Found Family

“Mommy! Look what I-”

“Morgan, honey, I have a really important meeting today and I’m in a bit of a rush. I’ll see you in the evening okay?” Pepper said. She quickly grabbed her things from where she had left them scattered on the sofa the night before, “Just let FRIDAY know what you want for breakfast, and Happy will drop you off to school.”

“But mommy you said that yesterda-”

“Sweetie, I really don’t have time right now, let’s talk later okay? Bye, love you.” Pepper pressed a quick kiss to Morgan’s cheek and disappeared through the lift before the baffled little girl could utter another word.

She had been left home alone. Again.

It had been like this almost every single day since they moved back into Daddy’s old house, as her mom had called it.

When Morgan first saw the place, she was beyond excited. It was the biggest building she had ever seen, and it even had its own cinema and bowling alley! Who wouldn’t be?!

Her new room was almost as big as their old house, and she could decorate it with all the toys she wanted! Plus FRIDAY let her do everything, unlike mommy and daddy. She got to eat ice cream for dinner almost every day! It made her wonder why her parents ever even moved out. Aren’t you supposed to move from a place only if you find a better place?

After the past couple of weeks though, she had finally started to understand why this place wasn’t as great as it seemed. At first it was fun, being able to do whatever she wanted with no limitations.

But after a while, Morgan began to notice that her mommy was less and less around, and worked for longer and longer hours, until she was almost never home. She always had some meeting or conference, or both, and she just never had time anymore.

This house was big, and it had everything a person could ever want, but... it was lonely.

She missed her old house, her old life. She missed the carefree days where her parents would build legos, and have tea parties with her all day. The days where she could only buy one fun snack a week, but they all went to get it together in the nearby supermarket.

She missed Daddy...

With a defeated sigh, Morgan left the painting she made for mommy on the kitchen table.

Mommy used to love her drawings. They always cheered her up! She had hoped they would work this time too, but the woman didn’t even have a second to see it.

Morgan just wanted to go back home. Her real home.

“...and then it went like boom! That car literally came out of nowhere, I was like woah, woah, woah. But then I found out-” A muffled voice suddenly sounded from the elevator.

That was weird.

Nobody ever came on this floor of the building. Not during this time of the day.

Her mom had said to always be ware of strangers, and Morgan didn’t recognize the voice. So she did the first thing her five-year-old mind could think of and hid behind the large, white couch of their living room. She then peeked out of the corner with wide eyes.

“We’re here. You can wait on the sofa.” Another voice, this time a familiar one, spoke up as two figures emerged from the elevator.

It was Uncle Happy! She hadn’t seen him since her dad... since the funeral. Beside him stood a boy with messy brown curls. He looked a bit too old to be her age, but also too young to be Uncle Happy or her daddy’s age.

He was wearing a school bag that looked too big for his body, along with a t-shirt that had cartoons drawn on it, and small writing that was unreadable from the distance Morgan was at.

His face had a somewhat disheartened look, like how she felt when mommy didn’t listen to her and rushed off to work. It was probably because Uncle Happy didn’t let him finish what he was saying.

That was quite mean of him.

“Hey Kiddo! What are you doing hiding in that corner?” Uncle Happy ruffled her hair, “Did we scare you?”

So they had noticed her. Note to self: She needed to find a better hiding spot for next time. There would probably be plenty others, considering the size of this floor itself, let alone the house.

“This is Peter. He’s gonna wait here for a while,” Uncle Happy gestured towards the boy. Up close, he looked somewhat familiar for some reason, but Morgan was sure she had never met him before.

“Feel free to ignore him as you like, and tell FRIDAY if he’s bothering you.” Uncle Happy grumbled, “Talked my ears off the whole ride here.”

The boy, Peter, as Uncle Happy had introduced him, awkwardly squeezed himself into one corner of the sofa. It looked like he was trying to make himself as small as possible, like she used to when she was hiding under the shelves while playing hide and seek with Daddy.

