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SPIDER-MAN UNMASKED

As we are sure many of you may know two years amid the battle for Earth, web-slinging superhero Spiderman sacrificed himself in order to defeat Thanos and his army of aliens. Just this morning footage has been leaked from Stark Industries that shows him unmasked for the first time. 

Peter slumps back in his chair, tugging his hood to make sure that his face is still hidden. His identity has been leaked. He’s not even sure how it could have possibly happened again. After everything that happened with Doctor Strange and Peter two and three everyone should have forgotten him. He’d made sure there was no footage left. And what does it mean about him sacrificing himself in the battle against Thanos? Tony was the one who gave his life to save them all. Peter’s not even sure he was useful at all in the battle, he’d barely held onto the gauntlet and he definitely would have lost it if Captain Marvel hadn’t swooped in and saved his ass. 

He risks a glance around the nearly empty library and hopes that no one had recognized him on his way in. Everything had seemed normal that morning but his senses were on high alert and he couldn’t figure out why. Maybe this footage leak had something to do with it. He’d woken up that morning in his usual room at the motel where he’d been staying since being forgotten. He’d grabbed a couple of packs of powdered donuts from the pathetic excuse for breakfast and then slipped out before anyone could ask him anything that might give too much away. His eighteenth birthday had just passed but no one ever seemed to believe him when he said how old he was and he had no documentation to prove himself. He’d gotten lucky that the clerk that had checked him in that day hadn’t bothered to ask him for anything.  With one more glance around the room, he leans back towards the computer monitor to keep reading.

To everyone’s shock, Spider-man’s real identity has been revealed as Peter Parker, a sixteen-year-old from queens who many had thought lost to the blip. (picture displayed shows Peter Parker, his last school picture from before the blip) A look back at Spider-man’s history leads us to believe that he was just fourteen years old when he first came onto the scene as the friendly neighborhood hero that protected the streets of queens. Many now wonder about Stark's involvement in the boy’s adventures as a superhero. Did the billionaire inventor know his young age when giving him a suit of his own? Did his guardians know about all of this? Thousands have already taken to the internet demanding answers from both. We will be sure to keep you all
up to date as more information on the situation comes to light. 

Peter drops his head to the desk, his breath leaving him all in one puff. This is not his universe. He shouldn’t be here, he’s got no idea how he even came to be here. Yesterday he’d been in his own universe where no one even knew he’d ever existed. He’d gone out on his patrol, snuck a few pictures of himself swinging around in his normal suit to sell to The Daily Bugle (he really had to thank the other Peter two for that idea). He’d been working himself harder than usual, spending more hours patrolling and doing his best to avoid any run-ins with any avengers that might be lurking around the city still. He remembers getting into a particularly rough fight with some guy that looked like a Rhino sometime after nightfall. He’d been feeling battered and bruised when he got back to his motel, so tired that he’d fallen face first into his -bed still fully clothed with his backpack on. Not the first time he’s done that, probably not the last either. He’s glad for it now though, He’d still had his backpack, wallet, and suit when he’d woken up. He hadn’t bothered to check for any of his other belongings before leaving though so who knows what he had left. 

He can’t sit here all day, there are a lot of things he should be doing. He needs to figure out what exactly happened and how to get back to his own universe. This must be similar to what happened with the other Peters. He’s clearly gotten tossed into some other universe. One where apparently Peter Parker is dead, Peter Parker is dead because in the battle for Earth he sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos’s army. He sacrificed himself. Peter’s breath catches in his throat. The Peter in this universe sacrificed himself. Like Stark had sacrificed himself in his universe. Peter sits up fully again and scrolls down to the video, hitting the play button. 

The footage shown is all from the battle of Earth. Peter’s pretty sure it’s mostly recordings from the different hero’s suits. He recognizes the voice of the Falcon as he sees himself swinging through Doctor strange’s portal, He sees himself dropping down onto the ground, his mask off as he rambles through his explanation of what had happened when he woke up on Titan and realizes that it’s taken from the iron man armor. This footage wasn’t stolen from Stark industries it was stolen directly from Tony and Peter is sure that whoever did it was in for a world of hurt or at least the lawsuit of a lifetime. 

Pretty much everything that happens in the footage is exactly as Peter remembers it happening himself until suddenly it’s not. The Peter in the video is laying on the ground, the gauntlet and infinity stones clutched in his arms. But as Captain Marvel lands in front of him and he stupidly introduces himself like a dork, a group of the weird creepy aliens swarms her and there’s more coming for him and it’s clear from the vitals displayed that he’s panicking and then he’s sliding his hand into the gauntlet and there’s power surging through his body, his suit is burning. The footage switches back to the Ironman armor. He’s shooting across the battlefield in the direction of Peter, the vitals from the iron spider suit are flashing red in the corner. Peter watches as this other version of himself locks eyes on Ironman, and then he lifts his hand and snaps. The footage goes grainy as a shockwave shoots out from the gauntlet and Thanos’s army turns to dust. There’s just a glimpse at the very end of Peter, his face covered in dirt and blood, his suit burning away, black lines crawling up the skin of the left half of his face. It’s just a few seconds and then it’s gone as the Ironman suit breaks away from Tony. 

Peter closes the webpage and drops his head onto the desk again, making himself take slow even breaths. The Peter of this universe is dead. He sacrificed himself by putting on the gauntlet and snapping away the army. The same way that Tony had in his universe. That means that here, in this universe Tony Stark was still alive. Tony was alive. It takes all of Peter’s willpower not to bolt out of the chair and run straight to Stark Industries. He has to be smart about this. He has to be. He can’t go messing with the multiverse anymore than he already has. He can’t take that kind of risk again. It’s been nearly eight months since everything went to shit in his own universe. Eight months of living along, of avoiding everyone he’d once loved. Even if things are different in this universe he can’t mess it up. He needs to go straight to Doctor Strange and get him to send him back to where he belongs. 

He stays in the library for several more hours, watching the internet as more information comes out. There’s another video leaked at one in the afternoon, his own video diary from the trip to Germany. His interactions with Tony in the car afterward. The internet is in a frenzy over the whole thing, everyone shocked to discover that he was just a boy. That Tony would put him at risk by bringing him into that world. They demand answers from Tony, they demand answers from May. May who’s still alive, Peter has to force himself to stay still again at that piece of information. Peter’s headstone is turned into a shrine, with more and more pictures of it covered in flowers, cards, and stuffed animals popping up online. 

Just after four Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones-Watson, two first year M.I.T students are brought in for questioning in regards to the hacking of Stark Industries and the Avenger’s servers. MJ sends out a tweet right as her dorm is raided.

The world deserves to know who he was.

Peter has to move. He tries to rub away the tightness in his chest as he gets to his feet and slips out of the library. He makes sure to keep his hood tugged down low to hide his face and he finds himself checking his clothes every now and then as he walks to make sure that his suit isn’t showing at all beneath his jeans or hoodie. His face is everywhere right now. The last thing he needs is for someone to recognize him. 

“Okay, I gotta find the wizard first,” He mumbles to himself as he slips his phone from his pocket and curses when he realizes that he’s got no service. Of course, he would have no service this isn’t even his universe. He decides that his best bet is to make it to Greenwich village and he’s sure that from there he’ll be able to spot the building. He briefly considers changing into his suit and swinging over there but tosses that idea away before it’s even fully formed. Not only is his real face everywhere but there are billboards and murals of spiderman on the walls as well. He slips into an alleyway and leans his back against the wall. “I’m so fucked,” he groans burying his face in his hands. This is all way too much for him to take in at once. Tony is alive, May is alive, Ned and MJ are at M.I.T, everyone remembers him. Everyone is mourning him. They care about him. They know him. He slides until he’s sitting on the damp ground and holds his head in his hands. There’s no way he can stay here. There’s too much at risk. There’s too much temptation. 

“Thirty seconds,” He whispers to himself, then he squeezes his eyes shut and slowly counts to thirty as he forces himself to breathe evenly. “Thirty seconds and then I need a plan.” 

When his thirty seconds are up he gets back to his feet and stands up straight. He’s managed to live for seven months like a shadow in his universe. He can manage one day in this one. Doctor Strange’s house is pretty memorable so he’s sure that once he makes his way to Greenwich village he’ll be able to locate it, but first, he needs to do one thing. Just one quick thing. Because he’d given up everything to make sure Ned and MJ could make it into M.I.T without his secret identities ruining it for them and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let them throw it away in this universe. 

Peter stands up straight and takes four deep even breaths, and then heads out towards Hell’s kitchen.

Chapter Text

It takes Peter a while before he manages to find the building that houses the law offices of Nelson and Murdock. He should have thought his plan through just a little more before he’d set out. He’d met with Mr. Murdock several times when he was working his case but it had been pretty impossible for Peter to leave the apartment so the lawyer had always come to him. He makes sure that no one is paying any attention before he slips into the building and makes his way to the office. 

“Hello?” He calls out softly as he enters. There’s no one at the desk in the front but he can hear someone in one of the offices. There are footsteps and the tapping of a cane and then Mr. Murdock steps into the room.

“Hi, can I help you?” He asks. 

“Oh thank god, Mr. Murdock I did not know how I was going to explain anything to anyone else,” Peter says quickly. Now that he’s here talking to another person he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything. He wants to be able to give all his problems over to an adult. He keeps forgetting that he’s an adult now too. “It’s all very confusing but anyway Ned and MJ are being questioned by the police and they shouldn’t be. Well I mean Ned has the skills probably and MJ would… But that’s not really what matters because they’re both good people an-”

“Mr Parker, why don’t you take a few deep breaths and start from the beginning,” Mr. Murdock leans against the desk and folds his hands over his cane. Peter’s pretty sure his brain does a full reboot at the sound of his name.

“What no no no I’m not… I’m um…” He stutters. 

“I watch the news like everyone else. I recognize your voice. I am pretty curious how you’re here in my office alive though when everyone is currently mourning your death.”

“That’s… that’s a bit hard to explain. Cause I am dead… or he is dead. Peter Parker… which is me but also not me… I don’t have time to explain really. I need you to represent Ned Leeds and Mj please.” 

“You think they did it?” 

“Does it matter? Please, Mr. Murdock. They deserve to have normal lives. They don’t… They’ve lost a lot because of me. I need to help them. Please, Mr. Murdock?”

“Why did you come to me?”

“Well, you… I… You’re a really good lawyer,” Peter feels like such an idiot right now. He doesn’t know what’s too much and what’s not enough. He knows that Mr. Murdock will know if he lies but it’s not really a lie if he just… doesn’t say much. 

“I’ll give you that.” Mr. Murdock stands up straight. “They’re being brought to New York. I’ll meet them. See what I can do.” 

“You will? Really?” Peter wants to hug him, it’s been so long since he hugged someone.

“You saved the world, Mr. Parker. It’s the least I could do for you.” 

“Thank you Mr. Murdock, thank you so so much. This is really amazing. Can I do anything to help? Do you need any information? I just… You can’t tell anyone that I came here okay. I’m not… I’m not supposed to be around.” 

“Your secret is safe with me Mr. Parker. I’ll assume that you know about as much of the situation as I do from the news?” 

“Yes Sir,” Peter fidgets with the sleeves of his hoodie.

“I’m going to guess that you won’t be… In town for much longer. Your friends are the most likely suspects right now. If there was… another likely suspect then…”

“Oh! Oh! I got it Mr. Murdock! I got it! Thank you!” Peter spins around and bolts for the door already trying to figure out a plan. He just has to do this one thing, this one last thing and then he’ll go straight to Dr. Strange and get this whole mess sorted out. Mr. Murdock will get Ned and MJ out of trouble and they’ll be able to go back to school. 

Peter hurries away from Hell’s kitchen, he wants to make sure that nothing he does can lead back to Mr. Murdock. He’ll have to be smart about it. He’ll just quickly hack into the Stark Industries servers and make sure he’s noticed. There’s no way FRIDAY will miss it. Then He’ll slip on the suit and make sure he’s sighted a few times while he’s on his way to the Wizard. Easy peasy, even he can’t mess it up. 

Chapter Text

Midtown school was fully closed down for the night by the time Peter makes it there. He slips in through a skylight in the gym just like he’s done hundreds of times since the statue of liberty. He’s basically an expert at it by now. It’s the only place he can make his web fluid in peace. Tonight though he’s heading to the computer lab instead of the chemistry lab. He slips quietly through the halls and quickly stops at his old locker, lifting it up. He smiles at the sight of his stash in the same place he’d always left it. He’s sure that the Peter in this universe must have been more like him than the other Peters he’d met. 

He gathers some web fluid from the stash, though he’s not sure it’ll still be useful after so long. It’s probably been there for nearly seven years now. The thought of that makes him pause in the hallway. In this universe Peter Parker went to Titan and was blipped for five years, he came back from that only to die again so soon after. He died. Peter Parker died. Peter falls against the lockers and gasps as images of the battlefield flash before him. The smoke and the dust and the yelling. The blood, so much blood. He remembers Tony holding him tightly. He remembers seeing Tony sitting there with his suit ruined and-

Peter forces himself to take deep breaths. It’s over, it’s in the past. He pulls his backpack off and digs through it until he finds the tan case. He pops it open and carefully removes the glasses from inside. He hasn’t used them since he stole them back from damage control. He’d wanted them more for sentiment than anything. Tony had entrusted them to him and he’d already made the mistake once of letting someone else take them. He runs his finger gently over the frame of the glasses. 

They’d probably remember him. Peter had figured out quickly after Dr. Strange’s spell that while the memory of him had been completely wiped out the digital traces hadn’t. He’d had to lock himself in the school computer lab and write a code to wipe himself completely from the internet. It’d taken the better part of a night to get it done, but he’d managed. He’d kept a copy of his school records to help him get a GED and he’d made sure that his social security number and ID stayed valid. His hopes of ever going to college were completely dashed but he’d still need some sort of ID to get a real job someday. 

Peter glances around the hall even though he knows it’s empty. He would have heard or sensed someone well before they could sneak up on him but he can’t shake the paranoia that’s stuck with him since he became a shadow. The glasses sit comfortably on his face, they don’t feel quite as heavy as they did the first time he wore them. He thinks that maybe the meaning behind them had weighed more than the glasses themselves. “Edith.”

“Standby for retinal and biometric scan,” The voice comes through the glasses. “Retinal and biometric scan accepted.” 

“Hello Edith,” Peter sits and hugs his knees to his chest. 

“Hello Peter, what can I do for you today?” He lets out a long sigh of relief when he hears his name. It’s been so long since anyone has called him by his name. Mr. Stark is alive, May is alive, Ned and MJ remember. 

“I need access to…” He pauses thinking about it, what does he need? Does he need anything? Maybe it’s nothing at all. “Bring up everything you’ve got on Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones. They’ve been taken in by police and they’re being brought back to New York. Can you keep an eye on the case for me? Set up communication with Matt Murdock as well, in case he needs anything from me.” 

“It seems that my connection has been disrupted. Should I attempt to reconnect?” Edith asks. Peter frowns at that. Did that mean that they had been disabled in this universe? Or was it just because these glasses had come to his universe.

“Yeah go ahead and reconnect,” He won’t be here long and Tony was the one who created Edith. Maybe no one would notice that they were active again. He takes one more glance around the dark hallway before making his way to the computer lab. The lock on the door only takes Peter a second to pick and thankfully his old logins still work. For a technology school, their security isn’t really on top of it. He loads up a few of the computers and gets to work. 

He was never at good with computers as Ned was. Ned was always faster but Peter could almost keep up. They’d learned together so it’s not too hard for him to guess how Ned might have done it. Still, he waits until Edith has reconnected and he’s able to view the evidence from the police. Of course, Tony hasn’t given the police too much information on how it was done but there’s enough for Peter to guess. He’s had to get into the servers a few times himself since people forgot him so he’s got plenty of practice bypassing all the security. This time he needs to leave a trail though, with Ned and MJ they can’t be blamed for this hacking attempt and it should cast doubt on the first one. He’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t come back to Midtown high. Instead, he leaves a trace back to a library computer at Caltech. Just because he’ll never get to go to MIT in his own universe doesn’t mean he can’t partake a bit in the rivalry. 

“What did they access the first time they got in?” He asks Edith as he works to leave his proper trail.

“It appears that the original hackers only accessed things with reference to Peter Parker or Spiderman,” Edith answers, pulling up the referenced files for him.

“They could have tried to be at least a little more obvious,” Peter sighs. He lifts the glasses just a bit and rubs the bridge of his nose then goes back to the computer. “Alright, we’re going to do the same then. Pull up the footage from the baby monitor protocol. I remember that I used to wear the mask and do impressions in the mirror. Karen showed them too me once.” He watches the screen as Edith pulls the videos up. They make Peter smile a bit. He’d been embarrassed when he first realized that Karen had recorded them but it’s nice to look back on it now. He really had been just a kid back then. Peter saves the videos to a flash drive and then shuts everything down. He gets up and heads for the exit.

“Peter it appears that Mr. Leeds and Ms. Jones have arrived in New York. Mr. Murdock was there to meet them,” Edith announces. 

“Thank’s Edith,” Peter says as he slips out of the building and makes his way down the road a bit. He’ll need to suit up and head for Greenwich village to find the wizard now. He slips into an alleyway and pulls his hoodie off, being careful to not knock off the glasses. It’s quickly shoved into his backpack and then he kicks his shoes off and shoves them in as well. He always wears his web shooters now, hasn’t taken them off in months. Peter taps them together four times then watches as his suit expands out from inside them, covering all but his head. The nanobots had been a good idea. He’d had to piece a suit together on his own after everything that had happened. But he’d managed it. He’d even scavenged the parts to recreate Karen for himself, grateful for the familiar companion each time he put his mask on. 

“Edith, can you link up with Karen?”

“Yes Peter,” There’s a pause, “I am now linked with Karen.” Peter takes the glasses off and puts them carefully into the case. He eyes the note briefly before closing it and adding it back to his bag. His mask closes over his head and the HUD comes up.

“Good evening Peter,” Karen says.

“Hey Karen what’s new?” Peter makes sure he has enough web fluid left for his trip and then takes off toward Greenwich.

“I have connected with Edith, our systems are currently integrating.”

“Cool cool, tell me if she has any news for me alright?” Peter tries to stick to quieter roads as he travels. Staying as hidden as he can while swinging across the city. He hears a few shouts as he goes still and he’s sure that it’s worked. Tony will see that his files have been accessed, people will be posting about spiderman sightings. Maybe someone will think that it’s some sort of copycat or something. It’ll be enough of a distraction to keep them from looking too closely at Ned and MJ. Enough hopefully for Matt to get them released.

“You have a message from Matt Murdock,” Edith tells him. It's a little weird hearing a voice besides Karen’s coming through his mask. 

“Go ahead and read it to me Edi-” He cuts himself off when he hears an all too familiar sound, he quickly drops onto the roof of the nearest building and sticks himself into the smallest crevice he can find. There are all sorts of sounds around him, cars, and people, and sirens, and in the distance nearly drowned out by the other sounds is the sound of repulsors, growing louder. Peter curses himself, he should have known that Tony would be in town while everything was going on with the leaked videos. 

“Karen we need to go dark. Shut down everything,” Karen doesn’t bother to answer, his HUD goes dark. He presses himself just a bit further back into his spot. Its tiny, no normal sized person should be able to fit but Peter’s always been small for his age and he hasn’t been eating enough to keep up with his metabolism lately. Even if Tony does find the roof that he’s on maybe he won’t figure out his hiding spot. 

There’s a soft clank as the ironman suit lands on the roof. Peter holds his breath as he listens, trying to listen for any sign that it’s just an empty suit. But the mask slides open and Peter can hear Tony breathing. He eyes the distance from his hiding spot to the edge of the roof and wonders if he can be faster than the ironman suit. Maybe he should find a way to add repulsors to his own suit. He’d have to make his gloves and shoes metal again. He could probably have to get the parts from some old Stark tech. 

“Look, whoever you are let’s just make this easy. I’ve got a lot of shit to do that doesn’t involve some annoying punk hacker,” Tony calls out with an annoyed voice. He’s lying, of course, Peter knows he’s lying. Someone being able to hack him not once but twice is a serious offense. Peter eyes the edge of the roof again. The alley is narrow. The Ironman armor probably couldn’t fit down there. It might give Peter a headstart.

“Marco,” Tony calls as he walks around the roof. “Friday give me a scan of the area,” He whispers. Peter knows that his body temperature is generally lower than most normal humans but he’ll still be spotted by Friday. He tenses up, judges the distance between the edge of the roof and where he last heard Tony’s voice. It’s now or never, he’s got to get away. It’s Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark is right there. He’s alive and he’s right there. Peter pushes himself quickly out of his hiding spot and bolts towards the edge. He’s right there when a hand grabs his arm and tosses him down onto the roof. Before he can even think to react there are metal ropes wrapping around him and pinning him face down to the roof. He doesn’t bother to struggle. It’s Mr. Stark, It’s Mr. Stark. He knows that whatever Tony had used to make the ropes wouldn’t be easily broken. 

“So what’s this supposed to be then? You some spiderman superfan or something?” Tony walks over and crouches down beside him. “Maybe a cheap knockoff.” 

Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark.

“I… I um…” He tugs a big at his bindings, just in case. 

“I will admit that your skills were pretty impressive. I’m still not sure how you managed to get into my servers to be honest,” Tony leans forward, his elbows on his knees. Peter tries to think of a way out of this but having Tony there right in front of him, alive! Is making it hard for his brain to function. He takes a deep breath and then lets his mask retract.

“Mr Stark, please don’t freak out,” He begs, tilting his head to the side to try and get a good look at the man. Tony jerks backward and falls on his butt. Before Peter even really registers it happening Tony has raised his hand and has a charged repulsor aimed at Peter’s head.

“Who are you?” He demands.

“What? Wait no Mr. Stark it’s me! It’s me, Peter!” Peter struggles against the ropes trying to free himself so he can explain better.

“Who are you?” Tony demands again as he gets to his knees.

“I’m Peter Parker! I’m… I think I’m eighteen but to be honest, the whole missing five years thing is really confusing so… so I might still be seventeen or even nineteen. Please let me up and I’ll explain everything. Please Mr. Stark I really don’t like being pinned down like this…” Peter was determined not to cry but it was getting harder by the second. The past twenty-four hours have been super overwhelming and he’s not really sure how he’s made it this long without a proper breakdown. 

“Peter Parker is dead,” Tony says his voice rough.

“I… Yes… The… I’m” Peter doesn’t know how the hell he’s going to explain this. “My Name is Peter Benjamin Parker. I’ll explain everything if you just let me up… please? I’m… I think I’m about to have a panic attack and…” 

“If you’re Peter then what’s the first thing I ever said to you?” Tony asks. Peter squeezes his eyes shut and takes a couple of deep breaths.

“You said nice work kid,” Peter forces himself to keep taking steady breaths. He’s pretty sure that he’s going to cry any second now and he really doesn’t want that to be the first impression he gives.

“That’s wrong, that-” 

“It was 2010. At the Stark Expo when the Hammer drones went crazy. I had on an iron man mask. I got separated from Ben and He always said that if I got lost i should stay in the same place and when I saw the drone coming for me I thought I could just be like Iron man and blast it away. You saved me,” Peter’s pretty sure he forgot to breathe while he got all of that out. “I don’t… I don’t know if that happened here in this place actually. But then… The second time we met you were sitting on the couch with May eating… something she made. I think you called me Mr. Parker. You lied and said we’d been emailing about the September foundation and I went along with it because… because Tony Stark was in my apartment.” 

The ropes release him and Peter jumps to his feet. His legs are shaking too much and he ends up falling back down but at least he’s not face down anymore, at least he isn’t feeling the phantom weight of a building holding him down. He puts his head between his knees and counts his breaths.

Chapter Text

“Peter?” Tony’s voice is rough. He puts his hands on Peter’s shoulders and sits him back up, his eyes scanning over Peter’s face, taking him all in. “You’re really Peter?” 

“Mr. Stark,” Peter’s eyes are burning. He doesn’t care if he looks pathetic anymore. He throws himself forward and clings tightly to Tony. The Iron Man suit returns to the housing unit on his chest and Peter tightens his grip as Tony’s arms wrap around him. His tears fall as he presses his face against Tony’s shoulder. He listens to Mr. Stark, his heart beating in his chest, each breath he takes.

“How?” Tony gasps, “How are you alive?” 

“It’s… it’s hard to explain. I need to get to Doctor Strange. I…” He has to go. He needs to get back. He can’t stay in this universe. No matter how much he wants to He can’t stay. “I’ve got to get to Doctor Strange.” 

“Okay okay alright kid. Let’s go to the tower and I’ll give the wizard a call,” Tony places his hands on Peter’s shoulders and moves him back again. “You’re more of a twig than usual. We’ll eat something when we get there.” Peter’s pretty sure he’s going to start crying again. 

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” He doesn’t want to let go. 

“You’re okay kid, I’ve got you okay? You’re alright,” Peter wonders which one of them Tony is trying to reassure. He can’t help but cling to his mentor once again and breathe in the familiar smell of expensive cologne and motor oil. For the first time in months, his spider sense is completely and blessedly silent. He’s safe. Tony is here with him, and he’s safe. He can’t stop the tears from falling. Tony’s hand cups the back of his head, smoothing down his curls. “You’re safe Peter.” He repeats over and over. Peter wishes he could be a child again, wishes that he could just hand all his problems to Tony and let himself be taken care of. 

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Peter whispers. 

“You’re alright kid. I’ve got you. Friday, send our location to Happy. Tell him we need a ride,” Tony gets back to his feet and pulls Peter up with him. Peter’s tired though, he’s so very tired. He lets Tony take most of his weight as they stand there. “Are you hurt kiddo? Friday run a full scan of him. I’m not connected to your suit, where’d you get this one? I haven’t seen you since… since the battle. You were injured badly.” 

“Sorry, Mr. Stark. Karen, you can give him access,” Peter forces himself to stand up straight again and ignores how cold it leaves him feeling. “There’s a lot of…. Of really weird things that I’m going to have to explain. But… The battle ended the way you remember. I’m… not the same Peter that you remember.” 

“Okay… Alright. We’ll go back to the tower and get you fed and…. You haven’t eaten today?” Tony frowns disapprovingly as he listens to whatever Friday is telling him through his earpiece.

“I had some donuts… well I grabbed them. It’s kind of been a really weird day so I don’t remember if I ate them or not.” He admits. Tony shakes his head and drops a hand onto Peter’s shoulder. 

“Happy’s on the ground now. Can you get down or do you need a lift?” 

“I’ll meet you down there,” Peter forces himself to take a step back and brings his mask back up over his face. Tony nods at him then flies down to the ground. Peter takes a few deep breaths then jumps off the edge as well, landing just behind Tony. He watches as Happy gets out of the car and takes a few steps towards them with his brows furrowed. 

“You make a friend Mr. Stark?” Happy asks. He looks between the two of them with confusion and maybe some hope in his eyes. 

“Ran into an old one actually Hap. Let’s talk in the car,” Tony reaches back and puts his arm around Peter again as he leads him to the backseat. He pulls the door open for him and waits while Peter ducks inside before climbing in himself. Happy hurries to get back in the car and glances repeatedly into the rearview mirror as he starts the car. Tony doesn’t take his eyes off him. Peter slumps down in the seat and tilts his head back closing his eyes. 

“You can probably ditch your suit now if you want. Is it nanotech? I saw that your mask was at least,” Tony says with interest in his voice. Peter can feel Happy looking back at them. He raises is wrists and taps the web shooters together three times and the suit slides back inside them. Peter wiggles out of his backpack and holds it on his lap. 

“Peter?” Happy gasps out as he jerks the car to a stop on the side of the road. 

“Jesus Happy,” Tony throws his arm out to keep Peter from being jerked forward. “Seatbelt on kid. Apparently, Happy’s forgotten how to drive tonight.” 

“What the hell you can’t just… Bring the kid back to life and expect me not to react to it!” Happy snaps as he twists around to get a better look at Peter. 

“I didn’t bring him back to life,” Tony rolls his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I’m allowed to be dramatic when there’s a formerly dead kid sitting in the backseat of my car!” Peter winces at the volume. It’s been so long since he’s been in an enclosed space with other people that he forgot how loud it could be. 

“Don’t yell Hap,” Tony reminds him. He points at Peter’s seatbelt again with a raised brow. “I don’t know all the details yet either. We’re going to go back to the tower and Peter’s going to catch us up on everything. You can sit in if you want. Let’s grab some food on the way. You have any preferences kiddo?” 

“Can we get Thai? I haven’t had Thai in a long time,” he admits as he buckles himself in. 

“You can have anything you want kid,” Happy is definitely sniffling as he puts the car back in drive and pulls out onto the road once more. Peter hugs his backpack tighter. He wonders how they’ll feel when he tells them that he’s not their Peter, that he’ll have to go back to his own universe. Mr. Stark is dead, May is dead, no one knows who I am. 

“Great Thai it is,” Tony is still watching Peter closely. His eyes darting over all his features. Peter lets him. He wants to do the same but he’s worried about how much it’ll hurt when it’s time to go. 

He barely notices the drive at all, floating somewhere between awake and sleep. He listens to the sounds of Tony and Happy’s breathing. The steady beating of their hearts. When Happy stops to grab their Thai he lets himself tip sideways to rest his head on Tony’s shoulder. Tony wraps an arm around him and tucks him into his side. Peter lets himself enjoy the comfort, no matter how brief it’ll be. He must fall asleep because the next thing he knows Tony is encouraging him to sit up and get out of the car. 

Peter is barely out of the car before he’s being wrapped up in a tight hug by Happy. He returns the hug and presses his face against his shoulder with a smile. Happy doesn’t remember me. Happy lets him go abruptly and straightens his suit, he sniffles a few times as he grabs the Thai food from the passenger seat. Tony throws his arm around Peter’s shoulder again and leads him into the building.
“When did you get the tower back?” Peter asks while they wait for the elevator. He can smell the Thai food from the bag Happy is holding and he’s trying his best not to drool over it. 

“A few months ago,” Tony says sticking his hands into his pockets. “We still use the compound mostly but… well it’s too remote for some people. So I bought it back. Moved most of SI back in. I spend some time here every now and then but I’m mostly at the compound upstate.” 

“Not at your cabin?” Peter asks. 

“My cabin? I um… I go out there sometimes. Pepper and I are… Taking a bit of a break right now.” He admits, “So I’m living at the compound while we… sort things out.” 

“Mr. Stark!” Peter gasps, “What about Morgan?” 

“We share custody. You know I think we have a lot to talk about and I don’t think my relationship status was on the list,” Tony guides him onto the elevator. Peter pouts and leans against the wall as Happy joins them.

“What happened Happy?” he asks.

“Don’t answer that,” Tony warns. 

“It’s been a rough few years kid,” Happy says with a shrug. Tony gives him a quick glare then returns his gaze to Peter. He’s pretty sure Tony hasn’t looked away from him at all since he revealed himself on the roof. 

The tower isn’t all that familiar to Peter. Tony had kept him at arm's length until after moving day. Then he’d brought him up to the compound a few days of the week so they could work together and try to make his internship look legit. The tower sort of has the same feeling though at least. Tony leads him to a kitchen and Peter doesn’t bother to wait for Happy to gather their plates before he’s taking the food out of its bags and grabbing a pair of chopsticks to stuff his face with. 

“Geez try to actually chew your food, we don’t need you choking,” Tony says it like a joke but there’s a tinge of real worry in his voice. Peter swallows what's in his mouth and wipes his face with a napkin.

“Sorry Mr. Stark,” He mumbles as he accepts the plate that Happy offers him. He waits for both of the men to take some food before he loads his own plate. 

“So…” Tony says taking a bite of his own food. “Should we… Talk now?” Peter takes a deep breath.

“You know the multiverse theory right?” He pushes his food around a bit with his chopsticks. 

“Sure,” Tony says at the same time Happy says “No.”

“Okay well the short version is that… there’s like a lot of universes that all exist and some of them are really similar and some are super different but they all exist and… I’ve found recently that there are… ways to travel between them. Well, I’ve seen it happen. People from other universes came to mine after a spell by Doctor Strange went wrong. There were two other versions of me. Well, they didn’t look like me really but they were both Peter Parker just like me.” He takes a deep breath. “So what I’m trying to say is… I’m Peter Parker but… I’m not the Peter Parker that… that you knew. I mean as far as I can tell everything is the same but… I didn’t die in the battle of earth.” 

“So… The multiverse is real…” Tony looks skeptical. 

“You invented time travel and you’re having trouble believing in the multiverse?” Peter points his chopsticks at him. “It’s the truth, Mr. Stark. This… this isn’t my universe. I don’t know how I ended up here though because last night I went back to my hotel room and that’s where I woke up this morning but now everything is… different.” 

“What’s different?” Tony asks. 

“Other than you being alive,” Happy adds. Peter takes a bite of his food in order to stall. He doesn’t want to say it out loud. Instead, he digs into his backpack and grasps the glasses case in his hand. He pops it open and makes sure the note is visible before sliding it across the table to Tony. He stares at it, then picks up the note and runs his thumb over the words written there. Peter has them memorized. 

“I threw this note away,” Tony says. 

“Nick Fury gave them to me… A few months after the battle,” Peter’s pretty sure he’s still hungry but his appetite is gone now. He can’t stomach another bite right now. 

“Are those your glasses?” Happy asks.

“Even dead I’m the hero,” Peter’s hands are shaking. “It’s Edith.”

“Tony?” Happy asks.

“I made plans before we went back in time. Made sure my affairs were in order,” Tony lets out a long breath. “One of them was to make sure that if something happened to me these would be given to Peter.” 

“In my universe… It was Tony Stark that stole the infinity stones back from Thanos. It was Tony Stark that snapped away Thanos’s army. It was Tony Stark that died.” 

Chapter Text

Peter feels like crying. No, he definitely is crying. Tony Stark is dead, May is dead, no one remembers you. He pushes his plate aside and drops his forehead onto his arms to try and hide. Tony gets up quickly and moves around the table. He pulls Peter’s chair back and gathers him into his arms.

“I’m here now Peter. I’ve got you okay?” Tony says. Peter clings to him tightly and cries. He doesn’t care anymore how he looks. It’s been so long since someone was there to comfort him. So long since someone held him. Tony’s fingers card gently through his hair and he tries to focus on the feeling of that instead of all of the emotions fighting for attention inside him. He’s tired. So so tired. 

“Mr. Stark,” It comes out as a sob.

“I’ve got you, kid. I’m not letting go,” It’s a lie they both desperately want to believe. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. But you can rest now alright. I’ve got you. I’ll fix this. That’s what I do, you know that. I’ll fix this.” There is no way to fix it. The only thing to do is to get Peter back to his own universe. Back to the world where no one cares what happens to him. 

“We have to call Doctor Strange…” Peter forces himself to pull away. “In… In my universe when things got messed up Doctor Strange was able to fix it. He was able to send everyone back to their own universes.” He would have done it with no side effects if Peter had just let him do his own thing in the first place. If he hadn’t been so determined to do his own thing. 

“I’ll send him a message but the last time I heard from the good doctor he wasn’t in town,” Tony admits, pushing Peter’s hair back out of his face. “You’re going to stay with me and relax okay. Have you been taking care of yourself? You’re way too thin and the bags under your eyes have bags.” 

“I’m fine Tony really,” Peter sniffs and looks away from him. “It’s just been… A long few months to be honest.” 

“Oh, I’m Tony now huh?” He teases, “Come on. Finish your food and then I’ll get you set up in a room for a good night's sleep.” 

“We should call May,” Happy says almost hesitantly. “She should know.”

“No,” Peter says too quickly. “I was… It’ll be too hard for her. To see me and… and then When I leave again.” It’ll be too hard for Peter. To have Tony and May and Happy just like things were before. 

“Peter,” It’s clear Happy wants to argue but Tony holds up his hand to stop him.

“It’s late. Too late to drag May out of bed. We don’t even know how long Peter will be here.” Tony ruffles his hand through Peter’s hair gently. “Eat up kid, come on it’s late.” 

Peter nods and picks up his chopsticks again and starts to finish the food on his plate. He’s grateful when Tony chooses to sit in the chair beside him again. Happy is clearly still worried about telling May and Peter’s grateful for it. They must still be together. With Peter gone May will be safe in this universe. Happy will protect her from anything else. 

“Is May… is she okay?” He finds himself asking. May is dead, May is dead, May is dead. 

“It was hard for her,” Happy admits. “It took her a long time to… get back on her feet.” 

“This news getting out… are people bothering her?” He shouldn’t ask, it’s too much temptation. Too much. May is dead, Tony is dead, no one remembers who you are. 

“She’s doing alright. It’s brought up… a lot of bad memories for all of us. She’s at my apartment right now to avoid most of the reporters,” Happy scoops some more food onto his plate. Peter can see Happy’s apartment in his head, he can see the villains he brought there, he can see… he can see the rubble in the lobby. The police outside. The blood on his hands, blood on his hands, blood on his hands, May’s blood. 

Peter stands up from the table so quickly that his chair flies back and clatters to the ground. He’s gasping for air. He can’t breathe. There’s a building on his back. May is dying in front of him. Ben is dying in front of him. Tony is dying in front of him. 

“Peter!” Tony is grasping his shoulders tightly. Peter startles back, no one knows him anymore, no one should be touching him. He trips over the chair and something cracks. He lays on the ground gasping. 

