them off when they stopped in front of Tony's dorm room. "Is Rhodey here?"

"No... if he were, he wouldn't have let me go to the party." Tony snorted, but opened the door to let them inside.

Peter led the other teenager to the couch and sat him down; watching him with affectionate concern.

"Are you going to be okay, Tony?"

"Sure, sure... You know, I will pretend to believe this time travel stuff and-"

Tony looked up and the words died in his mouth when he had a vision— one that certainly wasn't the fault of the drinking—of his friends dissolving into thousands of particles of light right in front of him.

...

Virginia rushed across the streets towards the Stark Industries corporate building; she was running late and the heavy traffic had almost prevented her from making it to her job interview. She was only a few meters from the front door when the young woman caught a glimpse of two extremely familiar figures a few feet ahead, and when she recognized them, her feet came to a total halt.

She forgot momentarily about the interview and immediately went to them.

"Peter... Morgan..." She whispered with grateful surprise, observing them.

"Hello Virginia..." Peter smiled and he held his sister before the little girl threw herself into the woman's arms like a clingy little koala. Morgan glared at him, clearly unhappy.

"Hi mu-" She paused, thought, then murmured, correcting herself. "Hi, Virginia."

"You two..." The woman shook her head; her sky-blue eyes, matured by her twenties, clearly assessed them both. "What's going on here? Why do you keep appearing to me... Looking like when we first met when I was just a child? Am I going crazy?"

Peter gave her a look of compassion.

"I'm sorry... I know it's strange, but... it's... I guess it's hard to believe... but... we're not really from here... "

"What do you mean 'from here', exactly?" Virginia insisted.

"From this time." Morgan spoke with brutal sincerity, getting straight to the point; her bluntness made her brother sigh.

"Are you telling me... you two travel through time?" The young woman repeated slowly, as if trying to get the words to settle on her lips and having difficulty doing so.

"More or less; we can't stay in one place for very long... it's kind of the magic's fault." Peter smiled shyly, shrugging.

"Magic...?" Virginia repeated again, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"It's the magic of a star!" Morgan said enthusiastically.

"Right..." The woman murmured, shaking her head, unsure what to think.

"You seem to be in a hurry..." Peter commented then and Virginia's sky-blue eyes widened in astonishment.

"My job interview! I'm going to be late!"

"Don't worry..." The teenager smiled at her knowingly. "I'm sure the job is yours."

Virginia looked away briefly to check the time on her wristwatch; when she gazed back at Peter and Morgan, she saw them both vanish before her shocked, incredulous eyes in thousands of particles of light.

...

"Morgan, what did you do?!"

Peter exclaimed in alarm, watching in shock as his little sister pulled out from her backpack the same glowing artifact they had previously been observing in the Buddhist temple.

"Did you steal this from the monastery?"

"I didn't steal it."

The six-year-old rolled her eyes and easily explained her perfect logic.

"This is a star, Pete; you can't steal a star. Stars belong to everyone, that's why there are so many in the sky. This one must have fallen in the shower of shooting stars we saw last week, and the monks picked it up and hid it in the temple. It's wrong to imprison a star, you know? So we'll make our wish come true and then we'll release it so it can go home!"

Peter stared hard at Morgan, incredulous, shocked into silence and unable to muster any kind of answer.

Without wasting any time, the six-year-old grabbed her brother's arm.

"Let's go, Pete! Mom went to the nearby market to buy bread for breakfast, we have an hour before she gets back. Let's go!"

They ran through the halls of the lake house, the girl dragging the dazed teenager behind her, and both arrived in the center of the property's living room; Peter barely had time to glance at the digital clock above the fireplace, showing their current date, November 17th, 2024, before he and his sister sat down on the rug and Morgan held his hands, intertwining their fingers around the suspiciously questionable 'bright star'.

"Mo—" He began to say, but the words were cut off as a strong light enveloped them both and their world darkened.

...

Pepper let the air exhale from her lungs, weakly and trembling, her heart pounding in her chest in fright. Her boss, still sprawled on the stretcher, gave a soft laugh as if he hadn't almost scared her to death.

"Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice!"

She glared at him, her sky-blue eyes scared and exasperated.

"Are you okay?"

Tony grinned jovially and patted the newly replaced Ark Reactor on his chest; it shining strongly and brightly.

