The universe was saved. The snap was reversed. Everyone was back and against the odds Tony survived. The only remnant was lost mobility in his right arm. After he recovered, he hung up his suit and decided to retire. He was done being the world's hero and just focused on being a husband and father. Morgan just turned five and Peter was back. He was content and happy. Or he would have been if one Spider kid would pick up his phone and come see him.
Peter had spent every day and night by Tony’s hospital bed refusing to leave. It was only after Tony finally woken up that Peter left. He left and did not come to visit again, It was really messing with Tony. He had finally gotten Peter back after five years and now he didn’t want to see him. He had tried to call him over and over, but never got a call back.
After a few weeks in the hospital, Tony was finally home at the lake house walking around, but still taking it easy. It had been three weeks since he had woken up and three weeks since he had seen or heard from Peter. Once he was given the go ahead from Helen to travel, by car only of course, he planned to take a trip to the city to visit Peter. He gave Pepper a hug at the door and kneeled down to give Morgan one as well. “Are you going to bring my brother home?”
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During the first year after the first snap Tony isolated himself in his lab. He regretted ghosting and pushing Peter away. He had put up walls to protect himself from getting hurt, but Peter had wormed his way in and Tony didn’t realize it until it was too late and Peter was gone.
His only happiness came from Pepper, but even that wasn’t enough to pull him out of his depressive spiral. It was only when she told him she was pregnant that he felt light flood back into his life. They moved to the lake house and set it up for the baby. Peter was alway in his mind though, a sad look continuously in his eyes. Tony never talked about how much he missed him, but Pepper knew.
One day she called May, Tony and Pepper kept in contact with her after the snap and told her to reach out if she needed anything. She asked for a picture of Peter, once May had sent it she hung it up in their cabin. When Tony saw it he broke down crying, but wanted to keep it up and ended up adding a few more mixed with ones of Morgan after she was born.
When Morgan grew and became more aware she asked about who was in the photos. Tony doesn’t know exactly why he said it, but the answer came easily to him, “That’s Peter, your brother.”
“My bwother? Where is he?” Tony felt a tear roll down his cheek as he looked into her innocent curious wide eyes. He tried to think of what to say, but first of all, didn’t know if she could comprehend what had happened at such a young age, and second of all, all words seemed to escape him.
Pepper saw this and came to his rescue, “He’s…” she thought for a second, not waiting to upset her daughter, “far away from here sweetie.” There was a sad undertone to the smile she gave Morgan.
“Can we go see him?” Tony tried to hold in a sob.
Pepper knew Morgan would probably never meet Peter, it was basically impossible unless time travel was invented, but she didn’t want to say that, “Not right now honey. Let’s go wash up for dinner.” She said, ending the conversation. After that whenever Morgan drew pictures of her family she always drew Peter as well, sometimes even Spider-Man, after Tony had told her about his secret identity. He told Morgan all about how her brother was a hero.
Then Tony did in fact invent time travel, or at least created a Time-Space GPS. Peter was back and after the snap Morgan met her brother for the first time, very briefly though, as no one wanted her in the hospital room seeing her father in a coma. When Tony woke up Peter spent one day with him, Tony was still very out of it though, and then he left before actually spending any real time with Morgan.
_____
“Yeah munchkin, I’m going to try to bring Peter home.” Tony smiled and gave her a one arm hug. He then got up, turned, and got into the car, Happy holding the door for him. The car ride was pretty silent as reasons why Peter was avoiding him raced through Tony’s mind. He knew he was at least safe as he got reports form Karen and because he and Pepper reached out to May. She also didn’t know why Peter was avoiding him, apparently Peter always shut down the conversation when May asked. She also said he has been really depressed lately and barely eating.
Tony didn’t realize they had even arrived until Happy’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, “Tony?”
“Huh?”
“We’re here. Are you ok? You want me to go up with you?” Happy's face was etched in concern, although there was always some worry there ever since the snap.