“Peter, peter you’re alright. You’re safe. I’ve got you.” Tony kneels beside him and catches Peter’s wrists to keep him from lashing out. “Same side kid. Same side.” Everything returns all at once. Peter looks up at Tony through the tears streaming from his eyes. Tony is right in front of him. Tony Stark is dead. “I’ve got you,” Tony cups Peter’s face in his hands. He’s taking deep slow breaths. Peter copies him.

“Here boss,” Happy walks over slowly holding an uncapped bottle of water. Tony helps Peter to sit up, resting him against his chest, before taking the water and holding it to Peter’s lips. 

“Take a drink Peter, just focus on breathing,” Tony instructs. Peter drinks a bit of the water, it’s ice cold and the feeling helps to bring him more fully to the present. He listens to the sound of Tony’s breaths and forces himself to match them. Tony keeps one arm wrapped around Peter, holding him tight. 

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark…” Peter mutters. He’s tired, exhausted. He wants to just curl up where he is and sleep. 

“Hey,” Happy says, “Why don’t I set up Star wars in the living room? Get some extra blankets and pillows out for you guys?” 

“Yeah, that sounds good Hap. Come on kid, let’s get comfortable on the couch,” Tony gets up and helps Peter to his feet as well. Peter lets himself be led to the living room and be seated on the couch. He doesn’t really pay attention as the other men move around him. He’s wrapped in a blanket and the movie starts on the screen. Happy takes a seat in an armchair and puts his feet up. Tony sits on the couch with Peter. He puts a hand on his shoulder and urges the teen to lay down, his head resting on a pillow on Tony’s lap. Peter lets himself relax. He’s safe for now. Tony’s fingers card through his curls. He doesn’t even remember falling asleep. 

“Hey keep it down,” Happy’s voice is tinged with sleep as he scolds whoever it is that’s just wandered into the living room. Peter heard them in the elevator. Three new heartbeats, they’re on the younger side. Logically, Peter knows that if they have access to the tower then they must be safe but he can’t help but tense up. 

“Oh hello, Happy man,” A girl with an accent sings. “And Tony Stark! You have chosen to grace us with your presence!” Tony shifts a bit as he wakes up more, his hand continues its previous pattern of carding through Peter’s hair. Peter must have pulled up his blanket while he was sleeping. It’s covering most of his face now. 

“Isn’t it past you threes bedtime?” Tony asks. 

“Oh come on old man we’re young! We had to go out and see the town,” A boy with a southern accent. Peter recognizes that voice. He met Harley Keener at Tony’s funeral. The circumstances of their meeting had been bad but they’d talked a bit. They got along. They’d even exchanged numbers and talked quite a bit before the failed spell. Harley had been trying to create his own armor. Peter had helped him a bit. 

“Yeah, Kate Bishop had to show us around,” the girl with the accent says. Peter thinks she might be Russian.

“Well get to your rooms,” Happy scolds them. “We’re sleeping in here.”

“Why are you… is that Morgan?” Harley asks. Peter listens to their footsteps as they move further into the living room. 

“It is clearly too big to be Morgan,” a third voice says, another girl. Peter is pretty sure Tony already knows he’s awake but he taps a finger against his leg anyway just to let him know. 

“It’s a ghost,” Tony says, “a ghost that needs to sleep and not to listen to a bunch of annoying ass kids stumbling home drunk at three in the morning.” 

“A good ghost or a bad ghost?” The Russian girl asks. 

“A none of your business ghost,” Happy says, he sounds tired and annoyed but he gets up from his chair with a groan. “Come on, off to bed. Don’t disturb them anymore.” 

“If you are inviting ghosts to stay with us we should at least be allowed to know who they are.” Russian girl says.

“Yeah what she said,” Says the other girl. Tony lets out a long suffering sigh and gives one of Peter’s curls a gentle tug. 

“Up to you kiddo,” he says. Peter really should try to stay away from people in this universe but if he’s going to be staying at the tower until Doctor Strange comes then it’s only fair that he knows who they are. After all, he doesn’t want to have to hide.

He sits up and lets the blanket fall onto his lap. The lights are dim in the room but there’s still a star wars movie playing on the tv so it’s not that hard to see. He pushes his hair back out of his face and eyes the three newcomers. Harley looks the same as the last time Peter had seen him in his own universe and he thinks he recognizes one of the girls from some news report last Christmas. Something to do with hawkeye maybe. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and scoots just a bit closer to Tony. 

“You are Starks kid!” Yelena exclaims. “You are indeed a ghost.” 

“Peter Parker,” Harley says with wide eyes. 

“Wait Spiderman? But… aren’t you dead?” Kate, that’s what the Russian girl had called her, asks. 

“They did say I was a ghost…” Peter pulls his knees up. Tony rests his hand on the back of his neck and gives a reassuring squeeze.

“Look you three just go to bed, well explain things in the morning,” Tony orders them. “Happy you get to bed as well, I don’t want to listen to you complaining all day tomorrow about how much your back and neck hurt from sleeping in that chair.”

“But Boss,” Happy objects.

“I’ll stay with Peter,” Tony says. Peter wants to object but he’s really grateful. As much as he’d love to sleep he doesn’t want to be alone. He watches as Happy ushers the three newcomers out of the room and then turns to look at Tony. 

“Your back is going to hurt in the morning too,” Peter points out. 

“I’m not sleeping right now kid,” Tony lies. “I’m staying right here and keeping an eye on you.” 

“Mr. Stark…” 

“I died in your universe right, Pete? You watched me die?” Tony asks. Peter forces himself to nod. “I watched you die twice. Both times in my arms. I lost you on titan and I spent five years trying to find a way to get you back, and it worked. It worked Peter. You came back to life and I… I should have made you leave the battle. I should have sent you home. But I didn’t. I let you stay and then you died again. And both times, both times you laid there in my arms and kept apologizing like you’d done something wrong.”

“I…” Peter leans forward and hugs Tony tightly. He wants to apologize but he knows it’s not what he needs to hear right now. Tony hugs him back just as tightly. 

“I’m going to stay right here kid. You get some more sleep okay. In the morning we’ll talk more,” Tony lets him go and has him lay back down. Peter lays his head back on the pillow and lets Tony adjust the blanket over him. He focuses his eyes on the tv but listens to Tony’s heartbeat instead. He lets the sound lull him back to sleep. 

Chapter Text

Peter’s spider senses wake him up. Someone is right in front of him. He doesn’t hesitate as he throws himself off the couch, knocking the person back away from him. He crouches down ready to fight again as his surroundings come back to him. He’s not in his hotel room. The girl with the long brown hair sits against the wall groaning as she pushes herself back up to her feet. 

“Man you pack a punch,” she says. Peter turns his head to the couch where Tony is waking up.

“I… I forgot where I was,” Peter admits.

“You okay kid?” Tony asks. Peter nods as he stands up straight. 

“I’m Kate,” the girl takes a few small steps closer and holds out her hand. “Kate Bishop.” Peter nods and shakes it.

“Peter Parker,” He says. Tony stands up and rolls his shoulders stiffly then drops a hand onto Peter’s shoulder.

“They sent me to wake you guys up,” Kate explains. “Clint showed up this morning. He made breakfast.” 

“Does he know I’m here?” Peter asks. He never interacted much with Clint. Other than the fight in Germany. Kate thinks for a moment before answering.

“He’s got a thing about air vents. He might not have even come through the living room and under your blanket, it’s not like you were recognizable. Do you not want him to know you’re here? Cause if so I should probably stop Harley before he blabs.” 

“No, it’s alright… It’s just an overall weird situation.” He pushes his hair back out of his face, annoyed with the length. May had been taking him to the same barber since he was a kid, it’s not the same going back there when the barber doesn’t remember how he likes his hair. 

“Sooo you gonna eat with us?” Kate asks, sticking her hands in her pockets. Peter casts a quick glance at Tony and then nods.

“I’m starving,” He admits with a small smile. 

“Well let’s eat then!” She says before pushing them both towards to kitchen. 

Tony goes straight for the coffee and pours himself a large mug while Kate drops into a chair at the table. Harley is already sitting there his phone in hand with one earbud in. Clint turns from the stove to say something but he freezes when his eyes land on Peter. 

“Um… Hi Mr. Barton, sir.” Peter mumbles.

“Peter?” He asks. Peter nods and then moves towards the table to take a seat next to Harley. He can feel all of their eyes on him as he fidgets with the plate and silverware set there. 

“So you really are a ghost…” Harley says. 

“Something like that,” Peter admits. 

“Well…” Clint says. “I’m gonna assume that ghosts get hungry too.” 

“You might need to cook more food,” Tony says. “He eats like twice as much as Steve or Barnes.” Clint eyes the plates of food he’s already got and then nods. He pulls another carton of eggs out of the fridge and sets to work. Tony grabs a plate with his free hand and brings it to the table. Kate grabs the rest and brings them over as well. Peter waits while Kate and Harley load their own plates then he glances at Tony. He feels bad that Clint has to cook more because of him. Tony points at the plates.

“Eat kid,” Tony orders. Peter nods a bit and puts some food on his own plate. It tastes delicious. Peter can’t remember when he had a homecooked meal. He practically inhales the food on his plate and doesn’t complain when Tony puts more on there. Clint joins them eventually with more food and Peter makes sure that everyone else gets what they want before he grabs some more. He can feel eyes on him, Tony, maybe Clint too. Peter glances up and sees that he’s right. 

“Is Happy still sleeping?” Peter asks as he reaches for a pitcher of orange juice to fill his glass.

“He took off this morning,” Harley says. “Said something about checking on something at his apartment.” Peter tenses and looks at Tony.

“He can’t tell May,” Peter says. “If he tells May then…” May is dead, May is dead, May is dead.

“Friday remind Happy to keep quiet about our ghost problem,” Tony says to the AI. 

“I’ve sent him the message,” Friday answers.

“So…” Clint says. “How exactly did all this happen?” 

“Kids from another universe where I snapped away Thanos instead of him,” Tony shrugs and goes to refill his coffee. “Apparently he needs the wizard to send him home.”

“Is Strange even around?” Clint takes a bite of a piece of bacon. 

“If something is messing with the multiverses then he should already know,” Peter admits. “When… well in my universe it was a spell of his that went wrong after I asked um… well anyway he seems to kinda know what’s up with the whole multiverse thing. I kinda expected him to show up when I ended up here… but he didn’t come.” 

“Yeah, I found you instead. Honestly, you really thought that you could just hack my shit and not get caught?” 

“You hacked Stark?” Harley asks. “Were you the one that leaked those videos of yourself then?” Peter grimaces and takes a big bite of his toast to keep from answering. He still wants Ned and MJ out of trouble. He needs to be a distraction long enough for Mr. Murdock to get them out of trouble.

“I hacked Stark,” Peter says. He doesn’t bother to elaborate on why. “It’s easier in my universe. They’ve gotten kinda sloppy since… since the battle. I was kinda confused when I ended up here. I forgot how fast Mr. Stark would be able to respond.” 

“You should have full access to everything,” Tony says. “Why are you having to hack into my servers at all?” 

“Oh…” Peter frowns at his plate. “It’s kinda complicated. But I’m… well… I trusted the wrong person. My identity got revealed and… people didn’t like that. It was a whole thing. But I’ve got it all sorted now. Things are… as normal as they’ll ever be.”

“I’m sorry kid,” Tony says. Peter nods and stares at his plate. 

“Can I get some clothes to wear?” He asks.

“I’ve got something you can borrow if you want,” Harley offers. “You’re a little smaller than me but they should fit okay.”

“He’s got his own clothes, Harley. I’ll get them for you,” Tony stands up.

“My clothes?” Peter looks up at him. Why would Tony have his clothes?

“Not much, just what you have in your room at the compound. I asked one of the staff to grab a few things and send them here. They should be here soon actually,” Tony fidgets with the sleeves of his shirt. 

“My room at the compound…” Peter stares at his hands and tries to keep his eyes from watering. He didn’t have a room at the compound in his universe anymore. He’d snuck in one night, hoping to get some things, but his room was gone. It made sense really, he hadn’t gone out there since the rebuild. There was no reason too since Tony was gone. He’d spent some time at the cabin with Pepper and Morgan but he never kept any of his belongings out there. 

“Yeah well I know a lot of it was destroyed but… a few of your things were dug out of the rubble of the old building so I had them cleaned up and put back in your room once it was rebuilt… There are some things from your old apartment too. You and May were both gone after the first snap. I had your apartment packed up, put your things in your room, and everything else in storage.” Tony acts like this is no big deal but Peter knows that it is. 

“You rebuilt my room… after the battle?” He’s thankful that no one mentions the tears that are now falling. 

“I invented time travel,” Tony takes his phone out and scrolls through it. “They’re sending your bag up the elevator now. Why don’t you go hop in the shower, I’ll bring you the bag. Go ahead and use my bathroom for now.” 

“Okay, thanks Mr. Stark,” Peter doesn’t look at the others as he hurries from the dining room. It’s easy enough for him to find Tony’s bedroom. The mixtures of his and Pepper’s smells are still strong. Peter slips into the bathroom and turns the shower on but sits on the edge of the tub instead of getting in. He drops his head into his hands and counts each breath he takes. Tony Stark is dead, May is dead, no one remembers him. Tony was going to try and use time travel to find a way to bring him back. 

Peter knows that he has a panic attack coming. He presses his palms into his eyes and slows his breathing, listening to the sounds of the tower. The soft electrical hum, someone snoring in a bedroom, Clint and Harley in the kitchen cleaning and speaking in low voices. He focuses on the sound of Tony’s heartbeat. The sound of the elevator opening. Another familiar voice.

“Tony, what the hell is going on?” Rhodey asks as he walks off the elevator. Peter can hear the subtle sounds of his bionic leg braces. 

“Honeybear,” Tony’s voice is strained. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I was at the compound. Thought I might catch you there. Instead, I find the place empty and the news is talking about spiderman sightings last night after the kid's identity was released to the whole world.” Rhodey lifts up a duffle bag. “Then I hear from a staff member that you’ve requested a bag of the kid's clothes be sent to the tower. So I’ll ask again, What the hell is going on?” 

Peter turns the shower off and stands back up. He’ll just grab the bag himself and then he can show Rhodey what’s going on. What does it even really matter at this point? It’s only a matter of time before the Avengers that are left figure out what’s going on and then Doctor Strange will come and send Peter back home. Back to his own universe. Back to where no one knows him. He wipes his hands on his pants and heads back to the foyer. 

Tony is stalling, he’s trying to blow off the question and grab the bag but Rhodey is keeping it away from him. They’re bickering and Peter thinks that he’d probably find it funny in another situation. In his own universe, back before everything happened. He takes a slow breath in and holds it for a few seconds then lets it out slowly. It’s fine.

“Is that my bag?” He asks as he steps into the foyer. Tony and Rhodey both freeze and stare at him. “Hi, Uncle Rhodey.” 

“You…. Don’t fucking hey uncle Rhodey me. What the hell kid!” Rhodey drops the bag and takes quick steps across the room to pull Peter into a tight hug. Peter returns it, torn between smiling and crying. No one remembers who you are. 

“Language,” Tony scolds. He’s got a smile on his face. Tony Stark is dead, no one remembers who you are. 

“Shut up Tony,” Rhodey puts his hands on Peter’s shoulders and moves him back to get a good look at him. “Are you alright Kid? What’s going on?” 

“It’s been a while since I had a nice shower,” Peter says. “Can Tony tell you what’s up while I enjoy it?” 

“Yeah yeah of course,” Rhodey gives him another quick hug before letting him go. Peter flashes a grin at him then grabs the duffel bag off the floor. Before he can leave the room Tony throws an arm around his shoulders and pulls him close, pressing a kiss to his temple. Peter smiles at him as well then heads back to the bathroom with his bag. 

Tony Stark is dead. No one remembers you. Tony Stark is dead. No one remembers you.

Chapter Text

The shower is heavenly. Three different showerheads and a wide array of bath products. Peter turns the water pressure as heavy as it’ll go and finally feels like he’s able to wash off the filth of the past few months. The shower in his hotel room is never as clean as he wants it to be no matter how much he’s tried to clean it himself. The water comes out in barely a trickle and is never hot enough. He washes and conditions his hair with Tony’s fancy products. Once he’s done he manages to find a new razor in a cabinet to clean off what little bit of stubble he’s managed to grow. He considers Tony’s aftershave where it sits on the counter but he remembers that it stung the last time that he used it and the smell would probably be too much for him so he decides against it. 

He sets the duffle bag on the counter and takes a look inside. They really are his old clothes. He recognizes the dumb science pun shirts and the jeans with the rip in the knee from when he tripped going up the stairs outside his school. Tony had offered to replace them when he’d seen the rip but Peter had insisted they were still fine. Tony hadn’t used Peter’s death as an excuse to get rid of them. Tony Stark is dead, no one remembers you. Peter dries himself off fully with a big fluffy towel and then gets dressed in his own clothes. They still fit him just like they always did. He dries his hair and then looks in the drawers on the left side of the counter. The left side was always Peppers and It seems that some of her belongings are still there. Peter pulls out a hair tie and pulls his hair back into a short ponytail. He thinks briefly of the barber he’d always gone to. He’d probably remember Peter in this universe, but he really can’t risk going out in public.

 Once he’s finished up he heads back out to the living room where he can hear people talking in low voices. It’s mostly just Tony and Rhodey but Clint ads something in every now and then. Peter had been hoping that Doctor Strange would be there already. He’s torn between wanting to stay here where he’s remembered and loved and wanting to get back to his own universe. He knows he has to go home. He can’t stay here. He’s got to go before the multiverse starts getting messed up. He can’t stay here. He can’t.

“Hey kid,” Tony calls when he sees him. He hops up quickly from the chair he’d been seated in and makes his way over to throw an arm around Peter’s shoulder. Peter lets himself smile just a bit as he leans into the hold. 

“Hey Mr. Stark, sorry I took so long. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a nice shower,,” Peter gives Tony a quick hug then makes his way to the couch, sitting down and pulling his feet up. “Have you heard from Doctor Strange yet? Maybe I should make my way over to his house… I know it’s in Greenwich Village but I’m not sure of the exact address.” 

“I gave him a call but he hasn’t answered,” Tony comes closer to the couch and looks him over. 

“I think he’s got like portals in his house that connect to the other wizard houses or whatever they’re called, So maybe I should go there. If Doctor Strange isn’t home then Wong must be there…” He can’t stay he can’t. 

“Pete,” Tony drops down onto the couch next to him. 

“Tony,” Rhodey warns with a stern voice. Peter closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before looking at Tony again. 

“We can do that,” Tony says. “We’ll head over to the sanatorium or whatever it is. It’s just… Maybe you could stick around for just a bit?” Peter wants to. He wants to stay. He wants to bask in this warm home, with people that care about him. He wants to have more time with Tony, He wants to hug May. Peter feels his eyes starting to fill with tears again. He’s so sick of crying. He’d cried for a long time after he lost everything. He’d thought that he was finally getting over it. 

“Peter,” Clint leans forward in his armchair. “I know that in your uh… universe, that Tony was the one who died in the battle for Earth, but is there other differences as well?” 

“Yeah…” Peter admits. “There are differences.”

“You aren’t going to tell us though,” Rhodey guesses. Peter nods. He can’t tell them the truth because they know him. They love him. They won’t want to send him back to his own universe, to where he’ll be living in a shitty hotel room all alone.

“Come on Peter, has Pepper moved on? You can tell me,” Tony jokes. Peter forces himself to grin at his mentor. 

“Oh yeah, she and Uncle Rhodey are getting on great,” Peter teases. Clint and Rhodey crack up laughing while Tony splutters about betrayals. Peter pats Tony reassuringly on the shoulder.

“I’m kidding obviously. Rhodey and Happy are competing for favorite uncle though. The last time I went out there they were really into it,” Peter hadn’t been able to participate. He knew that everyone was getting together at the cabin for Christmas. They’d been doing it almost every year since Tony’s funeral. This was the first year Peter hadn’t been invited. He’d hitched hiked out that way and then swung through the woods till he’d reached it. He didn’t dare get too close but he’d perched himself in a tree where they could hear them all. 

It’d been miserable really. Peter can’t regulate the cold well and he’d gotten himself sick from sitting out there all night. He’d waited until everyone fell asleep and then had disabled the security system just long enough for him to slip in and leave them all presents. He shouldn’t have spent so much money, but he just couldn’t imagine spending Christmas all on his own. 

“What about you?” Rhodey asks. Peter blinks back tears that keep trying to escape.

“Morgan calls me her big brother,” He says, trying to keep his voice from breaking. “What about here? Lots of new faces it seems. I know Harley… I met him at um… well we met.” 

“Harley’s an annoying punk,” Tony says.

“Harley showed up at the Avenger’s compound with his own suit of armor,” Rhodey clarifies. “We were worried he’d go off and try to be a superhero on his own like you did if we left him alone so he’s in training.” Peter knows that Harley had been building armor. He’d sat on video calls with Harley while he’d put it together in his family's garage. They’d debated on what he’d be called and settled on Iron lad. Peter had been excited about it. He’d wanted someone he could work with. Now he can’t help but feel jealous. 

“The girls are a couple of strays that Clint picked up,” Tony says. 

“I tried to get rid of them,” Clint complains. “Kate got herself wrapped up in something that was way over her head. I had to get her out of it and Yelena tried to kill me.” 

“Yelena is Natasha’s sister, she’s a black widow assassin,” Rhodey adds. 

“They seem fun,” Peter says. He’s pretty sure he’d get along with all of them if he stuck around. He lets himself give into weakness for a moment as he leans in to Tony’s side. Let’s himself pretend that he’s a kid again. Tony doesn’t question it. He puts his arm around Peter’s shoulders and tucks him close. Clint and Rhodey fill the quiet with little details about everyone’s lives. They tell him about how Sam has taken over as Captain America and Bucky is working with them. How Scott and Hope make sure to visit from San Francisco as often as they can and how Scott's daughter keeps asking for her own suit. 

They stay that way for a few hours until Happy returns to the tower with a large pile of pizza. He sets it on the coffee table and hands out plates and napkins. Peter doesn’t have much of an appetite, he’s eaten more since last night than he’s used to but he grabs a few slices and forces himself to eat because he can see the looks they’re giving him. He keeps close to Tony’s side even if it’s a little awkward while they eat. Tony Stark is dead, May is dead, no one remembers you. 

“Can I use someone’s phone?” he asks after he’s eaten slices of pizza. His stomach is hurting but he knows that he would have eaten triple that in the past. 

“You don’t have one?” Tony frowns at him. Peter doesn’t bother to take his crappy prepaid phone out of his pocket. He’s got a bad habit of breaking his phones and he can’t afford to have a Starkphone anymore. 

“It doesn’t work here. I tried it when I first realized something was wrong. I was using Edith to send messages earlier but I don’t feel like putting the suit on just to check my messages.” 

“You told someone else you were here?” Tony asks as he pulls his phone out and hands it to him. 

“No I haven’t,” Peter says scrunching his face. “Someone had my friends arrested.” Tony always has Friday installed on his phone so it’s not too hard to have her pull up Mr. Murdock’s number and send him a message letting him know that he might be around a bit longer if anything is needed. Then of course he remembers that Mr. Murdock is blind and hopes that he’ll be able to read the text anyway. 

“Yeah well… I didn’t think there was anyone else smart enough then your friends to get through my security,” Tony says. Peter had said that he was the one behind the hacks but he’s pretty sure Tony doesn’t believe him. While Peter has the skills they both know that he’d never actually be the one to out his identity to the world. Peter had never expected to convince Tony anyway. But it’ll be enough to get the police off his friend's backs. 

“Guess you’re just off your game in your old age,” Peter mumbles. 

“Yeah guess that must be it. Curious how they managed to get Matthew Murdock’s attention so quickly. He’s got quite the reputation you know.”

“Oh yeah I know,” Peter says as he leans forward to grab the soda Happy had put on the coffee table for him. “He represented me when my identity got out.” 

“You needed a lawyer for that?” Clint asked. 

“It was a whole thing,” Peter shrugs, “The government wanted to take a lot of the Stark tech I had leftover. They took the glasses and they wanted the Iron Spider suit. Mr. Murdock helped me keep the suit and well… This guy that outed my identity, he had this whole video saying that I was… responsible for a lot of damage he’d caused and that I had killed him.” 

“Shit kid,” Rhodey says with a frown. 

“It’s in the past now…” Peter messes with the tab on his can. “I trusted Beck and I shouldn’t have. But Happy was there for me! I was on a school trip and I got stranded in like the Netherlands or something. I can’t even pronounce the name of the city! Happy showed up in one of your jets and he let me build a new suit so I could protect everyone. People are really really nice in the Netherlands! Some guys gave me a shirt and this other guy let me use his phone to call Happy.” 

“Beck?” Tony asks. “Quintin Beck?” 

“Yeah,” Peter nods. “I was on a field trip with my school and Nick Fury hijacked the whole thing so that I could help fight these Elemental things. Well, Beck said that he was from another universe and that these elemental monsters had destroyed his universe. Fury told me to fight alongside him.” 

“That fucker caused some issues here too,” Tony says. “Apparently a bunch of people I’d fired wanted revenge… I’m sorry you had to deal with that kid.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted him,” Peter pulls the tab off his can. “I gave him Edith. I know I shouldn’t have Mr. Stark but I was… I was trying to do too much all at once and I didn’t feel like I was worthy of the trust you’d put in me. He messed with my head and I just… I wanted to be a kid.” That was the last time Peter ever really had been just a kid. Everything had happened so quickly afterward he hadn’t really been able to process it. 

“It’s not your fault Peter. I knew that it was a lot to burden a kid with, honestly, I had figured they’d wait longer before giving them to you,” Tony gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

“It’s not your fault either Mr. Stark,” Peter smiles and knocks his foot against Tony’s. “You’ve got big shoes… but I want to be a hero that can fill them one day.” 

“You will kid, You’re better than I’ll ever be.” Tony tugs on his ponytail with a smile. Peter ducks his head, embarrassed by the praise. I can’t stay, I can’t stay, Tony Stark is dead, May is dead, no one remembers you, no one misses you. 

Chapter Text

Peter stands on the balcony of the tower leaning on the railing and looking down at the city spread out in front of him. It feels different here. Knowing that he could swing out there and people would know him. They miss him. Tony’s let him keep hold of his phone and Peter’s been watching the news stories about his identity. His headstone is buried in gifts now. There are candles and cards. Peter wants to go out there. He wants to tell them that he’s okay, he’s alright. It was his own choice to become a hero. But he’s not the one that they’re missing. He’s not the Peter they want. He doesn’t belong here. He needs to go home. 

“Thinking of going for a swing Parker?” Harley asks as he leans against the railing beside him. Peter glances at him briefly then looks back at the city.

“I can’t do that,” Peter sighs. “They can’t see me.” 

“They saw you a bit the other night,” He points out. “I think everyone was on edge with the videos being released and then some people started posting about having seen Spiderman swinging in a new outfit. Half the avengers were probably about to descend on New York to try and find you if Tony hadn’t gotten there first.” Peter forces himself to smile a bit as he twists one of his web shooters around his wrist. 

“That could have been fun. Like an intense game of tag. I really just wanted to get to Doctor Strange’s house,” Peter pulls out Tony’s phone and checks the messages and call logs. Doctor Strange still hasn’t answered. 

“Are we friends in your universe?” Harley asks. “I thought I’d heard someone say you knew me.” 

“Yeah… yeah, we were friends. I helped you work on the Iron Lad suit. Well, I helped you bounce around ideas for it. You were in Tennessee and I was in New York so it was mostly video chats,” Peter sends another text to Strange then puts Tony’s phone back in his pocket before he accidentally drops off the balcony or something. 

“Man that would have been nice. Everyone always says how smart you were… Or are. I could have definitely used the help. The suit was barely functioning when I decided to come to New York,” Harley smiles apologetically. 

“I think the past tense is probably still right. For all, I know the Peter from this universe was smarter than me. Not to mention I can’t stay here long” Peter sets his web shooter on right and takes a step back from the railing. 

“Do you have to go back?” Harley asks.

“I’m needed back in my universe,” Peter doesn’t know if that’s true. Do they really need him? No one remembers Peter Parker anymore, would they care if Spiderman vanished too? Would anything happen to the multiverse if he never went back?

“Right, I guess that your aunt would be pretty mad if you never went back. I’ve met her a few times you know. She’s a great lady. She and Happy keep doing the on and off thing though, not sure what’s up with that,” Harley turns his back to the railing. 

“So she’s… doing well?” Peter’s been trying not to think of May. It would only hurt her to see him like this. It would hurt so much to see her. Peter can’t tell them the truth about his universe. He’s already sure that Tony doesn’t want him to go. If they knew that he was going back to be alone they’d ask him to stay. I don’t belong here.  

“Well, I think she’s doing alright. I know that Happy stayed with her for a long time,” Harley is watching him closely. “You should see her.’ 

“It’s not a good idea…” Peter can’t keep the waver out of his voice. “For her… or me. I have to leave, I can’t stay.”

“Why’s it not good for you?” Harley ask. Peter can’t think how to explain it away so he just gives a shrug and heads for the doors.

“I better go inside before Mr. Stark comes to hunt me down again,” He slips inside before Harley can say anything else. Peter knows he’s terrible at lying. He really needs to be more careful of what he says. He can’t let his guard down. As far as they need to know the only difference between this universe and his own is that Tony was the one that snapped. They don’t need any more information than that. 

“You okay kiddo?” Tony asks. He’d let him go outside alone but Peter’s pretty sure he’d been watching through the windows the whole time. He was probably been the one to send Harley out there. 

“Yeah I’m alright Mr. Stark,” Peter fakes another smile then walks over and wraps his arms around Tony’s waist. He hides his face in his mentor’s shirt and lets himself bask in the hug that Tony gives him. Peter knows that he’s always been just a bit clingy. After losing his parents he’d been extra clingy with Ben and May. Then just when he’d started to grow out of it he’d lost Ben as well. So he’d kept it up. He loved cuddling with May and Ned and MJ. Even Tony and the other Avengers had started to indulge him when he spent his time at the compound. It’s been hard to go without for so long. 

“Good,” Tony rests a hand on the top of Peter’s head and presses a kiss to his temple. “You getting hungry? I was thinking that we’d just order something in for dinner. I know we had pizza for lunch but I’m still pretty shit at cooking and I never know how many people are around that will want to eat. Much easier to just have Friday order for everything” 

“Take out is fine,” Peter assures him, forcing himself to let Tony go and move back a few steps. 

“Great, what are you in the mood for then?” Tony asks. He sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. Peter leans on the back of the couch as he thinks about it. He’s not used to having options but he knows that Tony would buy him anything he asked for. 

“Do you think we could get sushi? I mean if the others don’t like it we can get something else but…” Sushi is another thing he hasn’t allowed himself to buy now that his income is so limited.

“Sushi it is kid. You still like the same stuff?” 

“Yeah definitely,” Peter smiles at him. 

“Great. Friday get everyone’s orders for the usual sushi place. Me and Peter will have our usuals,” Tony calls to the AI.

“Right away boss,” She answers. Peter hears the elevator moving and turns to look at the foyer. 

“Someone else is coming up,” Peter says. “I can hear Happy but not whoever he’s with.” 

“Go get a snack from the kitchen. If it’s someone you want to see then you can come back out,” Tony says. Peter nods and goes to the kitchen quickly, still straining to hear who it might be. Happy sounds nervous and it’s making Peter anxious as well. He starts to make himself a Nutella and jelly sandwich as a distraction. 

“Stark!” May’s voice rings out through the building and it hits Peter so hard his knees nearly give out. He grips the countertop tightly and squeezes his eyes shut. May, May is out there. Why is she there? Does she know? Did Happy tell her? May is dead, May is dead, May is dead.  

“May? What are… What are you doing here?” Tony asks. 

“Sorry boss I tried to tell her it wasn’t a good idea right now but…” Happy says apologetically.

“What the hell is going on Stark? How did anyone get those videos? Why can’t they just let him rest in peace!?” May is crying. Peter knows she’s crying, the countertop cracks under his grip. 

“I’m dealing with the videos May. I’m taking care of all of this. I told you I would,” Tony says.

“The same way you promised to take care of Peter?” May snaps at him. Everyone goes silent then. It's a painful sort of silence. Peter can barely breathe. May is right there, May is right in the living room and she’s in pain and Peter could ease her pain by stepping through the walkway. He could hug his aunt, he could see May. May is dead, Tony is dead, you can’t stay here, you have to go home, no one remembers you. You’re nobody. 

Why do I have to go home? Why can’t I stay here? What will happen if I stay? Peter carefully sets the broken marble pieces on the countertop. He breathes in deeply and holds it then lets it out slowly, then he turns from the counter steps through the doorway. 

Chapter Text

May's mouth falls open and she seems to be frozen where she stands beside Tony. Her warm brown eyes scan him over from head to toe, then she shakes her head. Peter can feel himself shaking. He wants to go to her. Wants to cling to her and cry and beg her to never leave him again. He stays where he is. May is dead, May is dead, May is dead. He lets her take him in fully. He knows what she’s seeing. He’s underweight, his hair is too long, he hasn’t grown at all in the last year or so. He’s not sure if that’s because he’s done growing or maybe because he can never get enough food. 

“Peter, are you… You can’t be…” She whispers in a strained voice. “How?” 

“May,” His voice cracks as he says her name and it seems to break the tension in the room. May rushes forward throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. Her legs give out first and Peter’s aren’t steady enough so they both fall to the ground. They’re both crying and mumbling apologies and comforting words that don’t make much sense. Peter doesn’t even notice when Tony and Happy leave the room. He doesn’t know how much time passes before they both start to calm down. They’re sitting on the floor still, his head resting on May’s shoulder as he listens to her heartbeat. She sniffs a couple of times, cards her fingers through his hair once, then cups his face in her hands and moves him back so she can look him over.

“You’re too skinny,” She tells him, and Peter can’t help but laugh just a bit as he gives a shaky nod. May kisses his forehead then lets him go as she gets to her feet. Peter smiles as he takes her hand and gets up as well. “How are you here?” 

“Why don’t you guys find a spot more comfortable than the floor?” Tony asks from the doorway, he waits until he has both of their attention before coming closer and holding out a box of tissues. May takes a few and starts to wipe her face. Peter contemplates wiping his nose on his sleeve because he knows how much it annoys Tony but decides to accept a tissue anyway. He blows his nose loudly instead, laughing a bit at the annoyed look it gets him. He ducks his head away as Tony tries to ruffle his hair. 

“Tony,” May says sternly. “How is he here? What did you do?” 

“Couch sit, be comfortable. You want something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Something stronger?” Tony puts a hand on each of their shoulders guiding them over to the couch. May must be really out of it still because she goes willingly and drops onto the couch when it’s behind her. She even excepts the throw blanket he drops on her. Peter sits beside her, crossing his legs and pulling a bit of the blanket onto his own lap. 

“Tony,” May says. 

“Happy!” Tony calls out, “Make drinks! Coffee for me, Hot chocolate for the kid, whatever the lady likes.” He sits on the coffee table in front of them and folds his hands. 

“How are you here Peter?” May asks. She takes one of Peter’s hands in her own and squeezes it gently. 

“I’m…” He locks his fingers with hers and glances at Tony. How does he tell her that he’s not her Peter? That he shouldn’t be here, that he’ll have to leave. 

“This might not make any sense,” Tony says, “There’s this thing called the multiverse theory. It basically suggests that our universe is not the only one, that there are an infinite number of other universes that exist alongside our with their own laws of physics and their own intelligent civilizations. They could be completely different from our universe in every way shape and form or… or they can be exactly like ours with just small differences.”

“What does that mean?” May asks, her grip on Peter’s hand isn’t as strong now and he’s sure that she’s going to pull away any second.

“Aunt May, it means… that I’m Peter. I’m Peter Benjamin Parker but… I’m not your Peter. Not the Peter that… Died in this universe,” He holds his breath waiting for her to pull away.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m like… A copy of your Peter.” 

“You’re not a copy,” Tony says. “You’re just another version of Peter.” Peter starts to pull his hand away from May’s. He doesn’t want to wait until she’s done processing. It’s better to get it over with. She doesn’t let him though. She grips his hand tightly and pulls it further onto her lap. 

“You’re Peter,” She says. “Whether you’re from this universe or not you’re still Peter.” Peter curls into her side and drops his head onto her shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut. May is dead, May is dead, May is dead. May wraps her arms around him and presses a kiss to his temple.

“Thank you May,” he whispers. May is dead, May is dead, May is dead. He wants to cry again. He wants to cling to her and never let go. He wants to tell them the truth. He wants to tell them that he’s alone. That he’ll always be alone in his universe. It’s been so long since he’s been held, and cared for. Since someone asked him if he’d had enough to eat or if he was okay. 

Happy comes in with their drinks then. He hands Tony his coffee mug and sets two more beside him on the coffee table, then takes a seat in the armchair he’d slept in the night before. Peter can see that one of the drinks has whipped cream and chocolate syrup on the top. He smiles and pulls away from May just enough to reach for his mug. Tony grabs it and hands it two him.

“Two hands kiddo, don’t stain my couch.” Tony teases. Peter sticks his tongue out at his mentor but still makes sure to use two hands to hold the mug as he leans back into May’s side. He licks at the whipped cream and directs a smile towards Happy. May runs her hand gently over his hair as she watches him.

“How long have you been here?” She asks, then she casts a glare at Tony. “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”

“It’s my fault May,” Peter says. “I asked them not to tell you.”

“What?” She turns to look at him fully. Peter sits up and watches the whipped cream in his mug melt.

“I thought that… It might be too hard for you,” He admits. “I have to go back to my own universe… We’re just waiting for Doctor Strange. In my universe he… Well, some people came to my universe from other universes. Doctor Strange was able to send him back so I think that in this universe he’ll be able to send me back too.”