"Yeah, I feel great." And seeing that she was still trembling slightly, he added, "You okay?"

Pepper let out another long sigh from her parted lips.

"Don't ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again..."

Tony sat on the stretcher and ripped the wires off. He looked into her eyes then; all jest gone, only the raw sincerity remained.

"I don't have anyone but you..."

Pepper stared at him for a long second of silence, a searching gaze that seemed to speak more words than either of them was willing to openly reveal at that moment. Her blue eyes then drifted away, embarrassed, and fixed on the new Ark Reactor on his chest, only then truly paying attention to it, and realization dawned on her countenance; she paled with shock.

"Pep?" Tony inquired, frowning with rare genuine concern.

"Tony... that... that..."

She stumbled awkwardly over her words, trying to make them and her thoughts coherent.

"The Ark Reactor?" The engineer inquired, looking down at its round shape on his own chest, confused. "What's wrong with it?"

"No... there's nothing wrong with it... it... it's just..." The woman then fell silent; after making a silent decision, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Can I... ask you a strange question?"

"You're already asking me a strange question, but shoot it." Tony replied.

"Have you ever met a teenage boy and a small girl who seem to never age and who believe in time travel?"

Pepper would never forget the profound, genuine shock that washed over Tony's face then, and the recognition that sparkled in his brown eyes.

The woman removed the pendant hidden beneath her clothes, which she had always worn around her neck all those years, and showed it to her boss.

Tony stared at the small, shiny object, which was an exact miniature replica of his Ark Reactor.

...

Tony and Pepper were in the middle of a heated argument that had been going on for fifteen minutes straight when suddenly they stopped in the center of the enormous garage of the Malibu mansion, and stared at the two figures who had suddenly appeared nearby and had been watching them the whole time.

"Hi..." Peter waved, clearly awkwardly; at his side Morgan chuckled, finding it very funny.

"They still argue the same way!"

Tony and Pepper blinked; the man looked at the woman.

"Just... Just hold on a second! A quick question of the rhetorical kind. You're seeing them too, right?"

"Of course I am..." Pepper sighed deeply, shaking her head; still exasperated by the previous argument. "Really, Tony?"

"Okay... Right... Okay... glad we're on the same page, I guess..." The engineer nodded several times to himself.

"Can I hug them this time?" Morgan asked her brother impatiently, clearly not having forgiven him yet for holding her back previously.

"Mo..." Peter spoke gently... He looked at the two adults and then at the six-year-old girl. "It's... complicated..."

"It's complicated," Tony repeated, snorting. "Complicated is a little too vague, kid, to explain all this weird shit that's going on here. You will need to be a little more specific."

"Tony! There are children here!" Pepper scolded him exasperatedly, at the same time that Morgan exclaimed, "That's Mommy's word!"

The four stared at each other in silence.

Peter cleared his throat.

"What we said before is true..." He began uncertainly. "Morgan and I really messed with some magic stuff and ended up here in the past by mistake... we're traveling through the years, randomly reappearing and advancing to our present time, I guess..."

"Okay... let's say that's true, dear. When are you from?" Pepper asked, unknowing, with the same understanding kindness as her future self.

"November 17th, 2024. That's what I remember seeing on our clock before we ended up here."

"Okay..." Tony said slowly, crossing his arms. "So you two are from 2024... and now you're here in the past messing with the entire timeline, is that it? Shouldn't we be worried?"

Peter gazed at him for a moment far too long, filled with such sincere and deep emotion it made Tony unconsciously feel sorry for the boy; even without understanding the reason why his brown eyes were so full of pain and infinite longing.

"Why are you here?" Pepper inquired softly then; her ever-perceptive sky-blue eyes perceived the same thing Tony had seen.

"We're traveling to see our parents... that's it... That's all we wanted." He answered quietly. "We don't want to mess anything up, Mr. Stark... We're being careful to not ruin the past or the timeline, really..."

Morgan rolled her eyes at her brother's unnecessary drama.

"Pete isn't explaining it right... Even I am not understanding it either."

"Please, then, Morgan, do explain it to us in a simpler way than your brother, so that we may understand it." Tony spoke to the girl, gesturing with his hand to encourage her.