“No, no I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, thanks Hap.“
“Alright, I’ll be here.”
Tony gave him a small smile before opening his door and getting out. He walked up the stairs to their apartment. A different apartment then they had before the snap. May had moved out of the old one because it reminded her too much of Peter and she couldn't handle it. He walked up to the door and knocked. He heard footsteps and then May opened the door with a gentle smile. “Hey Tony.” She said as she gave him a hug.
“Hi,” he said almost sheepishly, “where’s Peter?” He stepped into the apartment.
“In his room. I didn’t tell him you were coming.” Tony did not expect that.
“Oh, should I just go in then?”
“Sure,” She gave him an encouraging smile, “I’ll be out here if you need anything.”
He gave her a thankful nod and then turned to head down the hall to Peter’s room. He didn’t know why, but he was really nervous. Still he needed to see his kid, he knocked on the door.
Peter’s voice came through almost immediately, “May, I told you I’m not hungr-” He stopped talking as soon as he opened the door and saw it wasn’t May.
“Surprise.” Tony said lamely.
“Mr. Stark? What are you doing here? Do you need Spider-Man?” Peter questioned, his face full of confusion.
Something in Tony's heart cracked, ‘Does Peter really think I only care about Sipder-Man and not Peter Parker?’ He thought. “No bud, I’m here to see you, Peter Parker.”
“Oh, ok.” he said skeptically, “Come in.” He opened the door wider so Tony could walk through.
Tony went to sit on Peter’s desk chair and Peter went and sat on his bed. He stared at Tony’s limp arm for a second, “How are you feeling?”
“Better, thanks.” The conversation is stilted and more awkward than Tony expected it to be.
Tony started to ask a question just as Peter spoke, their speech overlapping.
“So what have you been up to?”
“Listen Mr. Stark, you didn’t have to come.”
Peter sighed and looked down just as Tony looked up more, in almost shock, “What?”
Peter didn’t look up as he said, “Now that you’re not Iron Man you have no need for Spider-Man. You don’t have an obligation to check up on me.”
‘Obligation?’ Tony thought ‘Is that really all he thought he was, is, to me?’ Tony sighed, “Peter look at me.”
Peter slowly looked up and saw the sad expression on Tony’s face, “It’s ok, Mr. Stark!” he quickly said to ease the man’s guilt, “I understand. You have your family. You have your daughter.”
“Peter-” He was cut off.
“Seriously, it’s okay. You retired, I get it. You invented time travel, you saved the whole universe and now you just want to focus on your family.” He looked down again.
“Peter, who do you think I invented time travel for?”
Peter looked up confused. “Um, the whole universe?” he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, no, the universe.
“No,” Tony said softly, “I invented it for one person. It’s selfish, I know, but I did it for one person that I missed so much that I felt like the guilt and emptiness would swallow me whole without them.”
“Who?” Peter said with eyebrows furrowed, “Pepper, Rhondey, and Happy all lived through the snap. And you had Morgan later.”
‘How can he not see it?’ Tony thought in disbelief and sorrow. He needed Peter to realize it for himself. “Peter, who else was dusted?”
“You really want me to go over everyone who got dusted? That’s a lot of people Mr. Stark, actually half the universe.” Peter said a bit sarcastically, but it was laced with sadness.
“Humor me, please. List people we know.” Tony replied.
“Okay, fine, lets see,” Peter thought of who was dusted right before him, “Mantis, Peter Quill, me, Dr. Strange, Drax-”
“Hold up, go back.” Tony interrupted.
“Doctor Strange? I thought you weren’t a big fan.”
Tony gave a huff of frustration, “Really kid, seriously.” Peter shrugged confused, “No, one more back.”
“Um, what did I say, uh Mantis, Peter Quill, me, Docto-” Peter's eyes opened comically wide, “What?”