“Why do you have to go?” May asks. Peter takes a small sip of his hot chocolate. Trying to focus more on the flavor than on what he has to say. 

“In my universe… There’s no Iron Man anymore in my universe. There’s no more Tony Stark. Someone has to be there. The world needs Avengers. My universe needs me.”

“Why you? Why can’t you just have a normal life? Be a normal kid?” May asks.

“I’d never be normal May, not as long as I have these powers. I have to be Spiderman. I can never not be Spiderman,” Peter doesn’t mention that it’s all he has left. That no one even remembers that he even existed. That the Avengers don’t remember he fought beside them on Titan and in the final battle against Thanos. Peter lifts his mug up closer to his face and takes a deep breath, using it as a chance to fight off the panic threatening to take him over.

“Peter look at me,” Tony orders. Peter’s gaze snaps up to meet his own. “Let out all your breath. Inhale through your nose for a count of four, hold it for a count of 7, exhale through your mouth for a count of eight.” Peter tries to stay focused on him as he follows his directions. Tony’s doing it himself, making it easy for Peter to copy. No one says anything for a few minutes as they breathe together. 

“That’s it, kid, you’ve got it,” Tony says. Peter nods and blows on his hot chocolate a bit before taking a long drink. 

“I’m sorry…” Peter mumbles. 

“You don’t need to apologize for anything,” Tony says. “When did the panic attacks start? You had one last night at dinner too.” 

“After the battle… Everyone kept asking, who was going to be the next Iron man. Who was going to be the next Tony Stark and…. And people kept looking at me, wanting me to answer. But I didn’t feel worthy. I still don’t. I’m… I’ve made too many mistakes. I just keep thinking about everything I’ve done. The Ferry and coney island, sneaking onto the ship when you told me not to, and after everything I trusted Beck. You left me the glasses and I just handed them over to a villain cause he was nice to me. I’m nothing like you.”

“I never expected you to be like me Peter,” Tony leans a bit closer and rests a hand on Peter’s knee. “You’re better than me kid. You were better than me before the battle.” Peter sets what's left of his hot chocolate down and rests his head against Tony’s shoulder. He has to keep reminding himself over and over again that this is not where he belongs but it’s so hard when everything he wants is right here in front of him. Tony cups the back of his neck with one hand and rests their heads together. May’s hand rubs gently up and down his back. He is warm and safe and his stomach is full and Tony and May are alive and with him. 

“I’m staying with you,” May says. “I’m going to call out of work for the week. I don’t care how long you’re here for I’m not going to leave your side.”

“Are you sure May?” Peter asks. 

“I’m absolutely positive.” 

“I think it would be better for us to go up to the compound,” Tony says. “I’ve still got Peter’s things there. He’ll be able to wander around without worrying about who sees him.”

“What about Doctor Strange?” Peter asks. 

“He can get to the compound just as easily as the tower, you know that kid.” Tony moves him back. “I’m sure you could use the fresh air anyway. We’ll put May in the guest room on our floor.” Peter knows that Doctor Strange can go anywhere easily. Hell, he’d brought them all the way from Titan to earth with one of his portals. A trip upstate would be nothing to him. It just feels risky to go. He needs to remember that this isn’t real. This isn’t his home. He can’t stay here. He drops his head onto Tony’s shoulder.

“Peter?” May says his name softly. Peter nods his head just once. He knows Tony will feel the motion. 

“Okay, it’s a plan then. Happy, let the relevant people know that I’m heading back to the compound. May will need some of her things I assume so why don’t you run back to your place and grab them for her,” Tony instructs. 

“Oh,” May mutters, her hand moving from Peter’s back, “I can go with and make sure I have everything I need.” Peter can see Happy’s apartment in his mind. The Stark tech hidden in a backroom, the villains gathered in the living room, rubble in the lobby, May’s fading heartbeat, blood staining his hands. May is dead, May is dead, May is dead, May is dead, May is dead.

“I’m sure I can find everything,” Happy assures her. Tony’s thumb rubs soothingly against Peter’s neck. Peter can’t remember how to breathe.

“Right now I think it’s more important that you stay with Peter,” Tony tells her. “If Happy forgets anything he can be the one to drive back and get it.” The adults are silent for a moment and Peter’s sure they’re doing that weird thing where they have a whole conversation without speaking. May’s hand returns to his back and he manages to take a breath that he hopes isn’t too loud to those with normal hearing. 

“Alright, I’ll go get everything then,” Happy stands back up, “Text me if you need anything.” 

The three of them stay curled together in the living room until Friday informs them that the food has been delivered. May stands up and encourages Peter to do the same. Tony stands and straightens out his clothes a bit before doing the same to Peter. Peter ducks away with a small smile as Tony reaches for his hair. 

“You’re just gonna mess it up,” Peter grumbles. 

“You need a haircut,” Tony teases him. 

“I know I know,” Peter hops over the back of the couch to avoid him. 

“I guess we can’t bring you to David’s barbershop for it anymore,” May says. Peter fixes his hair, trying to get his unruly curls back under control. 

“Who’s David?” Tony asks as he makes his way to the elevator to collect their food. 

“He’s the barber that Peter’s been going to since he came to live with me and Ben,” May explains. 

“Is that why you haven’t gotten it cut?” Tony asks. 

“I guess,” Peter says. 

“Give him a call May, see if he can come out here quick before we go,” Tony brings the take out bags to the kitchen, “Friday let everyone know their food is here.” 

“Really?” Peter looks from May to Tony. “Is it okay if he knows I’m here?”

“I’ll have him sign an NDA or something,” Tony lays all the food out on the table. The three of them sit at the table to eat. Peter listens as the two adults make arrangements to get him a haircut. Rhodey and Clint come out to join them for the meal. The adults seem happy enough to carry on a conversation so he stays quiet and lets himself enjoy the feeling of sharing a meal with other people. Tony hands him a napkin when Peter drops some wasabi on his shirt and When Rhodey goes to the fridge to get himself a drink he brings back a Coke for Peter as well. It feels good to be cared for. 

Chapter Text

Peter sits in the backseat of Happy’s car caught somewhere between excitement and nerves. He feels better than he has in months. His hair has been cut back to his preferred length. May is sitting beside him talking about what’s been going on in her life since the battle, most of it is the same as it was in Peter’s universe but he lets her talk anyway because it’s really just so good to hear her voice. Tony is in the passenger seat doing work on his tablet but keeps turning his head to check on Peter. Even Happy is checking the rearview mirror a lot. 

Going back to the compound feels like a bad idea. Peter’s sure that Strange can still get to them with no problem but it feels a lot like going back to his old life. He does need to go back. He’s surprised he hasn’t been sent back already. How long can he stay without messing with the multiverse? Peter rests his head against the window and closes his eyes. It’s like he’s living in a dream that he never wants to end.

“Up and at em kiddo,” Tony opens Peter’s door and places a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling over. Peter blinks his eyes open and looks up at his mentor. He doesn’t even remember falling asleep. 

“Putting him in a moving vehicle was always a surefire way to get him to sleep,” May says as she gets her bag out of the trunk. 

“He’d never fall asleep when I was driving him,” Happy complains.

“That’s because you were always driving me somewhere exciting,” Peter says as he gets out of the car and stretches. 

“Oh, so the compound isn’t exciting anymore?” Tony teases. Peter rolls his eyes and grabs his backpack off the floor of the car. Happy is already grabbing his duffle bag from the trunk and Peter wonders if he’d be able to bring that back to his universe when it’s time to go. He could use some more clothes and it’d be nice to have ones he’s already familiar with.

“It is exciting to be back,” He admits. “It’s just… been a long however many hours I’ve been here.” It’s been so emotionally taxing that he’d almost forgotten that he’d really only been in this universe for a day. How long is left? Peter tries to remember how long the others had been in his universe. A day? Two? Maybe a week? Probably less. Peter doesn’t remember sleeping during that time. It all blurs together. All he knows is that his time in this universe could end at any moment. 

“I get it kiddo,” Tony says gently as he pulls Peter into a one armed hug. “Why don’t you give your Aunt the grand tour of the compound? Show her where the rooms are and all that fun stuff. The layout is pretty much the same as before. I’ll round up whoever is home so they don’t get in your way.” 

Peter can see in Tony’s eyes what he’s really doing. He knows how Peter feels about the compound. It had become like a second home to him before everything happened with Thanos. If he wasn’t at school or on patrol he’d been here, training with the Avengers and working in the lab with Tony. It’s all he has left of a home now. The apartment he’d lived in with May had been gone by the time they returned from the blip. Returning now is probably going to be emotional and it’ll definitely be easier to handle with just May there to witness.

“Okay,” Peter says, hoping that Tony can hear in his voice how grateful he is. “We’ll find you when we’re done.” Don’t leave me. 

“Sounds like a plan then,” Tony gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze, and then lets go. “Come on Hap, let’s leave them to it.” He flashes a smile at Peter and May and then turns around and heads into the compound. Peter watches him go and tries to ignore the way his chest clenches at the sight. 

“Ready Pete?” May asks him softly. Peter forces himself to nod then heads inside. Like Tony had said the compound was mostly the same as Peter remembers it. The decore is a bit different but everything is in the same general spot. Peter shows May as much as he can handle, the huge cafeteria with its assortment of dining options, the hanger where the quinjet and Tony’s private jet sit, the training rooms where Peter had spent hours being taught by the other Avengers. He’d spent a lot of time with Natasha there. Even before the rogues had been pardoned she had stopped in from time to time to check on things. If Peter had been at the compound at the same time she’d always make sure they got a training session in. She’d always said that spiders needed to look out for each other. 

They move on after that, taking in the Avenger’s private quarters. The common room, full of big comfy couches and video games, the kitchen that makes Peter think of the times that he and Vision had tried to learn to cook together only for Wanda to have to come and save whatever meal they’d been attempting. As they head for Tony’s hallway Peter trails his finger along the wall where there used to be a long scratch that Peter had left after trying to throw Captain America’s shield, even though he’d been warned numerous times about throwing things in the house. Peter tells all these stories to May as they walk. Neither of them mentions the tears that slide down his cheeks. He shows May to the guest bedrooms and they find the one that Happy has already left her bags in. May tells him that she wants to get settled and Peter is grateful for that as he makes his way back to his old bedroom.

His room is in the same spot it had been before. Just across the hall from Tony’s. He has to stand with his hand on the door for a few minutes before he can work up the courage to open it. Stepping into the room is like stepping right into the past. The furniture looks exactly the same as it used to but the room is filled with the decor from the bedroom of the apartment he and May had lived in. His school books are piled on the desk next to the laptop he’d built from thrown out parts. His academic decathlon jacket hangs on a hook by the door. The closet and dresser are full of his clothes and the bookshelf full of his books. Peter sits cross legged in the middle of the floor and takes it all in.

The shelf above his bed holds four slightly beat up looking Avenger action figures. Rhodey had gifted him a whole set as a joke for his birthday. Peter loved them. The only ones left are Hulk with a missing leg, Thor with no arms, Hawkeye broke in half, Iron man missing all but his middle finger on one hand. The sad look of them makes him laugh as the tears continue to stream down his face. He’s home, this is his home. He lets himself fall backward as his laughter turns into sobs. He figures the cheap glow in the dark stickers plastered to the ceiling won’t judge him. He remembers the day he’d put them up, Tony had acted offended and insisted that he could make much better stars but Peter had insisted on the ones he and Ned had picked out at the dollar store. Tony had begrudgingly agreed to help him put them up. He stays there basking the familiarity of it all until a blue light flashes around the edge of his ceiling letting him know that there’s a message for him.

“Go ahead Fri,” He says as he sits back up and uses the sleeves of his hoodie to wipe his face. 

“Welcome home Mini Boss,” Friday sounds exceptionally happy to be speaking those words again. “Big Boss would like me to ask if you’d like to join everyone in the common room for an entertainment night.” Peter gets to his feet and looks at himself in the mirror. His eyes are red and swollen from crying but his hair at least isn’t too messed up from his time on the floor.

“Who all is here?” He asks. It’s a little overwhelming to be seeing all these people again after everything. He imagines that it must be hard for them as well. They’re all seeing a ghost after all. 

“Currently Big Boss, Doctor Banner, Platypus, Birdbrain, Happy, and May Parker are present in the common room,” Friday says. Peter can’t help but laugh a little at the nicknames Rhodey and Clint got instead of their actual names.

“Thanks, Friday, tell Tony that I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Peter goes to his bathroom first and washes his face with cold water in the sink. It helps a little bit with the puffiness but he doubts any of them will really care that he’s been crying. It’s been an emotional few days for them all. Rhodey and Clint clearly followed them from the tower so they probably want to spend more time with him and Peter gets that. He wants to spend time with all of them as well. He finds a pair of sweatpants in his dresser and an MIT hoodie that he’d stolen from Tony a long time ago. He’s a bit surprised that Tony never took it back but he’s also grateful as he changes into the comfy clothes, finishes the outfit off with a pair of green Hulk socks then hurries to the common room. 

Everyone is already seated on the couches when Peter gets there, a space has been left open for him between May and Tony. But first, he turns his attention to Bruce Banner. He’s the only one in the room who hasn’t seen Peter yet and his eyes are wide as he takes him in. 

“Oh my god the multiverse is real,” Bruce says. “This changes so much.”

“I know!” Peter says excitedly. No one had understood him the first time he’d geeked out about the multiverse. He’d love to spend some time with Tony and Bruce and talk about what all of this means. 

“Alright alright save the nerd talk for later,” Clint says with a knowing smile. Peter tries to fight the wide grin on his face but it’s really hopeless. Bruce stands up and barely has to raise his arms before Peter takes the invitation and hugs him tight. In his own universe, Peter hasn’t seen Bruce since Tony’s funeral. Bruce had been whisked away from the battle to deal with the injury to his arm caused by the first snap. They’d talked briefly at the funeral but there was really too much going on to say much. He doesn’t know what happened to him after that. He’s kind of surprised to see that he’s back to his normal self instead of the sort of weird mix between Banner and Hulk that he’d been at the funeral. 

“It’s good to see you, Peter,” Bruce says, giving him a tight squeeze. 

“You too Bruce,” Peter grins up at him.

“Wait!” Tony shouts, sitting up straight. “Why is he, Bruce? If I have to be Mr. Stark then he should be Doctor Banner!” 

“Face it Tones, the kid likes me better,” Bruce says with a smug smile. Tony grabs a pillow to launch at the Doctor but Rhodey snatches it out of his hand. 

“Let’s not get into arguments in the living room,” He says giving them both stern looks. Bruce still looks pretty smug as sits back down in his earlier spot. Just to be a little shit Peter makes sure to look contemplatively at the spot next to Bruce for a moment. 

“Sit your ass down,” Tony says, pointing a finger at the empty seat between him and May. 

“Language!” Several voices call out at once. Tony flips them off as Peter drops onto the couch with a laugh. Tony smiles at him as he wraps an arm around his shoulder.

“You’re a brat,” He says in a tone that is way too soft. 

“You’re old,” Peter shoots back as he leans into his side. 

“May! Who taught this child to be so sassy?” Tony asks as he ruffles Peter’s hair. Peter lets out a shout as he tries to free himself from Tony’s hold. 

“I think he gets it from you,” May answers fondly. Peter gives up on his plan of escape and lets himself relax against Tony’s chest again. May pulls Peter’s legs over her lap and spreads out a blanket over both of them. 

“I mean at least he got my looks to go with it,” Tony cards his fingers through Peter’s curls. Peter leans his head into the touch. If he was a cat he’s pretty sure he’d be purring. 

“Alright alright, now what the hell are we watching?” Clint asks, he’s trying to sound annoyed but the smile on his face gives him away. Peter snuggles in and holds May’s hand with one of his own. The other he rests on Tony’s arm to keep it in place around his shoulders. They all bicker good naturedly about what movie to watch for a bit before they give in to Peter’s demands for more Star Wars. At some point someone makes popcorn but Bruce confiscates it from Clint and Rhodey when they start throwing it at each other. Peter can’t remember the last time he was this happy. 

The first movie is nearly over when they all hear the sound of footsteps running into the lounge. Peter’s spider sense isn’t going off at all but he can’t help but be nervous. He presses himself a bit more into the couch and pulls the blanket up higher. Tony glances down at him. 

“What’s up underoos?” He asks. 

“Someone’s coming,” Peter answers. 

“It’s alright,” Tony pats his head gently. “I have a feeling I know who it is.”

The door to the common room bursts open and Sam Wilson comes running in wearing his suit. Peter eyes him from his spot on the couch wondering if this universes Sam has accepted the title of Captain America or if he’s still the Falcon. Peter’s pretty sure that it's his new Captain America suit but he’s never actually seen it in person. 

“What the hell Stark?” Sam asks as he takes in the dimmed lights and the relaxed nature of all the Avengers already there looking at him. “I swear to god if I flew all the way up here for some dumb ass team bonding movie night again,” 

“Oh calm down,” Tony grins. “I figured I’d invite you up and see if you wanted to get your ass kicked by a twelve year old again.” 

“Tony the emergency alert is… What do you mean again?” Sam asks with narrowed eyes. Clint snickers as he leans towards Bruce and whispers to him, Peter can hear him explaining how Peter took on Sam and Barnes in the airport. Tony lifts his arm up and pulls away the bit of blanket that had been hiding Peter from the other man's view. 

“What do you say underoos?” Tony asks. “Want to beat up wings?” Peter props himself up a bit and looks over at Sam.

“Can I beat him up tomorrow?” He asks, trying to make his face as innocent as possible. Sam’s jaw drops, Peter’s pretty sure he’s never actually seen anyone but Ned do that before. He has to fight to keep his expression from changing. 

“Sure kiddo,” Tony says with a smile. 

“What the Fu-” a pillow hits him in the face before he can finish the word.

“Language!” Clint scolds. 

“Oh I’m sorry was I not supposed to be surprised to find the kid alive?” Sam asks, crossing his arms.

“You’re not supposed to swear in front of the kid,” Happy tells him. 

“Yeah, don’t fucking swear in front of me,” Peter laughs. He sits up fully and lets the blanket fall onto his lap. “Hi, Mr. Wilson.”

“Jesus Christ,” Sam takes quick steps forward and wraps Peter in a hug. Peter returns the hug, peeking over Sam’s shoulder he can see Clint signing something. It’s been a while since he’s used sign language at all but he still understands. While Sam is focused on hugging him Peter unclips the shield from his back and tosses it over to Clint who catches it in two hands and holds it up in the air like a trophy.

“I got it!” he yells. Sam pulls back. 

“Hey!” he shouts as he goes to take it back. Clint jumps over the back of the couch to escape from him. 

“I had to prove I could steal it even from the new Captain America,” Peter says as he burrows back into Tony’s side. He watches with a smile as Sam chases Clint around the room trying to get his shield back. They’re arguing as they jump over the furniture and their teammates. Happy gets stepped on at some point and he threatens to ground them both if they don’t start acting like adults. He confiscates the shield and goes to put it up somewhere else. 

“This is your fault,” Sam complains as he and Clint sit beside each other on the couch. 

“The kid took the shield first,” Clint grins.

“You encouraged him,’ Sam snaps.

“I swear I’m surrounded by idiots,” Tony shakes his head as he tucks the blanket back around Peter. Sam shrugs off his wings and puts them on the ground by his feet as he watches Peter.

“Okay, but for real how is… I don’t mean to offend anyone or anything but the kid died. I mean we all saw him die right?” Sam says. 

“I’m visiting,” Peter says. “From another universe.” 

“You what?” 

“It’s Bruce’s turn to explain,” Tony says waving a hand toward the other scientist. 

“I wanna see the end of Star Wars!” Peter complains. 

“Cause you haven’t seen it a million times,” Rhodey says with a roll of his eyes. 

“It’s a good ending,” Is all Peter says in response. He doesn’t actually make it to the end. At some point, he falls asleep nestled between Tony and May as he listens to Bruce’s whispered explanations of the multiverse theory. 

Chapter Text

Tony can’t sleep. Peter is curled warm and safe against his side. Rhodey, Bruce, and Happy had all headed off to bed a while ago, Clint and Sam slept leaning against each other, a bit of drool dripping from the corner of Clint’s mouth as he snored. May slept cuddled against her nephew’s other side. Tony knew he should sleep, but he couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes. He wanted to soak up every moment he got with Peter. He’d failed the boy before and he didn’t want to do it again. He needed to do better to protect him. It’s clear that the boy has been through a lot. Tony’s not even sure how long the kid has been on his own, but he’s definitely not been taking care for several months at least.

It takes a lot of slow movement and careful maneuvering of a pillow for Tony to get out from under Peter. He tucks the blanket around the kid and presses a kiss to his forehead. He stays there for a couple of minutes just to make sure that he’s not going to wake up before he turns and slips out of the room as quietly as he can.

 He needs to find a way to take care of his kid. He’s barely taken his eyes off Peter since he caught him on that rooftop and it's obvious that something isn’t adding up. Peter has always been a terrible liar and the way he’d been acting just wasn’t right. Tony had seen the way that Peter had reacted to his aunt. Like he hadn’t seen her in a long time. Hell, he acted the same way about seeing May that May had acted seeing her nephew come back to life. Tony didn’t want to think too hard about what that could really mean. 

Normally when he can’t sleep he’d go to his lab and mess around with whatever his current project was but Tony knew what he’d find there. The lab was spotless, everything put away where it belonged, all his projects wrapped up. A tablet sitting on his tablet, waiting. Tony goes to one of the hangers instead. He’s been spending a lot of time there, almost as much as he had before they’d gone after the infinity stones. 

Tony scans his handprint on the door to be let into the hanger. No one but him is allowed in there now. Somehow though he isn’t really that surprised to find the wizard there waiting for him. The reconstructed time machine stands in front of them. Tony slows his steps as he rounds the machine. He could have made it smaller this time. Like the one that they used to send Steve back with the stones, but it hadn’t felt right. 

“You never got to see it the first time around did you?” Tony asks as he approaches his worktop.

“No,” Strange admits. “I shouldn’t be seeing it now either.”

“In case of emergencies,” Tony shrugs. 

“I know what you’re planning Stark.”

“Planning?” Tony opens some drawers looking for the snacks he’d stashed last time he was working in here.

“The kid,” is all Strange says. Tony pulls out a bag of trail mix and opens it. 

“It was you wasn’t it?” Tony sits down in a chair and looks at Strange properly this time. “That’s why you’ve been ignoring my calls. You brought the kid here from his universe.” 

“I did,” Stephen nods and finds a seat for himself as well.

“Why?” 

“Because it seemed the best way to help you both. I knew you were planning to go back in time. You can’t disrupt the timeline like that.”

“You said there was only one possible way for the fight to end in our favor. You said that it had to happen in just the right way. You did not tell me that the only way to win was for my kid to die!” Tony stands back up, throwing the bag of trail mix across the room. Strange doesn’t flinch. They’ve had this argument too many times now.

“It was the only way,” Strange says softly. 

“He was just a kid,” Tony leans his hands against a counter and hangs his head. “He’s my kid. It should have been me. It could have been me! I did it in the other universe!”

“It wouldn’t have worked here. The circumstances were different. You could not have gotten the stones in time.” Strange makes a bottle of water appear beside Tony’s hand. “Going back in time will not save anyone. If you change anything the whole world will be destroyed.” 

“Why did you send him here? Why did you… let me have this time with him?” Tony picks up the bottle of water and holds it to his neck, letting the cold help ground him.

“Because it was the only way I could help you both.” Strange gets a bottle of water for himself. “You know somethings wrong don’t you?”

“Of course,” Tony sighs. “The kid’s a terrible liar. He’s not… being looked after from what I can tell and the way he reacted to seeing May again means that… she’s probably gone in his universe.” 

“You’re right,” Strange looks away, fiddling with the bottle in his hands. “A while back I received a message from his universe. It was sent by the other version of me. He’d made a mistake and the only way to correct it left Peter without anyone.” 

“What?” Tony turns quickly to look at him. “What did you do?” 

“After Peter’s identity was revealed he went to him… me for help. He asked for a spell that could make people forget his identity. But it went wrong. I’m not equipped to handle kids. Not the way you are. I never know what to do with them. That version of me is obviously the same. Peter was a scared kid who needed an adult to turn to that had all the right answers to give him. But the me in that universe didn’t see a kid he saw an adult so instead of asking questions he performed the spell and it went wrong. Instead of making everyone forget it brought people that knew the identity of Peter Parker into our universe. Villains mostly.” 

“Did they hurt him?” Tony’s voice is strained as he tries to keep calm. He knows he needs to listen to the full story but it’s hard when it’s his kid involved.

“Physically not much… but he and the other Doctor Strange had a difference in opinion on how to handle these villains. He discovered that they were each pulled from their own universes just as they were about to die, he wanted to save them, he fought the other Strange and trapped him where he couldn’t get back right away. In the process of helping those villains… His aunt was killed by one of them.”

“Jesus Christ,” Tony breathes. He can only imagine how much the kid must blame himself.

“There were other versions of Peter that got pulled into that universe as well. They looked different but they were still fundamentally him. They worked together and were able to help the villains but… they’d been there for too long. The universe was breaking. More people were going to be pulled into that one.” 

“How did you stop it?” Tony asks.

“The Doctor Strange of that universe stopped it by using another spell, one to make everyone forget Peter Parker.”

“Everyone…. Then he’s…”  Tony isn’t sure he remembers how to breathe. 

“That entire world no longer knows that Peter Parker exists,” Strange confirms. Tony grabs the chair that he’d been sitting in and throws it, it crashes into the wall and breaks. He paces back and forth quickly, rubbing at the spot on his chest where the ARC reactor had once sat. He tries to remember how to breathe.

“You have to fix it,” He spins quickly and grabs Strange by his collar. “You have to fix it. He can’t be alone. He’s just a kid! He needs… he needs people to look after him!”

“I’ve done everything that I can Stark. I’m at my limit for how much I can meddle in a universe that is not my own and the Doctor Strange of his universe has no memory of Peter Parker. He sent out a message as he was performing the spell. Bringing Peter here was all I could do but he can’t stay forever. His universe needs Spiderman and this one will be damaged if he stays for too long.” 

“I can’t… I can’t send him back there. I can’t send him back to a universe where no one cares about him. There’s got to be something you can do! You’ve got to be able to help him!” Tony gives him a good shake, hoping that it helps the message hit home.

“I’m going to do all that I can for him. I’m going to send him back with a message for the Doctor Strange of his universe. But that’s all I can do. When I brought him here the backpack that he was wearing came with. I assume this means that anything he carries with him is able to travel between the universes. I suggest you do with that information what you will.” 

“How long do we have?” Tony asks. 

“I can give you two more days.”

“Two days… two more days,” Tony takes slow deep breaths.

“You can not go back in time Tony. When you agreed to it the first time you told Captain America that you would only do it if nothing in this time changed. Going back there… It would be a one way trip for you and you would still fail. I have seen every possible outcome. This universe needs Iron Man just as the other one needs Spider-Man.” 

“He’s my kid,” Tony says, his voice filled with desperation. “How can I… How can I just send my kid back to a world like that?” 

“Because it’s the only way.” 

“What if I go with him?” Tony’s mind is already thinking through a plan, a few days in Peter’s universe and he’s sure that he could at least get some of the problems sorted out.

“I can’t send you there,” Strange says. “I could only bring Peter here because of the message that the other version of me sent and even if I could send you without breaking the multiverse anymore than it already is I don’t know if I could bring you back.”

Tony let’s go of Strange’s collar and moves back trying to think it all through. He’d already known that his trip back in time would be one way. He’d made preparations, he’d distanced himself from Pepper and Morgan. There was another version of Pepper and Morgan in Peter’s universe that was living without him. 

“What if I don’t go back?” Tony and Strange both turn quickly at the sound of the new voice. Peter sits high up on one of the walls, an open window just above him. Tony curses himself for not locking them.

“You saw the multiverse start to break once already didn’t you?” Strange asks. 

“Well yeah but… That’s not what I meant,” Peter shoots a web onto the ceiling and uses it to lower himself down to the ground, no not the ground. He lands in the center of the time machine and turns slowly to take it all in. “I never got to see the time machine you know. This one was obviously destroyed and then when Captain Roger’s didn’t come back that one was destroyed too.”

“What did you mean?” Tony asks, there’s a sinking feeling in his gut. He isn’t going to like whatever comes out of the kid's mouth next. 

“Well,” Peter reaches out and touches a part of the time machine. Tony wants to snap at him to get away from it. “You can’t go back in time Mr. Stark because you’ll break the timeline or whatever. Not to mention Pepper and Morgan need you here. But Doctor Strange told you everything right? He told you what happened in my universe?” The kid looks at him, his eyes wide and glistening with unshed tears. 

“He did,” Tony admits. Peter nods at this and turns his back to them as he continues to examine the device. 

“Well this version of me can’t exist in this universe… And well you’re wrong about one thing Doctor Strange because no one in my universe needs me anymore. Spider-Man is barely a blip on anyone’s radar. Just a friendly neighborhood vigilante. Peter Parker already doesn’t exist.”

“Kid,” Tony wants to go to him. Wants to pull him into his arms and promise him that everything is going to be okay. Tony’s the mechanic, he can fix anything. He should be able to fix this.

“So Why don’t I go back in time? I know where your Peter will be, and it’ll still be a Peter Parker snapping so… It shouldn’t disrupt the timeline too much right?” 

“Fuck no!” Tony yells. He storms onto the time machine and pulls Peter into a tight hug, ignoring the kid's weak protests. “No.” He will not let Peter die again. 

“If I do that then you’ll have your own Peter back,” The kid says, “You won’t even remember me.” 

“I will never forget you,” Tony cups the kid's face in his hands and looks him in the eyes. “I will not forget you.” He wipes away the kid's tears as they finally break free.

“It’s okay Mr. Stark.” He whispers.

“You’re wrong Peter,” Doctor Strange says. “You’re important in your universe just as you are here. Things are broken right now but they will be fixed. It will take time but the world will remember Peter Parker. Your friends and family will remember you.”

“What family?” Peter says with a weak laugh. 

“Us,” Strange says, “The Avengers, we’re your family.” 

“That’s sappy,” Peter mumbles with false humor in his voice. Tony wraps one arm around the kid's neck and pulls him against his chest. 

“That’s what families are for,” He presses a kiss to soft brown curls. “I’m not sending you home without a solution. I’m gonna figure something out for you okay? You are definitely not going to go back in time to sacrifice yourself. What the hell kid? Do you have any sense of self-preservation?” Peter just shrugs and drops his head down onto Tony’s shoulder. 

“There are beings out there who keep the timeline from being disrupted,” Strange says as he walks closer to them. “Even if you tried to go back they’d stop you.” 

“If that’s true then why did no one try to stop us when we went back for the infinity stones?” Tony asked. He wasn’t feeling very fond of the wizard right at the moment. Especially when he thought about how much his kid had gone through because of Strange’s failed spell.

“I don’t know,” Strange admits. “I don’t know much about them at all. Maybe because Captain America returned the stones before the timeline could be affected? But if you went back and tried to change the outcome of the battle then it would definitely not go unnoticed. So no use trying it.”

“If you so much as think about going back on your own I will make sure to destroy every Pym particle I can get my hands on,” Tony threatens before pressing another kiss to the boy’s head. Peter grumbles something unintelligible into the fabric of Tony’s shirt. “I’m going to… figure something out before you have to go home. The multiverse is science as much as it is magic I’m guessing. We’ve got access to some of the best brains in the world and a wizard. I’m sure we’ll figure out something.” 

“I was a man of science long before I became a wiz… Master of the mystic arts,” Strange said. Tony laughs as he moves off the time machine, pulling Peter along with him. 

“Let’s go see if we can wake up Banner without waking up the green guy,” he says. “What’s the time difference with Wakanda? Maybe we’ll pick their brains while we’re at it too.” 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter says quietly. Tony slows his steps and looks down at the kid. “Can we get some food first?” Tony smiles and gives his shoulders a squeeze.

“Whatever you want kiddo.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, we’ve got what a little over 48 hours left, right Strange?” Tony asks. He’s sitting in the dining room with Peter, Strange, and Bruce. Peter’s watching staring at him with wide eyes, so full of hope that it makes Tony’s chest feel tight. He can do this. He can take care of his kid. Even if they can’t be in the same universe together. Bruce isn’t really awake yet, he’s still wearing his pajamas and staring blankly into his teacup. 

“Yeah just a little over,” Strange confirms. Tony considers their options. There’s so much that needs to be done. The kid has nothing back in his world. While they had waited for Bruce to come out of his room Tony had gotten more information out of him. Peter was living in some sleazy motel, he’d dropped out of school, even selling pictures of Spider Man to that trashcan of a gossip paper the Daily Bugle. 

The money Tony could handle with no problem. As soon as it hit a time that could reasonably be considered morning he’d send Happy to the bank. He’d just have to shrink it down so it would fit into Peter’s backpack. The real problem was that Peter would still be alone in his own universe. Sure he’s eighteen now and legally an adult but he still needs someone that’s going to look out for him because the kid is for sure not going to do it himself. So how do they solve that without being able to get people’s memories back?

“Peter I assume you haven’t been able to get any medical care in your universe?” Tony asks him. Peter startles from whatever daze he’d been in and hesitantly nods, a spoon full of lucky charms frozen halfway to his mouth. “Okay, that’s our first order of business then. Bruce I know you’re not that kind of doctor but I also know that you sort of are. We’re going to need all of Peter’s past medical records. Anything you have on his mutation and instructions on how to make that medication that Cho designed for him. He needs a physical too. Maybe some new blood work if we’ve got time.” 

“Yeah, I can probably manage that,” Bruce says into his tea. Tony’s hoping that he’ll fully wake up once he’s in his lab. 

“Alright… Peter, I want you to take today to hang out with your Aunt alright. Other than while Bruce is looking you over you should just take the time to relax.”

“What? But Mr. Stark I can help!” Peter insists, starting to rise up from his chair. Tony puts a hand on his shoulder and gently guides him back down. 

“I know you could Peter. But You’ve been taking care of yourself for a long time and you deserve to rest. Let me handle this. Can you do that?” Tony tries to sound gentle. 

“I… Mr. Stark…” Peter mumbles.

“I’ve got this. I promise,” Tony cards his fingers once through Peter’s curls and the teen lets his shoulders relax. “Thank you,” Tony smiles at him, and Peter nods once.

“Okay Mr. Stark,” He mutters. 

“Would it be alright if I borrowed your suit?” He taps a finger on the web shooters on Peter’s wrists. He hasn’t seen him take them off once the whole time he’s been here and Tony has a suspicion that he probably hasn’t taken them off at all since he’s been on his own. Peter places a hand over one of them hesitantly. He twists it around his wrist a couple of times and then takes them both off and hands them over. 

“I scavenged what parts I could from my old suit and the iron spider,” He admits. “I um… The rest was parts that I… Borrowed from Stark industries.” Tony can’t help but laugh at that. He’s a little miffed that security has gotten lax enough for a teenage vigilante to be able to break in and take whatever he wants but if Peter hadn’t been erased from anything electronic then Friday probably would have just let him in. Hell Friday seemed so fond of the kid she’d probably let him take over her whole system. 

“That’s alright Pete. What’s mine is yours even if I’m not around,” Tony promises him. He’ll have to find a way to fix that too. Was Peter erased from physical documents too? Tony had left him more than just the Edith glasses in his will. If they could convince Pepper of who Peter was then he’d be able to access it all. Once again it all came down to proving that Peter was real. Convincing people that their memories of him had been taken from him. 

“Will… you need them for long?” There are tan lines around the kid's wrists where the web shooters had sat. 

“Give me ten hours?” Tony asks. “You spend ten hours just catching up with your aunt, maybe tell her a little bit of what’s going on? Then I’ll have your suit back to you and answers to what we’re going to do when you have to go home alright?” ten hours was a lot and not enough all at once. Tony didn’t want to spend their remaining time together locked up in his lab but he also needed to find a solution. He wanted to make some adjustments to the kid's suit too. He had no doubt that the way Peter had built it would be flawless but he also hadn’t had access to all the materials that Tony did. He wanted to make sure that the kid would be safe as possible.

“Ten hours,” Peter repeats. Tony nods and strokes his hair once more before standing up. 

“Alright, Peter go cuddle and watch trash tv with your aunt. Bruce get the documents in order and prepare for Peter’s physical. Strange, you’re with me in my lab. I need to know what to expect from Peter traveling through the Multiverse and I might need you to pick up some things for me.” Tony orders them all. Bruce gets up and shuffles off to his lab with no complaint. He probably doesn’t even notice he’s wearing a bathrobe instead of a lab coat. Peter slurps up the milk and what little bit of cereal that was left in his bowl then puts it in the dishwasher before heading back to the common room.

“I’m not a delivery service,” Strange says moodily. 

“You made the world forget my kid. You’re gonna do whatever I need you to do to fix it,” Tony snaps at him. The wizard looks like he wants to say something else but he keeps quiet. There will be time for arguing later. After they’ve taken care of Peter. Tony grabs his cup of coffee off the table and heads down to the lab knowing that Strange is following behind him. 

The suit is the only thing Tony really has an answer to right now so he sets the web shooters on a holo table and has Friday pull them up so he can see what he’s working with. He’s admittedly impressed with what the kid managed to build. Tony sets to work on upgrading them as he thinks over the other problems they’re facing. 

“Can they get their memories back without magic?” Tony asks. Strange has found himself a seat on a stool out of the way of most of the equipment. Tony finds it a bit weird to have someone he’s not that familiar with in his lab while he’s working. 

