Chapter Text
peter
Since Doctor Strange cast the spell that made everyone forget who Peter Parker was, Peter’s schedule has been pretty consistent. He would wake up in pain, this agony being rooted from a mixture of issues.
1) injuries he’s gotten from being Spider-man and recent patrolling.
2) his cheap mattress he had found lying around somewhere that gave him a stiff back.
3) the lack of food. he simply couldn’t afford enough food to keep up with his fast metabolism.
After awakening, he would rummage through the kitchen only to find scraps of food that wouldn’t even be enough to feed a child. Then, he would check on any of his newest injuries and - if necessary - apply fresh bandages. Afterwards, he would have a shower, suit up, and spend the rest of the day paroling around and fighting crime like any ‘friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man’ should.
Was his life sad? Yes. But, Peter had picked up methods along the way to hide the misery from himself and others. Whenever he would catch himself thinking about May, or Mj, or Ned, or (God forbid) Tony, he would drown out the thoughts by hyper-fixating on whatever villain was currently a threat or a project that needed to be finished.
He didn’t get a chance to tell Tony about any of this. He never got to say goodbye like he did to Mj, Ned and Doctor Strange. Peter told himself that it was for the best he never got to finalise his paternal relationship with Mr Stark. He said it only would‘ve hurt him more. But even he doesn’t know who he’s trying to fool, he wished he would’ve just gotten Karen to alert him before he made such a stupid decision that affected the fate of the universe.
The universe hates Peter parker.
Originally, Karen had forgotten Peter. But, using tricks Ned had taught him before their first homecoming, he managed to reset Karen and forced her to remember all of the information she used to. However, it had took a lot of convincing for KAREN to not alert Mr Stark about what had happened. KAREN kept telling Peter about different protocols Tony had in place, and that she would be going against his wishes. But, Peter insisted. It was for the best, right?
And so today was like no other. Peter forced himself to wake up, and struggled against the light beaming through his cheap curtains. Then he stumbled out of bed - limbs sluggish from exhaustion - and ate a singular slice of dry toast before slipping the spider-man suit onto his body, brushing his teeth, and leaping out of his window.
He webbed himself on top of his apartment building and just stared out at the city that had betrayed him. Yet, he kept fighting for Queens. Kept flinging himself into danger head-first. Because that is the kind of person Peter is. A good-hearted, empathetic, brave, self-sacrificial and resilient man.
But couldn’t he be more than that?
One day Peter Parker should become somebody’s husband, or father. He should have been Tony Starks son, and used to be May and Ben Parker’s nephew. He was a best friend of Ned, and a classmate of many. Now, all of that is erased. Peter Parker is a nobody.
Before the spell was cast, and before his identity was leaked, Pete had always pictured himself living a quiet life with some occasional superhero duties on the side. He hoped to marry Mj, and live next door to Ned. Then, one day, when he was older, he and Mj would have children and Tony would have grandchildren to love and spoil. But, none of this is possible anymore. And it is becoming transparently clear to Peter that it may never be again if he doesn’t act soon.
Maybe this is all for the better though? Maybe everyone that once loved him will be safer now that Peter can protect them from afar. And that is the reason why he won’t say anything. Peter is doing what he always does; putting everyone else’s needs before his own.
Tony
It had been a long six months for Tony Stark. Something was wrong. Something was so wrong that it had become off-putting for not only him - but Pepper and Happy as well. It started by Tony getting the occasional headache, nothing new there though. He had honestly just assumed it had been from overworking himself and the lack of sleep catching up to him. So, he allowed himself to rest.
Nobody understood how hard Tony had tried to just relax and sleep off this feeling. However, he discovered in about the third month that nothing would relieve him, until he worked out what was the sole root of the issue.
And from then on out, Tony hardly left his lab. Pepper had tried everything to leer him away from work for just one afternoon, but nothing was working. She had called in Rhodey, who basically just claimed that Tony was going insane after he explained that he was missing something. That he felt like something had been taken right out from under him. That something of his that had once been there had just vanished.
Nobody understood. Not a single soul could explain why Tony had begun to feel this strongly out of the blue. But then… Happy felt it too. Happy woke up one morning feeling like someone had punched him in the stomach with no explanation. He had brought it up to Tony one day while doing a security checkup in his lab.
“Sorry Tony, I forgot. I’ve been forgetting everything recently for some reason. Or it feels like I have been.”
Tony’s eyes widened and an expression of shock was painted on his face. “So you feel it too!” he audibly gasped, “I’ve felt like something was just.. wrong for a while now. And I can’t seem to figure out where the problem is coming from.”
Happy nodded in agreement before speaking up once again, "Really? Does Pepper feel this way too?”
“Not yet. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’ve gone mad.”
After a fairly long conversation between Tony and Happy explaining in depth their feelings, they both came to an agreement where neither would openly discuss this feeling and they would wait to see if anyone else in their inner circle would talk about it first.
This didn’t take long to happen, though. As not long after, Pepper made a confession.
“Tony, I think I know where you’re coming from with this ‘feeling’.”
“Really? I mean, I told you so, but finally!” Tony gaped.
Pepper gave him a tired look, “I woke up the other day with this gnawing feeling that something wasn’t right. I don’t really know how to explain it.”
“Exactly!” He grinned, in the exact eccentric light the media painted him in, “that is exactly how I’ve felt for months. And Happy has started to, too.”
After a while, practically everyone in Tony’s inner circle was on the same page, and Tony constantly refused to leave his lab. He tried to use his intellect to make a start on this problem, but there was nowhere to start. There were no clues, no evidence to what had made him, as well as the avengers, Happy, Rhodey and Pepper all have the same feeling that the answer to this problem was right on the tip of their tongues, but they just couldn’t quite summon it.
Eventually, Tony was just running on fumes. The only thing that was keeping him awake was his sheer determination to rediscover whatever he had forgotten. And those occasional headaches he had been experiencing had developed into full-blown migraines that occurred any time he had thought too hard about whatever he had forgotten. Which, at the time, had been almost constantly.
So, everyone finally came to the conclusion that they should just stop thinking about it, and that none of them would ever quite put their finger on it.
That was until Tony stumbled upon an old beaten up sweater in a random draw in the lab while looking for one of his old projects. Tony had never seen this sweater before so he didn’t know why he felt something itching in the back of mind. Then, he closely examined it and saw a name tag stuck in the label. The words written on it were ‘Peter Parker’.
Tony read the name over a few times and waited for something to click in his mind. But, it truly meant nothing. This name meant nothing to him. So, he simply assumed it must be one of Clint’s sweaters he’d borrowed from a friend, or one of his coworkers had accidentally left a sweater they had been borrowing from someone else in his lab. So, he did the most rational thing he could think of. Left the sweater where he found it and forgot all about it.
That lasted until an Avengers dinner around a week later. The Avengers had been discussing appropriate attire to wear to the meeting they had planned with Nick Fury a few days later when he remembered about the sweater. That’s when he asked, “Oh hey before I forget, do any of you know a Peter Parker?”
Silence and shakes of heads filled the table, before Steve spoke up. “No, but the name does ring a bell. Why do you ask?”
“…No reason, just heard someone mention the name the other day.”
The other Avengers were hesitant but had no reason not to believe him so they let it go. Tony then came to the conclusion that maybe there was more to this story than he thought.
Who was Peter Parker?