“You kid.” Tony said gently. Peter still looked confused like he couldn’t wrap his head around what Tony was saying. He sighed, “Peter, before Thanos I tried to keep you at arms length, I tried but it wasn’t working. Somehow you broke through my barriers and became someone I really cared a lot about. You became more of a son than a mentee.” He watched Peter’s reaction to make sure he wasn’t overstepping. Peter was looking at him in curiosity, confusion, and intrigue, but not distaste, so he continued. “After you got dusted I completely shut down, I regretted everytime I pushed you away and everytime I disregarded you. I am so sorry I didn't see it sooner. When I finally realized, it was too late, you were gone, and I couldn't handle it. The only thing that broke me out of my depression was Morgan, but even then I missed you so much. After five of the longest years of my life I finally cracked the code to time travel, all to bring you back.” Peter had tears in his eyes and so did Tony, “Even when I snapped and I was sure I was going to die, I knew that it was all worth it and I would do it over again as long as you got a second chance. The joy I felt at seeing you as soon as I woke up from the coma was unparalleled to anything else. I love you kid, and I regretted not telling you before every single day of the blip”
Peter now had tears rolling down his cheeks, he had always wanted Mr. Stark to be more of a father figure than a mentor, but never thought the man would feel the same way. Tony crossed the room and sat on the bed next to Peter still giving some space. Peter then leaned forward and Tony immediately returned the hug. “Uh, Mr. Stark, I was just reaching for the tissues.” Tony pulled back and looked behind him, there was in fact a box of tissues on the nightstand.
“Oh, I um-” Tony fumbled.
“I’m just kidding,” Peter said with a watery smile and a laugh, “that was payback for the car.”
“Seriously,” Tony said but couldn't hide the amused smile on his face, “I just poured my heart out to you and you decided now to get back at me?”
Peter kept the smile on his face. “Yup!” He said as he leaned forward again and this time they both stayed in the embrace.
“You're something else kid.” Tony said into Peter's curls as he held onto Peter with his one good arm. After a while, too soon for Tony, they broke the hug. “Are you up for a road trip by any chance?”
“Where?” Peter inquired.
“To see your sister of course.” Tony said with a smile on his face.
“Morgan? She thinks of me as a brother? We only met briefly at the hospital.”
“Yeah, well, she’s been growing up with stories about you since she was old enough to talk basically.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. She’s been dying to see you.”
“Ok sure.”
“Good, pack a bag and I’ll talk to May. You can spend the weekend with us, seeing as it’s Friday, and I’ll drop you at school Monday morning, sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Peter said with a soft smile on his lips.
Tony went out and talked to May and before they knew it, they were greeting Happy and driving to the lake house together. Peter asked a million questions about Morgan and the five years he was gone. Tony smiled and did his best to answer them. They got to the house, and before Peter could even shut the car door after getting out, Morgan barreled into him, hugging his legs. Peter laughed, “Hi Morgan.”
“Petey!” Peter felt a warmth spread in his chest at the nickname. He picked Morgan up. Tony smiled softly as he watched his two kids.
Peter carried Morgan into the house and greeted Pepper, Tony right behind them. Happy grabbed Peter’s bag from the car and followed closely behind. Peter was only a few steps in when he froze, in front of him were pictures of Morgan and “Th-that’s me.” he said, tears forming in his eyes again.
“Yeah kiddo, that’s you.” Tony said in an obvious tone.
“We put that one up right before Morgan was born.” Pepper said as she pointed to one of the pictures. Before Peter could say anything Morgan was talking.
“Petey, come see my drawings!!” She squealed. He put her down and she grabbed his hand pulling him into the kitchen. The fridge was lined with Morgan’s drawings, most of them of her family, which to his surprise included him. And these drawings were not only from the last few weeks, some were dated a year or two ago. Some were Peter and some were Spiderman. Peter was overwhelmed, but in a good way, overwhelmed by love. Standing there he knew he had May, Tony, Pepper, Morgan, and even Happy as his Family.
Tony came up to him and put his good arm around his shoulder, “Welcome home Peter.”