“It would take a lot. The memories still exist in everyone's minds but there’s a seal around them, blocking them off.”

“So there’s no way to just force them out?” Definitely not the kind of answer Tony was looking for. 

“Not without potentially damaging the mind,” Strange makes a cup of coffee appear in his own hands and takes a sip of it. Tony is about to complain when he notices that his own mug has been refilled. He takes a drink as he stares at the holograph in front of him. 

“We need to convince them then. Convince them that they can trust Peter and that he’s someone important.” 

“It would have to be the right person,” Strange adds. “Someone who would be willing to believe the kid.”

“Lang is probably the most gullible,” Tony says, tapping the web shooters so the suit materializes on the table. “Wouldn’t be the first person I’d pick though.” 

“Just what the world needs, Ant-man, Wasp, and Spider-man teaming up.” 

“Oh god, a team of bugs. No one would trust them.” 

“Spider’s aren’t bugs.”

“Trust me I’m aware. I think I read every bit of spider facts that exist out there… Someone who knows what it’s like to deal with magic then,” Tony grabs a pair of safety goggles and puts them on as he works. “Could we convince you?” 

“Probably, but I’m clearly not the best equipped to handle young adults and I’ve probably got more than a few issues with the whole universe breaking thing going on.” 

“Wanda’s probably out too… she hasn’t been the same since we lost Vision,” Tony drums his fingers on his desk as he thinks. He grimaces as an idea hits him. One he’s definitely not fond of.

“What do you know of the other Avengers in Peter’s universe? Are they doing the same thing there as they are here?”

“I don’t know too much,” Strange admits, “What are you thinking?” 

“Well, I was just thinking that I might know who might be willing to take care of Peter… I just don’t know if I actually want to trust him with my son,” Tony’s fingers tap faster on the desk. He knows that it’s probably the best shot they’ve got. He can’t think of anyone who’s already got experience looking out for someone like Peter. Peter’s just good, he’s self-sacrificing and tends to move his body before his mind can catch up. Pepper had said once that Peter was like a perfect mix of Tony and Steve rolled up into one kid. Not to mention Tony is sure that he’d be pissed to learn that his memories had been tampered with. He’s already had experience with that after all.

“Who is it?” 

“I need you to go to Indiana to pick something up for me,” Tony really hopes that he’s not going to regret this. 

“Indiana?” Strange asks, a look of understanding crosses his face. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Tony sighs, “Oh.”

“I haven’t met him one on one before. Will he come with me now?” 

“He will if he doesn’t want to have to go all the way to Wakanda next time he needs a repair. Besides he’s got a soft spot for the kid.” Strange gives a quick nod and then he’s disappearing through one of his portals without another word. “Friday!” 

“Yes, Boss?” The AI answers. Tony spins his chair around as he collects his thoughts. 

“I need you to bring up all the footage of Spider man or Peter that you have. I want you to organize it into different folders depending on who he’s interacting with in them.”

“I’ll start right away,” She confirms.

“Great, can you access the Edith glasses that Peter brought with him?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Okay, I’m going to need to add some new programming to them and to the Karen AI that Peter has installed in his suit.” 

“Understood Boss.” Tony places his hands on the table to stop his spinning and sets to work on his plan. It doesn’t take that long before a portal is opening back up in his lab and Doctor Strange returns, this time with James Buchannan Barnes in tow. Tony forces away the unease that always settles in his gut when he first sees the assassin. They’ve gotten along fine since the final battle. Not best friends or anything but Tony’s gone and willingly repaired his arm for him whenever it needs it. 

“How’s that arm feeling Buck?” He asks without looking up from the kid's suit. 

“Working fine,” Bucky says, lifting his vibranium arm and bending it as proof. His eyes drop to Tony’s workstation and what is clearly a Spider man suit laying there. “What’s going on?” 

“You watch the news at all?” Tony points a finger across the lab at a tool. “I need that Wizard.” Strange makes a face but the tool floats to Tony’s hand anyway. 

“I saw the stuff about the kid,” Bucky admits. He stays on the far side of the table, Tony appreciates that he seems to know when to give Tony his space. 

“Great, I need you to make a video diary,” He pauses. “Actually Friday I need you to send a message to everyone associated with Peter Parker or Spider man.” 

“What’s the message Boss?” She asks. Bucky eyes the ceiling a bit warily. 

“Tell them that I need them all to send me recordings of themselves. They need to talk about the kid. Everything from how they met him to their fondest memories and why they like him. Make sure the message gets through to everyone. I don’t care if their phone is off or they’re off in space somewhere. They have,” He checks his watch, “Eight hours to get them to me.” 

“I’ve sent the message using the emergency alert system.” 

“Perfect.”

“Why did you need me here to do that?” Bucky asks, his eyes are still focused on the Suit spread out across the table, there’s a deep sadness in them. The loss of Peter had hit everyone really hard. Tony types out a message to Friday on his phone, telling her to start recording Bucky. 

“Because I need something more specific from you. It’s easier to make sure we get everything in person.” 

“What is it?” 

“You’ve had your memories messed with before,” Tony knows he has, But he needs to get his reaction to the question on camera. He needs to make sure that there’s no way the Bucky in the other universe could doubt the authenticity of the video.

“Obviously,” Bucky’s whole demeanor darkens. His eyes narrow and his jaw clenches, he flexes the fingers of his metal hand. “What is this about Stark?”

“It’s about Peter.” Just like that Bucky relaxes. His shoulders slump and that sadness is back on his face as he reaches forward slowly and picks the Spider-Man mask up off the table.

“I wasn’t the one that leaked his identity if that’s what you’re trying to figure out,” He says. 

“I know it wasn’t you. The kid is in trouble,” Tony waves his hand and another hologram pops up showing the video feed from the living room. Peter and May are seated on the couch wrapped together in a blanket while some reality show plays on the tv in front of them. Bucky stares at it.

“When is this from?” He asks. 

“Right now, live feed. Friday, tell the kid to wave to the camera.” The three of them listen as Friday’s voice repeats the message in the living room. Peter sits up a bit straighter and looks around the room. His eyes fall on the camera and his face brightens as he waves at it. 

“That’s real?” Bucky asks. He looks like he’s ready to bolt from the room. 

“It’s real, you can text Sam for confirmation if you want. He got here last night. But before you go up there I need your help.” 

“How is he alive?” 

“Focus Buckaroo,” Tony snaps his fingers at him and Bucky shoots him a glare. 

“There’s a long sciencey explanation but the short of it is that Gandalf here brought another version of Peter into our world so that we could help him.” 

“How is that possible?” Bucky’s gaze returns to the video feed. 

“Magic,” Tony says at the same time that Strange says “The mystic arts.”

“Why does he need help?” 

“Because no one remembers him,” Tony explains. Bucky furrows his brow.

“How can I help?” 

“I need you to talk about your feelings. I know very therapy. The kid has to go back to his own universe. I need you to convince the other version of yourself that he’s someone you know. Something that will make you want to take care of him.” Bucky thinks about it for a moment and then his eyes widen as he turns to stare at Tony. 

“That’s what the videos from the others are for too right? You want them to see the messages from themselves?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you need a different message from me?” Bucky asks. Tony fidgets with one of his tools as he stares down at the suit. 

“Because the kid needs someone to watch his back. I’m dead in his universe. I can’t take care of him. You know what he’s like when he thinks he can help people. The kid will get himself killed if he doesn’t have someone there with him.” 

“You want me… to protect your kid.” Bucky’s voice is full of disbelief and if Tony is honest with himself he can’t believe he’s doing it either.

“It’s got to be you,” Tony admits. “I think that you’re the only one who will believe that there was an entire person erased from your memories.” Bucky lets out a long slow breath. 

“I’d give my life for him Tony. I have no doubt about that. The kid deserves no less but… you really want it to be me?” 

“I figure that… with all your experience dealing with Steve that you’re the one for the job.” 

“You’re trusting me with your kid Stark. I mean… I guess it’s not me but,” Bucky sits down hard onto a stool. “Are you recording?” 

“I’m always recording in my lab,” Tony shrugs and goes back to upgrading Peter’s suit. 

“Okay well, you better include this part of the conversation because there ain’t no way in hell I’m gonna believe you asked me to take care of your kid.”

“I planned on it.”

“What about Rhodey?” Bucky flexes his metal hand again, Tony wonders if it’s a nervous tic or if it’s bothering him. 

“I picked you,” Tony holds out his hand again. “Soldering gun.” He catches it when it floats to his hand. 

“Sam? I’m sure that the kid could convince Sam that he’s important.”

“Buck,” Tony makes sure to meet his gaze this time. “I picked you. You trained the kid, you know how to work together. You managed to keep Steve from getting himself killed when he was scrawny. I know that we’ve had our difference… but you’ve proven yourself to me. I’ve seen you with the kid.” 

“You’re sure you don’t want to ask Rhodey instead?” 

“James,” Tony shoots him a look. 

“Alright alright, I’m sorry. I just had to make sure.”

“I’m sending the kid back with some stuff. If I’m dead in his universe then you really do have to rely on the Wakandans to get your arm fixed. I’ll send the kid back with the instructions for it.” 

“let’s record this video diary or whatever then,” Bucky says. “Then I get to go hang with the kid right?” 

“Yes yes,” Tony waves a hand dismissively. He pretends that he doesn’t see the awkward smile Bucky flashes at him.

Chapter Text

Peter sits on the roof of the Avengers compound, his feet dangling over the edge as he watches the sunset in the distance. He’s had what is probably one of the best days of his life. He spent the morning cuddled on the couch with May catching up on all their reality tv shows that he hasn’t been able to bring himself to watch since she passed. Then after Bruce gave him a quick physical they spent a little time in his lab working on making some small samples of the medication that had been created to work with his metabolism. Peter wouldn’t have access to a lab in his own universe to make it himself but they’re hoping to get him in touch with Doctor Cho so that she can help him if he ever does get a serious injury. 

Sam and Clint had both been awake by the time Peter made it back to the common room. Sam had cooked a ton of breakfast food so they’d all sat down to eat together. Every time Peter had gotten close to finishing his food someone would drop more onto his plate. They tried to coax Tony out of his lab to eat as well but he’d refused. Peter had kind of figured he would, he’d asked for ten hours to work after all. 

After breakfast, they gather back in the common room and Peter gets to absolutely destroy them all at video games. May insists that she make Peter a walnut date loaf since ‘they’re his favorite’ and while she was in the kitchen Peter and Sam made a bet for their final round of Mario kart. If Peter won he’d get to try the wings and if Sam won he’d get to try the web shooters. Sadly May caught them in the training room as Sam was helping Peter strap into the wings and refused to let him try them. 

Clint insisted they practice with the bow and arrow instead which she still wasn’t too keen on but allowed anyway since she had to get back to the kitchen. Peter figures that she doesn’t need to know that their practice included shooting blunt arrows at Sam while he flew around near the ceiling. Peter even managed to hit him twice! Rhodey joined them but he was pretty bad at shooting the arrows so instead, he pulled out a bunch of paintball guns and they moved to the obstacle course to play. 

They made Peter promise to stay off the walls so he wouldn’t have an unfair advantage but he’d still done pretty well. Especially when Bucky had dropped into the course beside him armed with two of the paintball guns. Peter’s sense’s had let him know something was coming so he’d dropped to the ground out of the way as Bucky hit Sam, Clint, and Rhodey all in the chests. They’d had a quick time out after that so Bucky could give Peter a hug and then it had been a full on battle of Peter and Bucky vs Sam, Clint, and Rhodey. 

It had ended with all of them covered from head to toe in paint and welts. May had scolded them all for the mess they’d made even though some of Tony’s robots were already cleaning the paint from the obstacle course. They’d separated to go shower off the paint and put on clean clothes before meeting in the dining room for lunch. Peter and Bucky had already started healing the bruises they’d gotten from the paintballs but the three unenhanced heroes were still clearly feeling sore. Peter tried not to tease them too much, but they really made it too easy. Especially after Clint uses his spoon to flick mashed potatoes at Sam and May threatened to tell his wife he’s being a child. 

Peter had gotten an idea after lunch and had dragged Rhodey down to one of the extra labs. With Tony gone in his universe, he’s sure that Rhodey has trouble getting his leg braces repaired. Thankfully the Rhodey of this universe was willing to go along with it. Peter studied the leg braces and looked up all the information Tony had on them, along with all of the plans he’d made to try and improve them. Rhodey went over it with him, showed him all the ways they work, and what he does to take care of them now. Peter knows that the Rhodey of his universe doesn’t remember him right now but he still wants to be useful if he can. 

It was nice to work in a fully stocked lab again with Friday there to help him with everything he needed to do the work. He had listened to Rhodey tell stories about the time since the battle. He talks about how the government had tried to create a new Captain America and Sam and Bucky had stopped a group of super soldiers. How Clint and Kate had knocked down the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. He tells him about gatherings at the lake house and how Morgan was starting to show a rather frightening mix of Tony and Pepper’s personalities. 

Peter wishes that he could see Pepper and Morgan. He knows that Tony will have to make up with Pepper soon. It’s not right for their family to be apart now. But the Morgan of this universe had never met Peter. She’d just heard stories about her ‘big brother’ and how he’d saved the world. Peter doesn’t want her to miss him. It wouldn’t be fair to introduce himself to her only to have to leave right after. Better that he remains just a story to her.

“There you are Underoos,” Tony’s voice pulls Peter out of his thoughts and he turns to find his mentor taking a careful seat next to him. He’s got the housing unit for his nano suit on his chest as he glances nervously down at the ground. “You pick the worst hang out spots.”

“Sorry,” Peter says, though he’s not really. Since the spider bite, he’s felt more comfortable in high up places. Even without his suit, he could easily get down from the roof. Tony drapes an arm over Peter’s shoulders and tugs him closer to his side.

“May was thinking about coming up here but she says that she hates heights.” 

“Oh yeah she’s terrified of them,” Peter grins. “I tried to get her to come swing with me once and she got so pale that I thought she was gonna faint just from the thought of it.” He laughs as he leans into his mentor’s warmth. Tony laughs with him. 

“Did you have a good day kid? Friday showed me some highlights from your paintball game while I was working in the lab.”

“Oh yeah, it was great! I totally thought that I was gonna lose the match because they made a rule that I had to stay on the ground but then Bucky was up on top of one of the walls and he jumped down with two guns and he shot them all! The looks on their faces were so great. Friday recorded it right? Do you think she could send it to Karen so I can watch it over again?” 

“Of course kid,” Tony chuckles. “Ah speaking of, I saw that piece of junk in your backpack. So take this one,” Tony holds out a new Starkphone with a pretty heavy duty looking case on it. Peter takes it carefully and turns it over in his hand. 

“I don’t know if it’ll work in my universe Mr. Stark,” Peter would really like to have a proper phone again. One that can take pictures and search the internet.

“It should work fine. I’ve installed Edith on it. She should be able to link you up to my own network. You won’t even get a bill or anything. Also, I’ve done my best to make that phone virtually indestructible but I know your luck with phones so make sure it stays in the case for extra protection.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Peter slips his arms around his mentor’s waist and gives him a tight hug. “Are you done working now? Will you be able to spend some time with me before I have to go back?”

“I’m all yours kid,” Tony promises, bringing up a hand to ruffle Peter’s curls. “We should test out the upgrades to your suit tomorrow so you’re prepared when you get back to your universe. I’ve updated Edith too. I want you to wear the glasses whenever you’re not in the suit alright? It’ll make me feel better if I know she’s looking out for you.” 

“I’ll be okay Mr. Stark. I’ve been on my own for like eight months now. I know how to do it,” Peter doesn’t want to worry him. He’s got more important things to think about here other than a Peter that’s not even the one he’s always known. 

“Can’t just turn off the worrying kid. It’s a parental thing. Just constantly there whenever my eyes aren’t on my kids,” Tony smiles down at him and Peter can feel his face flushing red. Tony really considers him his kid. Even though the Peter that Tony knew was gone now. Tony is dead, May is dead, No one knows who you are . 

“I don’t want to go back,” Peter whispers. Tony’s grip on him tightens and rests his head on top of Peter’s.

“I don’t want to let you go either Pete. I… I’ll gladly fight the wizard to keep you here if you want me to. We all will. I’ll figure out a way to make it work,” Tony presses a kiss to his head. 

At that moment Peter knows that Tony would fight for him. Tony would risk destroying the multiverse to keep Peter. He’d fight against any power that tried to stand between him and his kids. Peter knows that all he would have to do is say the word and Tony would go to war for him. But they both know that Peter won’t ask that of him. Peter will never put his own happiness over the lives of others. 

“I love you,” Peter says instead of everything he wants to ask for. 

“I love you too,” Tony whispers back. “You always were better than me.” They stay on the roof long after the sun has set. Tony has Friday turn off all the exterior lights and they lay back on the roof watching the stars. 

Chapter Text

It’s Peter’s last night in this universe so he chooses not to sleep. He and Tony stay up on the roof for a while then head back inside to find the others already waiting for them. The common room has been turned into an elaborate blanket fort. The ground is covered in even more blankets and pillows. Sam has cooked a bunch of food and there are even more snacks and drinks laid out. Even Happy and Bruce join them on the floor as they eat and watch movies. The night is almost as fun as the day had been. Once the others fall asleep Tony and Peter sneak out of the fort and go down to Tony’s lab. 

They work together just like old times. Bouncing ideas off each other as they move around the lab. They don’t work on anything in particular. Just jumping from project to project as they go along. Peter’s too excited to really stay still. He jumps over tables and stands on the ceiling when he needs to think. It feels so good to have someone he can talk to that understands even the half-formed thoughts that tumble out of his mouth. 

Peter is sitting cross-legged on the ceiling over Tony’s workstation as he watches him work on their current project. He’s tucked his sweater into his pajama pants to keep it from falling down and his hair is definitely going to be standing on end whenever he decides he feels like returning to the ground. He uses his webs to grab any tools that Tony requires. It’s fun. It’s one of the things that he’s missed the most about having Tony around. He even puts in the earbuds Tony had designed to help him with his hearing so they can listen to Tony’s music at his usual volume. 

They’re both so focused on their work that neither of them notices when the door to the lab opens. Not until the music suddenly comes to a stop. They both look at each other with confused expressions.

“It wasn’t me,” they say at the same time. 

“No it was me,” Both their heads whip towards the door to see Pepper standing there with her arms crossed. 

“Pepper!” Peter shouts and jumps to his feet, he’s already made the move before he remembers that he was on the ceiling. He manages to flip around just in time to land on his feet then runs forward to hug her. Pepper puts her hands on his cheeks and takes a good look at him.

“You’re Peter,” She says in shock, “you’re really Peter? But… how?” 

“The wizard,” Tony says. 

“Stephen?” Pepper asks.

“Why do you know all these people’s real names?” 

“You should too,” Pepper moves Peter back and stares at him. “Oh, Peter you’re alive.” There are tears in her eyes. Peter wishes that they didn’t have to tell her the truth. He’s only got a handful of hours left in this universe. 

“I’m… I’m only here for a little bit,” Peter says, dropping his eyes to stare at the ground. 

“Tony you should have called me sooner,” Pepper scolds him. Peter remembers then what Tony had said about him and Pepper taking a break and perks up a bit. He can at least try to help them before he goes. They’re doing so much to help him after all. 

“Pepper Pepper Pepper!” Peter says putting his hands on her shoulders. He probably shouldn’t have had quite as much sugar as he had during their movie night. 

“Oh my goodness yes Peter?” She asks, smoothing his hair back from his face. 

“Tony’s a big dumb idiot and he’s really sorry for whatever he did so you should take him back because I’ve already been orphaned I don’t want to be a child of divorce on top of that!” He says quickly. Pepper smiles softly at him and presses a kiss to his forehead. 

“Tony is welcome to come home whenever he gets his head out of his ass,” Pepper promises him. 

“That’s good,” Peter drops his voice to a whisper. “I’m only going to be here for a little bit longer. I was brought here from another universe and um… I’ve got to go back tomorrow.” 

“What?” Pepper looks between him and Tony. Peter knows that it’s going to be hard on all of them when he leaves but Tony will try to blame himself. He’ll think that he could have prevented it in some way. But he should think more about Pepper and Morgan. Peter’s an adult. Morgan needs him more than he does. 

“It’s true,” Tony says. “Peter was brought here from a universe that’s similar to our own except he survived the battle for earth.” Peter and Tony share a look. 

“Some stuff happened in my universe recently and Doctor strange brought me here so that I could get help,” Peter tells her. “Tony prepared some stuff for me to take back to my universe. He even upgraded my suit too!” 

“What are you two even doing awake?” Pepper asks as she takes in the mess they’ve made of Tony’s lab. Peter wonders what she would have thought of it if she’d seen how spotless it was before Tony had started working on Peter’s stuff. If she knew that Tony had been planning to send himself back in time to take Peter’s place at the battle. Peter wonders if he should say something or if maybe Doctor Strange will tell someone. No, it should be Peter. Now that Pepper is here he’ll get her alone and let her know what he found out. What if Tony goes right back to his plan once Peter leaves. No, he’ll have to find a chance to get Pepper alone at some point before he leaves.

“Us?” Tony stands up from his chair and makes his way over to the two of them. “Shouldn’t we be asking you what you’re doing here in the middle of the night?” 

“I couldn’t sleep because I was worried about my stupid husband,” She says reaching out and cupping his cheek as he stops beside them. Tony smiles softly at her. “My sister’s visiting right now so I left Morgan with her.”

“Sorry dear,” He looks down at Peter and ruffles his hair. “You should get some sleep kid. You should make sure you’re well rested. I’m sure the guys have a lot planned for tomorrow and we’ll want to make sure you’re rested.” Peter resists the urge to pout, he’s not going to pout because he’s not a child. He’s just going to complain a little bit about his bedtime as they all head back up to the common room. 

“Will you sleep in the fort too?” Peter asks Pepper as they step into the elevator. “Tony has to sleep in there too. I wanna spend every second I have left with everything.” 

“I knew I shouldn’t have let those idiots buy you so much candy. Haven’t you burned the sugar off yet?” Tony pulls on his cheek.

“Oh I think I’m pretty close,” Peter admits. “I’m probably gonna crash really really hard any minute now.” 

“Great, you go get all snuggled up in the blanket fort with the others. Don’t trip on Bucky, I’m not responsible if he breaks anything of yours. I’m going to go with Pepper so she can get ready for bed”

“You’re just trying to get rid of me so you can kiss Pepper,” Peter grins at them then slips off the elevator before them. Peter keeps the grin on his face as the elevator slides shut then he lets it drop. He’s tired. Really tired. He makes his way to the common room and crawls into the blanket fort being careful not to run into any of the others.

“You good kid?” Bucky whispers as Peter crawls past him.

“Sorry Buck I didn’t mean to wake you,” he whispers back as he sits down and pulls a blanket onto his lap. “Sugar crash. You?” 

“Yeah, me too,” Bucky says. Peter smiles weakly as he lays down. His time is running out. Will Tony be okay once he leaves? What if he goes and tries something stupid. It’s not like Doctor strange can keep bringing him back to this universe. He knows that Tony has a lot of people that care for him here. He knows that they’ll all watch out for him. 

“Tony was going to go back in time to try to save your Peter,” He whispers. He knows that Bucky’s enhanced hearing will be able to pick it up. 

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. You worried?” 

“Yeah, what if I go home and he does something dumb?” Peter rolls onto his stomach and presses his face into one of the pillows. 

“I really think he’s going to be okay kid. I think getting to see you like this has been good. He can get more closure. I imagine that you can too.” 

“I guess,” Peter grumbles. “Will you check in on him?” 

“What?” Bucky turns his head to look at him. “I don’t speak pillow.” Peter lifts his head up a bit to shoot the super soldier a glare. 

“Will you check in on him?” Peter repeats.

“Pete, he’s got a lot of friends. Not to mention Pepper.” 

“Please Bucky?” Peter begs. Bucky looks a bit amused as he nods.

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Thank you Bucky,” Peter lays back down properly and curls up. He’ll sleep for just a bit and then he’ll spend more time with people that he loves. May is dead, Tony is dead, No one will remember you, no one will care about you. Bucky throws another blanket over him.

“Go to sleep,” Bucky orders him. Peter sticks his tongue out at the former assassin and gets a pillow to the face in return. His smile comes back as he gets comfortable and he can barely stay awake long enough for Tony and Pepper to join the rest of them in the Fort. 

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Tony asks as he lays down beside Peter.

“Bucky hit me with a pillow,” Peter whispers back.

“He started it.” Bucky turns his back on them and Peter considers taking the chance to hit him back. 

“Well, this is me finishing it. Us old guys are gonna regret sleeping on the floor in the morning.” 

“You’re gonna regret waking me up with all your yapping,” Rhodey’s voice comes from the other side of the fort. Peter snickers at Tony’s distress and Pepper tells them all to be quiet. They all settle down after that not wanting to risk her wrath. It’s easy for Peter to fall asleep listening to the familiar heartbeats of the people he loves sleeping around him. 

Morning comes too quickly. Peter wakes up as Happy gets off his spot on the ground. He’s grumbling about his sore back as he makes his way to the kitchen to start the coffee. Peter sits up and looks around. Sam and Bucky are already gone from the fort. Peter remembers that they both usually go for runs in the morning. Clint’s not in the fort anymore but Peter’s pretty sure he can hear his snoring coming from one of the air vents above the common room. Rhodey had moved onto one of the couches at some point during the night. 

“Morning kid,” Tony says as he sits up himself. His back cracks a bit and Peter winces at the sound. He feels a little bad about letting them all sleep in the living room with him. Tony hasn’t slept in a bed in like three nights. Has he even slept since Peter got here? He doesn’t think so. 

“Don’t you want more sleep?” Peter asks as he unburies himself from the mountain of blankets he’d collected in his sleep. 

“Nope big day ahead of us kid,” Tony gets up and heads to the kitchen, probably going after the coffee that Peter can already smell brewing. 

“Where’s May and Pepper?” Peter gets to his feet and rubs the sleep from one of his eyes as he looks around the common room.

“Yoga,” Rhodey says, “they’re probably in the training room if you want to join them.”

“Nah May says I’m too flexible. It freaks her out.” Peter grins. Rhodey looks at Peter with narrowed eyes. 

“Is this some weird spider crap?” He asks. Peter’s grin widens. 

“Spider’s don’t have bones uncle Rhodey,” is all he says before hurrying after Tony into the kitchen. 

“I know you have bones kid!” Rhodey calls after him. “You can’t trick me! I’ve seen how often you break them!” Peter cracks up laughing as he hops up onto the kitchen island next to Tony. He takes the mug of coffee from his mentor and takes a small sip before wrinkling his nose. 

“It needs sugar,” He says as Tony takes the mug back. 

“Not everything needs sugar,” Tony scolds him. Happy is leaning against the counter across from them with his own mug in his hands. He doesn’t look particularly awake yet. 

“Are you cooking breakfast?” Peter asks Happy. He pretends he doesn’t see Tony adding the sugar to his coffee. 

“What? Why would I cook breakfast? There’s like ten restaurants in the public areas that can send food over.” he grumbles. Peter puts on his best cute face as he looks down and fiddles his hands. 

“Oh okay, then Uncle Happy. I just figured that since Uncle Sam cooked yesterday and Uncle Clint cooked the day before then we’d get something homemade today too. You know… since it’s my last day here and all,” Peter’s bottom lip quivers.

“Alright alright fine I’ll make the damn breakfast!” Happy puts down his coffee and starts to pull out ingredients for breakfast. While his back is turned Tony gives Peter a fist bump. 

“Damn Stark kids and their damn doe eyes.” Happy grumbles. “You like blueberries kid?”

“Oh yeah, Uncle Happy!” Peter says cheerfully. “Blueberries are my favorite!” 

Tony snickers and hands his coffee mug back to Peter. He takes a quick sip of it and smiles when he sees that Tony’s added some creamer as well as the sugar. He doesn’t drink coffee too often since the caffeine doesn’t do much for him but he’d learned to like it during his long hours in the lab with Tony. He used to get some from the coffee shop that MJ worked at until she and Ned left for college.

“Anything, in particular, you want to do today?” Tony asks, pouring a new coffee for himself. 

“Have you gotten any more messages from Matt Murdock?” Peter holds his mug with both hands. Tony rolls his eyes and takes his phone out of his pocket handing it over to Peter.

“Yeah, apparently he managed to get your friends cleared. Little jerks getting into my private server. I’m going to make that brat Ned put up the new security. Make sure he covers up all the holes he found.” 

“Don’t be too mean to them, they are still my friends. They just… wanted me to be remembered I guess.” 

“I’ll put something together. Something that everyone can see,” Tony says, tapping his fingers against his mug.

“Just give the kid a museum exhibit like Caps,” Clint slips out of a vent and picks up the pot of coffee. 

“That’s not a terrible idea,” Tony grabs a mug from the cabinet and holds it out to Clint. “Don’t put your mouth on my coffee pot.” Clint’s eyes dart between the two before he accepts the mug and pours some coffee into it. 

“I don’t need something like that!” Peter says with wide eyes. He’d visited the Captain America exhibit with his class a few times. He’d always been so in awe of it. He’d been a stuttering mess when he had finally been properly introduced to the man himself. 

“You earned it Petey,” Clint tells him. “That’s what you get when you save the world. A museum exhibit that shows off your first homemade spider suit.” 

“Oh god anything but that,” Peter begs, dropping his head onto Tony’s shoulder. 

“Definitely that,” Tony laughs and ruffles his hair. Peter doesn’t feel like he deserves something like that, but he has to remind himself that it’s not him that they’re celebrating but the other Peter. The other Peter had sacrificed himself for them all. He deserved to be celebrated. What had Peter ever done? Given a villain a powerful weapon? Nearly destroyed the multiverse? He definitely didn’t deserve any type of reward. Ben and May died because of me, Tony is dead, no one else can get hurt if they don’t remember me.

Chapter Text

The Spider-man suit is perfect. After breakfast, Tony and Peter went straight to the training room to try it out. When Peter taps his web shooters together the nanobots spread out much more smoothly than before, it takes less time for Peter to be fully covered by the suit. It feels more sturdy too. It still feels more like fabric than the iron spider suit had but Peter’s pretty sure it’ll hold up much better against sharp weapons. 

“Good morning Peter,” Karen says as his heads up display appears in front of him.

“Morning Karen!” He says cheerfully. He can see right away that Tony has added new features. The spider logo on his chest is once again a drone and there are more safety measures, ones that Peter hadn’t thought to build into the suit on his own. “This is so great Mr. Stark thank you!” Peter retracts the mask from his face and hurries over to where his mentor stands watching him. 

“You can’t be running around unsafe, kid. The new safety features can help with that a little bit at least. I’ve gotten your gliders back in there as well as a parachute. For the love of god please remember to repack it if you ever need to use it.” Tony places his hands on Peter’s shoulders and looks him in the eyes. 

“I will I promise,” Peter smiles at him. “What else did you add?” 

“You’re probably not going to be fond of this one but I’ve added a distress beacon. If you’re injured severely it’s going to send out a call for help over the same network as the Avengers emergency alert systems,” Tony sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks on his feet a bit. “Please keep it on. I know that it might be hard to run into the other Avengers but I need to know that if something happens to you someone will come to help. The alert will have my signature on it. They’ll know that it was something I arranged.”

“What will set it off?” Peter asks, looking down at his suit. He knows that at one point the suit would alert Tony anytime Peter got so much as a scratch or a bump to the head. He doesn’t need an avenger showing up anytime he gets into a fight. 

“It’s not as sensitive as what it used to be,” Tony says like he can hear Peter’s thoughts or something. “It will send off if your vitals hit a certain level or if your body has reached a certain percentage of damage. You can also send the distress call manually if you’re trapped somewhere or you think you’re in over your head.” Peter's pretty sure they both know he's not likely to use that feature unless he really has no other choice

“Does it alert all the Avengers?” The last thing he needs is the whole Avengers team assembling in Queens when he’s trying to keep a low profile. 

“Only those who are in a reasonable range to get to you quickly. If you’re in Queens then the furthest it should reach is the compound. I don’t know if anyone is still using the compound in your universe but… well it’ll give me peace of mind alright?” 

“Okay, Mr. Stark. That's… surprisingly reasonable.” Peter thinks about the time Toomes trapped him under a warehouse. How he’d yelled for help but there had been no one to answer. It would be nice to know that someone would come if he called, well not him. He’s sure they would only do it because of Tony. That’s fine though, that’s better than slowly bleeding out in an alley with no one to save you. Not that Peter would know anything about that. Definitely not. 

“Why is that surprising?” 

“You’re kinda… sometimes overprotective.” Peter grins at him. 

“It’s not being overprotective when your kid does things like stow away on a spaceship to an alien planet after being specifically told to stay low to the ground on numerous occasions.” Tony’s tone is scolding but there’s a fond look on his face. Peter shoots a web towards the ceiling and pulls himself off the ground to swing around the training room. The suit feels good. Everything just functions slightly more smoothly. Peter gets a feel for it. Checking the different web combinations and Karen’s new functions. She’s fully integrated with Edith now. Has access to all of the Stark systems. He hopes she’ll be able to connect in his world as well. 

After Peter’s got the hang of the new suit Tony summons his own and the two of them train together for a bit. Peter forgot how fun it could be to train like this. He’s gotten too used to just shutting himself off during fights. It’s risky, it can make his reactions slower but there are times he just can’t stay present in his own head. Training with Tony means he needs to keep present. He needs to keep thinking one step ahead. Where is Tony going to fly, is he going to shoot a repulsor or go for a punch, how has his suit been upgraded since the last time Peter saw it? 

He’s so focused on the fight that he doesn’t even notice when more people enter the training room. Not until one of them lets out a whistle and draws both his and Tony’s attention. Peter is midswing when it comes and he’s startled enough to forget to shoot another web. He’s free falling for a second, but then Tony is there catching his hand. Peter sticks himself to the ironman suit as Tony lowers them both to the ground. Peter’s not sure how to handle what he’s seeing. Standing just inside of the doorway are four people. Happy, Matt Murdock, Ned, and MJ. Peter unsticks himself when his feet touch the ground. Tony lands beside him. 

“Spider-man,” Ned says softly. He and MJ look confused, hesitant. Of course, Happy would bring them all the way here without telling them what was happening. Peter knows he should remove his mask. He should face his best friends. Peter has to force himself to breathe normally.

“Good to see you again Mr. Parker,” Mr. Murdock says, holding his hand out in front of him. Peter knows what he’s doing. He knows that Mr. Murdock is working to make this meeting smoother.

“Aren’t you blind?” Tony asks. 

“You can’t just ask people that Mr. Stark,” Peter scolds his mentor as he steps forward. His mask comes off and he takes Mr. Murdock’s hand. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Murdock.” 

“Peter!” Ned yells as he throws himself at Peter, clinging to him tightly. “Oh my god, Peter!” Peter lets go of Mr. Murdock’s hand and returns the hug. 

“Hi Ned,” His vision blurs with tears as he hugs his best friend tight. It’s been so long since he’s seen, Ned. He can feel MJ staring at them. Can practically see her brain working to understand the situation. 

“You’re not our Peter,” She says at last. Peter gently removes himself from Ned’s arms. Ned takes a few steps back so he’s standing beside MJ again as they both take him in now. Peter taps his wrists together. The suit fully returning to his web shooters. He feels oddly exposed without it in this situation. He thinks that it might be because of Mr. Murdock being there. He’s always set off Peter’s spider-sense just a bit. Like there’s more to him than meets the eye. 

“He… but how? It’s Peter!” Ned insists. 

“No, she’s right.” Peter sticks his hands in his pockets. “I am Peter Parker, but I’m not your Peter Parker. Not the one that died in the battle of Earth.” 

“I don’t understand,” Ned admits. 

“The multiverse is real. Doctor Strange brought me here. I can’t stay though. So… I mean I wanted to see you guys but I just thought that it might not be a good idea.” 

“Mr. Parker is the one who asked that I represent you two.” Mr. Murdock says. “He came to my office on the day the videos were released.” 

“So you… I mean if the multiverse is real then... Wow holy crap,” Ned says. “Whats… whats your universe like? I mean you know me and MJ there right? Like what’s the difference? I mean you’re alive obviously so the battle of Earth must be different. Did it even happen? Or did you just…” 

“It’s all the same. Except it was Mr. Stark who sacrificed himself instead of me at the end of the battle. Mr. Stark died and I… I lived.” The words stick in his throat. I lived, I lived, Tony is dead, May is dead, I messed up, I messed up, I messed up, I messed up, I didn’t deserve to live.

“So what are things like then?” Ned asks. “Are we all still friends? Did we all go back to midtown? Did we go to MIT together? Are we roommates? Because the roommate I have now is this-” Ned keeps talking but it sounds like Peter is underwater. In this universe, Peter did not return when everyone else did. He never went to Europe, he never started dating MJ, she never found out he was spider-man, they never made their plans to go to college together. 

“Peter,” MJ’s voice cuts into his thoughts. He looks at her his eyes wide, his breathing a bit uneven. Tony’s hand is a solid weight on his shoulder, when did that get there?

“Yes?” He manages to force out. 

“What’s my name?” She asks, raising an eyebrow. Peter stares at her. Her name? 

“MJ,” he says. She nods. 

“We’re friends then,” she says it like it's so simple. No, Peter wants to tell her, we’re more than that. We’re so much more than friends. She meets his eyes.

“Yeah,” He says quietly. “We’re all friends…” 

“Are we going to MIT together?” Ned asks. “I think it’d be great if we were all in school together!” 