Before the teenager could stop her, all the careful work Peter had been putting in throughout all those unintentional trips, Morgan managed to throw it down the drain in ten seconds.

"Mommy, Daddy, we made a wish upon a star to go back in time to see you because Daddy died fighting a big, ugly purple alien, and so I thought if we gave Mommy a copy of our FRIDAY on the Ark Reactor pendant that Daddy made for me, then you'll be able to kick his ass before he rips half the universe apart again—"

Peter quickly covered the girl's mouth; his pale face, wide eyes staring mortified at the two paralyzed adults. Annoyed, Morgan bit his hand hard and the teenager immediately yelped and let her go. Satisfied, she finished.

"—and Pete wished for you to know you're his Daddy too! He was born to another Mommy, but he's my brother and your son too! And he loves you both as much as I do!"

The heavy silence that fell over the room was so dense it could almost be physically touched.

Tony and Pepper's jaws dropped to the floor in deep shock, stunned into silence; Peter didn't know where to hide his face from shame or disbelief or fear or all of it at once. Morgan grinned widely, far too happy, now staring up at her brother with a triumphant look.

"Can I hug them now?"

Before either of them could recover enough to answer, the siblings' time was up and they vanished in a new shower of brilliant starlight.

...

As they stood in the limbo that straddled each of their visits to their parents' past, Peter and Morgan stared at each other.

"Mo... Did you really give them a flash drive containing the updated version of FRIDAY from the year 2024?"

"Yup!" The girl agreed excitedly, as if the possibility of the total collapse of reality and messing with their entire timeline was just a very small, trivial detail really. "At least the next time we see Mommy and Daddy, they'll know who we are and we won't have to explain everything again!"

Her older brother cringed and hid his face in his hands.

"Oh shit..." He mumbled and Morgan shot him a disapproving look.

"That's Mommy's word!"

...

Peter was absolutely radiant.

The little eight-year-old boy beamed as his worried aunt and uncle checked him over for any injuries; his face was now uncovered, a wide, toothy grin spread across his lips while he held his red and gold plastic helmet in his hands, still wearing his toy repulsors.

Iron Man had just saved his life and everyone else's at the Stark Expo, the evil robots had exploded in mid-air in a display of dazzling fireworks, and standing in one of the protected areas along with other people who had also managed to escape the attack, he and his family were safe and sound.

Peter could hardly believe that he had managed to be so close to his childhood hero for a very short moment and that Iron Man had spoken to him; he was so freaking happy that he could barely contain his joy.

He knew it had been a unique, special occasion that probably wouldn't repeat itself, but Peter couldn't care less.

He was so, so very happy!

But then, above the loud sound of the crowd and the sirens of the paramedics, the unmistakable sound of his childhood hero's repulsors could be heard again and Peter quickly shot his anxious gaze up to the dark sky, trying to see him one last time before he was gone.

His brown eyes widened with deep admiration and bewilderment when Iron Man appeared and landed on the ground right in front of him.

Peter watched Tony Stark remove his helmet, and the man's eyes met his.

Tony observed him, his gaze deep, full of wonder. He slowly approached him, ignoring the stunned looks of the crowd around them and his aunt and uncle behind him; the engineer's attention was solely on the child. The superhero knelt in front of the boy, getting to his level.

"Hi, Peter..."

Peter's eyes widened even more.

"You know my name?!" The boy squealed in delight and a very warm smile graced the man's lips, his eyes welling up with tears.

"I know, buddy... I know everything about you..." Tony whispered with a soft, wet laugh. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment..."

He removed one of the gauntlets of his armor, and his trembling hand reached out to touch the boy's face, tenderly caressing his cheek, saying warmly.

"I'm your Dad, Pete..."

And completely stunned in shock, Peter saw Iron Man lean forward and embrace him; and completely change his life from that day forward.

...

When Peter and Morgan materialized again in the past, they were back in their parents' old Malibu mansion, standing on the wide outside balcony overlooking the vast sea.

It took only a few seconds for their presence to be noticed; the glass door opened behind them and Pepper stepped out; her sky-blue eyes landed on them with a gentle, warm gaze.

"Hello, my loves..." She spoke in a soft, welcoming voice and Morgan immediately ran towards her.

The woman knelt down and embraced her daughter with open tenderness.

