You Were only Seventeen
The Source of the Idea: a very sad picture of Peter alone on his birthday, that I again found on Pinterest. Go to https://www.wattpad.com/1527686925-avengers-oneshots-you-were-only-seventeen to see the picture
Canon Compliancy: Completely canon compliant, only Pepper is pregnant with Morgan when Tony goes to Titan to stop Thanos
Set: During the end of infinity war
Ships: Wandavision, Pepperoni
Short Summary: It's Peter's birthday on the day of the blip. In the Mind Stone he encounters the other blipped Avengers but is sent away. He contemplates on what his birthday wish is. Don't worry, it ends happily.
Includes but not limited to: Hurt Peter Parker, Blipped People, inside of the mind stone, a birthday, Irondad, Spiderson, Avengers Team Bonding, Avengers Movie Night
Trigger Warnings: none
Amount of words in story: 1978
Character in the Story: Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Stephen Strange, Peter Parker, Peter Quill, Groot, Mantis, Drax, T'Challa, mentioned: May Parker, MJ, Ned Leeds, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts-Stark, Morgan Stark, Vision
‘Mr Stark, I don’t, I don’t feel so good.’ I said, stumbling on my feet. My knees crumpled under me as I felt Mr Stark catch me before I could hit the ground. I had seen Quill turn to dust: I knew what was happening. I knew in the end I couldn’t fight it, but I still tried. I still tried so hard.
I turned to Mr Stark one last time: ‘I’m sorry.’ I whispered softly, then, I felt myself turning into dust, my eyes stared at the thundering sky as everything went black.
Suddenly, yellow light flooded my vision, and I sat up groggily. ‘Need a hand, kid?’ I heard Quill ask sadly from above me, extending his hand towards me, which I took.
I looked around to find floating island of yellow all around. Everywhere were people and aliens. Everywhere there were people crying, yelling, cursing and screaming. But nothing helped. There were also those who were silent: who knew it wouldn’t help. We were gone, and there was nothing that we could do about it.
‘Where are we?’ I asked Quill, looking around at the vast yellow expanse.
‘In the mind stone.’ Mister Strange said, from an adjacent island, on which him and several other Avengers stood. He beckoned for Quill and I to join us. Which we did. On the island we found the other Avengers and Guardians: Drax, Groot, Wanda, T'Challa, Bucky, Stephen, Sam and Mantis.
They were enwrapped in an argument. 'We have to get out of here.' T'Challa stated, fury evident in his voice as he started pacing. Wanda was just crying, I decided to ask her about it:
'Wanda, you okay?'
'Oh shut up! Just shut up!' she screamed in my face, 'He's dead, Vision's dead!' she cried out, falling to her knees.
'Wanda, I am so sorry.' I started, stepping forward to comfort her, but she pushed me back:
'Oh go away! I don't want some dumb 16-year-old's sympathy who only joined the war to get some fame fighting next to the Avengers!' Wanda cried at me, tears falling down her cheeks.
I felt like I had been punched in the gut as she said that: 'Wanda, come on, that's not true...' I started, but Sam cut me off:
'Hey kid, look, we appreciate your help, but we need to discuss some stuff, we can't have a 16-year-old hanging around, okay? Go somewhere else.'
'I'm seventeen.'
'A year's difference: it doesn't matter.' Stephen huffed, gesturing me away. I turned around: if they didn't want me around, I guessed I would just leave. I felt Quill grab my arm, but I shook it off, telling him with my eyes it was okay. Slowly I grabbed my webshooters and swung away, towards a different island in the vast expanse.
After ten minutes of searching I found an uninhabited one. All around the islands were filled with people mourning, crying, shouting out in fear. I sighed as I flopped to the ground, feeling something smush inside my suit when I sat down. I took it out and tears formed in my eyes as I looked at the cupcake I had put in it. May had baked it for my birthday. For my seventeenth birthday. Today was my birthday, and I was celebrating it all on my own.
I took a candle I had stored in my suit out and stuck it in the cupcake, lighting it with matches I held in my suit as well. 'Make a wish, Peter.' I told myself softly, blowing out the candle, staring at the cupcake.
I wished for everything to be okay: I wished for Wanda to get Vision back, I wished for Mr Stark to be okay. He was stranded on Titan, without a functioning spaceship. I just wished he would be okay. I wished Bucky would find happiness. I wished T'Challa's kingdom would be okay without him. I wished Aunt May wouldn't be too sad. I wished Ned would continue building Legos and having fun. I wished MJ would continue reading horror stories and being generally grumpy. I wished Sam would be able to deal with missing Steve. I wished Stephen would stop blaming himself for our loss. I wished Quill wouldn't blame himself either, and that he would eventually get Gamora back. I wished Groot finally got people to understand what he was saying. I wished Mantis would be seen as more than just a Psychic. Lastly, I wished Drax would be seen for the awesome faithful friend he was.
I stared at the smoking candle, unwrapping the cupcake, just staring at it. 'Happy birthday, Peter.' I whispered to myself, taking a bite from the cupcake. Only I couldn't eat it. My mouth passed right through it and it stayed intact. With a sigh I hurled it into the void below.
Some birthday, I couldn't even eat my own birthday cupcake.
I wondered if Mr Stark was okay. He had to be: I hadn't even told him about Pepper. Last time I saw her, I heard a tiny heartbeat in her belly: she was pregnant, and neither she nor Tony knew. I just hoped he could get back home in time so he could raise his baby (a girl, judging by the movement and heartbeat). I wondered what he would call her: probably something exotic.