“Um… No, I didn’t get into MIT,” Peter says. All their gazes snap to him at that.

“You?” Happy asks. “Why wouldn’t you get in?” Peter chews on his lip.

“Well, I… I didn’t apply,” Peter remembers, rejection letter after rejection letter, the disappointment on Ned and MJ’s faces when they found that none of them would be going. “I can’t be Spider-man and MIT. So I uh… I go to Empire State. Got a scholarship and everything.”

“Empire state!” Ned says excitedly. “That’s so cool!” 

“Yeah, really cool.” They don’t need to know. They don’t need to know that he’s a high school dropout. That he’s alone, so alone. 

“Yeah, it’s… I mean. It’s great.” MJ is staring at him hard. Peter thinks that she probably sees through him. She knows he’s lying. “It’s really good to see you guys.” Ned is excited. He starts talking quickly about MIT and what it’s like and the classes he’s taking and how he and his roommate don’t get along. Peter leads them to his bedroom so they can hang out. He speaks when he’s expected to and he asks questions. May brings them some drinks and snacks after a while. She stays to chat with them too, running her fingers through Peter’s hair as she stands beside him. He’s a bit embarrassed but with time running out he’s not going to begrudge her the contact. 

She leaves after a bit to give them privacy, eventually, Ned disappears into the bathroom, and Peter tenses up when he feels MJ’s eyes on him. He knows that she wants answers. He wants to give them to her. But time is running out. She’ll wonder about the truth. Peter knows that once she gets an idea about something she can’t let it go.

“My identity got leaked,” He says, looking at her. “I had to drop out of school. Got my GED but… well no college would take Spider-man.” 

“What are we?” She asks. 

“We were dating,” He says, his cheeks flushing pink. 

“And we’re not anymore?” 

“No, not anymore. You and Ned went to MIT. Spider-man kinda takes up all my time so…” 

“You’re a bad liar,” MJ says accusingly. 

“Yeah…” his shoulders slump.

“So what you just said is the truth. Ned and I are at MIT. You’re doing Spider-man full time. So what broke us up?” She asks. Peter chews on his lip. 

“You don’t remember me. No one remembers me. I messed up and in order to fix it Doctor Strange had to erase everyone's memories of me.” 

“Did I know before you did it?” 

“Yes, I got a chance to say goodbye to you and Ned.” 

“I just let you do that?” 

“No, you made me promise to come to find you after. To remind you of who I was.”

“You didn’t do it.”

“I was going to. I went to your job… but I couldn’t do it. People die because they know me. Maybe it’s Parker luck, maybe it’s Spider-man. But people that are around me die and you and Ned deserve to have normal lives. Good lives. We all got rejected from every college we applied to.”

“You’re an asshole,” MJ says punching his arm. 

“Sorry,” He sighs. 

“You really have to go back?” She asks.

“The multiverse is breaking. Me being here too long could break it faster. So tonight he’s coming to send me home.” the word home feels wrong in his mouth. He doesn’t have a home. This universe is not his home, his hotel room is not his home. Home is a place that does not exist for him. 

“Well… We shouldn’t waste it cooped up in your room then.” MJ gets up from the bed and holds her hand out to him. “Ned! Hurry up!” She yells towards the bathroom. 

“Where are we going?” Peter keeps his eyes on their hands.

“Everyone in this building loves you, Peter Parker. We should find something we can all do together.” They wait for Ned to come out of the bathroom and he barely glances at their hands. He agrees that they should hang out with the others and they both let MJ lead them out of the room. She probably doesn’t even know her way around the compound but she still manages to get them back to the common room where everyone is waiting for them, waiting for Peter. He feels like he doesn’t deserve it. He feels like he doesn’t want it to end. But it has to end. He can’t stay.

Chapter Text

The time ticks down. Peter does his best to pretend that it’s not. He spends the day gathered with everyone in the common room. They play games and watch movies, they joke around and tease each other. Peter takes as much physical contact as he can with them all. If they think it’s annoying nobody says anything. His hair is played with, kisses are pressed into his head, his hand is held. It’s good, really good. There’s a constant stream of snacks and food and soda. Peter absorbs it all. 

The clock hits zero. A portal opens. Everyone tenses up. Tony reaches out quickly and pulls Peter back to his side. Peter goes easily. He tucks himself against his mentor and sticks himself to his shirt. Strange steps through the portal and looks at them all. 

“It’s time,” He says solemnly. 

“Right this second?” Sam asks.

“No we’ve got about thirty minutes,” Strange says, closing the portal. “I figured it would take a while for him to be ready. Might take the whole thirty minutes just to unstick him.” Tony looks down and notices his shirt. He chuckles a bit and presses a kiss to Peter’s head. 

“Say the word,” he whispers, his grip on Peter’s shoulder tightening. Peter shakes his head. He has to go. Peter unsticks himself. He gives Tony a tight hug then moves through the room hugging everyone there. He hugs May at least three times, does his secret handshake with Ned, gets a kiss on the cheek from MJ. He quietly reminds Bucky of his promise to look out for Tony as he gets a one armed hug from the soldier. He ends up by Tony’s side once again. 

“I’m sorry… Tony. I’m sorry that I can’t stay,” He says softly. He can’t stop the tears that fall now. Tony hugs him tightly, carding a hand through his curls. 

“It’s not your fault Underoos.”

“You can’t go back in time,” Peter says to him, “You can’t. I know… I know that you feel responsible for me. But the world needs Tony Stark. Morgan needs her dad. So you have to stay here for them. Just like I have to go home because my universe needs me.” His universe, because there’s no one waiting for him there. There’s no individual person that needs him. 

“I know,” Tony kisses his forehead. “God I wish I didn’t but I do know.” 

“Okay… Do you have my backpack still?” Peter’s not sure how long it's been but it’s got to be nearing the thirty minute mark now. 

“I got you a new one actually.” Tony lets him go reluctantly and steps out of the room for a moment. He comes back with the duffle bag Peter’s clothes had been in. It’s packed fuller now. The backpack is definitely new though. It’s a red backpack with black accents. It looks a lot more sturdy than the worn out Jansport he’d been carrying. Peter takes it when Tony holds it out. It’s heavier than his old one too. Peter’s pretty sure Tony has packed it full. 

“This backpack looks too expensive,” he says. “You know I’m always losing backpacks.”

“You won’t lose this one,” Tony says. He takes out a Starkwatch and puts it on Peter’s wrist just beside his web shooter. “The backpack won’t open for anyone but you so if you’ve got to leave it somewhere your belongings will be safe. If you forget where you left it.” He opens an app on the Starkwatch and presses a button. Wings open on the sides of the backpack and repulsors on the bottom make it float up. 

“It’ll find me?” Peter asks. Tony nods and taps the button again. The bag returns to normal. 

“I’ve put a first aid kit in there, it’s got medication you can take for pain. Read the labels properly. There’s vitamins in there too so you can keep up with what your body needs even if you don’t have time to eat. I borrowed some of Pym’s shrinking stuff. I’ve put a lot in here, to be honest.” Tony admits. Peter smiles at him and puts the backpack on his back.

“Thank you, Tony. You-”

“I did have to do this Peter.” Tony cuts him off. “There’s money in there too, I checked it against what you had stashed in the bag before. It shouldn’t be flagged as fake or anything. There are thermal clothes in your duffle bag with the same heating system as your suit. I know you can’t thermoregulate so you need to be careful in the winter.”

“Tony,” Peter takes the duffle bag as well and hangs the strap over his shoulder. 

“Don’t Tony me now. I’m allowed to worry.” Tony takes a glasses case out of his pocket and holds it out. “I want you wearing these whenever you’re not in your suit. You wore glasses for fourteen years you can do it again.”  

“I will,” Peter promises as he takes them. 

“You should suit up,” Strange says. “Bringing you here was easy but I’m not sure where you’re going to end up when I send you back.” Peter nods and taps his wrists together. He keeps his mask off for now. 

“Peter,” May places a hand on his shoulder as he turns to face her. “Take care of yourself okay?” 

“I will May. I promise.” He gives her a tight hug and lets her press a kiss to his cheek. “I love you.” 

“I love you too Peter.” she cups his cheeks one more time before moving back. Happy places a hand on her back and she leans into it. Peter knows that she’s trying to keep it together. He knows that she’ll cry once he’s gone. Tony pulls him into a hug again, taking a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry Peter. I wish I could do more for you.” 

“I know Tony. It’s okay.” Peter hugs him back and hides his face for a moment. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. All of it. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t be who I am now if it wasn’t for you.” 

“You ready Peter?” Doctor Strange asks. He’s not. He’s not ready at all, but he pulls away from Tony all the same. He takes one last look at his friends and family gathered around him and then brings up his mask to hide his face and the tears that are steadily falling from his eyes. There's so much more he wants to say, wants to do. He loves them all and the idea of losing them all again is breaking something inside him. 

“I’m ready,” He says softly, biting his lip to keep back the sob trying to force its way out. Strange gives him one nod then there are glowing symbols appearing around his hands and on the ground around Peter’s feet. They rise up and begin to spin around him, faster and faster until all he can see is a bright golden light. Peter squeezes his eyes shut as the ground disappears from under his feet.

Chapter Text

Peter is falling. He can see the bright lights even through his closed eyes and he hears Strange’s voice speaking in another language. Then it’s all gone and Peter is outside and still falling. He manages to twist himself towards the ground but he’s too disoriented to catch himself and he ends up landing hard on the roof of a building. He groans and is pushing himself up onto his hands and knee. Peter’s spider sense shoots through him, he’s not alone. He jumps up to his feet quickly and spins around raising his hands. 

He takes in his surroundings as he moves, and he’s pretty sure he’s landed somewhere in New York if the familiar sounds are anything to go by. Not Queens though, Brooklyn maybe. Peter focuses his attention on the shadows in front of him. There’s someone standing there, Peter doesn’t see a weapon but his spider sense is still warning him of danger. 

“Where did you come from?” The man asks. His voice is familiar. Too familiar, Peter’s spider sense stops as soon as he recognizes him. 

“Buc… You… That… Mr. Barnes.” Peter stutters. How did Strange manage to drop him right in front of Bucky? Did he plan for it or did he just pick a random spot? What has Bucky been doing in this universe? 

“How do you know who I am?” Bucky asks, stepping forward so he’s in the light. A blue light shoots out from the Spider logo on Peter’s chest and scans over Bucky.

“James ‘Bucky’ Barnes Identified,” Karen’s voice comes from the drone as it detaches from Peter’s suit and flies up to hover between them.

“Wait, Karen what are you doing?” Peter asks. Bucky is tense, his gaze focused warily on the drone as it projects a video into the air. Both of them stare at it as it shows Bucky sitting in Tony’s lab. 

“My name is James Buchanan Barnes I am recording this video diary of my own free will so that it can be watched by myself. My memory has been tampered with. A spell cast by Stephen Strange has caused me to forget the existence of the boy named Peter Parker.” 

 A second video appears beside the first. This one shows Bucky and Peter in the training room. Bucky’s hair is still long in the video, it must have been taken right after he came back from Wakanda. 

Bucky and Peter spar together in the video, Bucky is talking through what they’re doing. Critiquing Peter’s responses to his attacks, telling him how to hold himself. Bucky and Peter are both smiling throughout it. 

“I met Peter for the first time in Germany when Tony tried to stop us at the airport,” Bucky in the lab says, the video changes to show Peter stealing Steve’s shield then it switches to security cameras inside the airport as Peter fights against Bucky and Sam. “He was only fourteen at the time. We didn’t know. I like the think that I wouldn’t have fought him if I’d known his age but… I can’t say for sure.” 

Peter doesn’t know how long the video is. He and Bucky both stand there on the roof watching as the other Bucky talks about Peter, talks about their training together and the missions they worked on. The other video keeps up with Bucky’s stories, showing flashes of them together, taken from security cameras and suit recordings.

“I know that this is a lot to take in. I know that it’s hard to hear that… your memory has been tampered with again so I will be honest with you. While we’re both Bucky Barnes we are not the same person. The kid can explain it to you better but we’re basically alternate versions of each other. In my universe… we lost the kid. He died in the battle of Earth. He sacrificed himself and I… I was close to him. He was only fifteen. We knew that there was a kid on the battlefield and we didn’t do enough to protect him.” The video shows Peter’s last moments in the battle. The mixture of fear and determination on his face as he slips his hand into the gauntlet. 

“This kid is good. He’s better than all of us. He’s here in our universe right now. But he can’t stay. He’s Stark’s kid. So if anything we owe it to Stark to take care of him. Doctor Strange is going to send the kid to you. So hopefully this video makes sense.” 

One of the videos disappears and the one left grows a bit larger. Peter can feel his tears falling again behind his mask. This was Tony’s plan. Tony couldn’t let him be alone. He wanted someone to be there for Peter. Strange had said that he couldn’t properly aim where he sent Peter back to but he’d managed to send him directly to Bucky. 

“Because the kid needs someone to watch his back. I’m dead in his universe. I can’t take care of him. You know what he’s like when he thinks he can help people. The kid will get himself killed if he doesn’t have someone there with him.” Tony says. Tony and Bucky are in Tony’s lab at the compound on opposite sides of the work table.

“You want me… to protect your kid,” Bucky asks. 

“It’s got to be you, I think that you’re the only one who will believe that there was an entire person erased from your memories.”

“I’d give my life for him Tony. I have no doubt about that. The kid deserves no less but… you really want it to be me?” 

“I figure that… with all your experience dealing with Steve that you’re the one for the job.” 

“You’re trusting me with your kid Stark. I mean… I guess it’s not me but,” Bucky sits down, he looks confused but determined. “What about Rhodey?” 

“I picked you,” Tony says.

“Sam? I’m sure that the kid could convince Sam that he’s important.”

“Buck, I picked you. You trained the kid, you know how to work together. You managed to keep Steve from getting himself killed when he was scrawny. I know that we’ve had our difference… but you’ve proven yourself to me. I know you’ll take care of him.” 

“You’re sure you don’t want to ask Rhodey instead?” 

“James,” Tony shoots him a look. 

“Alright alright, I’m sorry. I just had to make sure.”

The projection disappears, the drone returns to its spot on Peter’s chest. The two men on the roof stand facing each other, silently watching. Peter tries not to sniffle too much but it’s really uncomfortable to cry in a mask. 

“Is that all real?” Bucky asks. “You’re the kid they were talking about? You’re Peter?” He lets his mask fall. Let’s Bucky see his tear stained face and his puffy eyes.

“I’m eighteen,” He says. “I’m not a kid.” 

“Why did Strange erase my memories of you?” 

“It’s not just you, it’s everyone. The world had to forget me in order to keep the multiverse from breaking.” Peter eyes Bucky’s stance nervously. He still looks ready to attack at any moment. Peter has no idea what Bucky has been doing in his universe since the spell. He could easily decide that Peter’s trying to trick him. Bucky seems to notice Peter’s unease and relaxes a bit. Peter knows it won’t make a difference. Bucky could go from sound asleep to ready to fight in seconds. 

“Your family?” Bucky asks. Peter grips tightly onto the strap of his duffle bag.

“I had an aunt… she’s gone now…” He’s tired of crying. 

“Stark said that you’re his kid. What about Pepper? Morgan?” 

“Tony found me… Just before Germany. He figured out that I was Spider-man. He was… he became like a father to me. He made me better, brought me to the compound so I could work with him in his lab and so I could be trained. When the accords were amended and everyone came back… it was nice. It was like having a big family. Brother’s and uncles and aunts.” Peter covers his mouth as a sob forces its way out. “It’s just me now. Peter Parker doesn’t exist anymore.” 

“But I’m looking at him aren’t I? You are Peter Parker.” 

“I don’t want to be,” Peter covers his face with his hands. He wants to go back. He wants to go back to the other universe where people know him, where people love him. 

“Why don’t we go inside,” Bucky offers heading over to a door. Peter has nowhere else to go, so he follows him inside and down a flight of stairs. Bucky doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t tell Peter it’ll be okay or tell him not to cry. They end up sitting side by side on the floor of his living room while Peter gets all of his tears out. He cries about having to leave the other universe, he cries about losing May, he cries about being alone. Bucky rests a hand on his back as his sobs start to die down. It’s familiar, Peter’s glad that he’s not alone in his hotel room right now. 

Peter doesn’t know how much time passes before his tears run out. He drops his head onto his knees and takes a few deep breaths, then taps his wrists to retract his suit. He lifts up his shirt and uses it to wipe his eyes.

“Sorry, Mr. Barnes,” He sniffles. “Probably… not the kind of night you were expecting.” 

“No probably not,” Bucky admits. “But nothing has gone to plan in my life so It’s not like I was expecting it to.” 

“I um… Where are we exactly?” Peter asks, he’s pretty sure he couldn’t cry anymore if he wanted to so he pulls the glasses out of his backpack and puts them on. He’s surprised to hear Karen’s voice greet him instead of Edith. 

“My Apartment in Brooklyn,” Bucky says as he gets off the floor and makes his way to the kitchen. “Water?” 

“Yes please.” Peter pulls his duffel bag and backpack closer. “Is it okay if I look through my bags in here? Tony packed them for me before they sent me back to this universe and I’m not sure what he put in here.” Bucky comes back and sits on the couch, handing a bottle of water down to Peter. Peter takes it and removes the cap, drinking most of the bottle in one go. 

“Go for it,” Bucky says. Peter finishes the water and sets the empty bottle aside. He opens the backpack and starts to pull everything out. The first aid kit is on top. There are basic first aid supplies in there but also some surgical needles and medication. The painkillers and vitamins that Tony had told him he’d find but also some anesthesia with instructions on dosage in the case that he needs to be put under for surgery. 

He sets that all aside and takes out a tablet. When he turns it on he finds that all of his medical records have been loaded onto it as well as the blueprints for his suit, Rhodey’s leg braces, and Bucky’s arm. Bucky leans forward when he sees his arm on the screen. 

“That mine?” He asks.

“Yeah, Mr. Stark thought that it’d be useful for me to be able to fix it for you. I’ll need proper access to a lab but… well if you could take me to the Compound I could do it there.” 

“You can fix this?” Bucky asks, surprised. Peter remembers then that this Bucky does not remember him. He doesn’t know that Peter’s worked on his arm before. Doesn’t remember how much Peter had begged to let him take a look at it before Bucky had given in.

“I was Mr Stark’s intern. He taught me.” Peter keeps flipping through the tablet for a minute longer then puts it away. He opens a pocket on the inside of the backpack and makes a face at what he finds there. “Oh no.” 

“What?” Bucky asks. Peter takes two shrunk down duffel bags out of the pocket and sets them on the ground. There’s a remote in there with a blue button. He presses it and the bags expand back to their original size. Peter opens one just a bit and lets out a sigh. It’s cash. The two bags are both full of cash.

“This is too much!” Peter insists as he turns to look at Bucky. “What am I supposed to do with all this?” 

“Tony Stark gave you two bags of cash and you’re complaining about it?” Bucky asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes! I don’t need this kind of money! Oh my god, he said he put money in here but I thought it would be like… a few hundred! There’s gotta be thousands in here Buck! What the heck!” Peter has never even had this much money in his bank account let alone seen it in person.  

“Look forget about the money for now. I’ll help you with it later. Just look and see what else you’ve got.” Bucky pats his shoulder. Peter holds his head in his hands for a few minutes and tries to get his breathing under control before he goes back to digging through the bags. He finds a few boxes of gross nutrition bars that he’s had before. Judging by the noise Bucky makes he knows them too. “Enhanced metabolism?” he asks.

“Oh yeah, worse than you and Captain Roger’s. Course I’m stronger than you two so it makes sense.” 

“What?”

“Yep, I can lift like ten tons. I always beat you and Captain Roger’s at arm wrestling too.” Peter finds a laptop in the bag but sets it aside for the time being. It’ll be nice to have something better than a library computer to work with when he needs to do things a little less than legal online. 

“Shit,” Bucky mutters.

“Language,” Peter says automatically. 

“God, you are just like Steve. Just when I thought I’d gotten the punks out of my life.” Bucky slumps back on the couch and drinks his water. 

“Sorry,” Peter mutters. “I can go if you want me to…” 

“No kid, you’re staying. If Stark asked me to take care of you then that’s what I’m going to do.” 

“Really?” Peter turns to look back at him. Bucky’s probably busy himself. Peter doesn’t know what he’s been up to but he probably hasn’t been sitting around his apartment not doing anything this whole time. Bucky looks at him closely, searching his face. 

“I don’t remember you,” Bucky says. Peter feels his heart drop. “But there was a time that I didn’t remember Steve either. I made the mistake of running from him then. I’m not going to run from you now. You need my help. I’m going to help you.” 

“Can I hug you Bucky?” Peter asks hesitantly. “I know… I mean I know that you don’t really like to be touched by people you don’t know but… I just… I could really use a hug right now.” Bucky considers it for a moment then sets his water down on the end table and leans forward. Peter throws his arms around Bucky and hugs him tightly. Bucky puts an arm around his shoulders hesitantly. Peter knows it's not the same. He knows that Bucky’s probably just doing it to keep him from crying again. But it still feels good. He can just close his eyes and for a minute he can pretend that everything is like it used to be.

Chapter Text

Peter wakes up the next morning in an unfamiliar bed. The sun is up pretty high and when Peter rolls onto his side he sees on the clock that it’s after ten. He hasn’t slept this late in a long time. He grabs his glasses off the nightstand as he gets out of the bed and stretches. Bucky had insisted last night that Peter take the bedroom. He’d insisted that he preferred the couch. 

“Good Morning, Peter,” Karen says as the glasses turn on. 

“Morning Karen. It’s good to hear your voice,” He tells her as he makes his way to the bathroom. His toiletries bag is still on the counter there where he’d left it last night. 

“It’s good to hear from you too, would you like to know the weather?” She asks.

“Yes please,” Peter grabs his toothbrush out and brushes his teeth while he listens to her talk about how the day is going to be. It feels weird. Being back in his own universe. Not waking up surrounded by people. He was only gone for three, maybe four days but it feels like it’s been longer. It was so easy to just slip back into old habits. 

“Hey, Karen.”

“Yes, Peter?” 

“That video you played for Bucky last night. Did Mr. Stark set that up? Will it happen again?” 

“Your dad uploaded a number of video files, and instructions on when to display them.” Peter chokes on his toothpaste and hastily spits into the sink.

“My what? What did you call him?” Peter asks, his eyes wide. 

“During my last update, I was instructed to refer to Tony Stark as your dad. Would you like to change it?” Karen asks. Peter stares at himself in the mirror. Is it okay? Would it even make a difference to anything? It’s not like anyone else will hear her say it. 

“No, it’s fine. Keep it the same.” Peter finishes up in the bathroom quickly then goes out to the living room. Bucky’s not there. Peter had figured that was the case since he couldn’t hear the other man at all but he is still a bit disappointed. His bags are sitting in the corner of the room where he’d left them the night before. He grabs some fresh clothes from his duffel bag and changes into them quickly before going to the kitchen. Bucky’s left a note on the fridge telling him to eat whatever he wants. 

“You don’t know where Bucky went do you Karen?” he asks as he finds a bagel and pops it into the toaster. 

“I do not currently, would you like me to track him?” 

“No no it’s fine,” Peter hops up onto the counter and kicks his feet a bit while he waits. “I’ve been gone four days I think. What’s the crime in Queens been looking like? I should go out and patrol today.” 

“It looks like there has been no substantial increase in criminal activity in Queens in the past four days,” Karen tells him. Peter frowns at that. He doesn’t know how to feel really, he’s grateful that nothing bad has happened when he wasn’t there to stop it but it also makes him wonder if maybe he’s not needed as much anymore. Sure he’s had some slow patrols the last few months but there have still been some things for him to do. “A search of the internet has shown me that this may be due to sightings of other heroes in the area during your absence.”

“What?” Peter asks. Since when are there other heroes in Queens?

“It appears that in the past three days, Iron Lad has been sighted patrolling Queens.” Peter slides off the counter and puts his bagel on a plate. He grabs some cream cheese from the fridge.

“So… Iron Lad took over my patrols?” Peter doesn’t know why they would do that. Iron Lad doesn’t make regular patrols. Peter knows that Harley is attending college in New York so he’s only doing his thing as Iron Lad when something big comes around.

The front door opens then and Bucky looks a bit startled for a moment to see Peter in his kitchen then he relaxes and comes inside kicking off the boots he’d been wearing. He’s got a newspaper in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. 

“Bucky how come Iron Lad has been patrolling Queens?” Peter asks. 

“He hasn’t been patrolling so much,” Bucky says with a shrug. “Spider-man went missing for four days. We’ve all been taking turns going out looking for him, well you, I suppose. I guess everyone’s just been stopping any crime they come across while searching.” 

“You… I…” Peter furrows his brow. “The Avengers noticed I was missing?” They were paying attention to Peter? Even though he was nobody. No, it was Spider-man. They were looking for Spider-man and that makes a lot more sense. Because as far as anyone else is concerned Spider-man is a relatively new vigilante and he could be dangerous. Someone should keep an eye on him. Especially with the Daily Bugle calling him a menace and stuff. 

“Did you think they wouldn’t?” Bucky asks. He opens the fridge and empties out the grocery bag. 

“I mean, I figured stalking Spider-man would be a bit below their paygrade,” Peter shrugs and eats the last bite of his bagel. 

“You might be right,” Bucky closes the fridge and leans against the counter opposite Peter. “We don’t track any of the other vigilantes in New York. I always kinda wondered why Spider-man seemed so important. I gotta say I was not expecting you to practically be dropped onto my head last night.” 

“I wasn’t dropped on your head!” Peter argues. 

“You would have been if I hadn’t noticed a weird portal thing appearing over my head and moved aside,” Bucky is watching him closely and Peter has to admit it’s a bit intimidating. 

“I think Doctor Strange probably did that on purpose,” He admits. “Mr. Stark wanted to be able to help me when I returned to my universe.”

“So he had you dropped on my head and that video prepped so I’d know about my lost memories.”

“Yep, pretty much,” Peter taps his glasses. “He updated these too. Karen says that he uploaded a bunch of videos. You’re probably not the only person he got to record something.” 

“Karen?” Bucky unfolds his newspaper and looks through it. 

“My AI, you know like Mr. Stark’s but uh… This one he made special for me.” 

“If she’s got more videos then maybe we should go up to the compound. The others should know about this too.” Bucky says it pretty casually, and Peter’s sure that it’s probably the most logical next step, but it makes his heart sink. Peter pictures the compound he just left. The love and support he’d felt from everyone. The good memories they’d left him with. He’s not ready to see the compound again.

“I can’t go out there,” Peter says quietly. “Not yet.” 

“Why not?” Bucky looks up from the newspaper with a frown. Peter slides off the counter.

“I’m really grateful Bu- Mr. Barnes, sir. It was super nice of you to give me a place to stay last night but I should really get back to Queens. You don’t need to worry about me okay?” Peter moves to head for the living room but a hand catches his arm to stop him. 

“You don’t have to go,” Bucky tells him.
“It’s okay Mr. Barnes,” Peter puts his hand over Bucky’s and gives him a smile he hopes is believable, he wouldn’t have been able to pull that off if Bucky still knew him, if Bucky remembered him then he’d remember what Peter’s real smile looked like. Bucky lets go of his arm and Peter keeps moving to where his bags are still packed. 

“Look why don’t you at least just stay here for a few more days?” Bucky asks as he follows Peter. “I don’t mind the company and you can’t exactly walk around New York with giant bags of money. So let’s get that shit sorted out first and figure out where to go from there.” 

Peter eyes the duffle bags. He’d tried the night before to shrink them down again but it hadn’t worked. Peter doesn’t know if Tony had done that on purpose or not. Peter had kind of just wanted to shrink them down and leave them in his backpack in case of emergency. It’s not like he can open a bank account in his own name. Could he even deposit that much money into a bank? Just thinking about it is stressful. 

“How do you handle that much money?” Peter asks, bending down beside the bags and staring at them. 

“Honestly I have no idea,” Bucky drops down onto the couch and crosses his arms. “If you make a bank account and deposit it all at once it’ll be suspicious.”

“I don’t exist,” Peter reminds him. “I can’t open a bank account anyway.”

“Well, that’s the first thing we need to do then. We need to make you exist again. You got any documentation?”

“I don’t know if they’ll work anymore. I mean, I was able to get into GED courses with them but they hardly even looked at what I provided,” Peter grabs his backpack and pulls out a manila envelope. “I’ve got my social security card, my birth certificate, my passport, and like… I didn’t have a state ID but I’ve got my old school ID and my SI badge.” He holds the envelope out to Bucky who sits forward to take it and pulls some of the papers out. 

“They’re legit documents. I don’t think there’s any reason for them not to be accepted.” Bucky examines the birth certificate closely. 

“But what if they try to like look me up or something?” In order to get rid of traces of Peter Parker being Spider-man on the internet, he’d had to erase pretty much all of Peter Parker. 

“It was hard you know,” Bucky puts everything back in the envelope and sets it on the coffee table. “When I first started getting my memories back I started to realize that I existed in a world that I didn’t know. There was nothing familiar around me. But there were still people out there that knew who I was. They never stopped searching for me even when I thought it was better if I was alone.” 

“Yeah I was there to see how that turned out,” Peter sits on the ground with his legs crossed and pulls his backpack onto his lap hugging it. 

“That’s right,” Peter can feel Bucky watching him. “Steve dragged me back into the real world. Even when I wasn’t sure who I was he never let go of me.” 

“Mr. Barnes,” Peter turns to face him and is surprised to see so much emotion on the older man's face, It had taken a long time for Bucky to trust him before until he did Peter had almost thought the former assassin was part robot. 

“You can call me Bucky,” He says standing up from the couch. “Come on, we’re going for a walk.” 

“A walk where?” Peter stands as well. 

“Don’t know yet,” Bucky admits as he heads for the door. “But I think better when I’m moving and I imagine you probably do as well.” 

“Yeah sometimes,” Peter tosses his important documents back into his backpack and puts it on as he follows Bucky out of the apartment. 

They walk through the city without speaking. Peter’s not sure they even have a destination in mind. He’s alright with it though, Bucky was right about him thinking better while he’s moving. The fresh air and the sounds of the city help too, he feels less trapped than he had in the small apartment. 

“I wouldn’t have come to you on my own,” Peter admits as they wait for a crossing light to change. “I think that Mr. Stark must have known that. Probably why they dropped me on you.” 

“Why not?”

“I’ve got this thing…I call it Parker luck just cause it makes it a little easier to have a name for it. Bad stuff just… kinda happens to me and the people around me. I lost my parents, and then I went on a field trip and managed to get bit by a radioactive spider, then I lost my uncle right after.” Peter follows Bucky across the street and then turns right. “People get close to me and bad stuff happens. Mr. Stark is gone, my Aunt is gone… I was the one that messed up Doctor Strange’s spell. I’m the one that didn’t let him send everyone back when he said we needed to. My aunt died because of that. When everyone forgot me, I thought. I thought that I should stay alone.” 

Bucky stops walking and Peter takes a few more steps before he realizes it. He turns back to look at Bucky and realizes that he knows where they are. They’ve walked all the way to Queens and they’re standing outside Delmar’s. Peter must have walked here out of habit. 

“You hungry?” Bucky asks. 

“I had a bagel,” Peter reminds him. 

“Yeah but you’re like me, you need more food right?” 

“I guess,” Peter looks from Bucky to Delmar’s. He remembers coming here with the other man a few times. Bucky used to find him sometimes while he was out on his patrols. They’d sit on rooftops and eat sandwiches while they caught up. “Have you eaten here before?” Bucky is staring hard at the building like he’s trying to figure something out. 

“I think I have, but it’s kind of like when I was still getting my memories back. A bit blurry,” Bucky turns to look at Peter. “Was I with you?”

“Delmar’s makes the best sandwiches in Queens. I’ve brought you here. I used to come here all the time.” Peter sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. 

“I don’t think my memories of you are gone,” Bucky says.

“They’re not,” Peter watches the cars passing on the street. “Doctor Strange said that the memories are all there but they’re sealed by the magic. He said that trying to force them back could cause damage to your memories so try not to think about it too hard okay?” 

“Let’s eat,” Bucky says walking inside. Peter hesitates, he hasn’t really been back here since the spell. He’s tried to avoid everything that reminded him of his old life. “Hurry up kid!” 

Peter takes a deep breath and follows Bucky inside. 

Chapter Text

“Okay, so you don’t want to go to the compound,” Bucky says. They’re sitting side by side on the roof of a building looking out at the city. Peter didn’t want to put his suit on yet so they’d both climbed up the fire escape. Peter takes a bite of his sandwich and leans on the short wall surrounding the edge. 

“It’s just… okay I know that it’s dumb but I was just in that other universe you know? And I was… Being at the compound where everyone knew me and loved me and it was all just like I remembered it being before things went wrong. I should have better control of my emotions. I’m an adult now and…” Peter takes a sip of his soda so he has a second to calm down. “If I go to the compound here, no one will remember me. They’ll be suspicious of me even. I won’t be allowed to roam freely, and my room will be gone and… I just feel like it’ll taint the memories that I have. I’m sorry. I should just… It is the most practical solution. You know what let’s just… let’s just go then.” 

“We don’t have to go,” Bucky opens his own drink. “You’re allowed to feel things.”

“I just… I don’t want to burden you. This is my mess after all. I’m the one that messed up Doctor Strange’s spell. I’m the one that caused the multiverse to nearly break. You shouldn’t have to help clean up after my mistakes.” Peter eats the last bite of his sandwich and crumples the wrapper up into a ball. It tasted just as good as he remembers. 

“Jesus kid stop beating yourself up. This isn’t just your mess. As far as I can tell Strange is just as at fault as you are. Hell, I say we go over there and you let me beat his ass a little.” Bucky Metalic hand flexes underneath the leather glove. 

“He just did what I asked him to do Bucky, you can’t beat him up for that. Besides he’s a wizard. He’d probably just drop you through a portal or something.” Peter lays out on his back with his arms spread out to the sides. “I don’t want to crowd your apartment. I should find a place to stay at least.” 

“I really don’t…” Bucky sighs and slides his hand through his hair. “I prefer the couch, or the floor sometimes. You’re welcome to stay at my apartment as long as you’d like. The company will probably be good for both of us. My lease is up soon we could get a bigger place then.” 

“You… want me to be your roommate?” 

“Yeah, why not. Then you don’t have to worry about where you’re gonna stay and I don’t have to track you down whenever I get worried about you.” Bucky nudges Peter’s leg with his foot. “So what do you say?” 

If you’re sure it’s okay…” it seems easy, too easy. Can Peter really just move in with Bucky like this? Does the soldier really want an annoying kid hanging around him all the time? It’s not like he even really knows Peter. He doesn’t know that they’re friends or that they’ve fought side by side. All he’s got is a video. Just one video and he’s just ready to trust Peter. 

“I’m sure,” and he does sound sure. He doesn’t sound hesitant at all. Peter sits back up and straightens his glasses. 

“Do you want to see the video again?” Peter asks. “Karen could play it for you.”   

“You don’t have to try and convince me anymore,” Bucky takes a drink of his water. “Do you need to watch it to convince yourself?” 

“Me?” Peter moves to sit beside him and leans back against the wall.

“You said that there are more videos right?” 

“Karen said that Mr. Stark uploaded quite a few video files. So they’re probably similar to the one she showed you,” Peter pulls his knees up and wraps his arms around them. 

“I think you should watch them,” Bucky reaches over and ruffles Peter’s hair. “I’ll watch them with you if you want. Can you project them without the suit?” 

“I’m sure I can. Mr Stark made me promise I’d keep the glasses on when I’m not wearing the suit. Now that I know about the videos I have a feeling they’re part of why he wanted me wearing these,” Peter reaches up and adjusts the glasses to sit more comfortably. They fit him perfectly of course. Tony must have made sure of that. He can adjust the tinting on them too, light enough to look like normal glasses or darker to become sunglasses. Peter knows that will come in handy when he has sensory issues. 

“Do you want to watch a few then?” 

“Yeah if… if you don’t have anything else to do today?”

“Nope, no plans on my part,” Bucky says. 

“Okay,” Peter wonders if they’ve got enough napkins. He’s got a feeling he’s going to start crying again. “Karen.”

“Yes, Peter?” Karen asks. 

“Can you show us the videos that Mr. Stark uploaded?” 

“Of course Peter.” A drone detaches itself from Peter’s backpack and hovers in the air in front of him. Peter hadn’t even noticed the drone, he should have known Tony would have done more with it than just make it return to him when he lost it. 

Peter thinks it’s a bit ironic that once again he and Bucky are seated on the roof of an apartment building watching the video as the drone plays videos for them. They watch them all even though there are so many. So many people talking about him, remembering him. Their eyes are shining with tears. Along side their words are videos of every moment Peter spent with them. Little flashes from security cameras, and suit cameras. Peter sees himself over and over again, young and happy and thriving, surrounded by love. Bucky’s arm wraps around his shoulder at some point and he leans into the other man's side. 

Every single person that Peter’s ever known has recorded a video for him. Avengers, and teachers, classmates, all of his high school friends. The videos from Ned hit him harder than he expected. There are videos of them as children, playing together as May and Ben make appearances in the background. Peter finds himself pulling the glasses off and pausing the video as he buries his face in Bucky’s jacket. 

“Take your time,” Bucky tells him, resting a hand on the back of Peter’s head. Peter is grateful that Bucky seems more comfortable with him now. He’s glad that it didn’t take as long for the super soldier to warm up to him as it did in the past. He wonders if it’s because Bucky is in a healthier place mentally, or if some of his fondness for Peter still exists somewhere inside him. If it's somehow escaping from the seals on his memory. 