"Mommy!" The six-year-old cried out happily. "Now that you know you're my Mommy, I may call you that, right?"

Morgan's very excited question made the woman laugh warmly, her eyes clearly emotional. She nodded several times and kissed her cheeks.

"Of course, my dear... I'm so happy to see you and your brother again..."

Pepper looked up at the teenager who was still standing in the same place, observing them timidly and the woman didn't hesitate to stand up and go to him; she embraced Peter and also kissed his face with the same maternal affection she had shown her daughter. Peter returned the hug, embarrassed.

"Hi Pepper." He greeted shyly.

"It's Mommy." Morgan corrected him and Pepper laughed loudly in fondness at his open embarrassment.

The woman placed a hand on his face while keeping the other around her daughter's shoulders, speaking kindly.

"You're not ashamed to call me 'Mom' here in our time at least, my son."

Peter's eyes went huge in surprise.

"What... do you mean...? What... happened after Morgan gave you the flash drive?"

"We're preparing for the future. Your father and I have diligently studied every piece of information that FRIDAY contained in her memory, everything... We got married early, we're changing the company, better organizing all our allies for the years to come... He publicly acknowledged his paternity and brought you to our home; you live here with us now and visit your aunt and uncle frequently..."

And placing a hand on her belly, she smiled at him and then at Morgan.

"I'm also expecting..."

Immediately, the girl's and the teenager's eyes turned downwards as the information sank in; she was pregnant with Morgan, and Peter, now more attentive, could also see the signs of her belly becoming more rounded.

The six-year-old girl cried out in joy and hugged the woman again as her brother looked up to see that Pepper's blue eyes were still watching him with her usual gentleness.

"I signed the adoption papers when Tony and I got married," She explained. "You're legally my son too, Peter."

His eyes, wide in surprise, filled with overwhelming emotion. She smiled at him knowingly and pulled him close again, embracing her two children tenderly.

"Come, I want to show you something."

She led them both inside and they walked down the hall until they stopped in front of a room with the door ajar; through the crack Peter saw Tony sitting at the head of the bed next to a ten-year-old boy whom the teenager recognized as himself, the man gently telling him a bedtime story while his younger self lay in his lap, hugging the engineer's waist and was about to drift off to sleep.

Peter watched silently, deeply moved, as Morgan smiled beside him and Pepper tenderly stroked his back.

When the story ended, Tony leaned down, kissed his son's forehead and chuckled softly when the boy didn't let go even in his sleep. He carefully released him, tucked him into bed and adjusted the covers; then he raised his face and saw them. The engineer's eyes widened, then softened with infinite love.

He left the room and closed the door quietly behind him, only to find his arms full of a small six-year-old girl whom he hugged back tightly.

"How's my little miss doing, Maguna?" He inquired warmly, so openly softened and paternal that it seemed as if no time had passed since the last time he had embraced her back at the lake house, before he traveled through time, before Thanos returned and crushed their world apart.

The small details that betrayed they were still in the past were the man and woman's younger appearance, the intact Malibu mansion and the child version of Peter sleeping soundly in the next room.

"Daddy!" Morgan squealed affectionately, purring like an overjoyed kitten and rubbing herself on his chest. "Now that you remember me, can we play tea party with my teddy bears? You promised we would!"

"Of course we can!" He responded confidently and enthusiastically, kissing her cheek soundly and patting her head fondly as his gaze rose to rest on the teenager.

Peter swallowed hard when he saw Tony look at him with the same depth, unconditional love and recognition that he had just shown his daughter.

I wish Mr. Stark had knew I'm his son...

He remembered his wish again and felt his eyes involuntarily well up and tears and they slide down his face as the engineer approached him, smiling knowingly and held him in his arms in a full hug, cradling his head tenderly against his shoulder and kissing his forehead paternally.

"Hi, Pete..." He said, so, so softly, his words intertwined with warmness. "I missed you so much, son."

Unable to speak, Peter wept heavily gently embraced by Tony as he strongly embraced his dad back.

...

"I can't believe I let you convince me to sign the permission slip for you to go on the Oscorp field trip!"

Peter and Morgan watched their hysterical father rant and pace back and forth across the wide living room of the Stark Tower's Penthouse while their worried mother tried in vain to calm him down.

