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The night was cold, not only temperature-wise, but because this time was the first when you were at the rooftop all alone.
Watching the Perseids had been your thing. Something that never changed, even when everything else was grim and dark, even when it felt like the whole world was collapsing onto you. Even when many of your friends had turned into dust.
Tony was gone, saving the world by leaving it.
You had contemplated it for a long while, whether doing what you had started with Tony would be worth it without him. Whether your love for wonders of space was worth staring when Tony was no longer offering his witty comments or surprising facts.
He had been the father you hadn’t had, really. Took the position and didn’t even mind when you started getting close to him, even when back then he was actively pushing people away if they got too close. But you, he let closer than most.
Only Peter reached that same level, and that happened years later.
The telescope had always been difficult to set up for you, but your head kept echoing Tony’s voice. Tripod first. Now attach the mount. Check the alignment.
You swallowed at the memory, of him guiding your hands as last year was the first time he let you do it. As if he had known he wouldn’t be here this year, that he would die only two months later.
A moment later the telescope stood in front of you and didn’t even sway. Impressive for you, kid, you heard Tony say, which had you roll your eyes. “Oh shut it,” you whispered into the darkness beside you.
Look up, his voice said, and you looked just in time to see the first streaks of light. Comet debris, he had taught you the first time you were watching them. Sounds unimpressive, but makes you appreciate the nature.
“Yeah,” you muttered, before a long, bright streak flew across the sky. Brighter than anything you had ever seen before. Tony, your heart immediately whispered.
Your mind reminded you it was just a bigger particle than usual burning into the atmosphere, but your heart silenced it as a tear slipped down your cheek.
“You’re having fun out there, right?” you asked the sky, trying to smile a little. “Morgan is growing up so fast. She starts picking up your humor more.”
Crickets chirped in the bushes as you let your eyes wander, and a few seconds later more streaks followed the brightest one across the sky. “Yeah. I know.”
You leaned back a little, glancing into the scope once in a while as you looked at the meteors falling down, imagining it was Tony who was followed by other heroes that died in the war. That he’d lead them now, watching over the living. It was a childish thought, you knew that, but it was still a thought that could comfort you when the world felt dark.
He belonged among the stars now, and one day you’d bring Morgan with you to watch the rain of meteors and tell her stories of her dad, just like Tony would have done if he was still here.