“M sorry,” Peter mutters just in case. He doesn’t want Bucky to get annoyed with him. 

“Did I ever tell you about my sister?” Bucky asks. Peter shakes his head, the last time he saw Bucky his life before the war had still been too blurred. “She was younger than me, I was ten when she was born. We lost my dad less than a year later so it was a bit rough. Mom worked all hours and I had to quit school to get a job myself. Steve’s grandmother took care of my sister during the day but I was the one that spent the most time with her. I learned how to braid her hair and taught her how to tie her shoes and ride a bike. It was always my job to comfort her when she got hurt or had a bad dream. When I went to war I left her behind. I knew the Roger’s would take care of her. I thought that Steve would be there to fill the role of big brother. Course that punk couldn’t help but follow after me.” 

“What happened to your sister?” Peter asked quietly. He knows that Bucky was thought to have died during the war, and it wasn’t too long after that when Steve went into the ice. 

“Mrs. Roger’s took her in after our mom passed. She got a good education, got married. She never had kids though,” Bucky runs his fingers through Peter’s hair, lost a bit in his thoughts.

“You would have been a good uncle,” Peter tells him. “I bet you were a great brother too.”

“I did what I could, I probably could have done better at times but I was just a kid myself. I was nineteen when I enlisted.” Bucky sighs, “Once my father died I assumed that just automatically meant that I was an adult. I thought that same thing when I went to fight. But now I’m a hundred and six and I’m pretty sure I’ve never had any clue what I’m doing a day in my life.” 

“Really?” Peter considers sitting up but he’s pretty sure his tears have his face stuck to the leather of Bucky’s jacket and he’s not ready for how embarrassing it’s going to be to unstick himself. 

“Oh definitely, but what I’m trying to get at is… that it’s okay to rely on others. I should have done it more.” 

“Okay, okay I get it,” Peter sighs. 

“Good, now peel yourself off my jacket and let’s go find something sweet,” Bucky says cheerfully as he sits Peter up. He takes a look at Peter’s face and has to stifle a laugh. “The whole side of your face is red now.” 

“Shut up,” Peter can’t help but smile a bit himself as he rubs at his face with his sleeves.

“No, don’t do that you’re going to get snot on your shirt,” Bucky pulls his hands away then grabs a napkin and pours some water onto it before holding it out to Peter. “Wash it properly.” 

“You’re so bossy,” Peter complains as he does what he’s told. 

“I’m a hundred and six. I’m allowed to be bossy you little punk,” Bucky gives him a light punch to his shoulder. Peter smiles at him and wipes his eyes once more before putting his glasses back on. 

“Thank you Bucky,” he says softly. 

“No problem,” Bucky gets to his feet and stretches his arms out above his head. Peter watches him, catching a glint of sun reflecting off Bucky’s wrist when his sleeve falls away from the bottom of his glove. 

“Hey, Bucky?” Peter gets to his feet as well.

“Yeah, kid?” 

“If I’m taking the bedroom then I’m going to pay more in rent.”

“Let’s figure out your finances first,” Bucky tells him as he heads for the fire escape. 

“Mr. Stark is ridiculous,” Peter complains as he follows him down to the ground. “He knows that I would have turned it down if he’d told me how much it was.”

“You are the only person I know that would complain about getting money from a billionaire.” 

“I can’t be the ONLY person,” Peter jumps down the last ladder instead of climbing it. “Hey what should we do about the Avengers looking for Spider-man? I mean I have to go back out on patrol obviously and they might come to check in with me if they hear I’m out.” 

“I’ll call the green guy. He’s up at the compound. If I say I talked to you they should leave you be,” Bucky drops down beside him and heads back towards the street. 

“Is Doctor Banner still green?” Peter follows him. 

“Probably,” Bucky throws an arm around Peter’s neck and pulls him into a headlock as they walk. Peter stumbles a bit but doesn’t pull away from the hold. He can’t help but grin as they make their way back to the apartment. Their apartment.

Chapter Text

Living with Bucky is a little awkward at first. Peter still feels bad about taking the bedroom but Bucky keeps insisting it’s fine, Peter tries to suggest they get bunk beds but Bucky just mutters something about living with a child so he decides not to pursue it. Peter did insist on using some of the money Tony gave him to buy a comfier couch. He’d dragged Bucky around a furniture store making him lay down on each of the couches to make sure they got a good one. They also bought a wardrobe for Peter to put his belongings in. Bucky had offered to use the wardrobe and let Peter have the bedroom closet but Peter insisted that Bucky keep the closet since Peter didn’t have that much stuff anyway. 

After a few days, they’d managed to settle into a routine that worked pretty well for them. Bucky gets up early every morning and goes out to do whatever it is he does, he usually returns sometime in the afternoon unless he’s got plans or Avengers business. Peter sleeps in pretty late most days, he goes out in the evenings as Spider-man and doesn’t usually get home until late at night. Bucky’s usually awake when Peter gets back, just watching TV or reading. Peter wonders if he just doesn’t sleep a lot of it he’s up waiting for him to come home. They’ll usually have a late night snack together before Peter collapses into bed. 

Last night was a particularly rough night. Peter had been in the middle of fighting some thugs and one of their friends had decided to drive an SUV into him. He’d stumbled home around two in the morning and had sat on the floor while Bucky patched him up. He was so tired by the time he dropped into bed that he’s really not surprised he doesn’t even wake up when Bucky comes in to get a change of clothes in the morning. He’s laying curled up in the middle of the bed with the blanket pulled up to block out the strip of sunlight sneaking in through the gap in the curtain when he vaguely registers the sound of the front door opening. He peeks at the nightstand to see that it’s nearly 2 in the afternoon. Later then he usually wakes up, but he’s still sore so he just burrows further into the blankets and tries to go back to sleep. 

“Buck! You in here?!” A voice calls out as the bedroom door swings open. Peter lets out a sigh. It’s clearly not Bucky coming home but it’s still a voice he knows so he’s not worried. Instead of jumping out of bed to defend himself Peter just lifts his head up a bit to glare at the man in the doorway. Sam Wilson, Bucky had warned Peter that the new Captain America stopped by from time to time. Peter had just hoped that Bucky would have been there to explain things when it happened. 

“Who the hell are you?” Sam asks, eyes darting around the apartment like he’s trying to make sure it’s the right one. Peter sits up and pushes his hair out of his eyes as he yawns. His whole left side hurts and he’s pretty sure he’ll still have some remnants of a bruise leftover. 

“‘Peter,” He mumbles. “Bucky’s not home yet?” 

“Jesus kid what happened to you? What are you doing here?” Sam asks as he takes in Peter’s injuries. “How old are you?” 

“Long night, I live here, none of your business,” Peter sends a quick text to Bucky with his Starkwatch and then gets up out of the bed and grabs one of his hoodies from off the floor. He’s feeling a bit stiff as he pulls it on and briefly considers taking one of the pain killers that had been packed into his first aid kit but knows that he should really save them for more major issues. 

“You live with… You actually live with Barnes?” Sam seems so confused and well Peter doesn’t really blame him. Bucky isn’t close to a lot of people and as far as Sam knows he’s never even heard of Peter before. He picks up his glasses from the nightstand and considers them. He’s pretty sure that as soon as he puts them on Karen will start playing the video the other Sam had recorded. He wonders if he should get it over with now or wait until later. 

“I told you I wasn’t going to be home until after two,” Bucky calls as he enters the apartment. Sam turns around to look at him.

“Since when do you have a roommate?” Sam asks. Peter picks up the glasses and slips past Sam to get out of the room. Sam moves out of his way, watching him curiously. 

“I don’t know a week or two?” Bucky kicks off his shoes by the door and goes to the kitchen. “You just waking up kid?” Peter moves Bucky’s pillow to the side of the couch and drops down onto it. 

“Yeah, heal faster when I sleep,” He catches the water bottle and nutrition bar that Bucky tosses his way and makes a face at the bar. “Gross.” 

“Eat it,” Bucky orders before making his way into the living room. Peter sticks his tongue out at him but unwraps the bar to eat it anyway. 

“Is a little flavor too much to ask for?” Peter asks as he opens his water bottle as well. 

“What the hell am I missing?” Sam asks looking between the two of them. 

“Sam this is Peter, Peter you know Sam.” Bucky drops into the armchair, he looks like he’s enjoying this a bit too much.

“Hello Sam,” Peter says through a mouthful of food. Sam makes a face at that. 

“Peter’s my roommate, Sam’s a nuisance. There introductions out of the way.” Bucky crosses his legs and looks at Sam with a smug smile. Sam is definitely about done with both of them. 

“Okay but… Why do you have a roommate?” It’s probably a fair question. Peter wouldn’t believe Bucky living with some random person either. 

“You got something for him kid?” Bucky asks. 

“Yeah probably, I just figured it would be easier to show him if you were here.” Peter takes out his glasses and puts them on. 

“Are those Stark’s glasses?” Sam looks even more bewildered when a blue light emits from the glasses and scans him over like the suit had done to Bucky on the rooftop. 

“Sam Wilson, Identified.” Karen’s voice says through a speaker. A drone detaches itself from Peter’s backpack by the front door and flies over. Sam watches it warily as it projects a video into the air for them all to see. 

Sam’s video is different than Bucky’s had been. It was clearly recorded at the compound and probably just using his cell phone camera. Clint and Rhodey can occasionally be seen in the background putting together the blanket fort. He talks about the first time he met Peter and all of the things they’ve done together since while videos of those moments play out beside it. The airport in Germany, training in the compound, game nights, even a shot of May scolding Sam while he helps Peter back out of the wingsuit. It ends with a video of Doctor Strange sitting in Tony’s lab holding a cup of tea in his hands. 

“My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, I am the Sorcerer Supreme. Around eight months ago Peter Parker came to me for help after his identity as the vigilante Spider-man was leaked to the entire world. While performing a spell to make the world forget him…” Strange’s eyes dart to something just out of view of the camera and narrow a bit. “I made a mistake. This caused what was essentially a crack in the very fabric of the multiverse. The only way to correct it was to completely erase Peter Parker from the memories of everyone. The footage you have just viewed is the truth. It features your own thoughts on the boy as well as any footage that could be gathered of your interactions with him. We’ve prepared this in the hopes that it will help to… right the wrong that was committed when I made people forget him.” 

  The video disappears after that and the drone comes to hover over Peter’s shoulder. He gives it a gentle tap letting it know it can rest so it lands on him. Sam says nothing at first. He looks at Peter closely. Peter wonders if he should get used to being scrutinized like this, it’s probably going to happen every time he runs into one of the Avengers. 

“Holy shit,” Sam says. 

“Yeah,” Bucky agrees. 

“You’re Spider-man?” 

“Yeah,” Peter tugs at the sleeves of his hoodie. 

“That’s where that big ugly bruise came from?” Sam sits down on the other end of the couch from Peter. 

“I wasn’t paying attention so I got hit by an SUV during a fight. I’ll be healed soon.” 

“So you’re…” It’s clear that he’s struggling to come to terms with it. Peter gets that. He’d probably have trouble believing it too if someone came and told him that a Wizard had erased his memories of an entire person. “You believe him Bucky?” 

“I do.” Bucky flexes his hand. “He’s Stark’s kid. Certified genius. I don’t remember him but, he’s familiar. I’m comfortable around him.” 

“Stark’s kid?” Sam furrows his brow. 

“Not biological,” Peter sighs, he’d gotten used to that question over the years. “He took me under his wing and… he was like a father to me.” 

“So why aren’t you guys trying to correct this? We should go talk to Strange or something at least. I mean… he fucked with everyone's minds so it’s only right that he fix it.”

“I don’t know if he’ll be able to…” Peter admits. “It seems… the multiverse is still unstable and part of that was caused by me. So I don’t know if he’ll be able to do it safely.” 

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s order lunch,” Peter says. “I’m literally starving.”

“Sure kid.” Bucky stands up. “Let’s go out. You should get some air that you don’t have to breathe through spandex.” 

“I’ve gone out…” Peter lies. Bucky gives him a stern look and Peter glares back at him. Sam is still looking at Peter like he’s grown a second head or something. 

“So we’re getting food right?” Sam says standing up. “Let’s go.” 

“Go get dressed Pete,” Buck tells him. Peter lets out a groan as he pulls himself up off the couch and makes his way back to the bedroom to get himself dressed for the day. 

“You really trust him?” he hears Sam ask once the door is closed. Peter hasn’t gone over the specifics of his powers with Bucky, he probably should have at least told him about the enhanced hearing. 

“You saw the video footage.”

“Yeah but if the kid is a genius he could have faked it.” 

“I’m telling you, Sam, spend some time with him. I’m sure you’ll feel it too. I would never have let that kid into my apartment if I thought he could be a threat.” 

“I think we should go to Strange first. Get a confirmation that the story could even be legit.” 

Peter pulls on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt then throws his stolen MIT hoodie over it. He stares at himself in the mirror. He’s almost back to a healthy weight now. Bucky’s metabolism isn’t as fast as his but he still understands the need for extra food. There’s always enough for both of them in the apartment and they eat out regularly. He looks like a person again. He has Karen run a quick check of the police scanners to make sure there’s nothing urgent he might be needed for then goes back to the living room. 

“Is it my turn or yours?” He asks as he grabs his wallet and key off the kitchen table. 

“Yours, but we can skip it since Wilson’s with us this time.” 

“Turn for what?” Sam asks.

“Who’s turn is it to pay for the food,” Peter explains. He checks his wallet then pulls a duffle bag partway out from under the couch and takes out some more cash. “I don’t mind paying for all of us. I might as well.” He zips the bag back up and stands up straight once again. 

“Is that a giant bag of money?” Sam stares at it with wide eyes. 

“Mr. Stark gave it to me,” Peter shrugs a bit. “We weren’t sure what to do with it so we just keep it in the apartment. We were gonna try to get me a bank account but I just wasn’t sure if that would be smart. I mean I don’t technically exist anymore and then they’d probably be suspicious if I deposited so much money.” 

Sam shakes his head as he follows Bucky and Peter to the door. He leans against the wall and crosses his arms while he waits for them to put their shoes on. Peter nearly loses his balance forcing his sneaker on without untying it and he has to hold onto Bucky’s shoulder to keep from tipping over. 

“How are you so clumsy when you have super reflexes?” Bucky complains. 

“Sorry Buck,” Peter grins at him as he stands up straight and slips out the door first. He’s already thinking about what kind of food he wants and doesn’t really pay too much attention to Bucky and Sam as they follow him down the stairs.

“You really do trust him,” Sam says in surprise.

“I said I did,” Bucky answers.

“Yeah I know you said it but you saying it is a lot different than watching him grab your left arm with no warning and you not even react to it.” 

“I’m telling you, give the kid a chance. Spend some time with him. My memories are gone but my feelings about him aren’t. I expect it’ll be pretty close to the same for everyone.” 

“Hey what kinda food should we get? I was thinking that we should try that Chinese buffet again. Remember the one we went to last time? I mean they seemed pretty mad when they told us it was time to leave but I don’t think they’ll remember us and really how can they advertise as all you can eat and then get mad about how much we eat!” Peter turns to walk backward so he can look at the two men following behind him.

“I’m down for Chinese,” Sam says. Peter flashes a smile at them. 

“They’re definitely going to ban us for life this time,” Bucky tugs on his gloves to make sure his hand is fully hidden.

“I’m gonna take that as a challenge,” Peter spins back around just in time to hop over a trash bag that had been left on the sidewalk. 

Chapter Text

Peter is really super over the whole Parker Luck thing. He was having a really good week. There’d been no major crime problems. He’d gotten to pet at least six dogs. He’d helped this nice older lady who always gave him churros whenever he ran into her. He even had the apartment to himself for the time being. Bucky and Sam had flown off to deal with some avengers level issue in another country. Peter didn’t mind Bucky’s company at all. It was nice to have someone around that cared about him again but he also really liked his privacy and until they could get into a bigger apartment there wasn’t much of that. 

It had been such a chill week that Peter doesn’t really think much of it when Karen alerted him to an apartment fire. He swung over there as fast as he could and landed on the ground in front of the building. It is a really big fire. A good portion of the building is already engulfed in flames and the street is flooded with people, mostly in their pajamas. Karen detected three life forms still in the building. Peter knew that he had to be the one to get them out. The fire department isn’t going to get there quickly enough. He knows that his suit is probably not as fireproof as he’d like it to be but he doesn’t hesitate as he burst into the building. 

The first two people are easy enough to find. They’re huddled together in a bathroom on the second floor. Peter manages to make it to them with no problem. He breaks the window closest to them and throws out a web bomb to create a net before helping them both to jump out to it. The third person is tougher to get to. Peter makes it up to her on the fifth floor. She’s kneeling in the hallway, weakly calling for help. 

“Peter, you should leave the building soon. Your oxygen levels are getting dangerously low,” Karen warns him. Peter can see it on his HUD, he’s got some minor burns which won’t be a problem but he can definitely tell that it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. It’s like his asthma is coming back. 

“I know Karen, we’re getting out of here.” Peter kneels down beside the woman and is about to pick her up when his spider sense goes off. There’s a large crack and then the floor above them is collapsing. Peter throws himself over the woman to protect her as much as he can. He cries out in pain as something heavy and burning hot crashes into his back. Karen is talking to him, he can see his vitals flashing red in the corner of his HUD. He doesn’t have time for this. Letting out a shout he throws what appears to be some sort of building support off his back and lifts the woman up in his arms. There’s a window at the end of the hall that’s already been broken so Peter makes his way to it. 

He holds the woman securely as he jumps out the window and shoots out a web so they land as gently as possible on the ground. The crowds gathered around cheer for him. Peter’s head spins with the sound. It’s too much, the sound, the flashing lights of the fire trucks and police cars. Peter is gasping for air as he hands the women off to some firemen. They’re talking to him but it’s too much. Too much too much too much too much.  

Peter stumbles away from the crowd and the sounds and lights and smells. His suit is clinging to his skin and it's hot. It’s hot and it hurts. He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. Peter finds himself falling to the ground in an alleyway. His HUD is flashing red. He thinks that it means something. Something that someone told him about. He can’t think. 

“Help is on the way Peter,” Karen’s voice is soft. He likes her voice. Not right now though. Right now it’s too much. Too much, too much, too much .

****

It’s quiet at the compound, it usually is now that so few people reside there normally. Rhodey lives there whenever he’s not busy with the military, Bruce stays out there full time now though. He likes that it’s quieter and he doesn’t want to give up the labs that Tony had set up for him. They’re the only two there, about to sit down to dinner, when the alert comes. They both freeze for a moment before pulling their phones out to look at it. 

“Baby monitor Protocol?” Rhodey reads off with a frown. There’s a location attached to the alert along with someone’s vitals. But there’s no name. 

“Friday? What’s the baby monitor protocol?” Bruce asks. The vitals are alarming. Whoever they belong to is in danger. 

“The baby monitor Protocol is a protocol in place to protect Mini-Boss.” Friday answers quickly. “He is in immediate danger. I am preparing the War Machine armor for you now Platypus. Doctor Cho has been alerted as well.” 

“Rhodey,” Bruce says, his eyes glued to his phone.

“Who the hell is Mini-Boss?” Rhodey stands up. 

“Tony set this up,” Bruce says showing his phone to Rhodey. There at the bottom of the alert is a message. ‘ Protect him at all costs. He’s the future, -Tony’ 

The two men share a look and then Rhodey is running as quickly as his leg braces will let him to where the War Machine armor waits. He steps in and takes off the second it’s formed around him. He follows the route that Friday gives him and is a bit confused when it leads him to Queens. He’s even more confused when he lands in an alleyway and finds Spider-man curled up in a ball on the ground. The vigilante’s mask is gone and Rhodey gasps when he sees the face of a boy instead of a young adult like they had all assumed. 

“Holy shit,” He says as he kneels on the ground beside the boy. 

“What’s happening?” Bruce’s voice comes through the com. 

“It’s Spider-man,” Rhodey says. He rolls the boy onto his back and checks his pulse. “Friday what’s wrong with him?” 

“Mini-Boss is suffering from smoke inhalation, there is also damage to his back and multiple burns. There was a fire in the area, police reports indicate that Spider-man was on the scene.”

“Shit, you get that Bruce?” Rhodey examines the boy on the ground in front of him. There’s a weird twisting in his gut that he doesn’t understand. 

“I heard, Doctor Cho got the alert as well. She’s on her way here. If Spider-man is enhanced we’re going to need her to get him healed.” Bruce says.

“Friday how bad is his back injury?” Rhodey doesn’t want to risk injuring the boy more but they need to get him to the compounds medbay and flying is going to be the quickest option. 

“It is safe to move him,” She answers. Rhodey hopes that she’s right. He lifts Spider-man up into his arms carefully, the boy's mask closes over his face like it knows what’s about to happen. Rhodey makes sure he has a secure hold on him before taking off towards the compound.  The boy’s vitals stay up on Rhodey’s HUD as he flies. 

“Who is this kid?” Rhodey asks. The boy in his arms lets out a whimper and Rhodey nearly curses. He didn’t realize that he’d be linked to their comms. “Hang on kid we’re almost there.”

There’s a medical team waiting outside along with Bruce when Rhodey lands. He lays the boy on a gurney and his mask folds away once more. Rhodey wonders how it knows when to do that. Bruce and Rhodey follow the medical team as they wheel him to the medbay.

“That’s a kid,” Bruce says in shock as he takes in the boy's youthful face and mop of curls. They both stand at the side of the room so they don’t get in the way. 

“He’s definitely young,” Rhodey admits. Bruce grabs a tablet and starts to go through it. 

“There’s nothing anywhere about this kid. How did he know Tony?” They both look up as one of the nurses attempts to cut away the suit from the kid but the scissors don’t work. Instead, the suit retracts from the kid's whole body and into metal bracelets worn on his wrists. The doctors cut away the clothes he’d been wearing underneath it.

“Nanotech.”

“Like Stark’s last suit,” Bruce lets out a sigh. “He must have made it.” 

“Incoming call from Bucky Barnes,” Friday announces.

“Answer it,” Rhodey tells her.

“Do you have the kid?” Bucky sounds out of breath, his voice laced with worry. Bruce and Rhodey exchange a look of confusion. 

“We got Spider-man,” Bruce says. “Friday alerted us that he’d been injured.” 

“You’re at the compound?” 

“Yes, aren’t you on a mission?” Rhodey asks.

“Just got back, Karen alerted me that he’d been injured. I’ll get his medical records and bring them to you.”

“He’s enhanced?” Bruce asks.

“Yes, use the meds you’ve got for me. He’s got some of his own but if he needs immediate relief then that will have to do til I get up there.” 

“Who is this kid?” Rhodey asks.

“Did you not see the videos?” 

“What videos?” 

“Nevermind, Karen’s probably waiting til he’s not in danger. I’m on my way now.” Bucky ends the call before either of them can ask any more questions. They’re left even more confused now than they were by the original alert.

***

Peter wakes up slowly. He can’t remember falling asleep. The room he’s in smells of antiseptic and is filled with the hum of electronics. He reaches up and feels the oxygen mask over his face. He knows where he is. It’s not the first time he’s woken up in this bed with no memory of getting there. He slides the mask off his face and sits up weakly.

“Friday?” His voice is wrecked. He glances around and sees a cup of water next to his bed. He grabs it and drinks through the straw.

“Yes, Mini-boss?” She answers. Peter nearly starts crying at that. Tony had told him that Karen would link up and restore Friday but he hadn’t been sure he believed it. 

“Lights at 20% please,” His senses have calmed down but there’s a sharp pain in his head that usually comes after sensory overload. Friday dims the lights without answering. He finishes his water then slumps back down onto the pillows. The door slides open a minute later and he almost whines about it. 

“Peter?” Bucky says softly. Peter’s eyes snap open and he looks towards the soldier. He’s so glad to see him. 

“Buck,” Peter starts to sit up again. Bucky hurries forward and helps him do it carefully.

“Take it easy.” Bucky keeps a hand on his shoulder, looking over Peter's visible injuries. 

“Can I have some more water?” Peter points at the cup. Bucky grabs it and moves over to the sink. Peter winces as he rests back against the pillows. “How long was I out?”

“A few hours. You inhaled a lot of smoke.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that.” He takes the cup of water when Bucky offers it and takes smaller sips this time. 

“You would wait until I’ve left town to go running into a burning building.” 

“I had to. They would have died.” Peter doesn’t regret it. 

“I know I know.” Bucky sighs and sits down in a chair beside the bed. 

“We’re at the compound,” Peter fidgets with the cup in his hands. 

“We are,” Bucky confirms.

“How did I get here?” 

“Your suit sent out a distress signal. Rhodey and Banner got it. Rhodey picked you up and brought you here.” 

“Did they see the videos?” 

“No, I think Karen wanted them to save you first.”

“But they saw my face,” He sips his water. 

“They had to in order to treat your injuries.” Bucky leans forward and rests his arms on his knees. 

“Right… did you happen to bring my glasses?” 

“I grabbed your whole backpack,” He points to where the bag sits on a table. “Needed your medical info off your tablet so Doctor Cho could treat you.” 

“Are they waiting?” Peter puts his cup down and leans his head back.

“Yes, but there’s no need to rush. Rest some more. We’ll talk to them when you wake up.” He reaches forward and grabs the blanket tugging it up to cover Peter again.

“Stay?” Peter asks, already feeling his exhaustion creeping back. 

“Yeah sure,” Bucky settles back in his chair. 

“Thanks,” he mumbles as he falls back asleep.

Chapter Text

By the next day, most of Peter’s injuries have healed. There’s still a big ugly bruise on his back and his throat is still sore but neither of those things bothers him too much. The burns weren’t bad, it was mostly just his arms where the suit had gotten too hot against his skin. He had been surprised that it didn’t burn through but figured that Tony must have done something to make it fireproof. They’d both been more worried about it keeping him warm in the colder months though so Peter figured the next time he looked at it he should try and find a way to keep it cool in that kind of heat. 

In Bucky’s rush to get Peter’s medical records to the compound he hadn’t stopped to grab anything else from the apartment so they’d found some clean clothes laying around for him. The Sweatpants had a Stark industry logo on them so Peter figured they were just standard issue ones that had been laying around and he’s not really sure who the shirt had belonged to. It’s a little bit big on him but surprisingly not too bad. 

When Doctor Cho finally gives him the go ahead to leave the medbay he knows that his time has sort of run out. At least a part of the Avengers has been waiting patiently for him to heal before they ask any questions about who he is or why Tony had set up protocols to save him. He’d been a little annoyed that he’d kept it as the baby monitor protocol though he couldn’t be too mad since he knows that in the past he would have been left in that alleyway with no one to save him. Peter takes a few calming breaths then hangs his glasses on the collar of his shirt and picks up his backpack before stepping out of the room he’d been in. He is glad to find only Sam waiting in the hallway for him. 

“Hey Sam,” Peter says with a halfhearted smile. 

“How you doing Spidey?” Sam stands up, looking him over for any obvious sign of injury. 

“I’m good,” He rocks back on his heels and grips the strap of his backpack tightly. “They waiting for me?”

“Yeah in the common room. They can wait longer though if you need more time. I know you weren’t too keen on coming out here.” 

“No, it’s… It’s best to just get it over with yeah?” Peter knows he just needs to get over it. He’s only causing issues for everyone by trying to stay away. Bucky and Sam have been lying to their friends for him and he should really just stop trying to run away. Admit to everything. Let them see the videos and decide if they want to trust him or not. They’re all Avengers. If he causes some sort of problem they can take care of themselves right? Tony is dead, Tony died, you could have been the one to snap. Peter shakes the thoughts from his head and takes a deep breath. He told Tony that he couldn’t go back in time to change things. Peter can’t do that either. He’s already nearly broken the multiverse once he doesn’t need to go messing with the timeline as well. 

“If you’re sure…” Sam says skeptically. Peter flashes him a smile that they both know isn’t reassuring at all and then they’re heading out of the medbay. Out to where Rhodey and Bruce are waiting and maybe others. Did they tell anyone else about the weird kid they found? Did they alert everyone that Spider-man was actually just a teenager? That Tony had wanted him protected?

“This is fine,” Peter says as they walk down a hallway.

“Are you freaking out right now?” Sam asks. 

“No, I’m fine. Absolutely fine. This is good. This is…” Peter doesn’t know why he’s panicking so much. It’s Bruce and Rhodey. He loves Bruce and Rhodey. They’re like the fun uncles who let him try dangerous experiments and are willing to watch hours upon hours of Star Wars films with him whenever he wants. 

“Peter,” Sam stops walking and catches his arm so he stops as well. “You’re hyperventilating.” 

“I’m sorry. I just… oh god.” Peter squats down and holds his head in his hands trying to breathe normally. “What if they don’t believe me? What if they think this is all a lie and they think I’m like some villain trying to get to you guys.” 

“Yeah, I guess I could see that,” Sam says as he sits against the wall across from where Peter had dropped. “I mean you’ve totally got the villain vibe going on what with your baby face and your need to help every single person that crosses your path.” 

“I’m serious Sam,” Peter whines. “This whole thing is so suspicious. I bet I wouldn’t even believe it if someone tried to tell me this story.” 

“Yes, you would. You’re the kind of guy that sees the good in everyone. I bet you’d even try to see the good side in criminals,” Sam says in a kind voice, but Peter can see it. Can see the group of criminals gathered in Happy’s apartment. Can see May laying in the rubble. He squeezes his eyes shut and pulls at his hair with both hands. 

“What if this is a bad idea? What if I’m cursed or something?” Peter sees them all, his parents, Ben, Tony, May. How many people that he’s close to have died? How many people’s lives has he put at risk just by existing. 

“You’re having a panic attack,” Sam tells him. “Can you hear my breathing? Try to match it.” Peter can hear it. Sam is taking slow deep breaths. Peter tries to focus on that. Tries to ignore everything else. The voice in his head telling him it’s his fault, the faint sound of voices coming from the common room. He listens to Sam breathe and nothing else. 

“That’s good Peter,” Sam says when Peter’s breathing is back to normal. He gets up again and places a hand on Peter’s back. “We don’t have to do this right now. I can go grab Buck and we can just head back to the city if that’s what you want to do right now. You were injured, and Friday said something about a sensory overload too. That’s a lot all at once so if you need some time to calm down we can do that.”

“It’s okay, Thank you, Sam.” Peter takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. Sam offers a hand to help him up and Peter takes it, letting the older man pull him to his feet. 

“You sure?”

“Yes. It’s Rhodey and Doctor Banner… I think that even if they have trouble believing me they’ll be nice about it right?” Peter’s pretty sure they will. They were always nice before. Why would now be different? He can do this. This is fine.

“Peter,” Sam says, placing a hand on his shoulder. Peter sticks his hands in his pockets. 

“Yeah?”

“You know that I had doubts at first, even after seeing the video. But Bucky convinced me to give you a chance and after seeing him with you and spending time with you myself I definitely believe it. Bucky told me that while his memories of you were gone his feelings hadn’t changed. I get that. The more time I spend with you the more I feel I know you.” 

“Really?” 

“Really. You’re the smart one right? Aren’t memories and emotions stored in different parts of the brain? So if our memories are sealed up or whatever then isn’t it likely that our emotions weren’t affected?” 

“Yeah… That’s true…” Peter rocks back on his heels and thinks about it. Bucky had trusted him really quickly. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have some sort of feelings regarding Peter. 

“You ready?” Sam asks. “We can take our time.” 

“We can do it. I’m ready… Bucky is in there too right?” 

“Yeah, Buck is waiting. You’ll have two of us behind you, we’ll help convince them if we need to.” 

“Okay, let’s go.” Peter nods, straightens up, and heads the rest of the way to the common room with Sam following behind him. 

The three men in the common room have clearly been waiting for them. Bucky is sitting in an armchair, his head resting on his hand. Rhodey is on the couch staring at his phone though he seems to not really be paying attention to the screen. Bruce paces back and forth near the windows, wringing his hands a bit as he goes. He looks the most nervous of them all. 

“Peter,” Bucky sits up straight and nods at him. Peter nods back. Rhodey and Bruce both look at him. 

“H… hey,” Peter waves awkwardly. “I’m uh… I’m Peter.” 

“Hello Peter,” Rhodey says. He shifts like he might get up and then decides against it. Peter eyes the braces on his leg. The electrical hum from them sounds different. Something wrong with them maybe? He’s got the blueprints on his tablet. Maybe he could help. 

“So… You knew Tony?” Bruce asks, walking a bit closer to the group. Peter chews on his lip considering it. 

“He knows all of us,” Bucky answers for him. 

“We know him too,” Sam sits on the arm of Bucky’s chair and gets a glare from the soldier. 

“What do you mean?” Rhodey looks Peter over like he’s trying to place him. 

“That’s…” Peter touches the glasses around his neck. “Do you guys know anything about the multiverse theory?” 

“Of course,” Bruce says.

“It sounds familiar,” Rhodey admits.

“Okay well… A while back I um… I asked Doctor Strange for help with something. It uh… it went wrong and kind of… broke the multiverse. A little bit.” Peter runs a hand through his hair and wishes that he wasn’t so awkward about this. 

“The multiverse is real?” Bruce looks interested now. Peter can see that spark of curiosity in his eyes. 

“Very very real,” Peter says, perking up a bit. “See what happened the first time was that people started getting pulled into our universe from other universes. People that knew who I was, or well not me exactly but they knew that Peter Parker was Spider-man. And well these bad guys got pulled into our universe but also the Peter’s that knew them did too. So it was really weird for a minute because I mean there were three of me! But also really cool. Um but anyway. With all these people that didn’t belong being in our universe, it started to damage our universe. I don’t know if you guys heard about anything happening out at the statue of liberty but um… That was me.”

“There was an issue with the new construction right?” Rhodey says. 

“Yeah, I think we uh… damaged some of their stuff. We didn’t mean to! But we had to do it. It’s just, even after we sent the bad guys back the multiverse kept breaking. More people were being pulled in so…” Peter twists a web shooter around his wrist. “Doctor Strange had to perform another spell. He had to make everyone forget me.” 

“Everyone?” Bruce asks.

“The whole world at least,” Peter shrugs. “Maybe the whole universe.” 

“Why don’t you show them, Peter,” Bucky suggests. 

“Show us what?” Rhodey gets up slowly. 

“I went to another universe. The Doctor Strange from that universe pulled me in because he thought I could help them and that they could help me. It was like ours. Almost exactly like it except that at the battle of Earth… Peter Parker was the one to snap the army away. So their Peter died and Tony Stark lived.” Peter takes the glasses off his shirt. “So what you’ll see on here…. It's from that other universe, but I promise it was the same here. Everything was the same.”

“Go ahead and show us,” Bruce says. Peter puts the glasses on and looks at Bruce first. The blue light shoots out and scans him.

“Doctor Bruce Banner, Identified,” Karen says. The drone detaches itself from Peter’s backpack and flies forward, projecting a video just like it has twice before. It starts with Bruce sitting in his own lab at the compound. He talks about Peter, how they met, how impressed he was with Peter’s work in the lab. There’s a video of the two of them working together in the lab, laughing when their experiments fizz over or explode. There are even videos of Spider-man and Hulk working together on missions. Hulk had found it hilarious when Peter stuck to him, and even funnier when Peter would pick him up and throw him at the enemies they were fighting. It ends with the same message from Doctor Strange explaining the spell. The drone drops onto Peter’s shoulder again when the video ends. Peter wonders if it knows that its job isn’t done yet. 

“The Hulk likes you?” Bruce asks. 

“I’m sticky,” Peter explains. “Sometimes I’d stick to his arm and he’d think it was funny… he liked my jokes too.” 

“I see,” Bruce looks amused at that. 

“You got one for me?” Rhodey asks. Peter nods and turns to look at him. The glasses scan him. 

“Colonel James Rhodes, Identified,” Karen says. The drone on Peter’s shoulder takes flight again and hovers in front of Rhodey now. It projects a video just like it has before but this time instead of Rhodey appearing first it’s a video of Tony. 

“Hey Honeybear,” Tony says with a grin. “It’s me, the ghost of Christmas past. Bet you thought you’d gotten rid of me. But here I am. And somewhere around here is probably a kid. Curly hair, big doe eyes that he’ll use to trick you into doing whatever he wants. He’s like a gremlin without a midnight snack. Also, he’s a super genius. Probably smarter than me. You’re never getting rid of the big brains.” 

“Tony give me the camera,” Rhodey’s voice comes from off the screen and then there’s a slight scuffle over the camera before both men are visible on the screen. “This is supposed to be my video.”

“We’re besties, you’re supposed to share everything with me.” 

“This isn’t about you this is about my nephew!” Rhodey shoves Tony out of the camera. “Alright now listen up me cause we gotta talk about the kid. Peter is an absolute delight and a menace at the same time. He’s like Tony but with actual manners. Now I’ve heard that Tony has put the other bionic man on babysitting duty instead of me, the coolest uncle he has. I’m torn about that. On the one hand, he’s like the energizer bunny so I’d never be able to keep up with him, on the other hand, he’s basically my godson so I should have had first dibs.” 

“He’s not even legally mine!” Tony complains from off camera. “I’m pretty sure he’s got an actual godfather somewhere.” 

“That doesn’t matter. I’m gonna tell you all about this kid so sit down and shut up til I’m done. That goes for you to Tones. Go find the kid or something. Happy said he’s on the roof.” 

“Yes dear,” Tony leans into view once more and presses a sloppy kiss to Rhodey’s cheek before heading out of the room. Rhodey rolls his eyes and waits for him to go.