The man was almost unrecognizable with worry; deep dark circles under his eyes, completely disheveled hair, eyes red from crying rivers of tears, his pristine semi-formal attire now completely rumpled; he was utterly beside himself.

As soon as the siblings had appeared the middle of the fancy room and Tony glued his eyes on them, the man hugged the teenager for dear life and stole the air from his lungs, looking so deeply frightened as if his world was about to end.

"You told me you wanted to keep your spider powers, and I let you! I let you go and now you're down there in the medbay with a terrible fever that won't go down and screaming at the top of your lungs for a week straight without Helen or me being able to do anything, nothing to alleviate the symptoms even with the advanced files that FRIDAY provided!"

"Tony, calm down! Tony, stop, you need to calm down!" Pepper pleaded, embracing her husband and making him stop walking; her face openly tired and just as stressed and worried as his.

"Dad, please..."

Peter spoke, approaching the engineer who stared at him with a desperate, tearful gaze.

"I'll be okay, Dad. I needed to go through this. It sucked for me at the time, but I'll be okay! In a week from now I'll be as good as new, climbing the walls outside of Stark Tower with you flying after me in your suit, complaining about me messing something up in the lab again."

Tony ran his trembling hands over his face and hair, unable to stop the tears that insisted on growing stronger.

"Trust our son, Tony; it's his choice." Pepper spoke gently as the man looked back at his boy.

"I trust you... damn it, I trust you so much, kid, but hearing you in so much pain is killing us, Pete..."

Pepper stepped back and watched with tears in her eyes as her son held his father tightly. Tony hugged him back and completely collapsed into heavy sobs, burying his face in his kid's shoulder.

"I can't... I can't lose you, Pete... I can't... I can't, buddy... I can't..."

"It's gonna be okay, Dad..." Peter whispered softly back, rubbing comforting circles the man's shoulders. "We're gonna be okay."

...

It was the year 2018 and also their last time jump, Peter was sure of it; something in the strange magic that surrounded him and his younger sister seemed to silently whisper this as a final statement.

It was the year that, in their previous timeline, Thanos appeared and made the first snap.

Be that as it may, whatever their parents had done and planned throughout all those years, the next time the teenager and the girl opened their eyes after this last, short visit ended, they would be back in their own time to face whatever had happened to the world after they messed with it entirely.

It was strange to watch from afar, hidden in the corner of the party hall, the mirror image of themselves dancing, having fun and laughing along with their parents at the New Year's celebration. Now Peter and Morgan, the ones who had privileged lived each of the happy years up to that point alongside Tony and Pepper, were now 16 and 5 years old respectively, and they looked so much like their time-traveling counterparts that it would be almost impossible to tell them apart if they were standing side by side.

Still, their parents knew... they always knew, with just a single glance.

While the fireworks exploded loudly in the vastness of the dark sky, falling upon them in thousands of sparks of light as if they were a magical shower of shooting stars, Pepper and Tony entrusted their distracted children to their friends and discreetly left the center of the party for another deserted area of the building.

They entered the dimly lit room, which still had a beautiful view from the ceiling-to-floor window, showing the outside landscape, and silently approached the two figures huddled together, seated on a wide, solitary bench near the glass, staring ahead at the fireworks.

The man and woman each sat at one end of the bench, and tenderly their arms surrounded the teenager and the girl in a loving group hug. Morgan was quiet, she leaned on her father's chest as Peter trembled, tears streaming silently down his face, his frightened gaze meeting his parents' as Pepper cradled him to her breast.

"Mom... Dad... I'm scared," He confessed softly.

"Oh, darling, don't be afraid." His mother told him softly as his father, still embracing his sister, reached out to touch his face and dry his tears.

Peter stared at Tony with haunted eyes, eyes that had seen far beyond his young age; had seen war, had seen death, had suffered loss. Morgan also clung to the engineer, afraid that if she let go he would disappear, just as happened that night when she let him travel through time to save their universe and he never returned home.

"Trust us, Pete, Maguna... trust us... everything will be alright; we're gonna be okay." Tony spoke with a strength as unwavering as the titanium of his armor.

"And no matter what happens, know that we will always, always love you." Pepper whispered, kissing her son and daughter's faces.

"Always." Tony echoed, leaning to embrace his wife and son too, scoping all of his family in his arms.