He stared at Morgan with wide eyes, but quickly averted his gaze when she looked back.

Was there something on her face?

“I’ll be back with your... things in a bit, so stay right here,” Uncle Happy emphasized, “Don’t move an inch, got it?”

His expression was much more stern compared to when he was speaking to Morgan, but it wasn’t like the way he spoke to those mean guys in black suits, who kept asking her about her father after the funeral. It was more like a strict parent. Like her friend Mei’s mom told her off in school when she forgot her lunch box.

“Got it Happy.” Peter nodded, “I’ll be good. I promise.”

“You better.” Uncle Happy warned, “If anything like last time’s...” he glanced towards Morgan, “incident, happens again, you are going to be banned from the lab. For a long, long time.”

“I won’t do anything Happy, you have my word.” Peter reassured. His toothy grin was far from convincing though.

“Alright. See you in a bit.”

“See you Happy!”

The boy, Peter, loosened up a bit when Uncle happy left. He sunk into the couch with a relaxed sigh and unzipped his bag.

Morgan watched him cautiously from her hiding spot behind the couch. Her eyes followed his hands as he fished out a ginormous textbook from his bag. From a distance she could see it had a picture of the galaxy printed all over it with large writing on the cover. So cool.

She wanted to get older quickly so she could study such books too. Before she used to read them with Daddy, but now...

Suddenly Peter stiffened again. Morgan noticed him staring in her direction, but he didn’t say anything, or call out to her.

“Don’t do that Morg. It’s rude to stare.”

She remembered the words her daddy had said when they were at the local supermarket. She had been watching a child, about her age, kicking their legs and bawling on the ground.

She might’ve even snickered a bit. But that was before her parents had told her that it was mean to do that, she never did it again. The last thing she wanted was to be mean.

She was a good girl.

Daddy had always said so.

“Hello.” She looked towards the ground shyly, “I’m Morgan.”

“Uh...Hi!” Peter looked like he had been caught off guard, as though he wasn’t expecting that, “I’m Peter.”

“I know. Uncle Happy just told me.”

“Oh yeah, he did. He did do that.”

Peter scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Silence enveloped the room again. Morgan noticed the boy watching her every time he thought she wasn’t looking, but he looked away every-time she gazed back.

It was weird, but she decided to ignore it. If Uncle Happy left him here with her, he couldn’t be a bad guy. Plus she could always run to her room and tell FRIDAY if she felt uncomfortable.

“What are you doing?” Morgan asked.

For someone who supposedly “talked a lot”, he didn’t say much.

“Oh. Oh! This? I was just finishing some reading for my physics exam tomorrow.” Peter explained. “It’s a topic about planets and the solar system. It’s really interesting actually! We are learning about the atmosphere on every planet and black holes. A lot of the information is kind of outdated though. Recent studies don’t support the research presented in this book. Kinda makes sense considering it was created in the eighties or something.”

He seemed to become less conscious when he spoke about physics.

He must love the subject too. Just like her and Daddy!

“I was actually reading a study that said blackholes-” He stopped in his tracks when Morgan sank into the seat next to him. Her small legs dangled from the edge.

The boy stared at her with a bewildered look. Like a deer caught in the headlights, as her dad would’ve said. He had been doing that a lot.

“What’s wrong Peter?” She asked, “Is there spinach in my teeth? I don’t remember eating spinach though.”

“No. It’s just, gosh, I wasn’t expecting-you, you look just like- It’s like seeing a mini copy of-” Peter stuttered, but he stopped when he saw the confusion on the little girl’s face. What was he doing? He couldn’t say that in front of a child. Her father had just... Tony had...

There were enough reminders of it everywhere, on the news, at home, probably in school. He couldn’t give her another one. He was barely getting by himself.

It’s just, it was too shocking. He had heard that Tony had a kid during the snap. He even saw her briefly during the funeral, but he was too shaken with all the events that had taken place in the short span of time he had been back to pay any attention.