The video goes on just like all of the others. Rhodey tells all of his favorite stories about Peter while the second video plays as much footage of these moments as Friday could pull up. He gets quieter near the end. He talks about how Peter hitched a ride to Titan with Tony and how he didn’t return. He talks about how hard the loss hit those who remained. How hard Tony took it. 

“It is… hard for us,” Rhodey says quietly. “We all loved the kid. He was good. Better than all of us really. He’s the reason Tony did it. The reason he was willing to risk traveling back in time and risking everything he’d gained in those five years. We lost him in the end anyway. You don’t remember him right now, but you will. You’ve got to protect him. You’ll never forgive yourself if you let him go.” 

It ends with the same message from Doctor Strange that the others had. Peter wipes his eyes with his sleeves as the drone takes its place on his backpack once again. Bruce steps closer to him and holds out a packet of tissues. Peter takes them with a grateful smile and pulls out a tissue to wipe his eyes with. 

“Toss those here,” Rhodey says. When Peter looks at him he finds that there are tears in Rhodey’s eyes as well. Peter takes one more tissue for himself then passes the packet to him. 

“That fight on the statue of liberty… that was what? Nine months ago?” Bruce asks. Peter thinks about it. It feels like such a long time ago but a short one at the same time. 

“Yeah… That sounds about right.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets. 

“How long were you in that other universe?” 

“Just four days. It was good… Tony found me right away. So I was with everyone. They dropped me right in front of Bucky when they sent me back so…”

“Dropped you on me,” Bucky corrects, then he pushes Sam off the arm of the chair and motions Peter forward. He smiles a bit and sits in the spot Sam had been evicted from. Sam rolls his eyes good naturedly and sits on the couch instead. Bucky pats Peter on the arm then turns his attention to Rhodey and Bruce. 

“Where have you been living then?” Rhodey asks. 

“I’m living with Bucky now, um… I was at a hotel before that though.” Peter leans on Bucky’s shoulder for support. 

“I think we should call Doctor Strange,” Bruce says, wringing his hands a bit. 

“I don’t want to bother him…” Peter admits. “I don’t think he can do anything to make it right now anyway.” 

“Well, he can’t make it better if he doesn’t know,” Rhodey pulls out his phone and looks through his contacts. “Damn Wizards, making a mess of things.” He moves away from them as he starts the call. Peter fidgets a bit. He doesn’t want to bother Strange if he’s still trying to fix the break Peter caused. 

Chapter Text

Doctor Strange arrives at the compound through a portal shortly after the call from Rhodey. He looks over them all, his gaze ending on Peter until Bucky stands up from the chair, blocking Peter from his view. He crosses his arms and glares at the sorcerer. Rhodey looks rather on edge too. Peter slips onto the seat of the chair and pulls his feet up. He keeps his gaze focused on Bucky’s back. The idea of seeing the Doctor Strange of this universe again makes him nervous. What if he figures out that all of this is Peter’s fault. 

“What is all this about a spell?” Strange asks. 

“It’s about you altering everyone’s memories without their permission,” Rhodey snaps at him. Peter peeks out just a bit to see Rhodey standing there with his hands on his hips. 

“I didn’t do any memory spells,” Strange says. 

“Would you remember if you did?” Bruce asks, he’s back to pacing by the window again. 

“Well, why would I erase my own memory of it?” Peter’s pretty sure that if he could see Strange he’d be rolling his eyes. 

“To prevent the multiverse from breaking,” Bruce says. Strange starts to say something then stops. He’s quiet for a moment. 

“How do you know about that?” 

“Stand down Bucky,” Rhodey orders. “Let him see the kid.” Bucky hesitates for a moment then steps to the side, he doesn’t go far. He sets a hand on Peter’s shoulder and keeps his glare focused on Strange. 

“Who’s the kid?” Strange asks looking at him skeptically. 

“Exactly,” Bruce says. 

“You got one for him, Peter?” Sam asks. Peter nods a bit and adjusts his glasses. The blue light scans over Strange.

“Wizard Identified,” Karen says, her voice tinged with annoyance. Peter hopes Strange doesn’t feel too insulted by that. Clearly Tony had played around with her programming a bit when he uploaded her to the glasses. 

“I’m not a wizard,” says Strange. The drone makes an appearance once more and Peter wishes there was a way to thank it for its hard work. He decides that he’ll have to give it a proper name and treat it kindly.

No one says anything as a video is projected for them all to see. It’s shorter than the others but that’s no surprise. Peter’s time with Doctor Strange had been short. They’d met for the first time on the donut ship on the way to Titan and then they’d both been dusted by the snap. They never interacted after that. Not until Peter had messed everything up by trying to get everyone to forget he was Spider-man. 

The Doctor Strange in the video sticks to the facts. He explains that he is in another universe, that the Strange of this universe had sent out a message after performing the spell to make everyone forget Peter. He tells him that Peter was brought into their universe for a short time in order to convince Tony not to do anything that would mess with the timeline and so that Peter could get the assistance he needed as well. 

Peter drops back down onto the chair while the video plays, he pulls up his knees and wraps his arms around them. He knows there’s nothing Strange can do right now. To be honest, if it had been up to just him he probably wouldn’t have said anything at all. 

“I see,” Strange says when the video has finished. Peter holds out a hand and the drone drops into his hand instead of returning to the backpack. Peter smiles and runs a finger along the back of it. The drone lets out a happy sounding noise and Peter can’t help but smile a bit. It’s kind of like having a pet. 

“Do you?” Rhodey asks. 

“Yes of course,” Strange turns to look at Peter. “I am sorry for this but I’m afraid I can’t offer a solution right now. It will… take me some time to right the issues.” 

“It’s okay,” Peter crosses his legs and sits up a bit. “I knew you couldn’t do anything.”

“He’s part of our family,” Rhodey is definitely still cross. “He should have been with us, he shouldn’t have been dealing with all of this on his own.” 

“It’s my fault really Uncle Rhodey,” Peter assures him. “I was the one who asked Doctor Strange for the spell, and then I kept talking. I messed it all up. I kept everyone from the other universes here for too long. I thought I was helping.” He can feel all the adults in the room watching him. He can practically feel their concern. It’s everything he’s been missing since the statue of liberty but too much at the same time. He wants to be surrounded by the people he loves, he wants to be taken care of, but he doesn’t feel like he deserves it. 

“It’s not your fault,” Rhodey says. “Strange had enough time to send off a message to another universe but he couldn’t have figured out a way to let any of us know what was happening? Someone should have been there for you kid. If he’d sent you to one of us when he erased our memories we could have figured it out a hell of a lot faster!” 

“I… I was okay Uncle Rhodey really.” 

“What happened is not fair to you and it wasn’t fair to any of us either. You’re family. I’m going to call everyone back, they deserve to know what’s happened too.” Rhodey pulls his phone out. Peter jumps to his feet and puts the drone on his shoulder before holding up his hands.

“I don’t want to bug everyone. They must be busy! I… I’m okay right now.” 

“Why don’t we let them make their own choices?” Sam suggests. “Let’s send everyone their videos and tell them that Peter is here at the compound right now. Then they can make up their own minds on whether or not they want to come.” 

“I think that might be the best option,” Bruce agrees. Peter tugs at the hem of his shirt and tries not to fidget. How will the others react? He’s seen Happy a few times while visiting May’s grave. Will he realize that Peter lied to him about how he knew her? What will Pepper think? The Morgan in the other universe never met him. So there’s no proof that Peter and she had gotten along before. Would Pepper want to keep them apart now? Peter used to be her go to babysitter whenever she needed help. He’s missed so much time with her now. 

“Peter?” Rhodey still has his phone in his hand. “Does that work for you?” Tony is dead, May is dead, no one remembers you, everyone you get close to gets hurt. Bucky gives his shoulder a squeeze. Peter looks around the room. They’re all watching him, waiting for his answer. He’s pretty sure that they’d listen to him. Like Bucky had about bringing him to the compound in the first place. If he tells them no, then they’ll drop it. But is it the right thing to do? What if Peter makes the wrong choice again? Maybe it’s better if he just listens to them. 

“Okay, let’s… send out the videos.” He wraps his arms around himself. 

“Friday can you access the videos from Peter’s glasses?” Rhodey asks. 

“Yes, I have no problem communicating with Karen,” Friday says. 

“Great, send those videos to the people they’re meant for, please. Add on at the end that Peter is here at the compound for the time being, though at some point he may be returning to his and Bucky’s apartment in Brooklyn so if they want to see him they should check with me first.” Rhodey instructs. 

“I’ve sent them,” Friday says after a slight pause. 

“Thank you,” Rhodey makes his way over to Peter and ruffles his hair. “Why don’t we get you settled here then? You can pick whichever unoccupied room you want. I’m sure we’ve got some more clothes around here you can borrow.” 

“Okay, thank you… is it alright if I walk around a bit on my own?” 

“Of course, I’m sure you know how it works around here. Ask Friday if you need anything.” 

“I will thanks,” Peter gets to his feet and throws his backpack strap over the shoulder that’s not occupied by his drone. He leaves the common room and takes a deep breath. Will his room be open? Or has someone taken it over? He makes his way to the floor his room used to be on. It had been Tony’s floor. Peter doubts that Pepper has much reason to come to the compound, even before the spell she hadn’t wanted to be here. Somehow the floor feels much too quiet. Peter wanders down the hallway slowly, let’s his hand trail along the wall. 

“Hey Friday?” he calls.

“Yes, Mini-boss?” She asks. 

“Has anyone been on this floor lately?” 

“Just members of the cleaning crew, is something wrong?” 

“No, it’s not wrong.” He stops and looks at the door that had once led to Tony and Pepper’s bedroom. Peter’s room had been across the hall from theirs. Their names are still posted on plaques outside the door but Peter’s has been removed, or maybe it was never put up in the first place. He touches Tony’s name first then turns to look at what used to be his room. 

“Is there something you need Peter?” Friday asks gently, “You seem to be distressed.” 

“I’m not so much distressed,” He rocks back on his heels. “This used to be my room.” 

“It can still be your room if you’d like, it is not currently in use and my protocols give you permission to be on this floor.” 

“I don’t know how I feel about it. In the other universe, Tony had recreated the room I used to have, and seeing it gave me a lot of feelings. I guess… I just thought that I was done with this part of my life. I figured once everyone forgot me that it would be that way forever.” 

“From my understanding Peter the spell is reversible once it is safe to do so.”

“Well maybe…” He puts his hand on the doorknob to his room but can’t bring himself to open it. “But I figured…. They wouldn’t remember that it needed to be undone. Doctor Strange didn’t even remember performing the spell you know.” 

“Did you not want to inform anyone of what had happened?” 

“I’m bad luck,” Peter takes his hand off the door and turns to Tony’s room instead. He opens the door and goes inside. It looks the same as it had before it was destroyed. Peter suspects that Pepper must have used it a time or two. He goes to the closet and opens it, and he’s surprised to find that it’s full of clothes. Peter reaches out and takes a t-shirt off of one of the shelves. They’re Tony’s clothes. Pepper must have brought them here. It was probably hard to see them every time she looked in their closets at the cabin. Peter folds the shirt back up carefully and places it back on the shelf. He takes a hoodie out next and pulls it on over his borrowed shirt. He thinks he might be imagining the faint scent of motor oil, but it’s a comfort all the same. He’s still tired from the combinations of his healing factor and the emotional day. 

“Am I allowed to stay in here?” He asks as he sits on the edge of the bed. 

“Yes you’re allowed in here,” Friday says. “I have been thinking about what you said and I can find no proof of you having directly caused anything bad to come to anyone.” Peter huffs out a small laugh and scoots further onto the bed.

“You didn’t have to search for that,” He says as he lays on his side and pulls a pillow into his arms. “I’m not always where you can see me you know. And Bad luck’s not really something you can see anyway. It’s like… when people get close to me bad things happen to them. Even if I wasn’t directly involved.” 

“I still don’t think you are at fault for anyone's misfortune.” 

“Okay Fri, we’ll agree to disagree,” Peter curls around the pillow and closes his eyes. “Can you start my old bedtime protocol please?” 

“Of course Peter,” Friday says gently. The walls of the room become soundproof and the lights turn off. Music plays through Friday's speakers, so low that someone with normal hearing might not even hear it. Peter tugs the hoodie up a bit and takes a deep breath. It smells strongly of laundry detergent but underneath it, there is still a lingering smell of expensive cologne and motor oil. A weird mix, but it smells like home to Peter. He falls asleep wrapped in warm memories.

Chapter Text

The mood in the common room is pretty subdued. Strange left shortly after Peter went off, saying something about needing to fix things. Bruce has resumed his pacing by the windows. Rhodey and Sam both sit on the couch chatting about whatever they can think of. It’s clear their minds aren’t really on it though, it’s just a distraction. All of them are waiting, listening for their phones. Bucky sits in the armchair with his head tilted back and his eyes closed, his hand flexing occasionally the only sign that he’s not actually sleeping. 

“He’s a good kid,” Sam says. “An amazing kid probably. I mean we don’t remember him before all this but look at the stuff that he’s done as Spider-man in the time since. We could have used his help with those super soldiers right Buck?” 

“Stronger than me,” Bucky says. “He said it the night he got dropped in front of me but I didn’t believe it at first. A couple nights ago the kid caught a bus with busted breaks. He wasn’t even phased by it. Just casually caught a speeding bus with his bare hands and then helped everyone off it. When I asked him about it later he said that he’d stopped a train once and that a bus was nothing compared to that.” 

“Christ,” Rhodey runs a hand over his face. 

“Smart too,” Bruce says. “Some of the things he was doing in those clips are things college students would struggle with. I want to get in the lab with him and see what he can do.” 

“He dropped out of school,” Bucky says quietly.

“What?” Bruce turns to look at him. 

“Because of all this,” He waves a hand vaguely to indicate the situation. “He mentioned something about a GED.” 

“Where did he go to school before? He should probably be in college already.” Bruce rubs the back of his neck. 

“Mini-Boss used to attend Midtown school of science and technology.” Friday supplies. 

“Good STEM school,” Bruce nods a bit. “Maybe I can do something. I have some contacts at schools still. Even with a GED maybe.” 

“Let’s wait til Peter’s up and see what he wants,” Rhodey rubs his leg absently. 

“He can fix that,” Bucky says.

“Fix what?” 

“Your braces. He’s got blueprints on his tablet. I’m guessing from Tony.”

“He can?” 

“He said he’d worked on my arm before. I say give him a chance.” 

“Maybe I’ll take him down to the lab when he wakes up,” Rhodey says thoughtfully. 

“Tony’s?” Bruce comes and joins them, sitting down on the other armchair. 

“Probably knows his way around it better than any of us. Hey, think he can fix Redwing for me?” 

“I will literally beg him not to,” Bucky groans. 

“What do you have against Redwing?” 

“It’s you that's the problem.” 

“You’re just jealous. I saw how Pete was with his little drone. I bet he’d appreciate Redwing.” 

“If he’s done Buck’s arm and my legs odds are that Tony probably let him work on Redwing too,” Rhodey points out. “Did Princess Shuri make you a new Redwing with the fancy new suit?”

“It was my favor that got him the suit,” Bucky says with a grin, then he ducks away to avoid the pillow Sam’s chucked at his head.

“What’s going on?” The new voice startles them all and they turn towards it, surprised to find Pepper standing there. She’s still dressed in her professional clothes, though she looks a bit ruffled like she’d gone there in a hurry. 

“Pepper,” Rhodey uses the armrest to help him get to his feet and makes his way over to her.

“Where’s the boy? Where’s Peter?” Her eyes dart around the room. 

“He said that he wanted to wander alone for a bit,” Rhodey tells her. 

“I think he’s a little overwhelmed by everything,” adds Bruce. Pepper takes a deep breath and then moves further into the living room and drops into a free chair. 

“Is it real?” She asks. 

“Doctor Strange confirmed it,” Rhodey rests a hand on the back of her chair. “The kid is genuine.” 

“But I… how could I forget having a son? Oh my god, Morgan’s been trying to tell me,” Pepper covers her mouth with the realization, her eyes widening in horror.

“Morgan remembered him?” Bruce moves closer with a curious expression. 

“She’s been asking when her big brother was going to come back, never a name just… big brother. We thought that it was something she made up, to help her cope with losing Tony.” Pepper stands back up quickly, “I need to talk to him. Friday where is Peter right now?” 

“He is currently asleep in your room,” Friday answers. 

“Oh,” Pepper places a hand over her heart, “Maybe I should let him sleep.”

“I think he’d rather be woken up,” Bucky offers. “He’ll want to know how quickly you came to see him.” 

“Right, he’s comfortable with you right Bucky? He’s been living with you?” 

“For a little bit yeah, just since he came back from this other universe.” 

“Do you want to come with me? Would he be more comfortable that way?” 

“Pep, the kid knows all of us. We’re his family.” Rhodey reminds her. “It’s not that he’s uncomfortable around us but that he’s worried we’ll be uncomfortable with him.” 

“Right… Okay, I need one of you to call Happy. Have him pick Morgan up from school and bring her straight here.”

“I’ll call him,” Rhodey promises. 

“I wonder how Morgan managed to remember Peter,” Bruce says thoughtfully. 

“What if it’s the bedtime stories?” Rhodey asks. “Tony used to tell her bedtime stories all the time, he turned all of us into characters in them.”

“That could be it,” Bruce nods a bit. “She’s not remembering Peter himself but the character of her big brother from the story. From what I can tell from the videos we’ve seen Peter was lost during the decimation. It’s likely you and Tony both spent the first years of Morgan’s life telling her about her big brother.”

“You’re probably right.” Pepper straightens out her clothes a bit. “Alright, I’m going to see him. Rhodey call Happy please.” She walks to the elevator and waits for the doors to close before leaning back against the wall. She covers her face with her hands and tries to keep herself from crying. She can’t understand how she could have lost a son and not remembered. After everything they’ve lost, how did she not notice he was missing when Morgan was practically begging to see her brother. 

Pepper had just brushed it off as a coping mechanism. But she had just seen the message from Tony telling her that while he wasn’t their blood Peter was as much their child as Morgan. And those videos. Those videos of the three of them acting like a family, of Tony and Peter moving around the lab like they shared a brain. Even just from the brief glimpses she got, she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that Peter was biologically Tony’s son. There was no footage of Peter from after the decimation. The Tony in the video, the Tony of the other universe had said that they lost their Peter for good. That Peter had been the one to sacrifice himself to save the world. Pepper wanted to know what had happened after everyone had come back. Everything about Tony’s funeral had been a bit of a blur, had Peter been there? She wanted to know everything about him.

“You’ve been in the elevator for several minutes Mrs. Potts,” Friday says gently. “Do you require assistance?” 

“No Friday, thank you…” Pepper steps off the elevator onto what had once been the floor she and Tony had shared here before they’d retired to the lake house. “Is Peter still sleeping?”

“Yes, he is.” 

Pepper takes her time walking down the hall, she tries as hard as she can to remember. The videos had shown how Peter fit into their lives. Pepper had seen the vibrant young boy in that video and she’d felt something, there had been something there. But how could she not remember him. She stops outside the bedroom door and debates whether or not to knock. He probably needs the sleep, she knows that he’d been injured a few days ago. He was definitely enhanced, she’d seen it in the videos that he was Spider-man. 

She takes a few moments to compose herself and then slips quietly into the room. The sight that greets her nearly breaks her heart. Peter lays in the middle of the bed curled up in a ball and looking so small in the oversized sweater he must have taken out of the closet. His hair is a mess of curls and he looks so peaceful sleeping there. Pepper slips quietly into the room and sits on the edge of the bed. Her heart aches for the boy. She reaches out and brushes his bangs from his forehead, it’s a familiar motion. Peter stirs a bit and burrows deeper into the bedding. 

“Five more minutes,” He mumbles. Pepper can’t help but smile.

“Take all the time you want,” she whispers. Peter smiles softly and scoots closer to her. 

“Pepper,” He says opening his eyes just a bit to look up at her.

“Hi sweetie,” She runs her fingers through his curls gently. Peter leans into the touch and starts to doze again. Pepper knows she has a lot to do still. She’d rushed out of the office after watching the video and had her secretary postpone all her meetings. There was a lot she should be doing but instead, she felt content to sit here and watch over this boy the way she does with Morgan. 

Peter sleeps peacefully for a while longer, Pepper cards her fingers through his hair continuously while she watches him. She’s not really sure how long it is until he wakes. One second he’s sleeping quietly and the next he’s shooting up with wide eyes and rapid breaths. Pepper reaches out and rests a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, you were just dreaming,” She says softly. Peter turns to look at her, his big brown eyes wide with surprise.

“Pepper?” 

“That’s me,” She gives him a smile. Peter’s eyes fill with tears and he all but leaps into her arms, clinging to her tightly and hiding his face against her neck. Pepper holds him tightly and presses a kiss against his curls. 

“Pepper, Pepper, Pepper,” He repeats her name over and over, his shoulders trembling.

“It’s alright,” She says. “Take your time.” 

“Pepper,” He sits up a bit and rubs his eyes with his sleeves. “You’re here?” He looks so surprised. Pepper moves his hands away and cups his cheeks.

“I came as soon as I got the message,” She says. Peter sniffles and places his hands over hers.

“You believe it?” He asks.

“I do. I thought it was real as soon as I saw the video and the second I saw you sleeping here I knew that it was real.”

“I… I missed you,” He whispers in a voice that breaks Pepper’s heart. She pulls him into her arms again and presses a kiss to his forehead.

“I don’t remember you right now Peter but that hasn’t affected my feelings. The second I saw you I knew you were my family. My boy.” 

“Really?” 

“Absolutely. And I know that Happy and Morgan will feel the same when they get here,” She cards her fingers through his hair again. “Morgan has been asking about her big brother almost constantly.”

“Morgan… she remembers me?” Pepper realizes that this boy really wears his heart on his sleeve. She can see his surprise and his hope on his face. 

“You’ve spent time with her since you came back from being gone right?” Pepper asks. Peter nods his head. “When you came back and met Morgan for the first time did she know you?”

“She knew the stories she’d heard about me,” Peter confirms.

“I think that she still remembers those stories. I think because of the stories she could tell more than the rest of us that something was missing from her life.” 

“Can I see her?” He sounds excited. Pepper smiles at him and checks her watch to see what Happy and Morgan’s location is. 

“It looks like she’s with Happy already. They’re on their way here,” She pauses for a moment, her gaze on her watch. Tony had created them to keep the family safe. She, Happy, and Morgan all had them and they could be used to find each other's locations as well as vitals. Now her watch displayed Peter’s name right between Happy and Morgan’s. She looks at the boy beside her and spots the watch that sits on his wrist beside a bracelet. 

“I can’t wait to see them both again,” Peter’s smile practically brightens up the room. 

“You didn’t have a watch before?” Pepper asks as she taps the one on his wrist. Peter looks down at it. 

“Mine broke… I’m not sure when. I kept wearing it for a long time until the band broke. When I… when I was in the other universe Tony gave me a new one. He gave me a lot of things to come back here with.” He places a hand over his watch for a brief moment then reaches over to the nightstand and picks up a pair of glasses that Pepper thinks must have been Tony’s once as well. 

“I can tell from the video he sent for me that he loved you, Peter. You’re part of our family. I’m so sorry that this has happened to you. I will make sure that things get back to the way they’re supposed to be.” 

“It’s my fault, I’m the one that messed everything so bad,” Peter tugs on the sleeves of his sweater. “Ah I’m sorry I took this from the closet, it just made me feel warm.”

“This is not your fault Peter. Doctor Strange should have never even considered taking away people’s memories. He’s the adult. He should have been the one to say no.” 

“But if I hadn’t-”

“No Peter,” she says sternly. “You are not at fault. I don’t want you to blame yourself. We all know the truth now, we know what happened and we’re going to get it fixed. Understand?” 

“I understand,” He says softly. Pepper gives him a gentle smile and strokes his cheek gently. 

“That’s my boy. Now have you eaten lately? I think we should get some food started. I’m sure Morgan and Happy will be hungry when they get here too.” Pepper gets up off the bed and holds a hand out to Peter. He smiles softly at her as he takes the offered hand and gets up. Pepper doesn’t let go as she leads him back to the kitchen to see if they can wrangle up enough food to feed everyone.

Chapter Text

Peter is sitting at the dining room table with everyone, a large stack of sandwiches sits in the center of the table along with an assortment of chips, vegetables, and macaroni salad. They’d been about to eat when Friday had alerted them that Happy was pulling up to the property. 

“Did Happy see his video?” Peter asks as he turns to look towards the door. 

“He did,” Pepper says as she sets a pitcher of lemonade on the table. 

“Did he say anything about it?” 

“Not yet, I thought it was best we talked about it all in person,” Pepper takes a seat at the table. 

“I saw Happy a couple of times after the spell went wrong.” Peter watches as Sam pours some lemonade into his cup. 

“You did?” 

“Yeah,” Peter picks up the cup and takes a sip. The door opens and Morgan bursts into the compound, running straight for the table. Peter thinks that she’s definitely grown a bit since he last saw her. 

“Mommy!” Morgan yells as she throws her arms around Pepper’s waist.

“Hi sweetie,” Pepper Picks her up and sets her on her lap. Happy comes in shortly afterward, his eyes land on Peter immediately and he stops where he is.

“You’re the kid from the cemetery,” He says. Peter puts his cup down and stands up, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “You’re May’s nephew.” 

“I… yeah,” Peter nods a bit. 

“You didn’t say anything when we met,” It’s clear that Happy’s upset. 

“I didn’t… I didn’t tell anyone.” 

“He wasn’t going to,” Bucky adds unhelpfully. 

“What do you mean?” Happy walks closer and looks down at Peter. He has to admit that he’s really missed Happy, the man always tried to act tough around him but he’d come every time Peter needed him. He wonders if he could get away with hugging him now.

“He’s a self sacrificing little shit,” Rhodey says. 

“Morgan,” Pepper brushes a hand over her daughter's hair. “Do you know who that is?” She points at Peter as she asks the question. Peter turns to look at the little girl. Will she remember him? Morgan tilts her head a bit and looks at him, after a moment her eyes widen and she jumps off Pepper’s lap to run over to him.

“You’re my big brother!” She yells holding out her arms. Peter’s pretty sure he’s going to cry as he lifts her up into his arms and hugs her tight. Morgan hugs him back and squeezes tight.

“Hi Morgy, I’m Peter,” He says. 

“My big brother! I missed you!” She presses a sloppy kiss to his cheek and Peter smiles widely at her.

“I missed you too little miss.” 

“He’s the brother she’s been asking about?” Happy asks, looking at Pepper. 

“It seems so,” She nods. 

“How the hell could the wizard just erase all our memories like that?” Happy sits in one of the open chairs and looks around at everyone. “Did you all get videos too?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey nods. “I think everyone that’s ever met the kid did.”

“What’s the plan? How are we fixing this? We’re going to get our memories back right?” 

“You can’t force it,” Peter sits back down in his seat, still holding Morgan. “If you try to force the memories out you could permanently damage your brain.” 

“Can I have a sandwich?” Morgan asks. Peter reaches over and grabs one. He puts it on the plate in front of them and cuts it into squares with his free hand. Morgan smiles and picks up a square to nibble on. Peter loads the plate up with some of the other food from the table, grabbing all the things she likes. 

“You need to eat too Peter,” Pepper says gently. Peter gives her a smile and takes a bite of a carrot. He doesn’t really feel like eating right now but he probably does need the food and he doesn’t want any of them to worry about them. He shares his food with Morgan and listens to the others talk. 

It feels good, safe. Like he’s isn’t alone. Peter eats a grape that Morgan holds up for him and tickles her sides. She giggles and curls in on herself trying to push his hands away.

“No tickles Petey!” She laughs. Peter smiles down at her. It really almost feels like the way things were before the spell went wrong. Sitting here like this he could almost pretend that everything was alright, that everything was going to be okay. No one remembers you, no one remembers you, no one remembers you. It’s going to be okay. Peter presses a kiss to Morgan’s cheek then lets her go as she slips under the table and pops back up beside Rhodey’s chair. He lifts her onto his lap and pats her head as she steals some chips off his plate. 

“What do you think Peter?” Pepper asks, reaching over to brush his hair back from his forehead. 

“Sorry what about?” Peter asks, embarrassed to have been caught not paying attention. This is all about him after all. They’re all here because he needed help and now he can’t even pay attention to a conversation for five minutes.

“It’s alright,” Pepper assures him. “You’ve been living with Bucky at his apartment since you got back. I’m sure it must be a tight fit for both of you. Stark Industries constructed several apartment buildings after the decimation. There are several available now I can get you and Bucky into one so you can each have your own space.”

“What about the apartment we have now?” Peter looks at Bucky. 

“It’s just an apartment, I don’t mind where we live.” 

“Then… It’s fine with me if we do that.” 

“You are of course welcome to come stay with me and Morgan at the cabin.” Morgan perks up at the sound of her name and leans across the table towards Peter. 

“We can have sleepovers!” She says cheerfully. Peter reaches over and ruffles her hair gently.

“I’ll come for sleepovers whenever you want,” he promises. “But I think I’m better off living in the city. Being Spider-man is important to me and it’ll be easier than having to have someone drive me to the city every day.” 

“Do you know how to drive?” Happy asks. 

“I don’t have a license. May and Tony both taught me how to drive but I wasn’t going to get my license until after I graduated.” He smiles a bit at the memory. “I was afraid that if I got my license before then Tony would try to buy me some ridiculously expensive car.” 

“Well,” Pepper starts in a way that makes Peter think he isn’t going to like what comes next. “Why don’t we see about getting you your license? You’ll need identification anyway. I’ll have my lawyers help to prove your identity. Once you have your license then we’ll arrange to get you a car. Then you can come to the cabin or up here to the compound whenever you want.” 

“I really don’t need a car,” Peter insists. 

“Kid, it’s pretty likely that you probably own a car or two,” Rhodey points out. Peter frowns and looks at him.

“Why would I own a car?” 

“Tony considered you one of his kids, it’s likely he probably left you more than just those glasses in his will,” Bucky points out. Peter’s eyes widen. He’d never seen Tony’s will. He’d watched the video that Tony had left for them of course but when they’d started talking about Tony’s assets at the funeral he’d left the room. May had tried to talk to him on the way home but he’d shut her down and wanted to sit in silence for a while.

“I don’t… I don’t need anything.” Peter furrows his brow, he thinks about the duffle bags of money he’d left at his and Bucky’s apartment. That was more than he even knew what to do with and he can’t imagine handling anything else. 

“There’s a copy of Tony’s will in his old office here,” Pepper says. “Why don’t we grab it and take a look. I’m sure that the lawyers can handle anything that needs handling with that as well.” 

“I know where it is,” Rhodey says, he starts to stand up but stops when his braces make a grinding sound. Peter focuses on the sound. 

“I can fix that,” he says, hoping they’ll accept the change in subject. He pretends not to see the look that Rhodey and Pepper share. 

“You can fix it?” Rhodey asks. 

“Yeah,” Peter stands up and moves around the table offering his hand to Rhodey. “If the lab here is the same then I should be able to do it no problem.” Rhodey takes his hand and allows Peter to help him up. Peter knows the lab here was rebuilt exactly like it was before it was destroyed. He’d used it once when he snuck into the compound to put together his new suit. Obviously, it wasn’t stocked with as many tools and materials as it used to be but now that he had permission to be in there he could probably order whatever he might need. 

“You two go ahead to the lab,” Pepper says.

“I wanna come!” Morgan yells. 

“You know the rules about your Daddy’s lab,” Pepper reminds her.

“But mommy if Petey is using the lab now then it should be Petey’s lab and maybe Petey’s lab has different rules than Daddy’s lab,” Morgan whines. Peter brings up a hand to cover his smile. Morgan had used the same reasoning when she tried to get let into the garage at the cabin. 

“The rules stay the same Morgan,” Pepper says. Morgan rolls her eyes and gives her mother a look that Peter is sure means she’s going to try and argue the matter again. Peter uses her momentary distraction to quickly leave the room with Rhodey. Once out of sight they slow down so as not to strain Rhodey too much. 

“You don’t seem excited by the prospect of inheriting anything from Tony,” Rhodey says once they’re on the elevator. Peter sticks his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels.

“I’m just… It’s too much. I mean Fury gave me these glasses that Mr. Stark had left for me and I messed that up so bad that… well people got hurt and it was all bad. What if he left me something else and I mess that up too?”

“You’ve got us, kid, we’ll help you with whatever it is. Hell you know Pepper, she’ll have everything sorted out by the end of the business day.” Rhodey pats his shoulder and exits the elevator into the lab. Peter takes a step out and looks around as well. It looks just like it did when Tony was alive, minus the bots. It feels wrong somehow. 

“Right, no problem.” Peter walks further into the room and starts turning things on. He pulls up all the information on the leg braces. Rhodey takes a seat in one of the chairs and removes the leg braces. He sets them down onto one of the work tables and watches Peter. 

“I’m not sure what happened to them,” Rhodey admits. “They make that grinding sound every now and then.”  Peter nods and has Friday scan the braces. 

“Play some music please Friday,” Peter asks as he examines the new scan and compares it to the original blueprint. Music starts to play through Friday’s speakers. A playlist that He and Tony had created for their lab days. A mixture of both of their music that the other had found bearable. Peter can feel Rhodey watching him as he works but he doesn’t really mind. He’s in his element here, he knows what he’s doing. It only takes a few minutes for him to spot the issue with the braces and using Tony’s notes he finds a way to fix them so that it won’t happen again. 

“You sure you’re not related to Tony?” Rhodey asks. Peter grins as he puts the last piece back onto the braces. 

“Wrong blood type,” Peter moves the braces closer to him. “Try these on.” He watches as Rhodey straps the braces back onto his legs and powers them on. He stands up and takes a few steps back and forth to test them out. Peter watches them close. 

“Feels like new,” Rhodey says. 

“Aren’t they a little bulky? Is it okay with you if I tinker around and see if I can make a more streamlined pair?” 

“Do whatever you want kid. These feel great.” 

“Cool,” Peter pulls up all of Tony’s notes and goes through them as he starts to work. He doesn’t even notice when Rhodey leaves the lab. 

It’s hours later that Pepper comes down to find him. Peter’s sense tells him that she’s there but he’s not ready to look away from what he’s working on yet. Plus it’s one of his favorite songs playing so he wants to keep singing along. 

“Music Friday,” Pepper says with amusement. The music stops and Peter definitely doesn’t pout as he looks over his shoulder at her. 

“I like that song,” He says. Pepper comes over to get a better look at what he’s working on, she cards a hand through his hair as she looks at the hologram. Peter leans into the touch.

“Thought I’d come drag you out of here for some food.” 

“Oh yeah I’ll come up and grab something soon,” He turns the hologram to look at a different angle.

“I’ve heard that one before,” She says. “Why don’t we go up and eat while we talk.” 

“Talk?” Peter wrinkles his nose. “So you found the will then?”

“I assume that I’ve known everything on it before, Stephen’s spell sure was thorough when scrubbing our memories.” Pepper takes a seat beside him. 

“I’m guessing it was more than just the glasses then?” He keeps his focus on what he’s working on. Engineering was never his specialty but he’d learned a lot from Tony and it all still made sense, even if it didn’t immediately click for him the way chemistry did. 

“It was a little more than the glasses,” She admits, watching him as he works. 

“Is it a ‘little more’ or a little more?” 

“I’d say that it sits on the ‘little more’ side.” She says. 

“Should I be worried?” 

“I think you’re going to get to know the legal team a little better than you’d like. You’re only eighteen now so you’ll only have access to a part of your inheritance. The rest will come when you turn twenty-one.” 

“Is there a car?” He asks worriedly. 

“A few.”

“A few!?” Peter turns to look at her, his eyes wide. 

“You know how Tony was with his cars. He separated up most of his collection but he left about five for you, some of them are just collection pieces though. I wouldn’t recommend driving them.”

“Oh god,” Peter drops his head onto the desk.

“I’m sure you’ve probably already figured that money won’t be a problem for you. Bruce and Rhodey have both offered to put in a good word for you if you’d like to try getting into college, I’ll vouch for you having spent years interning under Tony as well.” 

“What does a heart attack feel like?” Peter asks. “I think I’m having a heart attack. I think I inherited Tony’s heart problems.” 

“You’re experiencing anxiety,” Friday adds helpfully. 

“Thanks sooo much,” Peter groans. Pepper laughs as she rubs his back. 

“You’re going to survive Peter.” 

“That depends on what happens when I turn twenty-one.” It feels so far away and so close at the same time. Hell if he hadn’t been dusted in the blip he’d already be older. Now he has to think about college and money and multiple cars, multiple!

“Well,” she’s using that voice Peter is starting to dread again. “As one of Tony Stark’s heirs you are entitled to a portion of St-”

“No no no no no,” Peter sits up quickly. “Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.” 

“Peter,” She says gently.

“Oh god,” Peter covers his face with his hands. “How much?” 

“Fifty-fifty with your sister.” 

“Oh my god, oh my god. Are you sure I’m not having a heart attack?” He asks.

“You are fine,” Friday says with far too much attitude.

“Come on Peter, let’s go eat.” Pepper stands up and waits for him. “Or I’ll send Morgan down here to drag you to a tea party.” 

“Oh my god,” Peter stands up and follows her out of the lab. He’s pretty sure he really is going to have a heart attack. No wonder everyone waited to tell him this. If he’d heard it so soon after Tony’s funeral he would have totally freaked out. Even now he’s pretty sure he’s seconds away from a full blown panic attack. Fifty percent of Stark industries. How can he be a partial owner of Stark industries? He’s not even a Stark!