I had once joked to him that if he ever got a kid, he should name her/him Morgan, which meant sea-born, since if they were anything like him, they would be as rebellious as the sea. Besides, Morgan was an unisex name.
My mind wandered to Aunt May, I hoped she hadn't stressed too much when she found out I had gone to space. I wondered about MJ: I sure hoped she would wait around for me to get back, though in all fairness, I might never come back again.
I hoped Ned would have fun with his siblings. I hoped he would teach them how to build the coolest Lego sets.
I hoped Pepper would be okay. She would be a great mum together with Tony.
I stared into the void, tears streaming down my face as I tried to pierce it: but there was nothing. I was stuck in the nothingness, with a bunch of people who thought I did the hero gig for the honour. Heck, did they even know I initially rejected being an Avenger? Oh well: what did it matter. I just hoped Wanda would be okay. Imagine seeing your boyfriend or girlfriend die before you eyes. That was going to leave its marks.
Suddenly a portal opened next to me and Mr Strange walked through, a solemn expression on his face. I quickly turned away, wiping my tears and standing up, putting on a mask, making it look like everything was alright.
'You coming through kid?' he asked, gesturing towards the portal, on the other end I saw the Avengers. I shrugged:
'Did I not just cause Wanda to have a panic attack or whatever that was? I don't think that's the best idea.' I commented softly, not knowing whether the people on the other end of the portal could hear me.
'Neither do I, but she has been asking for you, together with Mantis, and she won't calm down, so go through.' he ordered in an annoyed tone, which I did.
As I stepped through, Wanda, who had been sitting with Mantis on the floor jumped up and ran over to me, engulfing me in a hug as she sobbed into my neck. 'I'm sorry, I didn't know, you really are the best of us.' she whispered as I softly maneuvered her to the floor, continuing to hug her: I didn't understand women, but I was pretty sure I should not detach from the hug right now.
'Wait,' Bucky asked, who - no surprises there - had super-hearing: 'What do you mean, Wanda?'
She looked up at him, tears staining her features as she stood up wobbling: 'I mean, while we're here, moping about ourselves, all he was thinking about was other people, wanting them to be okay. It's pretty hard to ignore such strong thoughts.' she huffed, Mantis quietly agreeing next to her. 'Did you know today he turned seventeen. It's his birthday.' she stated, making me turn my head away as the other Avenger's faces dropped in embarrassment.
'He had a cupcake his aunt made him, you know what he wished for when he blew out that candle? He wished for me to get Vision back, for Stark to get home safe to his wife and unborn child, for Bucky to find happiness, for T'Challa's kingdom to not collapse, for his aunt to not be too sad, for a guy named Ned to happily continue building Legos, for a girl named MJ to continue grumping to everyone and read horror stories, for Sam to deal with missing Steve, for Stephen to stop blaming himself for what happened; neither for Quill to blame himself and that he would get Gamora back; for Groot to get people to understand him; for Mantis to be seen as more as a means to an end and for Drax to be seen as the loyal friend he is.' Wanda stated, eliciting shocked looks from the Avengers ,'Not once did he wish for something himself. What's more: he would be an Avenger about 2 years ago, but he denied it, because he wanted to continue helping the little guy.' she said, ending her rant, my cheeks flushing red.
'It's your birthday?' Sam asked softly. I just nodded, then laughed:
'Also found out you can't eat in here: the cupcake turned out to be useless.' I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Nobody laughed though.
'We're sorry.' Sam mumbled looking away for a bit, then turning back to me: 'Did you really turn down an offer from Tony to become an Avenger.'
I shrugged: 'The Avengers are for larger problems, I want to make sure the little guy is safe.' Then I laughed: 'Though technically, I am an Avenger, Tony made me into one when we were on the spaceship. He didn't ask my opinion on it though this time, he just told me: yep, you're an Avenger now.' I chuckled at the memory of Tony turning me into an Avenger: I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Strange raised his eyebrows: 'Wait, he just forced it onto you?' I shrugged, 'Wow, he really wanted you to join.' Strange chuckled, then sat down on the island, everyone else following his lead.
'Hey kid?' Bucky asked.
'Yeah?'
'Happy Birthday.' he said, throwing a laser at me, which I caught with a wide smile:
'Thank you Mr Barnes Sir!'
'It's Bucky kid, and don't worry about it.'
'Dude, did you just give a 17-year-old a laser?' Sam asked with a laugh. I heard Bucky chuckle:
'Be happy it isn't a lightsaber, I heard you liked Star Wars kid.'
I nodded fervently: 'I have all the movies downloaded to my suits database.' I told him, my cheeks flushing.
Wanda bobbed up: 'No way, really? So you could watch them right now if you wanted to?' I grinned sheepishly and nodded:
'All 12 of them.'
Sam smiled from ear to ear: 'Hey, since we seem to be stuck here anyway: what do you guys say to an Avenger's movie night? Then we can also rub it in Tony's face when we get back that he missed out on it.' Several laughs sounded as people agreed to it, and my cheeks coloured, Wanda turned to me:
'Don't look so shocked to have an Avenger's movie night, Peter.' she whispered to me, so that only I could hear, 'After all: if you're an Avenger: you're going to have to endure a lot of these.'
I grinned back at her as I propped myself up against the stone and ordered Karen to project the movie into the air, and the Star Wars theme started playing. I changed my mind: maybe this birthday had a rough start, but all in all: it might just become the best one I had ever had.'