Morgan, she looked exactly like him. Her large brown eyes, her nose, her lips, her hair, even the way she walked with an air of confidence and superiority. It was all Tony.

“What is it? You can tell me.” She asked, her voice holding no judgement.

“Uhh... I was saying, you seem like an intelligent girl! That’s all.” Peter quickly covered.

Morgan observed him for a second. He had to say, he had never seen a five-year-old with such an intense and calculating gaze.

It was nerve-wracking.

It was just like Tony’s.

“You’re funny.” She suddenly giggled.

Peter had never felt more relieved in his life.

“Do you wanna see my lego ship? I made it myself. It had seven hundred pieces, but it took me only a day to finish.” Morgan said proudly.

“No way! I love Lego! That’s awesome.” Peter exclaimed. “Let’s see it.”

Morgan led Peter to her room and they both played together for hours until Uncle Happy had to take him back home to her dismay.

It was the first time she had a connection with someone in weeks. Even though she had only met him a few hours back, it felt like she had known him forever.

He appreciated her drawings, he spent time with her, he noticed her and didn’t just let her be alone for hours at the hands of a machine. A very smart and kind one, but still a machine.

It felt like she was back in the old days with Daddy. Even if it was only for a bit.

Peter was a lot like Daddy, in terms of his mannerisms and the way he played with her.

She didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want to be alone again...

“I’ll come back soon. I promise.” Peter grinned.

She had heard that phrase from many people after her dad was gone. Particularly adults. Even her own mother. But nobody seemed to mean it. So it wasn’t her fault that she felt a bit skeptical, and didn’t believe Peter either. At the end of the day, she was the one who always ended up being disappointed.

However Peter hadn’t lied.

He came back for her the very next day with a smile and a box of “Star Wars Lego”, and he came back every day after too.

No matter where he went or how busy he was, he always kept his promises and came back. Whether anyone else did or not. And as time passed by, Morgan had realized that suddenly other people’s empty promises didn’t matter anymore.

As long as she had Peter.

He helped her with her homework, he played with her and even took her out for shopping cuz she didn’t like buying clothes and toys online.

“Peter guess what?!” Morgan squealed. She was clutching a piece of what looked like creased card, and jumping up and down in excitement.

“What is it? What is it?” Peter mocked, making his voice high pitched and squeaky to imitate hers.

Morgan ignored it this time because she was too happy to care.

“My school is having a play, and mommy said she’d come to watch it cuz I’m playing the lead!”

“Woah! That’s awesome Momo. I’m so proud of you!” Peter pulled the eight-year-old into a tight hug. He then lifted her into the air and spun her. She had always liked that.

It was getting a bit harder now since she had gotten much bigger than she was when they had first met. Especially since Peter had lost his spider powers shortly after the snap. He wasn’t as strong or muscular as he used to be.

He didn’t quite understand why it happened, but he did know that many others had lost their powers too.

Fun as it was to swing around as Spider-Man, after a few weeks of devastation, Peter had realized it was actually kind of relieving having those powers taken away from him. He felt like a pressure had been lifted from his chest.

He felt like he could actually think about himself for once rather than what was good for the world because he was just like everyone else now...

“I wish I could come and see you perform. You must be quite talented to make the lead.” Peter said. “FRIDAY, could you take a video so that I can see it too?”

“Of course, Peter.” The AI responded.

“Peter, but you can come!” Morgan emphasized, “I got you a ticket too!”

She held out the piece of card in her small, sweaty hands with a toothy smile that made Peter feel like he would burst into tears of joy any second.

“Will you come?” She stared up at him innocently with her large puppy eyes. That look though was anything but innocent because she knew that Peter would never be able to refuse to it.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Peter smiled.

And even though Morgan’s mother ended up having to go for a last minute meeting, the little girl realized she wasn’t as disappointed as she thought she would be, because Peter had come to cheer her on with double the energy, glittery sign board with her name in hand. He treated her to ice-cream after too.

And most of all, she wasn’t upset because she knew, no matter who let her down, Peter would always show up.