"I love you, Mom, Dad..." Peter told them, surrendering himself into their embrace.

"I love you 3000." Morgan said as well, and they remained together until the fireworks stopped falling from the sky and their children faded into thousand particles of light in their arms.

...

When they opened their eyes, they were sitting again on the floor of the lake house's living room, the early morning silence hovering in the air, the birds singing outside in the background and the sunlight timidly streaming through the windows.

The magic star fell from their inert hands; it rolled on the floor and stopped several feet away, its once bright light now extinguished; it had become just a dull, ordinary stone.

It was as if nothing had happened... as if nothing had changed; as if it all had been just a very cherished dream that faded all too quickly like the mists at dawn on a new day.

Then Peter and Morgan raised their faces to look at each other and gasped aloud in surprise.

They were older than before; he a young adult of twenty-two; she was an eleven-year-old teenager, and little by little a whirlwind of new memories invaded their minds and hearts, overwhelming them with so many happy and loving remembrances that made tears well on their faces, as they felt each one of those long years that before they had only been able to admire from afar.

Peter and Morgan fell into each other's arms and cried for so long that only when they finally departed, the siblings realized they weren't alone.

Their parents were seated on the nearby couch, leaning in each other's sides, their gazes gentle and softly smiles, dressed in simple, homely clothes, as if they had just gotten up from bed and had breakfast. Tony and Pepper watched them with open affection and love in their eyes; the woman's were a clear blue like the morning sky; the man's a brown so strong and vibrant that it seemed to contain the glow of burning stars.

"Hey kids..." Tony greeted them softly, casually. "You took a little while to get back. We were worried when we didn't find you in bed earlier... until FRIDAY reminded us of the date."

"Did you have a good trip back, my loves?" Pepper asked fondly, smiling at them.

"Mommy, Daddy!" Morgan jumped and threw herself onto the couch into her parents' embrace, several pairs of arms tangled themselves in absolute mess as they cradled their overjoyed daughter.

Peter remained frozen on the floor, staring at them with wide eyes, filled with barely contained hope.

"What... what day is it today?" He asked in a choked whisper.

"Oh, honey..." Pepper said affectionately. "It's November 17th, 2024."

Tony kissed Morgan's cheek and then pulled away, passing the girl to her mother's arms. He rose from the couch and slowly walked the short distance across the room, then knelt in front of his son, just as he had done so many years ago at the Stark Expo.

"Hi, buddy..." Tony spoke softly.

Smiling, his expression full of wonder, the engineer reached out to his boy and touched his face, caressing his cheeks, gently wiping away the tears that streamed openly and nonstop.

"I'm your Dad, Pete... and I know everything about you... I know your favorite color, your favorite movies, your food, your hobbies... I even know about that dangerous pastime you like to do on the walls out there..." Tony's eyes shone with tears too, but his voice remained unwavering. "I watched you grow up, I taught you how to build and fix things in the lab, so many happy memories... and I'm the happiest Dad in the world because I got to live all these years fathering an amazing boy and a very smart girl, getting gray hair early and surviving all the scares you both gave us..."

Tony cried too then, as he brought his son to his chest and enveloped his trembling form in his arms.

"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment..." He whispered tenderly in his ear as Peter cried heavily in his arms. "Hey buddy... We won... We won, Pete. We won.... You did it, kid... You did it..."

Peter hugged his father with all his heart, feeling him present, strong, and alive.

"Dad... Dad..." He repeated countless times.

Pepper and Morgan soon joined them, and kneeling in the middle of their living room, their small family embraced each other and never let go.

...

They walked around the lake hand in hand, talking and laughing under the morning sun; the mirrored waters reflected the pine forest and the vastness of the sky, bluish and cloudless. A short time later they sat down on a towel spread out on the ground by the eleven-year-old girl with the help of her brother; the basket full of sandwiches, fruits, juices and popsicles was laid out by their parents while both kids grinned at each other.

As Peter rubbed jelly on Morgan's nose, laughing at his sister's pout, Tony and Pepper watched them with warm smiles and deep of contentment.

...

I wish Daddy was here, and our family together and complete; that one morning we could have a picnic by the lake, with Mommy giving us sandwiches and Daddy juice popsicles!