Peter barely even notices dinner, he eats the food placed in front of him and makes vague comments to feign interest in the conversations happening around him. He lets Morgan sit on his lap when she asks too and makes sure that they both eat enough food that Pepper will allow them to have dessert.

 After dinner, Morgan needs to have a bath so Pepper takes her up to their floor. Peter slips away from the others and heads up to the roof of the compound. He takes a deep breath of the fresh air as he takes his usual spot on the wall. His head is so full of thoughts that it feels like it’s going to burst. So much has happened in such little time and now he has no idea how he’s supposed to process it all. 

“I assume you could survive the height of that fall?” Bucky says. Peter kicks his feet and looks down at the ground.

“Probably. I’ve fallen a lot. Never measured the height of that of course.” Peter shrugs.

“Let’s not try and test that,” Bucky sits down beside him. 

“I’ll do my best.” He makes sure his hands are sticking properly to the railing. 

“So what comes next for Peter Parker?” Bucky asks. Peter taps his feet together while he thinks about it.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I didn’t think I’d get this far to be honest. I mean last month I was living in a shitty motel thinking that any chances of a normal future were over. I thought I was lucky to have gotten my GED, to have a sort of job I could use to get money. I thought I was going to be alone, I told myself that it was better if I was alone.” 

“And now?”

“Now… Gods, I don’t even know. With Rhodey, Doctor Banner, and Pepper vouching for me I could probably get into any college in the country even with just my GED. I mean I’ve got copies of my transcripts from Midtown as well. I don’t need to ever go back to that shitty motel either. I mean Pepper offered us the apartment, which I will insist on paying for. I mean it’s only right. But now I’ve got… Cars and money and in what barely three years I’ll have fifty percent of Stark industries? Why? Why would Tony leave me so much in his will? I’m just me, I’m Just Peter Parker and this… this kind of life doesn’t belong to Peter Parker!” Peter grips the edge of the roof tightly, feeling bits of it crumble under his strength. 

“He left it to you because he believed you deserve it. I think you do as well and I don’t even remember everything about you yet. You’ve worked hard Peter. You put your all into taking care of other people. Stark probably figured that this was the only way he could take care of you. He wanted to protect you even after he passed.” 

“It just… doesn’t make sense,” He says quietly. “Good things don’t happen to Parker’s. Everyone around me gets hurt. No matter how hard I try to protect them.”

“That’s not your fault.”

“Isn’t it?” 

“It’s not,” Bucky places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Tony loved you, Morgan and Pepper love you. You’re part of their family.”

“All of my family members end up dead,” Peter whispers. “My mom and dad, Ben and May, Tony. The only thing connecting them all is me.” 

“You’re not going to change my mind, Peter. You are not the one at fault for their deaths.”

“It feels like it is,” Peter leans into Bucky and rests his head on his shoulder. 

“You’ve suffered a lot for someone so young,” Bucky puts his arm around his shoulders. “It’s time for you to have some good. I know it’s not ideal. I know that it’s such a big change to your life that it’s probably giving you whiplash, but you deserve good things.”

“What about Spider-man? I can’t go off to college and just forget about being Spider-man!”

“Now you’re just making excuses,” Bucky scolds. “There are plenty of good colleges here in New York if you don’t want to leave, but you can be Spider-man wherever you decide to go. I promise there’s going to be crime in any city you end up in.” 

“That’s not a reassuring thought,” Peter sighs. 

“No it’s not, but it’s the truth…” 

“It’s shitty.”

“Language,” Bucky says with a small grin. “You know Spider-man makes a big difference for Queens. But I bet that a part owner of a multibillion dollar company could probably make a pretty big difference as well. You’re all about helping the little guy, you can do a lot of good.” 

Peter doesn’t speak, he looks out at the woods surrounding the compound and thinks about what Bucky’s said. He is right. He could do a lot of good for the whole world with the kind of money that Tony had left him. He could do anything he wanted. 

“In the other universe I told my friend Ned that I was going to Empire State,” Peter admits. “Maybe I could start by turning that into a truth?” 

“Could be a good idea,” Bucky says. “You balanced Spider-man and high school I’m sure you can figure out how to work it with college as well. You won’t need a job after all.” 

“God this is weird,” Peter sighs. “We never had money when I was growing up. We got by okay but it was always tight. I don’t know the first thing about handling money.” 

“Yeah, the duffle bags still living under my couch make that pretty obvious.” 

“Oh god, I forgot that I have that still… Maybe I should give it away. I can barely handle that let alone all of it on top of whatever I’m inheriting.” 

“Pepper’s good at all of that. She’ll probably get you a financial advisor or something,” Bucky pats his head and stands back up. “Come on kid, let’s go inside before they start to worry about you.” 

“I’m okay here Buck. I’ll come inside in a little bit.” Peter gives him a smile that doesn’t feel real. Bucky looks down at him for a moment then nods and goes inside. Peter lays back and stares up at the sky, watching the stars come out. His new life isn’t going to be easy, he’s got no idea how to handle all this change at once. But at least he’s not alone anymore. Even if they don’t remember him properly they’re still his family. Peter counts the stars as they come out until his heart rate slows down to normal and he doesn’t feel like he’s going to be sick. 

His life isn’t perfect. There’s still a lot that needs to be done to get back to normal. But it’s better, it’s better than being all alone. Mom and Dad, Ben and May, Tony, it’s my fault. I’m the only connection. People I love get hurt. 

Peter gets to his feet and brushes the dirt off his clothes. He takes one last look at the night sky and then he heads back inside to where his family waits for him. It's not perfect, but it's still worth fighting for. After all, May and Tony are out there in the other universe. He doesn't want to disappoint them. 

Chapter Text

May 29th, 2026

Morgan Stark sits at a table in her classroom fidgeting excitedly. Her lunchbox sits on the table in front of her but she’s much to eager to focus on it. Any minute now she’s going to get to go home. There’s a knock on the classroom door and Morgan has to hold on tight to her chair because she knows her teacher will scold her if she jumps up and tries to answer it herself. Instead, she stares intently at the door as the teacher opens it and allows the person inside. 

“Petey!” Morgan shoots out of her chair and rushes into her brother's arms. Peter laughs as he catches her and lifts her up.

“Hello Morgs,” He smiles and presses a kiss to her cheek. Morgan is almost seven now and some people think that seven is too big to be picked up but Peter is always willing to carry her when she asks. She wraps her arms around his neck and he settles her on his hip so he can hold her with one arm. 

“Are you the one going to be picking Morgan up today?” Her teacher asks. Morgan has to resist the urge to roll her eyes because her mom says that it’s not polite. 

“Yes,” Peter says. “I’m Morgan’s brother Peter.” He holds out his hand to the teacher with a smile. She smiles back and shakes his hand. 

“I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before,” She says. 

“Oh yeah,” Peter pulls his wallet out of his pocket and opens it with one hand. “Help me out here Morg.” Morgan nods her head and pulls his driver's license out of his wallet for him. 

“Peter Benjamin Parker Hyphen Stark,” She reads it out loud then gives it to her teacher for her to read. Peter had taught her the word hyphen after he’d gotten his name changed. She knew that Peter wasn’t her blood brother but he was still the best brother she’d ever had. Peter was a big boy but he was part of their family so their mom had adopted him. Now he got to have two last names. Morgan wishes she could have two last names. Then she could be Morgan Parker-Stark too. 

“You excited for today?” Peter asks as he tucks a bit of Morgan’s hair behind her ear. The teacher brings Peter’s ID over to her desk and checks it on her computer then comes back. 

“Alright it looks like everything is in order,” She says as she gives the ID back to Peter. 

“Great,” He sets Morgan down on the ground. “Go get your backpack Maguna.” Morgan hurries over to her cubby to get her backpack and the sweater that Peter made her bring even though it’s almost summer and super warm now. Peter finds her lunch box on the table and steals a carrot before closing it up for her. Morgan brings her backpack over to him and holds it open so he can put the lunch box inside. 

“How long is the drive?” she asks as Peter picks her up again. 

“It’s almost four hours,” he tells her. They both wave goodbye to her teacher and class as they leave the classroom. Morgan rests her head on her brother's shoulder. 

“That’s a long drive,” She tells him. 

“Yeah it is but we’ll be okay. I stocked the car with lots of snacks and I’ve got your tablet. You should probably take a nap too since we’re probably going to be up late tonight.” 

“I’m too old for naps,” Morgan tells him. 

“Well, I’m not,” Peter sets her down beside the car. Morgan knows that it used to be her Daddy’s car but now it’s Peter’s. He unlocks the door and opens the door to the backseat for her. Morgan climbs in and puts her backpack down then climbs into her booster seat and buckles up. Peter checks the seatbelt then opens the bag that he’d put on the other seat. Morgan’s favorite blanket is on top, he pulls it out and drapes it over her lap then makes sure that she can reach everything else. 

“I’ll drive and you can nap,” Morgan tells him with a grin. “Karen can help me drive!” 

“I am not sure that would be safe,” Karen’s voice comes through the radio speakers. “In the case of an emergency, you would be too little to see over the steering wheel.”

“Then I’ll sit on my knees duh,” Morgan giggles. 

“Maybe in a few years squirt,” Peter laughs with her. “We have to make one stop to pick up the rest of our passengers and then we’ll be on the road.” 

“Okay, Petey!” Morgan pulls her tablet out of the bag along with her headphones and puts them on. Peter checks her seatbelt one more time, he always checks it a bunch, then gets into the driver's seat.

“Karen we’re going to the train station first,” He says as he buckles up his seatbelt. 

“Plotting the course now,” Karen says. Morgan watches Peter as he checks his mirrors and then puts both hands on the steering wheel and starts to drive. Happy always says that Peter drives like a grandma, but Morgan’s never seen a Grandma drive so she’s not sure if that’s true or not. 

“Morgan, I’m gonna call mom do you want to talk to her too?” Peter asks just loud enough for Morgan to hear over her tv show. She slides her headphones around her neck.

“Yeah!” she cheers.

“Call mom please Karen,” Peter says, not taking his eyes off the road. The sound of a ringing phone comes over the speakers. Morgan kicks her feet a bit excited to speak to her mom. She hasn’t seen her mom since yesterday. She and Happy had to leave early to go get things set up so Morgan got to sleep over at Peter and Bucky’s house. 

“Hello Peter,” Pepper says as she answers the call.

“Hey Pepper, I’ve got Morgan with me,” Peter says.

“Hi, mommy!” Morgan yells.

“Hello Baby, how was your sleepover with Peter?” she asks.

“It was super fun!” Morgan leans forward in her seat. “We played chutes and ladders with Uncle Bucky and I won three times! Uncle Bucky is really bad at chutes and ladders.” 

“Oh I bet that was fun,” Pepper says cheerfully. 

“I’ll have to send you a picture of his pouty face,” Peter says with a grin. Morgan likes to see Peter smile. He has the best smile but sometimes he gets a sad look. When that happens Morgan tries to do her best to make him smile again. 

“Please do, did you pack everything you need? Rhodey hasn’t flown out yet, I’m sure he could swing by the cabin and grab whatever you need.” 

“Yeah we got everything, don’t worry,” Peter finds a spot to park on the street and lets Karen help him get into the rather tight spot. “We’re at the train station now so I’m gonna let you go okay?” 

“Alright, drive safe you too. Don’t eat too much junk food,” Pepper reminds him. 

“We won’t,” Peter promises.

“What about Ice pops?” Morgan asks.

“No ice pops in the car Morgs,” Pepper says. Morgan rolls her eyes and sits back in her chair. 

“I wouldn’t make a mess,” She says.

“I’m sure, I’ll see you both soon,”

“Bye Mommy! I love you 3000!” Morgan says.

“I love you both 3000,” Pepper says. 

“Love you too,” Peter ends the call then gets out of the car and goes around to Morgan’s door. He opens it and helps her get unbuckled and holds her hand so she can jump from the car to the curb. 

“Are we gonna take the train?” She asks as she looks up at the train station. She’s come here a few times with Peter to pick up his friends. He even took her on a train ride once. It was a lot more fun than taking the plane. 

“Nope, we’re just picking the others up remember? We’re all gonna drive there in the car,” Peter holds her hand and makes sure the car is locked then reads her into the building. Morgan skips along beside him.

“Peter! Morgan!” Ned calls as he waves at them. Morgan cheers when she spots Ned and MJ waiting for them inside. Morgan lets go of Peter’s hand and runs over to wrap her arms around MJ’s legs. Peter jogs a bit to keep her from getting too far ahead of him. 

“Hey guys,” Peter says, the smile he gives them is a little bit different than his normal smile. Morgan sees him do that sometimes. She knows that everyone used to have known Peter for a long time but a magician took away the memories. That makes Peter sad sometimes. 

“Hello Morgan,” MJ says patting her on the head. 

“I’m so excited for this!” Ned says. “It’s going to be the coolest thing ever and I get to be there at the opening!” 

“I’m glad you guys were able to take the time off,” Peter holds out his hand to Ned. They do a funny handshake that ends with a half hug. Morgan has tried to learn it before but it’s too long so she forgets. 

“We wouldn’t miss this for the world!” Ned says.

“I’m only coming along as moral support,” MJ says crossing her arms.

“Well… Thank you,” Peter gives another one of his wrong smiles as he looks at MJ. Peter says that they’re just friends but Morgan thinks they should be boyfriend and girlfriend. She knows that Peter likes-likes MJ and she thinks that MJ likes-likes him too. 

“So are we just going to stand here all day or should we get on the road?” MJ asks.

“Oh right totally,” Peter says as he pulls out his phone to check the time. “I think we should all use the bathroom first though. MJ do you mind going with Morgan?” 

“I can go potty by myself, Petey,” Morgan reminds him.

“I know you can, but this is a really public place so we should all use the buddy system so we stay safe.” 

“Okay okay,” Morgan grabs onto MJ’s hand before she can say anything then looks around briefly before pulling MJ towards the bathrooms. She can hear Peter and Ned laughing behind them. 

Once they’re all finally in the car Morgan gets her tablet out again. Peter’s driving and MJ gets the passenger seat so Ned sits in the back with Morgan. She thinks he’s a pretty funny guy. He plays games with her on her tablet during the drive and tells her all sorts of cool stories. Peter seems more relaxed with them around. He adds things onto Ned’s stories and he glances at MJ sometimes, but only really quickly because he has to focus on the road. MJ draws pictures in her notebook and she lets Morgan see some of them. 

Even though she’s too old for naps Morgan decides halfway there that she is kind of tired and if she wants to stay up all night with the adults then she should sleep a little. She puts her headphones on and has Friday tell her one of her bedtime stories. Morgan likes the bedtime stories the best because her Daddy recorded them for her. Her Daddy died when she was younger. She misses him a lot now. 

Morgan must fall asleep while listening to her stories because she wakes up some time later as Peter is picking her up out of the car. She wraps her arms around his neck and lays her head on his shoulder.

“We here Petey?” She asks as she tries to fight a yawn. Peter rubs her back and nods his head.

“Yeah we’re here,” he says. Morgan rubs her eyes then lifts her head and looks around. She knows where they are. It’s the a museum with a long name that she has trouble saying but she came here before with her Dad, and then again with Peter. There was a whole section dedicated to Captain America. Morgan had met Captain America before, he was just her Uncle Steve to her though. He got really old after her dad died and now she doesn’t see him anymore. So it’s nice to come to the museum and see all the cool stuff about him and Bucky. 

“Is Mommy here?” She asks. Ned and MJ have both gotten out of the car now and they seem to be waiting for them. 

“Yeah she’s waiting inside with Happy,” Peter sets Morgan down on the ground and holds out his hand to her. Morgan smiles as she takes it. The four of them head into the building through a private door. The tiles inside are different colors so Morgan holds onto Peter’s arm so she can stay on the black ones. Whenever the jump is too big Peter swings her over to it. He’s super strong. She’s even seen him pick up Happy before. 

“Kids over here!” Pepper calls out to them. Peter lets Morgan's hand go so she can run over to her mom. Morgan hugs her mom tight. Pepper smiles down at her and runs a hand gently through her hair.

“Hey Pepper,” Peter says as he comes to a stop in front of them. 

“You guys get here okay?” Happy asks.

“No problems,” Peter gives him two thumbs up. Ned and MJ are hanging back a bit. 

“I’m surprised you made it here this week with the way you drive,” Happy teases. 

“I’m glad that you’re a safe driver Peter,” Pepper gives Happy a look as she says it. 

“I was driving with precious cargo!” Peter reaches out and ruffles Morgan’s hair. “We had to drive safe.” 

“Petey doesn’t even let Karen drive!” Morgan tells them. 

“That’s because Karen doesn’t have a driver's license.” Peter grins. 

“Right,” Pepper checks her watch. “The others are waiting for us upfront. It’s almost opening time. Are you guys ready?”

“Should I change?” Peter asks. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt that Morgan thinks looks like one their dad used to have. Peter uses a lot of their dad’s stuff so that would make sense. She likes to wear their dad’s old shirts to bed sometimes. They’re comfy.

“You can wear whatever you want,” Pepper tells him. “But it is a bit chilly in there, did you bring a sweater?” 

“Oh yeah,” Peter pulls his backpack off his back and pulls out Morgan’s purple sweater and a black jacket for himself. He gives the sweater to Pepper and puts the jacket on himself before putting his backpack on. Morgan holds out her arms so that her mom can help her put the sweater on and then she tries to run away when she tries to fix her hair. Peter catches her easily and hands her to Happy. He runs his fingers gently through her hair to get out any tangles and then quickly braids it.

“How did you get so good at that?” Ned asks. Peter takes a hair tie out of his backpack and puts it on the end of the braid.

“I think it’s a spider thing,” he admits. 

“Really? Huh, I guess that would make sense.” Ned says thoughtfully. Peter can’t help but grin a bit as he takes Morgan back from Happy. Morgan giggles as she settles back in his arms. Peter had told her that a lot of people thought spiders were scary so when people asked about his powers sometimes he would make stuff up. He kept trying to convince their Uncle Rhodey that he didn’t have bones anymore. 

“Well if we’re all ready let’s do this then.” Pepper puts her hand on Peter’s back and leads him down a hallway. Morgan looks over Peter’s shoulder and makes sure that everyone else is following them. They can’t even see the exhibit yet when the sound of people reaches them. Morgan wraps her arms around Peter’s neck nervously. Her mom had told her that there were going to be lots of people and cameras here and she never liked the camera people. She would have to stay with Peter or Happy while they were around. So she could be protected from them. 

“Hey there’s the kiddos!” There’s a stage set up with a big curtain to hide them all from view. Rhodey is waiting there for them, along with other members of the Avengers. Morgan thinks that it’s really cool her aunts and uncles are all superheroes. Her dad had been one and her brother was one too. She hoped that she could be a superhero when she was older. 

“Hey uncle Rhodey,” Peter walks over and gives him a hug. Morgan throws one arm around him as well. 

“You ready for this kid?” Rhodey asks, moving Peter back so he can look at them both. 

“Probably not,” Peter admits with a pretend smile. “But I want to do it still.” He sets Morgan down on the ground and taps her nose gently. 

“Did you memorize your speech?” Pepper asks. She stands beside them and fixes Peter’s hair a bit.

“Yeah but if I panic Karen has it too,” Peter taps his glasses. Morgan knows that one day Peter and she are going to run their dad's company together. They’re both still too young but since Peter is a big boy he has to make public appearances like their mom does. He had volunteered to make a speech today for the opening but Morgan knew that he wasn’t that good at speaking to crowds. She’d brought him to school once to talk to her class and he’d messed up his words a lot. Morgan had to hold his hand to comfort him. She wonders who will go on stage with him this time. Maybe MJ would, that’s something that girlfriends would do right?

“We can still change it up if you need to.” Happy offers. Peter smiles at them and shakes his head. 

“I’ll be okay,” he assures them. Morgan thinks he’s a big liar and that if he keeps lying his pants might catch on fire. Their dad had told her about that once. 

“I want to go with him!” Morgan declares, wrapping her arms around her brother’s legs. All the adults look down at her but it doesn’t bother Morgan. She likes to talk to people. She’ll just have to do all the talking for Peter when he gets nervous. 

“Morgan that-” Pepper starts. Peter is looking down at Morgan though, he meets her eyes and when she nods at him he nods back.

“Pepper, if you’re alright with it I don’t mind having Morgan up there with me. This is her legacy too. She probably deserves it more than I do.” 

“This legacy belongs to both of you,” Pepper says firmly. “If you’re comfortable keeping her with you then I’m okay with it… I’m sure that Tony would have been proud to see you both up there together.” Morgan clings more tightly to Peter’s leg. He rests a hand on her head and chews on his lip. 

“Thank you, Pepper,” Peter says softly. He lifts Morgan back up and gives her a tight hug that she returns just as tightly. 

“Okay, we’re starting in just a few minutes so Happy please show everyone to their seats,” Pepper tells him. Happy nods and leads Ned, MJ, and Rhodey out to the seating area. Peter and Morgan peek through the curtain together and see that there are other members of the Avengers sitting out there already. Pepper kisses both of their cheeks when the time to start comes and then she goes out on stage first. 

“You sure you wanna do this with me?” Peter asks as he shifts his hold on her a bit.

“Do you want to do it?” Morgan turns it back to him. 

“I do, but I’m still kind of scared,” he admits.

“It’s okay to be scared,” Morgan pats her brother’s cheek. “That’s why I’m gonna go too. For Moral support.” 

“You’re the best,” Peter says as he gives her a bunch of kisses. Morgan laughs and tries to push his face away.

“Petey nooo,” she says through her giggles. Peter manages to plant one more kiss to her cheek before giving up the fight. Morgan lays her head on his shoulder and smiles. 

“I love you Maguna,” He whispers as he listens to Pepper on the stage.

“I love you too Petey,” She whispers back. 

“Now I’d like to you all to meet the minds behind this event,” Pepper says as she turns to look at the side of the stage. Morgan knows that it’s their sign to go out. She’d watched Peter practice over and over. Peter takes a deep breath and then sets Morgan down taking her hand as he heads onto the stage. Morgan follows along beside him. 

“You’ve got this,” Pepper whispers as she gives Peter a hug and then leans down to kiss the top of Morgan’s head. Then she steps back, giving them access to the podium. Peter steps up to it and adjusts the microphone a bit. Morgan holds onto his pant leg so he can have his hands free. She looks out at the audience in front of them as Peter introduces himself and begins his speech. Morgan leans against his legs and listens to him talk. She hopes that she’s being good moral support. 

All of a sudden there’s a weird feeling in her head for just the briefest moment. Morgan stands up straight and squeezes her eyes shut until it passes. When she opens them again she thinks that something is different. The people they know sitting in the front row all look really surprised and the reporters and the people with the cameras are whispering a lot. Morgan tugs urgently on Peter’s pant leg. He stops what he was saying to look down at her. 

“I remember,” she whispers up to him. Peter looks confused.

“Peter! It’s back!” Ned yells from the audience. Peter seems to notice for the first time the looks that everyone is making. He kneels down in front of Morgan.

“What do you mean Morg?”

“I remember all the fun stuff we did together,” Morgan whispers to him. 

“You… you remember?” He looks back at Pepper, she’s got tears in her eyes and her hand is covering her mouth. Peter turns to look back at their friends and family in the front row. There’s a fizzling sound from the back of the room and Peter and Morgan watch as a portal opens and Doctor Strange steps through. He meets Peter’s gaze and gives him a brief nod.

“Oh my god,” Peter whispers. The cameras are flashing even more now and the reporters are suddenly shouting questions at the stage. Morgan brings a hand up to cover her eyes. “Oh my god,” Peter says again. He picks Morgan up and tucks her face against his shoulder to shield her from the chaos. 

“What do we do Petey?” Morgan asks. Peter seems at a loss for a moment, then he straightens up and steps to the podium once more. 

“Tony Stark was my mentor and like a father to me. I am happy to be here continuing on his legacy with the opening of the Iron Man exhibit. I’m assuming that you’ve all just had a rather weird feeling of remembering a lot of things about me. So I’ll follow in Tony’s footsteps now and say this,” He says with a steady voice. “My name is Peter Parker-Stark, and I am Spider-man.”

*************************************************************************************************************

August  10th, 2026

Morgan Stark sits on the floor of her daycare. She’s supposed to be having a tea party with her friends but she’s way too excited to sit still. Any minute now her dad is going to show up to get her and she’ll get to leave daycare early. She doesn’t have to go to daycare every day, but her parents say that it’s good for her to interact with kids her own age. At least she’s in the same building where they work so if she’s sad they come to see her. The doorbell on the daycare door rings as it opens and Morgan turns quickly to see her father step inside.

“Daddy!” She yells out as she runs across the room and jumps into his arms.

“Oof,” he says stumbling back a bit as he catches her. “Did you grow again while I was working?” 

“No daddy,” she giggles as she wraps her arms around his neck. 

“Hello Mr. Stark,” The daycare teacher says as she approaches them. “Are you picking up or just stopping by?”

“Picking up today, we’ve got a plane to catch,” Tony says as he shifts his grip on Morgan so he has a hand free. 

“That sounds like fun,” The teacher says, she holds up a tablet. “Just sign her out for me and you’re good to go.” Tony places a hand on the tablet and lets it scan it then signs on the line that appears afterward.

“Did you bring anything with you?” He asks Morgan. 

“Yeah! I brought my backpack and my spider!” she tells him.

“Well go grab those then,” He says as he puts her down on the ground. Morgan runs to her cubby and grabs her backpack and her Spider-man stuffie. It’s her favorite of all her stuffies. She’s not supposed to tell anyone but Spider-man was her big brother. He saved the world from all the bad guys and then he had to go away. Morgan never got to meet him but she’s listened to all the stories about him. 

“Ready Maguna?” Tony calls her. Morgan puts her backpack on her back and then runs back over to her dad.

“I’m ready Daddy!” She takes his hand with both of hers and pulls him towards the door. “We gotta go!”

“Alright alright, I’m coming,” Tony laughs as he follows her out the door.

“Mommy said that she’s gonna make sure you get left behind if you’re not on the plane in time,” She reminds him.

“Yeah, she did say that didn’t she.”

“Yep,” Morgan says popping the P at the end. 

“Well I have a secret weapon so they have to wait for me,” he winks down at her. Morgan hangs onto his arm and looks up at him.

“What’s your secret?” 

“It’s you,” He grins and then scoops her up and lays her over his shoulder. “They might leave me behind but they definitely won’t leave you, little miss.” Morgan laughs and wiggles trying to get free from his hold. 

“That’s cheating!” She yells. 

“It’s not cheating, it’s outsmarting,” He steps into the elevator and sets Morgan down. “Fri take us to the landing pad please.” 

“Thank you, Friday!” Morgan says as the elevator starts moving. 

“You’re quite welcome little miss,” Friday answers. 

“Friday do you know what today is?” Morgan asks. 

“Today is Monday, August 10th and the year is 2026.” 

“Yeah, but it's a special day,” Morgan holds her Spider Stuffie up for Friday to see. “Today is my big brother’s birthday!” 

“Yes, it is a big day,” Friday answers. “There have been talks about turning this day into a holiday. Right now it seems most people are in favor of making it Spider-man day.”

“It should be Peter day!” Morgan looks up at her dad to see him putting on his sunglasses. Morgan knows that he does that sometimes when he’s feeling sad. Morgan never got to meet her big brother but she knows her mom and dad miss him a lot. 

“You’re right,” Tony says. “Peter Parker day would sound better than Spider-man day.”

“Not Peter Stark?” Morgan wraps her arms around Tony’s waist and looks up at him. He rests a hand on the top of her head.

“No not Stark, Peter had another family too. That’s why he had a different last name but he was still just as much part of our family.” 

“He could have two last names,” Morgan says. “He could be Parker AND Stark.” 

“He was,” Tony takes her hand and leads her off the elevator and out onto the landing pad. Morgan holds his hand tightly. She knows that the landing pad can be dangerous so she has to stay close to an adult when she’s out here. They’re going to fly in the quin jet because it’s faster. Her uncle Clint told her once that he would teach her how to fly it but her mom said that she wasn’t allowed to learn until she was at least twenty and that’s still a long time away.

“Hey! There’s my favorite niece!” Rhodey says as he steps off the jet. 

“Uncle Rhodey!” Morgan jumps up and down and tries to pull her dad forward faster. Rhodey lifts her up in the air then gives her a tight hug. 

“Hey Morgs, how you doing?” he asks as he sets her back on the ground. 

“I’m good! I got to leave daycare early today!” Morgan holds his hand and bounces. “Are we late? Mommy said that the plane would leave Daddy behind if he was late but Daddy had me and the plane won’t leave me.” 

“Don’t worry you’re right on time, besides if we had to ditch your dad I would just steal you,” Rhodey says with a wink. Morgan giggles and scoots closer to Rhodey. She has to be careful of his legs because he wears leg braces that help him walk. Her dad built them. 

“Yeah well if we’re all so worried about my punctuality then we should get on the road,” Tony claps his hands together and waves them both towards the quin jet.

“We’re flying not driving daddy,” Morgan reminds him as she pulls Rhodey onto the plane. 

“Yeah Tones,” Rhodey says following her.

“What is it pick on Tony day?” Tony asks as he gets onto the plane. Morgan gets excited when she gets on the plane, there are people already on there sitting in their seats. There’s Bucky, and Sam, and Bruce, and even Clint!

“No daddy it’s Peter day” Morgan declares as she rushes around to give all of her uncles hugs. 

“Peter day?” Sam asks as he ruffles Morgan’s hair. Tony takes a seat next to bruce and motions for Morgan to come over.

“Gotta buckle up little miss,” He tells her. 

“Friday said that they were trying to make today into Spider-man day,” Morgan climbs into the chair beside her father and wrestles with the seatbelt. “But I think it should be Peter Parker day.” 

“That does sound better,” Bruce says. Tony helps Morgan get buckled up then buckles his own seatbelt. Morgan slips her Spider-man stuffie into her seatbelt with her so they can both be safe.

“Peter would hate that,” Bucky says. 

“Oh absolutely.” Tony smiles a bit. It’s one of his sad smiles though, Morgan sees them sometimes when her dad is thinking about Peter. 

“Why would he hate it?” She asks. She thinks it would be pretty cool to have a Morgan day, then she could do whatever she wanted for the whole day. She could have a million icy pops!

“Peter never liked the attention,” Tony explains. “He’d get embarrassed if too many people were looking at him. But he was super smart, probably would have been smarter than me or Bruce if he’d gotten to grow up.”

“Whoa,” Morgan exclaims. She leans forward to look at Bruce on her dad’s other side. “Smarter than you Uncle Bruce?” 

“Yeah, probably.” Bruce nods, he’s rubbing his hands together and staring resolutely out of one of the jet windows. Morgan sits back in her seat and thinks about it. 

“I wanna be as smart as Peter,” She decides after a few moments.

“That’s a good plan,” Rhodey tells her. “Peter was a good kid, a much better role model than some other people.” 

“Ass,” Tony says.

“You can’t say that word,” Morgan reminds him. “That’s mommy’s word.”

“Oh right of course. My bad. Don’t tell mommy I said it,” Tony says giving her a wink. Morgan nods her head.

“For three icy pops,” She holds up his pinky.

“Being blackmailed by my own kid,” Tony sighs and links his pinky with hers.

“I love you, daddy!” 

“I can really tell,” Tony teases. He leans down and presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you too Squirt.” 

“Landing in ten,” Clint calls back to them from the front of the jet. Morgan bounces in her seat and strains to look out the window. She’s excited to see her mom. She and Happy had left the night before because they’d had to get here early to set things up, so it had just been her and her dad last night. They played Sorry but only one round because her dad is bad when he loses but then they’d watched Star Wars. They’re kind of old movies but she likes them anyway. She watches them with her dad every summer. She thinks that Peter must have liked them too because there are Star Wars posters on the walls in his bedroom. 

She waits patiently in her seat while the jet lands on the ground. She knows that it’s like a car and you can’t get out of your seat until it’s stopped. Clint shuts it off and gets out of his seat going back to them.

“All ashore that’s going ashore,” He says cheerfully. He helps Morgan get unbuckled while her dad and everyone else gets up. Morgan gives him a fist bump before sliding off her chair and grabbing onto her dad’s hand. 

Morgan knows where they are. It’s the museum with a long name that she has trouble saying but she came here before with her Dad. There was a whole section dedicated to Captain America. Morgan had met Captain America before, he was just her Uncle Steve to her though. He got really old after the big fight against the bad guys and now she doesn’t see him anymore. So it’s nice to come to the museum and see all the cool stuff about him and Bucky.

Most of the group they arrived with had to go into the museum through a different door but Morgan and her dad get to go in through a back door so they can avoid all the camera people and reporters. Morgan hates it when the reporters come around. They always ask a bunch of questions and the camera people flash lights in her face. She has to stay close to her Dad or Happy when they’re around. 

“You’re actually on time,” Pepper says when she sees them approaching her. Tony lets go of Morgan’s hand so she can run over and throw her arms around her mom’s waist. 

“Mommy!” She yells cheerfully. Pepper smiles and kneels down giving Morgan a hug.

“Hi sweetie,” she says. 

“What do you mean actually on time?” Tony asks as he comes to a stop beside them. “I’m always on time.”

“I don’t think you know the meaning of on time boss,” Happy teases him. Tony rolls his eyes and gives Pepper a kiss on the cheek.

“Good to see you too dear,” He says softly. Pepper smiles as she gives him a kiss. 

“Everything is all ready to go. After the speeches, you’ll open the doors and then we can all head inside.” 

“How does it look?” He asks. 

“It’s perfect,” Pepper assures him.

“The kid would have an actual heart attack if he could see it.” Happy says. Morgan’s pretty sure the kid is Peter. Happy calls him that all the time when they talk about him. He has a sad smile like her dad does. 

“Can I see it?” Morgan asks bouncing a bit as she grabs onto her dad's arm again. 

“After the speeches,” Pepper promises.

“That’s so far away,” Morgan leans against her dad’s legs and looks up at him with a pout. 

“We’ve got what?” Tony places a hand gently on her head. “Twenty minutes til speech time?” 

“Tony,” Pepper says in what Morgan considers her ‘about to be in trouble’ voice. Her dad gets the voice a lot more than Morgan does though. 

“Twenty minutes, quick walkthrough. We’ll make it in time and if I don’t you can just stall for me.”

“Tony you can’t be late for this,” She warns him.

“That’s not a no, come on Squirt let’s make a run for it.” Tony scoops Morgan up into his arms and hurries away from Pepper and Happy. Morgan giggles as she clings to her dad. 

“Twenty minutes Tony!” Pepper calls after them. 

“See you later mommy!” Morgan calls to her. 

When they make it to the main part of the museum Tony sets Morgan down on the ground and takes her hand once again. The Spider-man exhibit is in front of them. Morgan squeezes her stuffie tight as she looks at the big picture in the front. The picture is of her brother Peter and it’s huge. He’s wearing his Spider-man costume with his mask off. Morgan’s seen a lot of pictures of Peter but this one is really cool.

“That’s my big brother,” She says.

“Yeah, yeah it is,” Tony gives her hand a squeeze, Morgan squeezes back. They walk through the exhibit slowly. There are a lot of pictures in there. There are all his Spider-man costumes sitting in a row. There are fun facts about him too, they say things like ‘Peter sometimes pretended that he could control Spiders to scare criminals and Col Rhodes’  and ‘When feeling extra tired Peter would sometimes take naps on the ceiling’ Morgan is still learning how to read so she has her dad read each fun fact out loud to her. They watch the videos of Peter swinging around in his costume and saving people. There are even screens that play his video diaries.

Morgan’s favorite part of it is the last exhibit though. The room is a big circle and in the center is a statue. It shows a little kid that’s not much bigger than her. He’s wearing an Iron man mask and holding up his hand. Behind the kid is Peter. He’s wearing his costume with the mask off in like the picture. He’s staring forward with a really brave look on his face and he’s holding one of his hands in front of his heart, there’s a glove on that hand too, one with stones on the back of it. Morgan knows that it's the special glove that her dad made so they could get rid of the bad guys.  

“Who’s the little kid daddy?” Morgan asks as she runs her finger over the plaque in front of the statue.

“That’s Peter, the first day I met him,” Tony sounds really sad. “He was just a little Squirt like you are now but he saw bad robots trying to hurt people and he wanted to fight them too.” 

“Did he fight them?” Morgan looks up at her dad.

“No,” He says with a laugh. “No, I came and saved him.”

“Good job Daddy,” Morgan says. She looks around the room. There are lots of pictures of Peter on the walls, pictures of him from school and at the Avengers house. Around it is a bunch of words that all keep appearing and changing. “What do those say?” She asks pointing at them.

“Those are stories. I saved Peter that day when he was a little kid but he grew up to save a lot of people. Those are stories from all of the people he helped as himself and as Spider-man. Everyone wanted to have nice things to say about him.” he takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and uses it to quickly wipe his eyes. Morgan doesn’t like to see her dad cry. She runs her fingers over the plaque in front of her again. 

“What does this say?” She asks. They’ve probably been gone for more than twenty minutes. But Morgan doesn’t want to go see the reporters and camera people. She’d rather hear more about Peter. 

“When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” 

“What does that mean?” Morgan wraps her arms around her Dad’s waist and leans her weight against him.

“It means that your big brother was an amazing person and that a lot of people are going to be inspired to do great things because of him.” 

“I wanna be just like Peter,” She declares.

“Me too Maguna, me too.”