What Was he Like to You?
The wind whistled through the branches of the trees. Winter was starting to leave, and Spring was peeking in through the patches of snow on the ground.
The wind rushed through the clattering trees and into a cemetery, hovering over a gravestone where two young people sat.
The young-man seemed to be 17, the child next to him looked about 6. The young-man had brown locks which fell over his bambi-coloured eyes. The 6-year-old girl had dark brown hair and muddy-brown eyes.
The girl turned to the boy: ‘Peter, what was he like to you?’
‘Mhh?’ Peter asked, having been sunken into thought.
‘What was daddy like to you? He always told me who you were to him, what was he to you?’
The boy chuckled nostalgically: ‘He was… well, he was a lot of things Momo. My hero, my mentor,… my father-figure.’ Peter smiled: ‘I called him dad once, just once. He was over the moon.’
The girl looked at him, her eyes twinkling: ‘Tell me a story about daddy that no one else would know.’
‘Well, let me think…’ Peter said, toying with her hair and starting to braid it, ‘Ah yes, it was incident number 35689 of me being stupid.’
‘Wow, that’s a lot.’ the girl breathed, taking the number seriously. Peter laughed:
‘Yeah, yeah it is, isn’t it. I was out on patrol, I was 16. It was after the whole Civil War thing. I stopped this mugging, and there was a guy with a gun. Short story shorter: I got shot in the shoulder. What do you think I did then?’
‘You didn’t tell daddy and you didn’t go to the hospital.’ Morgan guessed, having heard several stories of Peter’s character from her dad
Peter scoffed: ‘Yep. I pulled out the bullet by myself, bandaged it up, and then decided to sleep it off. Next morning I felt horrible, but hid the injury throughout the schoolday. Then, finally, I went to your dad’s since we were going to work on my suit.’ Peter smiled nostalgically, ‘All it was, was one pat on the shoulder and I fell like a straw. You know: he wasn’t even mad at me, just disappointed that I had tried to walk it off. He never really was mad, just disappointed sometimes.’
‘That’s because he saw himself in you.’ Morgan said softly, staring at the gravestone.
‘What?’
‘He told me. During the blip. That you were so much like him. It scared him a lot. He was afraid you’d make the same mistakes as he did. That’s why he was disappointed when you made certain mistakes. He knew what they would cost you.’
‘Oh.’
‘Daddy always said you were the coolest older brother in the world.’ Morgan told him with a smile: ‘That’s why I was so happy to see you: I finally got to meet my big brother.’ she beamed up at him.
Peter’s eyes teared up: Tony had called him Morgan’s big brother. Indirectly he had called him his son. Tony had thought of him as a son. Tony thought he was the coolest son in the world, the coolest brother.
Peter smiled down at the gravestone, reading the inscription: Anthony Edwards Stark; Friend, Husband, Father and HERO.
A tear streamed down Peter’s cheek as he stood up and patted the stone. ‘Love you, dad. I always have, always will. You’ll always be my hero.’ he spoke softly, then turned to Morgan. ‘Ready to go Momo? Want some ice-cream?’ Momo nodded happily, skipping ahead out of the graveyard.
From above a man with a goatee and dark hair looked down at the two children. ‘Love you, dad. I always have, always will. You’ll always be my hero.’ the kid whispered. Tony smiled back: ‘Love you too, buddy. I love you 3000, both of you.’
Behind him a woman cooed: ‘Those two are so cute.’ The man smiled at the red-haired woman:
‘Of course they are, they’re my kids after all!’
Peter walked out of the cemetery, after Morgan. The wind picked up again, and he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but a voice carried along with it: ‘Love you too, buddy. I love you 3000, both of you.’
Morgan, who was ahead turned, and grinned at her brother. Peter caught up to her and she smiled: ‘It’s daddy.’ she told him softly, as he nodded. She turned her face towards the sky and shouted up: ‘Hey daddy, say hi to Auntie Nat from me!’
Peter laughed at her antics as she ran off, and he chased her out of the graveyard, all the way to the ice-cream shop.